seven in the evening
The day passed without incident . The train kept on at its moderate speed of forty kilometres an hour , an average that would have been raised to eighty had they listened to Baron Weissschnitzerdörfer . The truth is that the Chinese driver had no notion of making up the time lost between Tchertchen and Tcharkalyk . At seven in the evening we reach Kara Nor , to stay there fifty minutes . This lake , which is not as extensive as Lob Nor , absorbs the waters of the Soule Ho , coming down from the Nan Chan mountains . Our eyes are charmed with the masses of verdure that clothe its southern bank , alive with the flight of numerous birds . At eight o'clock , when we left the station , the sun had set behind the sandhills , and a sort of mirage produced by the warming of the lower zones of the atmosphere prolonged the twilight above the horizon .