44 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



bent on an early start this morning, and I was only 

 too anxious to bid adieu to my lively and tenacious 

 friends of the night. The Swede had a wonderfully 

 persuasive way of his own of rousing the muleteers 

 from their slumbers, and of getting them to work in 

 packing away the loads. K"o matter how long the 

 day's march had been, or how short the night's rest, 

 he was always brisk and lively at the hour agreed 

 upon for getting up. He had a most enviable way 

 of jumping at once into the full possession of his 

 faculties, and of his trousers and boots. With him 

 it appeared to be all the work of a moment. There 

 was no moody silence, no general obfuscation of the 

 intellect, with its accompanying crossness and irri- 

 tability. He was no sooner on his legs which in 

 some mysterious manner made their appearance 

 already booted and breeched than he would spring 

 towards a great bundle of felt cloths, carpets, saddles, 

 and et ceteras, and with an accompaniment of sacres 

 would dance a double-shuffle upon and around it. 

 The great mass would instinctively heave at his 

 approach, and then shape itself into servants and 

 muleteers. The Swede, ever active, would blow up 

 the embers of last night's fire, and wave the little 

 black coffee-pot over them in a manner that suggested 

 the idea of a, petite tosse being ready before we started. 

 A cold bright moon was shining, and by its light we 

 could make out on our left the jagged scarped summit 

 of the Moolleh-Sirdeh Mountain. The road ascended 



