Sahiblog_" is o-macron, Unicode U+014D.]

Lenox joined in the laugh that greeted this sally,

"Good men," he said. "Hope you find a few! First-rate joke of yours,
Havildar."

"By ill fortune, it was not I who made it, Hazur! But an officer
Sahib, up in Kabul; one who knew that it is good to laugh even when the
knife is at the throat." And the search went forward with renewed zest.

Apparently soft stones were forthcoming: for one by one the men rolled
themselves up in their blankets and sheep-skins, and slept soundly on
two hundred feet of ice under a freezing sky; leaving Lenox alone with
his pipe and his thoughts, and the silence that dwelt like a presence
in the eerie place.

As a rule a hard day on the glaciers left him so over-powered with
sleep that he could scarcely finish his smoke: but to-night his brain
was alert and active; stimulated by the knowledge that two more days of
climbing ought to bring him at last to the Pass of his dreams:--the
Pass that must be found and crossed in the teeth of all that Nature
might do to hinder him!

That discovery would close the first phase of his journey: and
to-night, looking back over it, from the day of his departure for
Simla, he saw that it had been good.

Sir Henry Forsyth, Foreign Secretary, and an old school friend of his
brother's, had instructed him to work his way up to Hunza, a small
independent state north of Kashmir, hidden among lofty mountains and
impenetrable valleys, whence robber bands--secure from retaliation--had
for long amused and enriched themselves by flying descents upon
neighbouring tribes, and upon caravans passing from Asia to India. And
now, after an unusually daring raid, the peace-loving Kirghiz of the
district had appealed to the Indian Government for protection and help.

Lenox, with his little escort of six Gurkhas and one Pathan, was to
enter this stronghold of brigands; reason with their chief, and bind
him down to good behaviour for the future. In addition, Sir Henry
suggested that instead of going to Hunza direct, he should strike out
eastward from Kashmir, working his way round through the great Mustagh
Mountains, and exploring as he went, also that he should finally push
on northward, and penetrate as far into the Pamirs as the approach of
winter would permit.

"There will be no difficulty with the authorities. I have arranged all
that; and you need not be back at Dera till October or November," the
great man had conc