SINO-MONGOLIAN FRONTIER 



searching for fossils. The hours slipped by, but 

 brought no sign of the mules, so that we began 

 to wonder what had become of them. Finally 

 we rode back to the nearest village, some three 

 miles along the road, and made inquiries of the 

 natives. No, the mules had not passed through 

 the village : no one had seen them. This was 

 awkward. TOiat had become of those mules, or 

 where to go in search of them, we were entirely at a 

 loss to know. We did not want to return to T'ai- 

 yiian and spoil our trip, and yet to go on into the 

 mountains without any prospect of food or shelter 

 did not commend itself as a much better alterna- 

 tive. Finally, by much questioning, we learned 

 that there was another path up to the spot where 

 we wished to camp. Putting everything on one 

 cast of the dice, we decided to make for our 

 original goal on the chance that our outfit and 

 servants had already arrived there by this other 

 path. 



As night was fast coming on, we borrowed a 

 lantern and set out to make the twelve miles of 

 mountain path as fast as possible. Daylight 

 lasted another half-hour or so, allowing us to get 

 well into the gorge. Our plucky little ponies 

 kept up a sharp trot, even in the darkness, till we 

 reached the end of the boulder-strewn gorge. We 

 then began a steep and, under the circum- 

 stances, somewhat dangerous ascent. For up- 

 wards of two hours we climbed, sometimes zig- 



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