him were evidently concerned at seeing their lord and
master transformed from a foaming fury into the quietest of lambs. They
seized me and brought me out of his sight to the spot where Chanden Sing
was being chastised. Here again I could not be compelled to kneel, so at
last I was allowed to squat down before the Pombo's officers.

Two Lamas produced my note-books and maps, and proceeded to question me
closely, saying that, if I spoke the truth, I should be spared;
otherwise I should be flogged and then beheaded.

I answered that I would speak the truth, whether they punished me or
not.

Dressed in a gaudy red silk coat, with gold embroidery at the collar,
one of the Lamas, a great big brute who had taken part in the flogging
of Chanden Sing, told me I must say "that my servant had shown me the
road across Tibet, and that he had drawn the maps and sketches." If I
stated this, they were willing to release me and have me conveyed back
to the frontier, promising to do me no further harm. They would cut my
servant's head off, that was all, but no personal injury would be
inflicted on me.

I explained clearly to the Lamas that I alone was responsible for the
maps and sketches, and for finding my way so far into the Forbidden
Land. I repeated several times, slowly and distinctly, that my servant
was innocent, and that therefore there was no reason to punish him. He
had only obeyed my orders in following me to Tibet, and I alone, not my
two servants, was to be punished if anybody was punishable.

The Lamas were angry at this. One of them struck me violently on the
head with the butt-end of his riding-crop. I pretended not to notice it,
though it made my scalp ache to quite an appreciable extent.

"Then we shall beat you and your man until you say what we want!" the
Lama exclaimed, angrily.

"You can beat us if you like," I replied, with assurance, "but if you
punish us unjustly it will go against yourselves. You can tear our skin
off, you can make us bleed to death, but you cannot make us feel pain."

Ando, the traitor, who spoke Hindustani fluently, acted as interpreter
whenever there was a hitch in our conversation. With what I knew of the
Tibetan language, and with this man's help, everything was explained as
clearly as possible to the Tibetans. Notwithstanding this, they
continued to lash mercilessly my poor servant. In his agony he was
biting the ground as each blow fell on him tearing away patches of skin
and f