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FUNDUKLI KHAN 269
ingly broken woodland country, which showed neither
grass nor vegetation of any kind beneath the trees,
the track went with so many devious windings
and steep cHmbings and descents that progress was
slow and laborious. The horse grew exhausted and
stopped repeatedly, and had to be dragged forward ;
we too became hot and tired, and having had little
food for a couple of days were inclined to be shorttempered.
Hitherto Ighsan had always drunk at
stream or fountain by the wayside, and refused my
boiled w^ater, holding it in dislike ; in this wood,
however, he asked suddenly for drink, and I, thinking
the request due to some form of perversity, bid
him find a fountain instead. As one to use my own
water-bottle, the state of his mouth was peculiarly
unlovely, but my heart smote me the instant I had
refused him. He had always been such a dignified,
patient old man, with never a word of complaint
how weary soever he might be. He had ever been
so good-natured and faithful. I felt myself suddenly
fallen below the standard at which he had rated me
and at which I rated myself I felt, too, that it lay
in his power now to show himself and his standard
superior to me and mine when next we should come
to a test. But I was not prepared for the quick
retort he made.
"Is the water English too?" he asked, implying
that if so he w^ould judge its quality by myself
His tone was delicately sarcastic, but its most subtle
quality was a note of surprise.
Several times on the way from Urgub, Ighsan had
referred to Fundukli Khan as a pleasant place where
everything was to be obtained. He pictured it as in
the woods, where fuel was abundant, the water sweet,
the yoghourt and other food good. We had looked
forward to reaching Fundukli Khan; but when we
entered it at evening it fell sadly short of what,
with memories of earlier and better days, he had
described it to be. The old khan-kee-pev was dead,
a Kurd had taken his place, and the little khan now