that we could get at any rate part of the way;
so he cast off from his willow-tree, and sulkily poked and poled out into
the Wular, taking uncommon good care to hug the shore with fervour.

Here and there a group of willows standing far out into the lake, or a
half-drowned village, drove us out into the open water, and once when,
like a latter-day Vasco de Gama, the Admiral was striving to double the
dreadful promontory of a water-logged fence, a puff of wind fell upon us,
lashing the smooth water into ripples, whereupon the crew lost their wits
with fright, and the lady mariners in the cook-boat set up a dismal
howling; the ark, taking charge, crashed through the fence, her way
carrying us to the very door of a frontier villa of an amphibious village.
With amazing alacrity the crew tied us up to the door-post, and prepared
to go into winter quarters.

This did not suit us at all, and

"The harmless storm being ended,"

we ruthlessly broke away from our haven of refuge, and safely arrived at
Alsu.

_Friday, May_ 19.--An ominous stillness and repose at 3 o'clock this
morning sent me forth to see why the windlass was not being manned. A
thing like a big grey bat flapping about, proved, on inspection, to be
that rascal the Lord High Admiral Satarah. He said he could not start, as
the hired coolies from Kunis had been so terrified by the horrors of
yesterday that they had departed in the night, sacrificing their pay
rather than run any more risks with such daredevils as the mem-sahib and
me. This was vexatious and entirely unexpected, as I had never before
known a coolie to bolt before pay-day. Sabz Ali and Satarah were promptly
despatched on a pressgang foray, while I put to sea with the
first-lieutenant to show that I meant business. A crew was found in a
surprisingly short time, and a frenzied dart was made for the mouth of the
Jhelum.

All day we poled round the shore of the lake, over flooded fields where
the mustard had spread its cloth of gold a short week ago, over the very
hedges we had scrambled through when duck-shooting in April, until in the
evening we entered the river just below Sumbal.

The towing-path was almost, in many places quite, under water, and the
whole country looked most forlorn and melancholy as the sun went down--a
pale yellow ball in a pale yellow haze.

_Sunday, May_ 21.--All yesterday we towed up the river against a current
which ran swift and strong.

The passage of the bridge