Rain in torrents--A miserable night--A gorge--A gigantic
inscription--Sheltered under boulders--A fresh surprise--Only two
followers left.
WHEN night came on, I did not consider it safe to encamp near the
Tibetans. We moved away, driving our yaks before us and dragging the
newly purchased sheep. We marched two-and-a-half miles, and then halted
in a depression in the ground (16,050 feet), where we had a little
shelter from the wind, which blew with great force. To our right lay a
short range of fairly high mountains running from North to South, and cut
by a gorge, out of which flowed a large stream. At that time of the
evening we could not hope to cross it, but an attempt might be made in
the morning, when the cold of the night would have checked the melting of
the snows. Heavy showers had fallen frequently during the day, and the
moment the sun went down there was a regular downpour. Our little
_tente-d'abri_ had been pitched, but we had to clear out of it a couple
of hours later, the small basin in which we had pitched it having been
turned into a regular pond. There was no alternative for us but to come
out into the open, for where the water did not flood us the wind was so
high and the ground so moist that it was not possible to keep our tent
up. The pegs would not hold. The hours of the night seemed very long as
we sat tightly wrapped up in our waterproofs, with feet, hands and ears
frozen, and the water dripping down upon us. At dawn there were no signs
of the storm abating. We had not been able to light a fire in the
evening, nor could we light one now, and we were cold, hungry and
miserable. The thermometer had been down to 36°. Towards noon, the rain
still pouring down in torrents and there being no sign of its clearing,
we loaded our yaks and entered the gorge between the snow-covered
mountains. With difficulty we crossed the tributary we had so far
followed, and then proceeded along the right bank of the main stream to
23° 30", then to 25°.
[Illustration: CAMP WITH GIGANTIC INSCRIPTION]
We were so exhausted and wet that, when towards evening we came to an
enormous cliff, on the rocky face of which a patient Lama sculptor had
engraved in gigantic letters the everlasting characters, _Omne mani padme
hun_, we halted. The gorge was very narrow here, and we managed to find a
dry spot under a big boulder, but as there was not sufficient room for
all five, the two Shokas went under the shelter of another rock a little
way off. This seemed natural enough, nor could I anticipate any danger,
taking care myself of the weapons and the scientific instruments, while
the Shokas had under their own sheltering boulder the bags containing
nearly all our provisions except tinned meats. The rain pelted all night,
the wind howled, and again we could not light a fire. The thermometer did
not fall below 38°, but the cold, owing to our drenched condition, seemed
intense. In fact, we were so frozen that we did not venture to eat, but,
crouching ourselves in the small dry space at our disposal, we eventually
fell fast asleep without tasting food. I slept soundly for the first time
since I had been in Tibet, and it was broad daylight when I woke up, to
find the man Nattoo from Kuti, and Bijesing the Johari, departed from
under their sheltering rock, together with the loads entrusted to them. I
discovered their tracks, half washed away, in the direction from which we
had come the previous night. The rascals had bolted, and there would have
been comparatively little harm in that, if only they had not taken with
them all the stock of provisions for my two Hindoo servants, and a
quantity of good rope, straps, and other miscellaneous articles, which we
were bound to miss at every turn and which we had absolutely no means of
replacing.
Of thirty picked servants who had started with me, twenty-eight had now
abandoned me, and only two remained: faithful Chanden Sing and Mansing
the leper!
The weather continued horrible, with no food for my men and no fuel! I
proposed to the two to go back also and let me continue alone. I
described to them the dangers of following me farther, and warned them
fully, but they absolutely refused to leave me.
"Sahib, we are not Shokas," were their words. "If you die, we will die
with you. We fear not death. We are sorry to see you suffer, sahib, but
never mind us. We are only poor people, therefore it is of no
consequence."