Evening star., 1926-04-18

with no trouble whatever a shall.
low river, and then again commenced
q climb over range number two. This
also was a bit broken up, and towards
| the top II was necessary for us to dis
mount and creep along on all fours
over narrow, slippery ledge overlook.
ing a precipice 1000 feet or more
down to destruction. A false step, a
slip, and we would have been hurled
to instant death. We slung up our
| stirrups and left our ponies to follow
us. which they did w3thort blinking.
Then at the bottom All Pooh left
F, me.
The Devil will be kind to thee.
Great One" said he, in absolute sin.
cerity. II would like much to go
further. but I dare not take the risk.
| Go on alone, Teacher. while return. ="
| And / went. There were still two
ranges ahead Of me, and the sun told
me it was high noon. took the sad.
die off and allowed my pony to rest a
bit, then he drank, then drank, ano
| in few minutes we were again full of
pep, struggling upwards again. Moth.
| ing of note happened over the first
range. but along towards $50 in the
| afternoon. about midway up the last,
| the sky became overcast, and at the
| top of the watershed, as I sat on my
l
coarse grass and rested, / could see
the city of Chaotongfu about miles
away. Evidently it was the center of
a storm which seemed to be coming
my way.
| The limestone formation here would
not allow Of my sliding" and instead
had to dismount and foot" 1t down
to where a river roared its treacher.
Gus course along.
In these parts one fears rain more
than anything else. The reason for
this Is that. II the traveller Is caught
in one Of the many gullies or gorges
the extremely heavy rain rapidly
forms a torrent, from which there is
no escape, with the result that you
stand a quite reasonable chance of
! being washed away before you can
climb beyond the waters.
That Is why travel is impossible In
| the rainy season. This Is what
! feared, yet hoped that fate would
| favor me by allowing me to cross the
river. whose roar I could more plainly
hear tho lower I descended.
! y y
A s reached the base of the range,
n with the sun no longer visible
down in that narrow, darkened val
ley, felt that l ought soon to be able
to find q place where 1 could "swim''
my pony, and SO reach the other side
before dark and easily reach Chao-
tongfu before nightfaIl. / dismounted
and walked up and down the bank of
this roaring torrent, and by this time
the rain was coming down with tropi-
cal fervor.
I struggled along for a quarter of
a mile or more, but nowhere could I
find a place where my pony could get
n = ~ a GJH I'D nk
or swim 1t. Everywhere huge boul-
ders, high as a bungalow and higher,
blocked the way and created rapids
in the river bed. It looked as If
should have to retrace my steps and
ascend again to escape the rapidly
rising torrent.
There was, however. one more
chance. Like an old traveller, de.
cided to leave it to my pony, so I sat
down on a stone in the rain while he
walked up and down shifting.
I thought Of Prescott. I felt CRATE
full for having come SO far In safety.
with no mishap more than a scratch
or two and my clothing torn by the
overhanging foliage-but knew that
1 must cross that river or face a night
in the mountains in heavy rain. I had
no weapon; no food; no drink but
water from the stream.
I watched my pony-first at one
place, then at another. Finally he
managed to get down to the edge of
the stream, standing with his fore
legs in the water-and then he
neighed to me. The place he had sc.
lected to cross was less noisy than
other parts, and the torrent itself did
not measure at it's widest part more
than perhaps 40 feet.
But, as / have written. the bed of
the river was uneven and broken UP.
so that could see clearly how danger
Gus a crossing 1t was to be, at even
the least uneven part. But l trusted
my pony. He was so strong a swim
mer that, given nothing untoward.
knew he could swim against the cur.
rent and bring me safely to the other
side. We had crossed many q stream
together. and l had no fear. now that
he had made his own selection Of the
spot at which he would battle with
the stream, that he would err In his
instinct.
I gathered my overcoat up around
my waist, and without disturbing the
pony, snorting and neighing as he
stood half in terror at the prospect, l
swung myself on to his back. tying a
knot in the reins to prevent them from
slipping. I then gave him an easy
felt bottom. and then he plunged in,
naturally facing upstream.
Lying over on his neck, heard the
water bubbling and clustering and
roaring as it rushed past me. My
faithful friend strained every muscle
to keep going. could feel his body
strain under me in every movement.
I could tell by the way he headed up
stream to point opposite 20 yards or
so above where we started that his
instinct would not lead him astray.
For a couple Of minutes all went
well. All had to do and all that
did was to lie over on his neck, with
my toes turned toward his flank to
cause my pony as little inconvenience
as possible, and to pray for speedy
deliverance.
When we got further out toward the
middle, the current was SO strong and
so sweeping in it's fury that the water
sometimes enveloped me. giving me
the feeling that / was in an express
train tearing through the sea. My
pony would put his head high, just
holding his own, 1t seemed. yet I felt
confident that he could do 1t.
Then came q truly terrifying mo.
ment, and Il came quickly. How
It happened I could not tell, but J