Show TRAVEL IN MONGOLIA Delay Linger and Wait Appears to toBe toBe toBe Be the Motto We drove droye some beyond out outto outto outto to the plain again bumped over oyer a railway crossing saw workmen's tents and pull pulled d up up at a wooden house which was the station The rhe dust had given giyen me the face fice of a collier fresh from the pit But ut the first thing I Idid Idid Idid did was to hunt up the stationmaster a ayoung ayoung ayoung young man man shivering from the cold and ask about a train to the frontier Next morning at daybreak said he sourly and he pointed out the cars ears a along along long lang way off ott and told me I w would uld find finda a fourth-class fourth carriage So off I trudged The fourth class carriage was under the he ch charge o a poor cringing wisp of a man who had the place heated with a stove to an absolutely unbearable temperature But he was willing to do anything to oblige So the windows were soon open and he tramped ol off to get a pail of water from somewhere ere Then rhen wl with wilh h him holding a lantern and my converting the carriage carriage car car- step into a dressing table I stood out on the desert and had my first wash for two days Next i in Saturday cleanliness I went ent way away back to the station to to hunt for food because th the successful progress ss of a journalist like that o of an army army largely depends on the stomach In a I hovel hoyel of a place I got a man to sell me a tin of sardines for four shillings shillings- Bread Brend was cheaper and I got pound chunk for When I returned with my provisions the tr train in attendant had boiling water and nd so soon n tea was ready That carriage was full fuJI of the odors of blistered paint Ther Therefore fore I preferred to sit on the railway bank while mY y wisp of a a. a man rum rummaged ed around and gathered chips chip from sleepers to keep a afire afire afire fire going The next morning Sunday October no engine put in its appearance When hen would It I inquired Ce chas At 9 oclo o'clock k at t midday certainly certainly In two hours without doubt at 5 o'clock It wasp was raw raw drear Sun Sun- day I was the only person waiting for a lift and it was lonely The man was of course coure a sort of companion but buthe buthe buthe he had a a. smirking Uriah Heep way of raising his shoulders and rubbing his hands hand that was irritating I walked up and down for an hour or two for exercise and he sat watching me as though I were some animal anima that amused him yet which he he- wanted to please In the afternoon some Mongols came along on camels and driving a herd of ot sheep They camped for the night and killed a sheep I bought part of it It was something to do for while the man manmade manmade manmade made a fire I cut up the meat for soup and when wen the blaze had gone out and nothing remained but glowing embers I threaded bits of the the mutton on a wooden skewer and cooked them over the glowing wood That is what is called I dont don't know what it would be like in an English dining dining- room but eaten on the Gobi desert desert- though it did taste of the skewer and there were ashes on It It-It It It was one of the daintiest and most luscious dishes imaginable No signs of any incoming train that night No signs either In the morning morning morning morn morn- ing At noon however there w was as a puff of sni smoke oke ke on the horizon and In about two hours In crawled a train What had been the delay There had been three trucks off the line But in two hours when the engine driver had fed lie he would take back our train Two hours four hours six hours went and the engine which had gone on with material for railway building some twelve further did not return Why The same three trucks had gone off the line a second time So another day went vent The wind never ceased blowing from the desert bringIng bringing bring bring- ing log with it a haze of ot sand which gave the sun a dull bronzed hue Night came In an angry mood and the gale hissed and spat around my dreary hab hab- Far in the night however there was a bump and a jerk It was impossible to sleep but I didn't mind for the train was sas going on at last |