wind we heard cries for the hammer and the
spare tent pins. We managed to fix ourselves without being blown
away, and when the storm was over we patched our riven tents,
and were thankful we had weathered it so well. Then came the summer
rains--late in season, it is true, but great in strength--pouring
and lashing and roaring, the great drops bursting through our rent
cloth, broken up into spray and looking like pepper shaken from a
box. We had waterproof sheets, but it was next to impossible to
keep anything dry. While the rain lasted we sat huddled in our rain
cloaks, or, spade in hand, cut new channels for suddenly
extemporised streams and pools that grew larger and continued to
come closer to our bedding and boxes. As soon as the sun returned,
there was a general drying of garments, mattresses, and sheepskin
robes. The heat was perhaps the most trying of our meteorological
experiences; but even that passed away at last, and before we had
left the plains night frost had reappeared, covering the pools
about well mouths with thin sheets of ice.

[Illustration: A MONGOL ENCAMPMENT]

'Later in the season, one afternoon, the loungers in the tent
looked out and remarked, "The Mandarin has come," and gave place to
a richly dressed, corpulent Mongol, who entered the tent, followed
by one of his servants. Salutations over, he soon showed his
colours and unmasked his batteries. He had come to fight, and we
both went at it tooth and nail. He had read a good deal, and had
come evidently prepared and primed, not in any spirit of
unfriendliness, but under the evident conviction that a better case
could be made out for Buddhism than for Christianity. The tent was
crammed with eager listeners, and we reasoned together from the
Creation to the finish, including all manner of side issues and
important questions. It was a long time before he could be
convinced that our Jesus was not spoken of and made known in the
Buddhist classics. When he was at length satisfied (on that point),
he wanted to know about the Trinity; how men could get good; how it
was right that men should escape punishment due to their misdeeds
by praying to Jesus; why God allowed animals, such as starving
dogs, to lead a life of suffering; why God did not keep sin from
entering the world; how