ews barely escaped with
his life. He returned to me, saying that the Jong Pen was preparing for
war, that he had gathered all his soldiers on the top of a narrow pass,
where they had piled up a great number of large rocks and smaller
ammunition to be rolled down upon us when we should be coming up the
mountain-side.

Having collected men enough, after much trouble, I one day unexpectedly
mustered them, and that same night made a sudden start. The Tibetans,
suspecting that I might be leaving that day, cut down the bridge over a
rapid and deep torrent forming the boundary between India and Nepal.
This inconvenienced me, as I had to find my way on our side of the
stream, which was very rugged. This gave us additional trouble. Some of
the precipices we had to cross were extremely dangerous.

I reached the highest village in the Himahlyas, a place called Kuti, at
an elevation of 12,920 feet. Here I hastily made my final preparations
for the last dash across the frontier. Every available Shoka had joined
my party, and no inducement brought more volunteers. I needed two extra
men. Two stray shepherds turned up half famished and naked, with long,
unkempt heads of hair, and merely a coral necklace and a silver bangle
by way of clothing. With these two men my little force was brought up to
thirty strong.

One of the two shepherds interested me. He was sulky. He seldom uttered
a word, and when he did, he never spoke pleasantly. He looked painfully
ill. Motionless, he would sometimes stare at a fixed point as if in a
trance. His features were peculiarly refined and regular, but his skin
had the ghastly, shiny, whitish tinge peculiar to lepers. I paid no
special attention to him at first, as I was busy with other matters; but
one day while on the march I examined him carefully, and discovered that
the poor fellow had indeed all the symptoms of that most terrible of all
diseases, leprosy. His distorted and contracted fingers, with the skin
sore at the joints, were a sad and certain proof. I examined his feet,
and found further evidence that the man was a leper.

"What is your name?" I inquired of him.

"Mansing," he said, dryly, becoming immediately again absorbed in one of
his dreamy trances.

In looking over my followers I was amused to see what a strange mixture
they were. There were Humlis and Jumlis, mountain tribesmen living near
the Tibetan border; they wore their long black hair tied into small
braids and a topknot. Th