ting at the
harmless colors.

"I paint pictures."

"No, you are lying. With the 'yellow' you find where gold is in the
country, and with the 'blue' you discover where malachite is."

I assured them that this was not the case, and told them that if they
would untie me I would, on recovering the use of my arms, paint a
picture before them.

They prudently preferred to leave me tied up.

Their whole attention was now drawn to a considerable sum in silver and
gold which they found in the pack-cases. The Pombo warned the people
that not one coin must be stolen.

I took this chance to make an offering of five hundred rupees to the
Lamasery. I also told the Pombo that I should like him to accept as a
gift my Martini-Henry rifle, which I noticed rather took his fancy.

Both gifts were refused. They said the Lamasery was very rich, and the
Pombo's position as an official did not allow him to carry a rifle. The
Pombo, nevertheless, fully appreciated the offer, and came personally to
thank me.

In a way the rascals were gentlemanly enough in their manner. I could
not help admiring their mixture of courtesy and cruelty, either of which
they could switch on at a moment's notice regardless of the other.

They had now reached the bottom of a water-tight case. The Pombo drew
out with much suspicion a curious flattened article.

"What is that?" inquired he, lifting the thing up in the air.

My sight had been so injured that at that distance I could not clearly
discern what it was; but when they waved it in front of my nose, I
recognized it to be my long-mislaid bath-sponge, dry and flattened,
which Chanden Sing, with his usual ability for packing, had stored away
at the bottom of the box, piling upon it the heavy cases of photographic
plates. The sponge, a large one, was now reduced to the thickness of
less than an inch, owing to the weight that had for weeks lain upon it.

The Tibetans were greatly puzzled at this new discovery. They had never
seen or even heard of sponges. Some said it resembled tinder. The wiser
Lamas said it might explode. It was touched with caution.

When their curiosity was satisfied, they threw it away. It fell near me
in a small pool of water. This was a golden opportunity to frighten my
jailers. I addressed the sponge in English, and with any word that came
in my head, pretending to utter incantations. The attention of the Lamas
and soldiers was quickly drawn to this unusual behavior on my part.