rt on my return journey towards the Indian frontier. He
took from my own money one hundred and twenty rupees, which he placed in
my pocket for my wants during the journey, and commanded that, though I
must be kept chained up, I was to be treated kindly, and my servants
also.

When all was ready, Mansing and I were led on foot to Toxem, our guard
consisting of some fifty horsemen riding on ponies. We had to travel at a
great speed despite our severely lacerated feet, our aching bones, and
the sores and wounds with which we were covered all over. The soldiers
led me tied by the neck like a dog, and dragged me along when, panting,
exhausted and suffering, I could not keep up with the ponies. We crossed
several cold streams, sinking in water and mud up to our waists.

At Toxem, to my great delight, I beheld Chanden Sing still alive. He had
been kept prisoner in the mud-house, where he had remained tied upright
to a post for over three days, and for four days he had not eaten food
nor drunk anything. He was told that I had been beheaded. He was in a
dreadful condition; almost dying from his wounds, cold and starvation.

We were detained there for the night, half-choked by smoke in one of the
rooms of the mud-house packed with soldiers, who, with a woman of easy
morals, gambled the whole night, and sang and swore and fought,
preventing us from sleeping for even a few minutes.

[Illustration: CHANDEN SING TIED TO A POST]

The next day at sunrise Chanden Sing and I were placed on yaks, not on
riding saddles, but on pack-saddles such as those shown in the
illustration in chapter xl. p. 223. Poor Mansing was made to walk, and
was beaten mercilessly when, tired and worn out, he fell or remained
behind. They again tied him with a rope by the neck and dragged him along
in a most brutal manner. We had a strong guard to prevent our escaping,
and they demanded fresh relays of yaks and ponies and food for themselves
at all the encampments, so that we travelled very fast. In the first five
days we covered one hundred and seventy-eight miles, the two longest
marches being respectively forty-two and forty-five miles; but afterwards
we did not cover quite such great distances.

[Illustration: A WHITE YAK]

We suffered considerably on these long marches, as the soldiers
ill-treated us and would not allow us to eat every day for fear we should
get too strong. They let us have food only every two or three days, and
our exhaustion and th