Towards Mansarowar--Mansing's vision--Bathing in Mansarowar.
THE next day, amidst repeated good-byes and professions of friendship on
the part of our hosts and jailers, we departed towards Mansarowar, and
late in the afternoon reached the Tucker village and Gomba, where we put
up at the same _serai_ in which I had slept on my way out. All our bonds
were here removed for good, and we enjoyed comparative freedom, though
four men walked by my side wherever I went, and an equal number looked
after Chanden Sing and Mansing. Naturally we were not allowed to go far
from the _serai_, but we could prowl about in the village. I took this
opportunity to have a swim in the Mansarowar Lake, and Chanden Sing and
Mansing again paid fresh salaams to the gods and plunged in the sacred
water.
The Lamas, who had been so friendly during my former visit, were now
extremely sulky and rude; and, after having witnessed our arrival, they
all withdrew into the monastery, banging the gate after them. All the
villagers, too, hastily retired to their respective houses. The place was
deserted with the exception of the soldiers round us.
Poor Mansing, who, worn out and in great pain, was sitting close by me,
looking vaguely at the lake, had an extraordinary vision, the result,
probably, of fever or exhaustion.
"Oh, sahib," said he, as if in a dream, though he was quite awake; "look,
look! Look at the crowd of people walking on the water. There must be
more than a thousand men! Oh, how big they are getting!... And there is
God ... Seva.... No, they are Tibetans, they are coming to kill us, they
are Lamas! Oh, come, sahib, they are so near.... Oh, they are
flying...!"
I could see that the poor fellow was under an hallucination. His forehead
was burning and he was in a high fever.
"They have all disappeared!" he exclaimed, as I placed my hand on his
forehead and he woke from his trance.
He seemed quite stupefied for a few moments; and, on my inquiring of him
later whether he had seen the phantom crowd again, he could not remember
ever having seen it at all.
[Illustration: A TIBETAN SHEPHERD]
The natives came to visit us in the _serai_ during the evening, and we
had great fun with them, for the Tibetans are full of humour and have
many comical ways. As for ourselves, now that we were only two marches
from Taklakot, it was but natural that our spirits were high. Only two
more days of captivity, and then a prospect of freedom.
It was still dark when we were roused and ordered to start. The soldiers
dragged us out of the _serai_. We entreated them to let us have another
plunge in the sacred Mansarowar, and the three of us were eventually
allowed to do so. The water was bitterly cold, and we had nothing to dry
ourselves with.
It was about an hour before sunrise when we were placed on our yaks and,
surrounded by some thirty soldiers, rode off.
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF A SERAI]