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2 our journey. At our request, an A goo (guide) on horseback
3 was ordered to lead us through the desert. Accordingly, we
4 started at two o’clock after midnight, entrusting our Agoo with
5 our wallet, in which our provisions (roast meat and bread) were
6 packed ; we put also the horses’ provender under his care, and
7 left the place, hoping to reach a watering-place about nine or
8 ten in the morning, where we might likewise meet with some
9 Arab tents, and breakfast, and allow our horses to rest ; but the
10 Agoo missed the road, and it was not till the afternoon that we
11 became aware of the fact, when we observed him deviating first
12 to the right and then to the left. The Tartar, in a rage,
13 menaced the guide continually, and added that he would cut off
14 his nose and ears. I did my best to appease him, making him
15 understand that the guide, who was already perplexed, would get
16 still more puzzled by his continued threats, and that he ought to
17 consider that he had not intentionally misled us ; but my
18 admonitions were of no avail. The evening was now draw-
19 ing near, and in the darkness of the night our guide de-
20 camped. Imagine our state ! in a desert, without a guide,
21 not knowing the way, even by daylight, no human being
22 visible, forsaken by all the world, riding hungry, thirsty and
23 exhausted horses, without nutriment for either man or beast,
24 and, above all, the anxiety as to whether we should ever get
25 out of that maze. The sky was clouded, it was raining, and
26 we were chilled by the cold, it being the end of the year. In
27 the heavens not a star was visible, to guide us ; we were like blind
28 men, not knowing whither to direct our steps. We left the horses
29 to their own instinct, but, like ourselves, they did not know the
30 way. In this desperate dilemma, my happy star, beneath whose
31 influence, perhaps, I was born, and which has often guided
32 me in difficulties, shone again. We observed at some distance,
33 a small fire, towards which we directed our steps with re-
34 newed courage ; but it appeared and disappeared, as the rain and
35 wind either extinguished or revived it. We heard, also, in the
36 stillness of the desert, the barking of a dog. We followed the
37 sound till we arrived at a thicket, which we had some trouble in
38 getting through, found a river, and perceiving that the fire and