ver stand a cart; I could
never sit so many hours in the saddle. There would be no water; I could
not drink it if there were. The weather would be intolerably hot; I
must expect snowstorms and sandstorms; there would be heavy rains making
going impossible. My transport would give out; my men would desert me;
brigands would waylay and rob my caravan.

One gentleman to whom I wrote began his reply by saying that he answered
my inquiries "with much pleasure"; and then continued, "Frankly, I do
not think the trip from Kalgan to Urga should be taken by a lady alone
at any time." Then followed ten good reasons why I should not go, and
first and foremost that I should have to leave behind me all inns, and
would have to camp out.

That settled it. There was nothing I should be so glad to leave behind
as inns, and for months I had been longing to sleep in a tent. So I fell
to making my preparations with good heart. But the enemy had not reached
the end of his resources (the enemy was usually a well-bred, intelligent
European or American with charming manners and the kindest intentions.)
An English officer just returned from Mongolia assured me I could never
get my dog across, the savage Mongol brutes would tear him in pieces;
but I knew my dog and he did not, so I put that aside. The last shot was
the hardest to meet: "It will not be worth while." Almost I gave in, but
I had reached the pig-headed stage, and I could not, though I wanted
to.

And now the crossing of Mongolia is a thing of the past, and I am not
prepared to deny anything that any one asserted about the journey, only
somehow I managed to slip through between all the dangers and
difficulties. I did the trip from wall to railway, not counting the
stops I made for my own pleasure, in twenty-eight days; the weather was
generally a joy, and I bade my Mongols good-bye in Urga with real
regret. I had no troubles, I met with no accidents, and it was worth
while--for once.

It is surprising how well one gets on with makeshifts. As Peking is not
a treaty port there are few European shops, and it would seem as
unsatisfactory a place for making up a camping-outfit as Hong Kong was
satisfactory, but with the help of kind friends I managed to get
together something that would pass muster. There were the usual stores,
but with much more in the way of tinned meat and smoked fish than I took
in West China, for there would be no handy fowls along our road across
Mongolia, only