to hide ourselves away from our pursuers or run before
them, and we could always come back afterwards for our things if an
opportunity offered itself.

And now, just as everything seemed to be running smoothly, I made a
terrible discovery. At this stage of the journey, when it was important
for me to move very rapidly, I found that we were out of provisions. This
was indeed an unpleasant surprise, for before leaving the larger body of
my expedition I had given orders to my men to take food for ten days. The
doctor, who had been deputed to see to this, had assured me that the
loads contained quite enough to last us over that length of time, and now
for some unaccountable reason we had only sufficient food for one meagre
meal. Moreover, I discovered that we had only a few grains of salt left.

"What have you done with it?" I inquired angrily, as it immediately
flashed across my mind that there had been foul play among my carriers. I
had ordered each man to take half seer (1 lb.) of salt.

"Yes, sahib, but we forgot to take it," said the men in a chorus.

After the terrible hardships and fatigue we had gone through, and the
anxiety and difficulty of carrying on my surveying, photography,
sketching, writing, collecting, &c., under conditions of unusual
discomfort and risk, it was, indeed, a hard blow to me to see all my
plans thus unexpectedly frustrated, for we were still three or four days'
journey from Mansarowar, where I relied on getting fresh supplies. Having
come thus far, should I be compelled now to go back or give in, and be
captured by the Tibetan soldiers whom I had so successfully evaded?
Though not usually much affected by physical pain, I unfortunately suffer
greatly under any mental stress. I felt quite ill and depressed, and, to
add bodily discomfort to my moral sufferings, came the fact that I had
slipped, while jumping in semi-darkness from stone to stone across the
Gakkon River, and had fallen flat into about four feet of water. The wind
was very high at the time, and the thermometer down to 26 deg., so that,
sitting in my wet clothes to discuss our present situation with my men, I
suddenly became so cold, shivery and exhausted, that I thought I was
about to collapse altogether. My usual good spirits, which had done much
towards carrying me so far, seemed extinguished; my strength failed me
entirely, and a high fever set in, increasing in violence so fast that,
notwithstanding my desperate struggle no