Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/208

 he deserted, carrying' off one of our knives and a revolver. This happened during the night, and he had probably laid his plans beforehand, as he did not take his clothes off when he turned in to sleep with the Cossacks.

I determined to give the missionaries warning of their convert's behaviour, and accordingly rode back to Siyinza and related the whole affair to them. They promised to exert their utmost to catch the thief, whose mother served them as cowkeeper; indeed, before we had gone much further, a Chinaman overtook us, bearing the revolver which had been found on the delinquent; who, reckoning upon our departure, had returned to his yurta a few days afterwards.

This was a salutary lesson and caused us to be more than ever distrustful of the inhabitants. Henceforward to guard against nocturnal robbers we resolved to keep watch in turns, my companion and I relieving one another every two hours till midnight, when the Cossacks took their turn till dawn. This was harassing work after the fatigues of the day, but it was necessary, at all events during the early part of our journey, surrounded as we often were by a hostile population. Our strength lay in watchfulness, for we knew that these cowards would never attack openly four well-armed 'foreign devils.'

We continued to post night-sentries for a fortnight longer, after which we contented ourselves with sleeping with our guns and ammunition ready to hand.