t in which he had rolled himself tight. This
inspired me with the idea of attempting to escape.

Two or three hours later the night was dark. Thanks to the exceptionally
supple nature of my hands, I succeeded in drawing the right hand out of
my handcuffs, and, after an hour or so of stealthy and anxious work, I
managed to unloose the cord that bound Mansing's feet. I whispered to
him to get up slowly and to push the sword toward me with his foot until
I could reach it. If successful in this, I could soon cut my bonds and
those fastening Mansing's hands, and with a weapon in our possession we
would make a bold dash for liberty.

Mansing, however, was not a champion of agility. In his joy at feeling
partly free, the poor coolie moved his stiff legs clumsily. The vigilant
watch-dogs detected this, and gave the alarm by barking. The guards were
up in a moment. Timid as they always were, they all hurriedly left us,
and went to fetch lights in order to examine our bonds.

In the meanwhile, protected by the darkness of the stormy night, I had
succeeded in replacing my hand inside the iron handcuff. Putting it back
was more difficult than drawing it out, but I just managed to do it in
time. The men who had gone to the monastery returned with lights. I
pretended to be fast asleep: a likely thing with every bone in my body
feeling as if it were disjointed, every limb half numbed and frozen,
every tendon so strained as to drive me mad with pain!

The Tibetans found the bonds round Mansing's feet undone. They examined
my hands and saw them just as they had left them. They inspected my
feet. The ropes were still there cutting into my flesh. They inspected
Mansing's hands, only to find them still fastened to the post behind.

The Tibetans were so puzzled at this mysterious occurrence that they
positively got frightened. They began to shout excitedly, calling for
help. In a moment the alarm was given, a crowd of men rushed at us, and,
with their swords drawn, surrounded us. One man, braver than the rest,
gave Mansing a few cuts with a whip, warning us that if the ropes were
found undone again they would decapitate us there and then. The coolie
was again bound more tightly than ever.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 13: Measured some weeks later by Doctor Wilson.]

CHAPTER XXII

A CHARMED LIFE

By way of precaution, a light was set between Mansing and myself, and,
as it was still raining hard, the Tibetans placed a canvas sh