little dum-dum."

The Mongols spent the night under their tent in the open court beside
their camels, because they wanted to be near to feed them. About seven
o'clock we started. My friend took up his post as rear guard to our
caravan, keeping all the time behind Gorokoff, who with his sister, both
armed from tip to toe, rode splendid mounts.

"How have you kept your horses in such fine condition coming all the way
from Samgaltai?" I inquired as I looked over their fine beasts.

When he answered that these belonged to his host, I realized that Kanine
was not so poor as he made out; for any rich Mongol would have given him
in exchange for one of these lovely animals enough sheep to have kept
his household in mutton for a whole year.

Soon we came to a large swamp surrounded by dense brush, where I was
much astonished by seeing literally hundreds of white kuropatka or
partridges. Out of the water rose a flock of duck with a mad rush as
we hove in sight. Winter, cold driving wind, snow and wild ducks! The
Mongol explained it to me thus:

"This swamp always remains warm and never freezes. The wild ducks live
here the year round and the kuropatka too, finding fresh food in the
soft warm earth."

As I was speaking with the Mongol I noticed over the swamp a tongue of
reddish-yellow flame. It flashed and disappeared at once but later, on
the farther edge, two further tongues ran upward. I realized that here
was the real will-o'-the-wisp surrounded by so many thousands of legends
and explained so simply by chemistry as merely a flash of methane or
swamp gas generated by the putrefying of vegetable matter in the warm
damp earth.

"Here dwell the demons of Adair, who are in perpetual war with those of
Muren," explained the Mongol.

"Indeed," I thought, "if in prosaic Europe in our days the inhabitants
of our villages believe these flames to be some wild sorcery, then
surely in the land of mystery they must be at least the evidences of war
between the demons of two neighboring rivers!"

After passing this swamp we made out far ahead of us a large monastery.
Though this was some half mile off the road, the Gorokoffs said they
would ride over to it to make some purchases in the Chinese shops there.
They quickly rode away, promising to overtake us shortly, but we did not
see them again for a while. They slipped away without leaving any trail
but we met them later in very unexpected circumstances of fatal portent
for them. O