30 train.
Passengers--at least first-class passengers--were not numerous, and Major
Twining and I had no difficulty in securing two compartments--one for our
wives and one for ourselves.
An Indian first-class carriage is roomy, but bare, being arranged with a
view to heat rather than cold Two long seats run "fore and aft" on either
side, and upon them your servant makes your bed at night. Two upper berths
can be let down in case of a crowd. At the end of each compartment is a
small toilet-room.
It was unexpectedly chilly at night, and Twining and I were glad to roll
ourselves up in as many rugs and "resais" as we could persuade the ladies
to leave to us.
[1] A big deal case which we unpacked at Srinagar proved to contain a
"life-sized" work-table. The package holding our camp beds and bedding,
having a humbler aspect, had been sent to Bombay and cost as a world
of worry and expense to recover!
CHAPTER III
KARACHI TO ABBOTABAD
This morning we awoke to find ourselves rattling and shaking our way
through the Sind Desert--an interminable waste of sand, barren and
thirsty-looking, covered with a patchy scrub of yellowish and grey-purple
bushes.
I can well imagine how hatefully hot it can be here, but to-day it has
been merely pleasantly warm.
Jane and I were deeply interested in the novel scenes we passed through,
which, while new and strange to us, were yet made familiar by what we had
read and heard.
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