Let alone riding a camel, I had never even ridden a horse at that time. Our guide, Lao Zhang, led us to choose one each. He told us that there was something special about choosing a camel.
He said that once an adult female camel gives birth to a calf, the water-retaining sac in the body will become smaller. This kind of camel is not suitable for entering the depths of the desert. It is okay to walk around the edge of the desert.
The camel park set out for the Alxa Desert. We selected a total of six camels to form a camel team during this trip. The camels we selected were used to pull luggage and tools, and secondly, they were also used as spare camels. At noon, we were ordered by Lao Zhang
Next, we all changed our outfits. Douyazai wrapped his head in a gauze scarf and said awkwardly, "Why do we look so much like robbers in our outfits?"
"If you can't speak, don't speak. You are the robber," Zhao Xuanxuan skillfully rode on the camel and pulled the reins.
"This girl's posture is very standard. Have you ridden before?" the guide Lao Zhang said with a smile.
"My family used to have a horse farm," Zhao Xuanxuan said proudly, "I knew how to ride a horse when I was a child. I feel that riding a camel is not much different from riding a horse. They are very similar."
At around 8 o'clock in the evening, our camel team arrived at Highway 67, which was already on the edge of the Alxa Desert. We crossed the highway and entered Alxa.
At the suggestion of our guide Lao Zhang, we set up tents along the road and ate hot food around the campfire at night. Lao Zhang pointed at the darkness behind us.
"According to the speed of our camel team, we will probably reach the first stop, Mold Tomb, tomorrow evening." .??.
I took a sip of water and asked, "Uncle Zhang, can you tell the direction without looking at the map? There are no roads in the desert, so don't lead us off the road."
"Hey, look what you said, I didn't know this when I was growing up in Alxa. Maps don't work here. I usually marked and drew the map last month. When the sandstorm comes next month, it will change the landscape. You can see everything.
Not clear."
"In addition, you should also pay attention when sleeping at night. There are often fierce snakes here (Taipan snakes). Be careful not to be bitten by the fierce snakes."
According to his plan, starting from the national highway and passing through the Mozifen, Leeward Slope, Crescent Moon Spring Oasis, and Paba Sand Dunes, you can reach the area where the Hute people often live. The last time he took reporter Gan, he met them near the Crescent Moon Spring Oasis.
Hute tribe.
I didn't dare to sleep at all at night. I had to take turns guarding the camels to prevent them from getting wind. Unless something unexpected happened, my scheduled shift was from two to four o'clock in the middle of the night. In front of me was Qin Xingping, so I didn't let the boss and Zhao Xuanxuan keep watch.
At about 1:30 in the middle of the night, I got up on time to change my shift. Qin Xingping was looking at the fire and smoking, as if he was worried.
"Brother Qin, go and rest, let me watch over you."
He turned to look at me and said, "I'm fine. You can sleep a little longer. Come on, have a smoke." He threw a cigarette over.
Sitting on the floor, I lit up a cigarette and took a puff, which made my throat burn.
"Yunfeng, you don't have a girlfriend yet? Have you ever thought about getting married?"
"How dare you think about it," I flicked the ashes of my cigarette and said with a smile, "people like us are wandering around, and we might get in one day, and no girl dares to follow, so I have already planned it, thirty-five
talk about it later."
Qin Xingping pointed to the tent bag over there, "How about that girl? To be honest, she is quite handsome. I think you two are suitable."
"Zhao Xuanxuan?" I said, Brother Qin, don't be joking, she and I are just friends, and Zhao Xuanxuan is the eldest lady.
"Tch, that's not necessarily true. The eldest lady can do such dirty work as tomb robbing? I think it's only right that the eldest lady is a maid."
While chatting around the fire, Qin Xingping suddenly stood up suddenly.
"Who!" He pointed his flashlight directly to the northwest.
"What's wrong, Brother Qin?" I quickly stood up and asked.
Qin Xingping shook the flashlight back and forth, "Huh? I seemed to have seen a black shadow just now? Why did it disappear in the blink of an eye?"
"Black shadow? Where?" I also turned on the flashlight and looked around.
"There's nothing. Brother Qin, were you dazzled just now?"
Qin Xingping took back the flashlight and said with a smile, "Maybe I was sleepy just now and my eyesight was dazzled. Then I'll go back to sleep. If you need anything, just call me."
