ident and excitement, near sunset we arrived at our
destination.

[Illustration: THE RIDE ON A SPIKED SADDLE]

On the crown of a hill stood a fortress and large Lamasery. At its foot,
in front of a large structure, the Pombo's gaudy tent had been pitched.
The name of this place, as far as I could afterward ascertain, was Namj
Lacce Galshio or Gyatsho.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 12: A form of torture which consists in placing the legs upon
two parallel logs of wood. They are then fractured by a heavy blow
struck with a mallet.]

CHAPTER XXI

THE EXECUTIONER

Two or three men tore me roughly off the saddle. The pain in my spine
caused by the spikes was intense. I asked for a moment's rest. My
captors refused to let me stop, and, roughly thrusting me forward, said
I would be beheaded in an instant. All the people round jeered and made
signs to me that my head would be cut off. Insults of all kinds were
showered upon me by the crowd of Lamas and soldiers. I was hustled to
the execution-ground, which lay to the left front of the tent. On the
ground was a long log of wood in the shape of a prism. Upon the sharp
edge of this I was made to stand. Several men held me by the body while
four or five others, using their combined strength, stretched my legs
wide apart. Fixed in this painful position, the Tibetans securely tied
my feet to the log of wood with cords of yak-hair. Several men were made
to pull these cords, and they were so tight that they cut into my skin
and flesh in several places round my ankles and on my feet. Many of the
cuts were as much as three inches long.[13]

When I was thus firmly bound, the man Nerba, whom I have mentioned
before as having fired a shot at me, came forward, and then, going
behind me, seized me by the hair of my head. My hair was long, as it had
not been cut for more than five months.

The sight before me was impressive. By the Pombo's tent stood in a row
the most villanous brutes I have ever set eyes upon. One, a powerful,
repulsive individual, held in his hand a great knobbed mallet used for
fracturing bones; another carried a bow and arrows; a third held a big
two-handed sword; others made a display of various ghastly instruments
of torture. The crowd, thirsting for my blood, formed up in a
semicircle, leaving room for me to see the parade of the torture
implements that awaited me. As my eyes roamed from one figure to the
other, the several Lamas shook their various imple