seemed a
safe enough spot for camping. We dared not put up a tent, and we took
the precaution of burying all our baggage in case of a surprise during
the night. Unhampered, we should at any moment be able to hide ourselves
away from our pursuers or run before them. We could always come back
afterward for our things if we had the chance.

Now that everything seemed to be running smoothly, I made a painful
discovery. It was necessary for me to move rapidly. Imagine my surprise
when I found that we were out of provisions. 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 fully and above that
length of time. Now, for some unknown reason, we had only sufficient
food for one meagre meal. We only had a few grains of salt left.

"What have you done with it?" I inquired, angrily, as it immediately
flashed across my mind that my carriers had been playing foul. I had
ordered each man to take one pound of salt.

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

[Illustration: BEHIND OUR BULWARKS]

After the hardships and fatigue we had undergone, and the anxiety and
difficulty of carrying on my work of surveying, photography, sketching,
and writing, under conditions of unusual discomfort and risk, it was
indeed a hard blow to me to see my plans spoiled. We were still three
or four days' journey from Mansarowar, where I expected to obtain fresh
supplies. Again I had the choice of giving up and returning into India
or of being captured by the Tibetan soldiers, whom I had so far
successfully avoided. Though not usually affected by physical pain, I
sometimes suffer under mental stress. I felt ill and depressed. To add
bodily discomfort to my moral sufferings, I slipped, while jumping in
the semi-darkness from stone to stone across the Gakkon River, and fell
flat into about four feet of ice-cold water. The wind was high at the
time. The thermometer, after dark, went down to 26 deg. While I was
sitting in my wet clothes and talking our situation over, I became so
cold and exhausted that I felt I was about to collapse altogether. High
fever set in, and I became almost delirious. With my teeth chattering
and my temperature at its highest, all my troubles seemed greater than
they were. Failure seemed inevitable, my position hopeless. A plan
suddenly fl