XI NIGHT UNDER A ROCK 169 



ibex disappeared, we went down to them, and found 

 that Mahamdu had discovered a large sloping rock 

 sheltering a good-sized platform, and had even lighted a 

 fire at which all were drying themselves. Searching 

 about amongst the trees, another sloping rock was quickly- 

 found lower down, and as the leaves under it were quite 

 dry, I soon had my bedding- spread out on them. Cutting 

 three forked sticks and driving them into the ground 

 near my bed, I hung the lantern from the point where 

 they met. The waterproof that covered the bedding I 

 put up with an arrangement of sticks to keep the wind off 

 my head, and very shortly after it got dark I was snug 

 in bed. 



A fire was as usual lighted near where I lay, and one 

 of the men sat beside it drying his own things and those 

 I had taken off, while I waited for dinner and wrote up 

 my diary. In a hollow below me I could see where 

 Abdulla, at a bright fire, was cooking my dinner, which 

 proved an unusually good one — soup (from a soup tablet), 

 roast shoulder of mutton, curry and rice, and stewed 

 apricots. Potatoes and chupatties of course. How he 

 contrived all this under the circumstances I did not 

 understand. When dinner was over, he kicked out his 

 fire, scattered mine (for fear of sparks on the bedding 

 while I slept), and then went up to where the other men 

 were, under their big rock. 



I put out the light and lay down, and thought of my 

 curious surroundings. The rain had stopped soon after 

 dark, and the moon was endeavouring to shine through 

 misty clouds. The drip from the rock under which I lay, 

 fell close to the bedding, but outside It, and the water 



