CHAPTER III 



A CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS 



This is a "hard luck" chapter. Stories of ill-fortune 

 are not always interesting, but I am writing this one to 

 show what can happen to an automobile in the Gobi. 

 We had gone to Urga without even a puncture and I 

 began to feel that motoring in Mongolia was as simple 

 as riding on Fifth Avenue — ^more so, in fact, for we did 

 not have to watch traffic policemen or worry about 

 "right of way." There is no crowding on the Gobi 

 Desert. When we passed a camel caravan or a train of 

 oxcarts we were sure to have plenty of room, for the 

 landscape was usually spotted in every direction with 

 fleeing animals. 



Our motors had "purred" so steadily that accidents 

 and repair shops seemed very far away and not of much 

 importance. On the return trip, however, the reverse of 

 the picture was presented and I learned that to be alone 

 in the desert when something is wrong with the digestion 

 of your automobile can have its serious aspects. Unless 

 you are an expert mechanic and have an assortment of 

 "spare parts," you may have to walk thirty or forty 

 miles to the nearest water and spend many days of wait- 

 ing until help arrives. 

 Fortunately for us, there are few things which either 



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