usual, the native chauffeur was
dashing along at thirty-five miles an hour when he should not have
driven faster than twenty at the most. One of the front wheels slid
into a deep rut, the car turned completely over and the resulting
casualties numbered one man dead and our Czech seriously injured. It
was three days before another car carried him back to Urga, where
the broken bones were badly set by a drunken Russian doctor. The
Cossack, too, had been shot twice in the heavy fighting on the
Russian front, and, although his wounds were barely healed, he had
just ridden three hundred miles on horseback with dispatches for
Peking.

Both my passengers were delighted to have escaped the Chinese
motors, for in them accidents had been the rule rather than the
exception. During one year nineteen cars had been smashed and lay in
masses of twisted metal beside the road. The difficulty had been
largely due to the native chauffeurs. Although these men can drive a
car, they have no mechanical training and danger signals from the
motor are entirely disregarded. Moreover, all Chinese dearly love
"show" and the chauffeurs delight in driving at tremendous speed
over roads where they should exercise the greatest care. The deep
cart ruts are a continual menace, for between them the road is often
smooth and fine. But a stone or a tuft of grass may send one of the
front wheels into a rut and capsize the car. Even with the greatest
care accidents will happen, and motoring in Mongolia is by no means
devoid of danger and excitement.

About three o'clock in the afternoon of the second day we saw
frantic signals from the agony box which had been lumbering along
behind us. It appeared that the right rear wheel was broken and the
car could go no farther. There was nothing for it but to camp right
where we were while Charles repaired the wheel. Gup and I ran twenty
miles down the road to look for a well, but without success. The
remaining water was divided equally among us but next morning we
discovered that the Chinese had secreted two extra bottles for
themselves, while we had been saving ours to the last drop. It
taught me a lesson by which I profited the following summer.

On the third day the agony box limped along until noon, but when we
reached a well in the midst of the great plain south of Turin it had
to be abandoned, while we went on to Ude, the telegraph station in
the middle of the desert, and wired Mamen to bring a spare wheel
fr