and ever since had spent all her
time and spoiled her pretty hands in "developing." She was also seized
with a craze for Buddhism. The objects that everywhere particularly
attracted her were the old Buddhist temples and tombs and sculptures
with which India is studded. Of these she had taken some hundreds of
views, all printed by herself with the greatest care and precision.
But in India, after all, Buddhism is a dead creed. Its monuments alone
remain; she was anxious to see the Buddhist religion in its living
state; and that she could only do in these remote outlying Himalayan
valleys.

Our outfit, therefore, included a dark tent for Hilda's photographic
apparatus; a couple of roomy tents to live and sleep in; a small
cooking-stove; a cook to look after it; half-a-dozen bearers; and the
highly recommended guide who knew his way about the country. In three
days we were ready, to Sir Ivor's great delight. He was fond of his
pretty wife, and proud of her, I believe; but when once she was away
from the whirl and bustle of the London that she loved, it was a relief
to him, I fancy, to pursue his work alone, unhampered by her restless
and querulous childishness.

On the morning when we were to make our start, the guide who was "well
acquainted with the mountains" turned up--as villainous-looking a person
as I have ever set eyes on. He was sullen and furtive. I judged him at
sight to be half Hindu, half Tibetan. He had a dark complexion, between
brown and tawny; narrow slant eyes, very small and beady-black, with a
cunning leer in their oblique corners; a flat nose much broadened at the
wings; a cruel, thick, sensuous mouth, and high cheek-bones; the whole
surmounted by a comprehensive scowl and an abundant crop of lank black
hair, tied up in a knot at the nape of the neck with a yellow ribbon.
His face was shifty; his short, stout form looked well adapted to
mountain climbing, and also to wriggling. A deep scar on his left cheek
did not help to inspire confidence. But he was polite and civil-spoken.
Altogether a clever, unscrupulous, wide-awake soul, who would serve you
well if he thought he could make by it, and would betray you at a pinch
to the highest bidder.

We set out, in merry mood, prepared to solve all the abstruse problems
of the Buddhist religion. Our spoilt child stood the camping out better
than I expected. She was fretful, of course, and worried about trifles;
she missed her maid and her accustomed comforts