A DUST-STORM. 151 



minute our eyes were choked, and every particle of clothing 

 covered with dust. Then came a second blast, and the 

 darkness grew deeper, so that we could barely see the 

 ground under our horses' feet. I remembered that a 

 watercourse cut the plain close to the station, and managed 

 to hit the plank-bridge over it, passing my companions, 

 whose voices I could hear, on the right. In another minute 

 the first heavy drops fell, but at the same moment the 

 Persian custom-house loomed through the darkness, and 

 we were in shelter. Paul was the only one of the party 

 who got thrown ; he almost rode against the building with- 

 out seeing it, and, his horse suddenly swerving, he fell off, 

 but fortunately without hurting himself. Fran9ois, as 

 usual, turned up among the first, serene and unruffled. 

 At the posthouse the accommodation was wretched, and 

 the people most inhospitable ; but we had a resource in our 

 former friend, who entertained us with kabobs, and a 

 bottle of excellent Persian wine. 



June 4th. — The only acknowledgment of his hospitality 

 our host would accept was a scrap of paper, on which we 

 wrote our names, aud recommended all English passers-by 

 to his care. We had to wait some time while the ferry- 

 boat was towed up, by buffaloes, to the proper starting- 

 point. The river had fallen considerably, and there was 

 no difficulty in the passage. Our reappearance was evi- 

 dently more of a surprise than a pleasure to the Russian 

 officials, who had probably solaced themselves with the 

 idea that they would never hear or see anything more 

 of us. Believing that the jolts of the 'telegas' were 

 mainly responsible for my companion's previous illness, we 

 made a successful effort to obtain saddle-horses. We were, 

 however, able to retain them only for the first stage, and 

 no entreaties or threats would induce the stubborn and 

 dirty postmaster of the halfway station to furnish us with 



