A Pathetic Incident. 



I spent the greater part of the day reading, since nothing 

 could be done outside. The view from the tent was dismal 

 and foreboding, displaying a wide open valley wrapped in 

 a snowy mantle, while to the north and south high ranges 

 of mountains loomed out through the thickly falling snow, 

 imparting a still stronger air of desolation to my camp on 

 the Roof of the World, at an elevation of nigh 15,000 feet. 

 Around the tent were walls of driven snow, save in front of 

 the doorway, where I had cleared it away. No sign of life was 

 visible, all nature seemed hushed, and when towards dusk 

 the wind died down a silence settled over the land, such a silence 

 as one only knows on the Pamirs and the vast steppes of Central 

 Asia. 



A strange incident happened that afternoon, one with a vein 

 of sadness in it, and illustrative of the severity of the weather en- 

 countered on the World's Roof. Whilst deeply absorbed in reading, 

 there appeared beneath the canvas walls of my tent a little bird, 

 the size of the familiar wagtail. He hopped in, and gazing up 

 at me in wonder and amazement, seemed to demand shelter from 

 the bitter cold without. His appeal was not in vain, for with a 

 tiny box which lay beneath my bed I made a comfortable nest of 

 wool and installed him therein, partly covering up the box as 

 some further protection against the rigours of the Arctic climate. 

 Whence he came, or how he had reached my tent, I knew not, 

 but doubtless he had battled bravely against the icy blast, and 

 on through the pitiless snow, until at last he found a haven of 

 refuge from the fujy of the elements. Far into the night the 

 snow fell with silent persistency, and the cold increased, until the 

 land seemed locked in an icy grip, reducing everything to a state 

 of frozen rigidity. Several times I took a quiet look at the little 

 inmate of the box. There he sat, looking ill and weak, scarce 

 able to move. Before finally turning in for the night I again 

 arranged the little creature's nest, and made him yet more com- 

 fortable. Of food he would take none, the cold seemed to have 

 struck too deep to render possible any movement on his part. 



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