A DIFFICULT PASS. 49 



we had to go down to the end of this ridge, and 

 then turn up the Tiznaf valley at right angles, 

 and the road therefore was twice as lone. 



o 



We ascended the ridge by a winding ravine, 

 and kept thinking that every sky-line we saw 

 meant the summit, only to be disappointed time 

 after time. At last we got on to a sort of table- 

 land, and there the path branched off in various 

 directions. The country seemed easy enough as 

 long as we kept on the plateau, but when we got 

 into a ravine and began to descend, the aspect 

 began to look grave. We got involved in a 

 narrow precipitous nullah, which every now and 

 again became so confined at the bottom, and so 

 steep at the sides, that we had to drive our 

 ponies up side nullahs and go round to avoid bad 

 places. Time went on, the poor ponies began to 

 show signs of having had enough of it, and the 

 prospect of being benighted where we were was 

 anything but cheering, as there was no water, no 

 fuel to cook food, and no grass for the ponies. 



Bower and I (Dauvergne had left us) decided 

 that there must be a path somewhere, and the 

 only thing to do was to find it ; so, halting the 

 caravan, we set out to explore. At first it looked 

 hopeless : we found ourselves in a complete net- 



D 



