ht, so as
to have time to send a messenger to Taklakot to inform the Jong Pen, and
ask for further instructions.

During the night the order came that we must proceed, so the next
morning our guard prepared to start us again toward the Lumpiya. It was
at that moment that we three semi-corpses collected what little strength
remained in us, and suddenly, with what stones we could pick up, made an
attack on the soldiers. Incredible as it may seem, our cowardly guard
bolted! We went on in the direction of Taklakot, followed at a distance
by these ruffians, who were entreating us to make no further resistance
and to go with them where they wanted us to go. If we did not, they
said, they would all have their heads cut off. We refused to listen, and
kept them away by throwing stones at them.

We had gone but a few miles when we met with a large force of soldiers
and Lamas, dispatched by the Jong Pen to prepare for our death. Unarmed,
wounded, starved, and exhausted as we were, it was useless attempting to
fight against such odds. As it was, when they saw we had regained our
freedom, they made ready to fire on us.

[Illustration: WE ATTACKED OUR GUARD WITH STONES]

The Jong Pen's chief minister, a man called Lapsang, and the Jong Pen's
private secretary, were at the head of this party. I went to shake hands
with them. A long and stormy palaver followed, but they kept firm and
insisted on our turning away from the frontier, now that we were within
a short distance of it. We must perforce proceed by the high Lumpiya
Pass. Those were the Jong Pen's orders, and they, as well as I, must
obey them. They would not give us or sell us either animals or clothes,
which even the small sum of money I had on me would have been sufficient
to buy. They would not provide us with an ounce of food. We emphatically
protested, and said we preferred to die where we were. We asked them to
kill us there and then, for we would not budge an inch westward.

Lapsang and the Jong Pen's private secretary now cunningly suggested
that I should give them in writing the names of the Shokas who had
accompanied me to Tibet, probably with the object of confiscating the
land and goods of these former followers of mine. As I said I could not
write Tibetan or Hindustani, they requested me to do it in English. This
I did, but substituting for the names of my men and my signature
sarcastic words, which must have caused the Tibetans surprise when they
had the docum