208 EXPEDITION TO KALMUK. 



insolent remarks ; but not understanding the lan- 

 guage, I was a little shy of jumping on them in 

 case of being mistaken. 



This afternoon, on my way home from these 

 visits, half a dozen Celestials were working in 

 a field close to the road. As usual, they began 

 shouting, so I rode up a little nearer, when one 

 of them suddenly strode up and spat in my 

 pony's face. This was a clear case and no mis- 

 take ; so, kicking my pony in the ribs, I was on 

 him in a couple of bounds, taking him rather by 

 surprise, and with my heavy riding - whip gave 

 him one or two real good ones across the face. 

 I was so much engaged with him that I did not 

 notice at the first moment that his comrades had 

 come to his rescue, and were hammering me on 

 the back with their gardening tools ; but as my 

 pony was a pretty big one, and they were none 

 of them very full-sized specimens of humanity, 

 they could not reach my head, or do me much 

 damage. 



The man whom I had struck took up a stone 

 and threw it at me, but it fortunately missed, and I 

 succeeded in giving him another good one across 

 the face. There then came a short pause in the 

 proceedings, and one of them rather a better- 



