94 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF SHIKAR 



holes, which made walking rather painful. We 

 had nearly reached the bottom of the valley when 

 we came to some slippery rocks over which water 

 was trickling; Ahmedu said it was impossible to 

 get up or down to avoid them, and they were also 

 impossible to cross. It was now getting so dark 

 there was no time to retrace our steps and find out 

 a new road. He sat down, burst into tears and 

 sobbed in despair. I thought I could see a way 

 down, but he would not move from the spot; he 

 said he was afraid of what Nebra would say to him, 

 and if anything happened to me his eyes would 

 burst and be washed away in his tears ! 



So we sat down and prepared to stay there for the 

 night, which would have been very chilly and un- 

 comfortable, but by great luck we caught sight, in 

 the dusk, of the pony man below us bringing the 

 pony up the main nullah to fetch me. We made 

 plenty of noise then, whistling and shouting to 

 attract his attention. He tied the pony to a bush 

 and ran up to us with as much ease as if he were 

 running along a high-road, and showed us another 

 way down which was quite simple, and where he 

 only thought it necessary to hold my feet in a few 

 places, though he said it was worse climbing down 

 than going up. 



I did look forward to getting a mount and saving 

 the last remnants of sock and skin left under my 

 feet, but the rascally pony had jerked his reins free 

 and gone off. It was now quite dark and there was 

 still some distance to go. We fell in with Nebra 

 and Mirza Khan with the grass shoes; they had got 



