acrossasiaminoro00chiluoft

;
TIRED TRAVELLERS 207
The hours stated are generally those taken by arabas,
but they may be pack-horse hours, which have another
value.
The six hours to Injesu were said to be araha hours,
and I imagined a distance little over twenty miles,
such being other six-hour stages I had known. So
I had started rather late, expecting to reach the
village in the afternoon. But evening came on,
and still was no sight of our destination ; though
the weather had cleared somewhat, not even a distant
minaret could be seen against the background
of gloomy hills. The horse lagged, and so did
its owner—man and beast were plainly weary. We
were going now on one of those stone roads which
cross a lava sheet, and darkness made its channelled
surface dangerous for animals and pedestrians. Complete
darkness fell and found us plodding on without
the encouragement of having seen the place we aimed
for. By some instinct the horse kept to a channel,
and except for stopping now and then made better
progress on this risky going than might have been
expected. We on foot followed the horse's lead in
single
file.
During a couple of hours Ighsan's reply to my
question of how far to Injesu was " yarim sa' at "
(half an hour). I asked twice at intervals, and
getting the same reply, thereafter held my peace.
He had been in and out of the place scores of times,
and must have known where it was well enough
but finding sarcasm in the repeated question, his
dignity became ruffled. Besides, he was weary, and
grew visibly more so with every mile. I could, indeed,
well understand that he was touchy, for I was
hungry and tired myself and inclined to question his
guiding. Fever had pulled me down, and this longdrawn,
stumbling walk in darkness and uncertainty
did not make for evenness of temper ; furthermore, I
had discovered an unpleasant feature of winter travelling
with a pack-horse. Once upon the road there
was no stopping, no halt at midday for a meal and