"Okay, Brother Qin, you should go to bed early." I watched him get into the tent bag.
After adding more firewood half an hour later, I stared at the fire in a daze.
Suddenly, the back of my head hurt.
"Who!" I turned around suddenly, and it was clear that someone had just thrown a piece of sand at me.
There was nothing behind him.
"Is it a ghost?"
I immediately shook my head in denial, don't scare yourself.
More than an hour passed, around 3:30, when I yawned and felt sleepy.
"Ah!" Suddenly, a scream came from Zhao Xuanxuan's bag.
Damn it! I ran over, took out the small dagger I had hidden with me, and opened the zipper of the tent bag!
"What's wrong!" .??.
Zhao Xuanxuan looked around with frightened eyes. When she saw that the person coming was me, she came out and grabbed my arm and said, "Just now, a hand touched me!"
"What! Where did I touch you!"
She lowered her head and whispered hesitantly: "You touched my butt."
At this time, the boss, the guide Lao Zhang and Qin Xingping, who had just slept, also woke up. Only Dou Sprout was still sleeping soundly.
I told them what happened just now, and Zhao Xuanxuan said that I could testify that what Yunfeng said was true. There was indeed a hand touching me just now.
He turned his head towards the guide Lao Zhang and said, "Look at this."
Lao Zhang ran to the fire. He picked up a piece of sand on the ground. After examining it carefully, he said, "Is this what you just threw away?"
I looked again and nodded in confirmation.
The guide Lao Zhang's expression changed and he said, "It will be dawn in two or three hours. Don't even sleep. Wake up that young man."
When Dou Sprout was woken up, he complained in confusion: "It's only what time. They're all here for a meeting, so I won't let anyone sleep."
Everyone sat in a circle around the fire. The guide Lao Zhang frowned and said to himself: "We may have encountered a sand mule. In the past, I only heard the old people say that there are live ones in the deep desert, but now we
You are camping on the edge of the national highway, you shouldn’t.” "Sand mule? What is that? Is it an animal?" Dou Sprout asked.
Lao Zhang recalled: "I feel ashamed to say that I have never seen a living sand mule. I only saw a dead one when I was very young. I remember that my grandmother skinned the sand mule and sold it to a businessman for five dollars."
At more than a hundred yuan, a piece of skin is more expensive than a tiger skin."
Lao Zhang introduced that the sand mule is a kind of monkey that lives deep in the Alxa Oasis. People from the scientific research institute often tried to find it in the past, but finally failed to find it after several attempts. The sand mule is different from other monkeys.
They can wear clothes, are over one meter tall, and move very quickly, making it impossible for normal people to catch them.
Local people say that a leather hat made of sand mule skin can cure headaches. It is mysterious. No matter how severe the headache is, the pain will be gone immediately as long as you put on this hat. Of course, these rumors are just rumors and I don’t know whether they are true or not.
This thing likes to play tricks on people. Sometimes it will hide and hit people with sand. Some people say that the sand mule is transformed from a dead child. It has a moody personality. If you want to anger it, the consequences will be serious.
After listening to Lao Zhang's story, the boss and I looked at each other.
Isn't this a mandrill? The kind of mandrill under Fei Mo Mountain. Why does it feel exactly the same?
But if you think about it carefully, it's different. Mandrills live in deep mountains, but this thing lives in a desert with little food and water. Besides, I've never heard that mandrill skin can cure headaches.
Finally, when I put it all together, I felt that the two were not the same thing.
Zhao Xuanxuan knew that a monkey might have touched her, and her face was very ugly. As for Dou Sprout, this kid is the worst. He cursed and said: "What the hell, sand mules, after all, aren't they just some beastly monkeys? If they dare to disturb my sleep again,
I will kill one of them with one knife."
"Shh!" the guide Lao Zhang made a silent gesture.
"Young people, don't say that." Lao Zhang turned his head and glanced around. "When my grandma was alive, she said that the sand mules were petty and vengeful. If you let them hear what you said, wouldn't you be asking for trouble for us?"
"Ha," Dou Sprout stood up with a smile. He looked at the darkness around him and shouted, "I'm here, but a bunch of beasts dare to stir up trouble and kill you all again!"