unused to this form of locomotion, took a tight grip as the long-legged
beast rose from the ground in unexpected jerks and set off at a jolting
walk that shook its riders painfully. Then it broke into a trot equally
disconcerting but finally settled into an easy canter that was as
comfortable a motion as its previous paces had been spine-dislocating.
The route lay at first over a space of desert which was unpleasant, for
the sand was blown in clouds by a high wind, almost a gale. But the
camels were fast movers and it did not take very long before they were
passing through scrub jungle and finally reached the wide stretch of
cultivation near Marwa.

The tank, as lakes are called in India, lay in the centre of a shallow
depression, the rim of which all round was about four hundred yards from
the water which, now half a mile across, evidently filled the whole
basin in the rainy season. The strong breeze churned its surface into
little waves and piled up masses of froth and foam against the bending
reeds at one end of the tank, where, about fifty yards from the water's
edge stood a couple of thorny trees, offering almost the only shade to
be found for a long distance around. In the shallows were many yellow
egrets, while a _sarus_ crane stalked solemnly along the far bank, and
everywhere bird-life, rare elsewhere in the State, abounded. The land
all about was green, a refreshing change from the usual sandy and
parched character of most of the country.

But beyond the tank the fields stretched away out of sight. At the edge
of the cultivation the camels were halted and the party dismounted from
them and separated. Mrs. Norton, who was a fair shot and carried a light
12-bore gun, started to walk up the partridges with Raymond, while her
husband went to search the reeds and the borders of the lake for strange
insects. Wargrave armed with a sporting Mannlicher rifle, set off on a