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SNOW-BOUND AT DUBEKJI KHAN 305
and talked and drank coifee, prepared soup and 'pilaf
and gathered round a common bowl to eat ; and
from time to time the Ma?i-keeper put fresh logs
on the fire, and swept the hearth with a tufted
twig of pine. Dubekji Khan was mean, and the
two stallions at the back of the room sometimes
fell to fighting, but on this evening of cold and
snow and moaning pines it seemed wondrous comfortable.
Traffic was late on the road owing to difficulty
in crossing the pass, and caravans of all kinds were
going by after dark with jingling bells. Now and
then a tired voice came out of the night crying
interrogatively
'' Avjya varf Saman varf" (Is there barley?
Is there straw ?), for the khan was also a wayside
store supplying simple needs—horse-feed, rope, bread,
jxtsdej^ma, cheese, olives, and the like. To such
shouted inquiries the son carelessly shouted from
the fireside, without turning his head
^'Arpa yoh, Saman var" (Barley there is not,
etraw there is), giving the intonation of assertion
which made all the difference to his words. And
then the bells passed on and died away gradually
in the distance.
But sometimes the heavy door-latch clanked, and
wild-looking men, covered with snow, pushed slowly
and silently into the room. All were tired or more
than tired, and came for food and shelter and
warmth
;
and at this stage were glad to eat bread
and cheese, and drink coffee beside the fire, and
then go to the donkey-stable rather than stumble
farther down the pass. These belated men of the
road, unlike the earlier callers, were patient and
uncomplaining always, and grateful for the Mankeeper's
free coffee and my cheap cigarettes.
Two days we lay here while snow grew deep
outside and all traflSc over the pass ceased. We
slept, and cooked and ate, talked and read, and
wrote and smoked, and kept the fire burning day
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