ARRIVAL AT THE HUNTING GROUNDS 139 



so strange that a horse which will bear his rider almost 

 through anything so long as he remains on his back 

 becomes mad with fright when that same weight 

 hangs from his flank. A most unreasoning beast ! 

 He cannot understand that the man he is reducing to 

 pulp is the same being who feeds and tends him. He 

 is a long way after the dog in intelligence. 



Over the battered body the patriarchs of the village 

 argued the whys and wherefores of the accident. None 

 of them thought of the alarm clock, the clock which 

 was set once too often. 



We all did what we could for the poor " Crocodile," 

 and then left him to the wailing ministrations of his 

 wives. He had need of all the air he could get, 

 which wasn't much, as the house was full to its door all 

 night. 



By the next morning the Yuzbashi had ceased to 

 draw his laboured breath, and from a dark corner of 

 the ill-smelling lean-to, filched from the stable area, 

 sacred — if aught is really sacred in Daghestan — to 

 clamouring domestic needs, a little thin wail pro- 

 claimed the advent of his son and heir. Nature gave as 

 she took. The greatest gap is filled — her changes, too, 

 are all, in the long run, for the better. We have only 

 to search the records of the centuries to see that. 



Silently, like the Arabs, we folded our tents, and 

 stole away from the wind-swept plateau whereon the 

 poor Headman had welcomed us but the day before. 

 We were very subdued, and Ali prayed to Mecca 

 overtime, touching his ears nervously. In these wild 

 parts he had to manage without the dais arrangement 



