.]

CHAPTER XVII

DISASTER AT THE RIVER

Coming out of our tent in the morning, we noticed a commotion among the
Tibetans. A number of mounted men with matchlocks had arrived. Others
similarly armed joined them. They seemed excited. I kept my eye on them
while I was cooking my food. There were some two hundred men in all,
picturesquely garbed. They were good horsemen, and looked well as they
rode in a line toward us. A little way off they stopped and dismounted.
The leaders came forward, one stalwart fellow in a handsome sheepskin
coat marching ahead of the rest. His attitude was arrogant. Dispensing
with the usual salutations, he approached quite close, shaking his fist
at me.

"_Kiu mahla lokhna nga rah luck tiba tangan_" (I will give you a goat or
a sheep if you will go back), he said.

"_Kiu donna nga di tangon!_" (And I give you this to make you go back!)
was my quick answer, while I unexpectedly administered him one straight
from the shoulder that sent him sprawling on the ground.

The army, which, with its usual prudence, was watching events from a
respectful distance, beat a hasty retreat. The officer scrambled away,
screaming. The Tibetans had so far behaved with such contemptible
cowardice that we could hardly congratulate ourselves on such easy
successes. We began to feel that really we had no enemy at all before
us. We became even careless. We ate our food, and gave this affair but
little thought.

The Tibetans did not trouble us again that day. Those who had not ridden
off retired timidly inside their black tents. Not a soul was to be seen
about in the encampment. I registered my daily observations, made a
sketch of one of the black tents, and wrote up my diary. Then we
continued our journey.

Our progress was now comparatively easy, along a broad grassy plain. We
proceeded in a south-easterly direction, observing a high snowy peak at
20 deg. (b.m.), and a low pass in the mountain range to our north-east.
A high range stood ahead of us in the far distance. At the foot of a
lonely hill we found an important _mani_ wall of great length, with
numberless inscriptions of all ages and sizes on stones, pieces of bone,
skulls, and horns. Farther on, to the south, there were three small
hillocks and two larger ones. The soldiers we had routed at the
encampment had proceeded in the direction we were now following. We
were, in fact, treading all along on the footmarks of their ponies.

We had to cr