国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

I so longed for a camping-site. We covered 20.6 kilometers and I mapped the route the whole way.

At last we could make out the smoke from a camp-fire in the distance, and presently we had joined the others. My yurt was already erected, and I was hastened to bed as if in a field-hospital.

That evening HUMMEL moved into my yurt in order to be able to attend me when necessary. He was movingly solicitous, and he did not get much sleep that night. Nor did I.

On December 12th we set off as usual after the caravan, that had started at four in the morning. With little hills to the left, and rather more considerable ones to the north-west, we traversed slightly undulating ground to reach a flat ridge, to the south-west of which was an open space with small hillocks and hogs' backs. We halted in a belt of tamarisks to rest by a fire.

A couple of kilometers from the camping-place for the night (LXXIV), two tall figures, silhouetted against the sun, could be seen riding rapidly towards us. One was LARSON, the other NORIN. It was a pleasure to see NORIN safe and sound, and to hear that BERGMAN and MARSCHALL were encamped at the Sebestei spring (properly Narin-sebestei) at a distance of scarcely fifty li to the south-west.

NORIN stayed with us overnight. At this place there was no water, and the pasture was poor; so it was now a matter of transporting my suffering body in one way or another, to the spring Sebestei, where water, pasture and fuel were to be had, and whither the doctor now commanded his patient for a couple of week's rest. With the same irresistible authority he forbade me to ride, as the swaying gait of the camel was clearly an aggravation to my restless gall-stones.

But how in the world was I to get to Sebestei, being unable to walk and forbidden to ride? There was of course no vehicle, nor would it be possible to procure one. Moreover, the lack of water at this camp would in any case compel us to set out for Sebestei's spring the very next day. Professor Stu voted for a sledge made of tent-poles and covered with boards from empty crates. It might be drawn by camels or men. LARSON declared that such a contraption would not survive more than two kilometers in this gravelly country. He for his part suggested a bier, to be borne by four Mongols mounted on quiet camels. I assured him that I had not the slightest desire of climbing aboard such a `flying-machine', that any moment risked being squashed between the four camels, if it were not torn asunder the next, as the frightened animals bolted in four contrary directions.

JOURNEY BY STRETCHER

At half-past nine next morning we set off. On either side of an iron camp-bed two tent-poles had been lashed and then bound together. The bed consisted of my sleeping-bag and some cushions. Muffled up in furs I lay down on this bier,

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