y servants also in pursuit. The Tehsildhar produced one ekka
with great pomp, as earnest of what he could and would do later on.

During the afternoon the landau turned up from Srinagar, and at 6 P.M. one
of my myrmidons rushed in to say that two ekkas had arrived at the dak
bungalow.

It was but a few yards away, and in a couple of minutes I was on the spot.
The ekkas had come up from Pindi, and the sahib who had lured them to
Baramula seemed astonished at my method of taking them over. In an
uncommonly short while the ekkas were parked, with the landau, close to
the boats and under strict watch, while all harness was brought on board
my dounga, just in time, as native officials of some sort romped up and
claimed the ekkas, and threatened to beat my servants. It was explained to
them gently, but firmly, that if they touched my ekkas or landau they
would taste the waters of the Jhelum. We were then left in peaceful
possession.

_Tuesday, October 10_.--On Sunday morning we really saw our way to making
a start. We had three ekkas collected, and the Tehsildhar produced a
fourth with a great flourish, as though in expectation of a heavy tip. The
landau was being piled with odds and ends while the last bits of business
were being got through. Juma and his crew were paid and tipped (grumbling,
of course, for the Kashmiri is a lineal descendant of the horse-leech).
The shikari went to Smithson, and the sweeper and permanent coolie were
transferred to the assistant forest officer, while Ayata (in charge of
Freddie, the blackbird) scrambled into the leading ekka.

By noon all was ready, and amid the rattle and jingle of many harness
bells and the salaams of the domestics, we bowled out of Baramula, and set
forward down the valley of the Jhelum.

CHAPTER XV

DELHI AND AGRA

The journey down was uneventful, and quite unlike the journey up, when we
had been briskly occupied in dodging landslips for days. A good road,
white and dry, and sloping steadily downward; a good pair of ponies,
strong and willing; a roomy landau, wherein Hesketh--still suffering from
his fall at Drogmulla--could stretch himself in comparative comfort,
combined to bring us to Kohala this afternoon in a state of excellent
preservation. Here we crossed the bridge, which brought us to the right
bank of the river--from Kashmir to British territory.

Kohala is the proud possessor of one of the very worst dak bungalows yet
discovered. This seems disapp