ent translated.

The Tibetans refused to kill us there and then. Lapsang showed us great
politeness, and asked us as a personal favor to him to go by the Lumpiya
Pass. As I had no alternative I reluctantly decided to accept their
terms rather than waste any more time talking.

Escorted by the large force of soldiers, we had nearly reached Kardam
when a horseman came up at a full gallop and hailed our party. We
stopped. The messenger overtook us and handed Lapsang a letter. It
contained an order to bring us immediately into Taklakot.

We retraced our steps along the undulating plateau above the Gakkon
River. Late at night we reached the village of Dogmar, a peculiar
settlement in a valley between two high cliffs of clay. The natives
lived in holes and chambers hollowed in the cliff.

Lapsang, the Jong Pen's private secretary, and the greater portion of
the soldiers, having changed their ponies, went on to Taklakot. We were
made to halt. Another letter came from the Jong Pen saying he had
changed his mind, and we must, after all, go by the Lumpiya Pass!

CHAPTER XXIV

WITH FRIENDS AT LAST

In the night a large number of horsemen arrived. There was a great
commotion in the place, the people running about shouting.

Tibet is farmed out to officials who have practically become small
feudal kings, and who are constantly quarrelling with one another.

To royal jealousy, and to disputes over the rights of the road, was due
the appearance of the new army. There were altogether some hundred and
fifty men armed with matchlocks and swords. The chieftain of this band
came to me with eight or ten other officers. He spoke so excitedly that
I feared there was trouble in store for us. There was indeed. These new
arrivals were officers and soldiers from the districts of Gyanema,
Kardam, and Barca. They had come with strict orders from the Barca
Tarjum that we were on no account to traverse his province or to cross
into India by the Lumpiya Pass. This was both amusing and tantalizing,
for we had now no way across the frontier open to us. Our guard and some
of the Jong Pen's men who had remained behind, finding they were in the
minority, thought it prudent to disappear. Anxious as I naturally was to
get out of the country as quickly as possible, I approved of all the
Gyanema men said, and urged them to fight in case the Jong Pen insisted
on my going through the Tarjum's province. All ways out of the country
were now barre