er as best I could, and also the desolate father (good old
Junia), who was there with tears streaming down his cheeks, to bid me an
affectionate farewell.

"Where is your son?"

"You will find him a little farther down, sahib."

I did--together with four other people lying on the ground all in a heap.
One of them who tried to stand up, called out: "Kachi, get up, here is
the sahib," and then collapsed again on the top of the others. Neither
Kachi nor the others gave any sign of life, and when I spoke to them I
discovered that they were in a state of hopeless intoxication, arm-in-arm
as they had fallen and slept.

By the side of Kachi was Dola, his uncle, supposed to be employed by me
in the quadruple capacity of interpreter, carrier, Kachi's valet, and
cook, in which latter art, after Shoka fashion, he was quite an adept,
his fame having spread all over Bias. He was, therefore, a treasure not
lightly to be abandoned, and yet, now that I wanted to act quickly and
decisively, I had to weigh whether I should proceed with two of the most
important characters in my play disabled. Should I, hampered by these
semi-corpses, be able to pass unseen the watchful Tibetan guard at the
Chongur bridge, only a few hundred yards farther on? I decided to try.
Seizing one on each side under their arm-pits, I supported them and kept
them erect. It was no easy job, and I felt our speed increase at every
step as I moved with my staggering mates down the steep and slippery
track. We reached the bottom of the hill at a breakneck rate, and as the
track was narrow along the water's edge, it was a wonder that we did not
all three of us land in the river. As it was, in coming suddenly to a
stop, my two men utterly collapsed again, and I was so exhausted that I
had to sit down and rest.

Kachi Ram had a lucid interval. He gazed round and saw me for the first
time that night.

"Sahib!" he exclaimed, with long pauses between each word, "I am drunk!"

"That is quite true," said I.

"We Shokas have this bad habit," he continued. "I had to drink _choekti_
with all my relations and friends prior to leaving for this long journey.
They would have been offended if I had not divided with each a cup of
wine. I now see everything go round. Please put my head into cold water.
Oh! the moon is jumping about, and is now under my feet!"

[Illustration: THE CHONGUR BRIDGE PREVIOUS TO BEING DESTROYED]

I complied with his request, and gave both his head an