The Hunting of Rahmat 25 



strong order, and they can make themselves 

 disagreeable after their own manner. One such 

 I remember who broke his nose - rope and took 

 the road to the desert at a swinging pace. The 

 feeling that attacks the unfortunate rider, who 

 finds himself being helplessly carried by his 

 inscrutable - visaged mount towards the dim 

 horizon of uninhabited desert, may be imagined ! 

 All that you can do is to trust to luck and to 

 throw yourself off; and if before doing so you 

 have the presence of mind and dexterity to loosen 

 the girths of the saddle, so as to let it eventually 

 slip round under the beast's belly, you will have 

 done the best in your power to stop him and earn 

 the gratitude of whichever of your men will have 

 the joy of tracking and recapturing the runaway. 

 Eiding ahead of our caravan was one Said 

 Khan, leader of the Seistan levies, who on this 

 and similar journeys filled the role of " caravan - 

 bashi." He was a typical Baluch, very tall and 

 handsome, with aquiline features which did not 

 belie his character. For if human beings must 

 be ranked either as hawks or pigeons, it was 

 certainly to the Accipitres that he belonged. 

 Originally he was a robber chief in the no- 

 man's - land about the marches of Afghan and 

 Baluch territory, and he could recount many a 

 story of chapaos across the Persian border, camels 



