onerous task, for the dust made it impossible to see more than
a yard or two ahead. The wheel-drivers were in no better case and in
addition they had the waggon-pole to look after, and the centre-drivers
were betwixt the devil and the deep sea.

Besides the rough country there were deep, narrow nullahs to be crossed,
some of them with sides as steep as the roof of a house. Then the
wheel-drivers reined in till the pole-bars almost lifted the weary horses
from the ground, and those in front picked a perilous way step by step over
the rocky surface of the incline.

Nearing the floor of the nullah the drivers loosed the reins and flogged
their horses into some semblance of a gallop in order to gain enough
impetus to carry them up the ascent on the other side. One of these nullahs
was a fearsome place: half-way down the descent the path had a twist in it
and at the angle of the turn was a gigantic boulder almost blocking the
way. In the inky darkness it was hideously difficult to get down without
overturning the vehicles. The very path itself was a mere narrow cleft in
the side of the nullah, and the lead horses, thrown out of draught to allow
those in the wheel to bring their waggon round the boulder, had to scramble
up the rocky slope again until they were almost level with the waggon
itself. Many encompassed the journey in safety, but soon the inevitable
happened: a limber failed to clear the boulder. As the horses were making
the turn the off-wheel crunched against the side, lifted, hung poised for a
second, then, as the other wheel continued to move, swung farther over, and
the waggon overturned with a sickening crash, dragging men and horses to
the earth in inextricable confusion. The way was completely blocked, and
meanwhile those behind, ignorant of what had passed, were preparing to make
the descent!

A terrible debacle was prevented by the quick presence of mind of one who
scrambled to the lip of the nullah and called a halt. How the waggon was
righted and set on its way again nobody could say clearly. Men tugged at
drag-ropes and strained at the wheels, it seemed for hours. But the task
was at last done--horses and men were providentially unhurt. One of the
drivers, who had been pinned between his two horses by the fall, had fallen
asleep while waiting to be extricated, and lay peacefully oblivious to the
pother around him.

When all was clear and the waggon once more sent on its way, the remainder
started to