A Cheerless Camp. 



through which a couple of cats bounded at intervals, chasing 

 each other round and round presumably to get warm and prevent 

 themselves being mummified into frozen examples of the feline race. 

 Despite the fact that I had the stove going there were 

 31 degrees of frost in my room, and as I discussed my frugal 

 dinner I thought of cheerier places to pass the night in. The 

 servants shared the other room with the proprietor, and were 

 also provided with a stove ; but there was no outlet for the smoke 

 which would have stifled an army of bees. Giyani was making 



A, HALT ON THE MONGOLIAN STEPPES. 



desperate efforts to open an ancient window and lessen the evil, 

 in which he finalh' succeeded. It was too cold to write so I 

 retired to bed and read Boswell's " Life of Johnson," trying to 

 imagine I, too, was in the more congenial neighbourhood of Picca- 

 dilly and the Strand. 



On awaking next morning I peeped forth into the gloom, the air 

 being keen and the thermometer at 15 degrees below zero to still 

 further temper the atmosphere. Yusuf came in soon after and 

 set the stove going, but even at its best we could not bring the 

 thermometer higher than something below the freezing point. 



349 



