1134 
THROUGH ASIA 
would hasten on before us, and hide themselves among 
the rocks, and shoot us down as we went through. 
There was however no other road, and to turn back 
was not to be thought of. The best thing we could 
do therefore was to try and reach the place first, or 
at any rate pass it before the Tanguts were able to 
take up advantageous positions. They had however 
one great advantage over us. They knew every nook 
and cranny of the mountains, their gorges, ravines, and 
hiding-places. Moreover our horses w'ere heavily laden, 
whilst those of the Tanguts were but very lightly 
accoutred. Hence they easily gained upon us, at the 
sante time gradually closing in upon the road, and finally 
disappeared in the openings of the rocks. 
We hurried on as fast as our horses were able to 
travel, having the right flank of the caravan covered 
by those of us who W'cre armed. Then we again caught 
sight of the Tanguts. They had halted, and did not 
appear to contemplate an attack. Thus we threaded the 
extremely narrow defile wdthout misadventure. We rode 
however with our rifles ready cocked, and our eyes search- 
ing the rocks on the right. 
On the other side of the defile the valley widened out 
again, and it was with a feeling of great relief that we 
debouched into the open. Loppsen believed that the 
Tanguts had taken a short cut through the mountains, 
intending to attack us in another place. He w’as sure 
they had been on their way to Kurlyk-nor to steal horses, 
but had turned back in the expectation of finding richer 
booty in our caravan. 
The valley finally opened out into a broad plain, 
and after a march of twenty-one miles we halted at 
Kharasharuin-kubb, a place in which there' w'as plenty 
of good grass, and an open freshwater pool, fed from 
a spring. We turned the horses loose on the edge of 
a patch of reeds, and they had a good drink at the 
pool. Then I set two of the Mohammedans, Kurban 
and Ahmed, to watch that they did not wander too 
far away. 
