duffle
folds round the shoulders. They looked like kobolds from some magic
mine--gnomes of the hills in conclave. And while they talked, the
voices of the snow-waters round them diminished one by one as the
night-frost choked and clogged the runnels.

'How he stood up against us!' said a Spiti man admiring. 'I remember
an old ibex, out Ladakh-way, that Dupont Sahib missed on a
shoulder-shot, seven seasons back, standing up just like him. Dupont
Sahib was a good shikarri.'

'Not as good as Yankling Sahib.' The Ao-chung man took a pull at the
whisky-bottle and passed it over. 'Now hear me--unless any other man
thinks he knows more.'

The challenge was not taken up.

'We go to Shamlegh when the moon rises. There we will fairly divide
the baggage between us. I am content with this new little rifle and
all its cartridges.'

'Are the bears only bad on thy holding? said a mate, sucking at the
pipe.

'No; but musk-pods are worth six rupees apiece now, and thy women can
have the canvas of the tents and some of the cooking-gear. We will do
all that at Shamlegh before dawn. Then we all go our ways, remembering
that we have never seen or taken service with these Sahibs, who may,
indeed, say that we have stolen their baggage.'

'That is well for thee, but what will our Rajah say?'

'Who is to tell him? Those Sahibs, who cannot speak our talk, or the
Babu, who for his own ends gave us money? Will he lead an army against
us? What evidence will remain? That we do not need we shall throw on
Shamlegh-midden, where no man has yet set foot.'

'Who is at Shamlegh this summer?' The place was only a grazing centre
of three or four huts.'

'The Woman of Shamlegh. She has no love for Sahibs, as we know. The
others can be pleased with little presents; and here is enough for us
all.' He patted the fat sides of the nearest basket.

'But--but--'

'I have said they are not true Sahibs. All their skins and heads were
bought in the bazar at Leh. I know the marks. I showed them to ye
last march.'

'True. They were all bought skins and heads. Some had even the moth
in them.'

That was a shrewd argument, and the Ao-chung man knew his fellows.

'If the worst comes to the worst, I shall tell Yankling Sahib, who is a
man of a merry mind, and he will laugh. We are not doing any wrong to
any Sahibs whom we know. They are priest-beaters. They frightened us.
We fled! Who knows where we dropped the baggage? Do y