MISSING THE CARAVAN. 265 



darkness was coming on rapidly, and there 

 seemed a very good chance of spending the night 

 in the open without food or blankets. The cara- 

 van by that time must have got a good start of 

 us, and would go wandering on, thinking we were 

 ahead ; and once night closed in, there was no 

 possibility of finding them. Telling my men there 

 was nothing for it but to do our utmost to catch 

 them up, I put Jaffer on my pony, as my walking 

 powers as regards pace were much better than 

 his, and the guide being mounted, we started off 

 at the double, determined to make a race for it. 

 Darker it grew and darker. Every now and 

 then we stopped, gave a halloa, and then ran on. 

 At last, to our relief, came an answering shout, and 

 after a short distance we caught up the caravan, 

 which was wandering aimlessly on in search of us. 

 There was no possibility of selecting a camp, 

 being already quite dark, and unfortunately we 

 were on a stony part of the plain. However, after 

 groping about a little, we found sufficient burtsa 

 to make a fire to cook with, and there was water 

 in the river; but not a blade of grass for the 

 ponies a just retribution for them : not that they 

 were starved, as there fortunately remained a 

 good supply of grain. 



