Felt an irresistible desire for something different.
Couldn't think of anything more different from Tibet--always wanted to go there anyway.Went.Decided to strike over toward Turkestan.

And here I am." I felt at once a strong liking for this young giant.

No doubt, subconsciously, I had been feeling the need of companionship with my own kind.

I even wondered, as I led the way into my little camp, whether he would care to join fortunes with me in my journeyings.
His father's work I knew well, and although this stalwart lad was unlike what one would have expected Alvin Drake--a trifle dried, precise, wholly abstracted with his experiments--to beget, still, I reflected, heredity like the Lord sometimes works in mysterious ways its wonders to perform.
It was almost with awe that he listened to me instruct Chiu-Ming as to just how I wanted supper prepared, and his gaze dwelt fondly upon the Chinese busy among his pots and pans.
We talked a little, desultorily, as the meal was prepared--fragments of traveler's news and gossip, as is the habit of journeyers who come upon each other in the silent places.

Ever the speculation grew in his face as he made away with Chiu-Ming's artful concoctions.
Drake sighed, drawing out his pipe.
"A cook, a marvel of a cook.