SINO-MONGOLIAN FRONTIER 
searching for fossils. The hours slipped by, but 
brought no sign of the mules, so that we began 
to wonder what had become of them. Finally 
we rode back to the nearest village, some three 
miles along the road, and made inquiries of the 
natives. No, the mules had not passed through 
the village: no one had seen them. This was 
awkward. What had become of those mules, or 
where to go in search of them, we were entirely at a 
loss to know. We did not want to return to T’ai- 
yiian and spoil our trip, and yet to go on into the 
mountains without any prospect of food or shelter 
did not commend itself'as a much better alterna- 
tive. Finally, by much questioning, we learned 
that there was another path up to the spot where 
we wished to camp. Putting everything on one 
east of the dice, we decided to make for our 
original goal on the chance that our outfit and 
servants had already arrived there by this other 
path. 
As night was fast coming on, we borrowed a 
lantern and set out to make the twelve miles of 
mountain path as fast as possible. Daylight 
lasted another half-hour or so, allowing us to get 
well into the gorge. Our plucky little ponies 
kept up a sharp trot, even in the darkness, till we 
reached the end of the boulder-strewn gorge. We 
then began a steep and, under the circum- 
stances, somewhat dangerous ascent. For up- 
wards of two hours we climbed, sometimes zig- 
65 F 
