150 FROM YARKAND TO AKSU. 



the headman, who gave me an excellent room 

 and all supplies, and also produced the shikari 

 my late one had mentioned to me as sure to 

 show me sport. Having had a talk with him, 

 I went out and shot a brace of pheasants for 

 the pot. 



After dinner, as I was smoking my pipe over 

 the fire, the door opened quietly, and a China- 

 man walked in without a word and sat down op- 

 posite to me. I was just thinking of hustling him 

 out, when Joker, my dog, who, being black, was 

 not very apparent in the dim light, suddenly- 

 awoke : evidently the smell of the Chinaman had 

 stolen on him in his dreams. In a moment he 

 was up, and so was my new friend, who made a 

 spring into the corner of the room, barricading 

 himself with the camp-chair on which he had 

 been sitting. I gave the dog a clout on the head 

 to keep him quiet, and assured my visitor he 

 would not be eaten. He did not, of course, un- 

 derstand my Hindustani, so I shouted for Jaffer 

 and my host, who spoke Chinese, making a sign 

 meanwhile to my friend to smoke a pipe and calm 

 his nerves. He had merely come to pay me a 

 friendly visit, hearing I was a great man travel- 

 ling about the country. As he was civil enough, 



