o carried the despatch bore a similar message from the
mission to the Foreign Office. Then the disarming began. The Tibetans
were told that if they gave up their arms they would be allowed to go
off unmolested. But they did not wish to give up their arms. It was a
ridiculous position, Sikh and Mongol swaying backwards and forwards as
they wrestled for the possession of swords and matchlocks. Perhaps the
humour of it made one careless of the underlying danger. Accounts differ
as to how this wrestling match developed into war, how, to the delight
of the troops, the toy show became the 'real thing.' Of one thing I am
certain, that a rush was made in the south-east corner before a shot was
fired. If there had been any firing, I would not have been wandering
about by the Tibetan flank without a revolver in my hand. As it was, my
revolver was buried in the breast pocket of my Norfolk jacket under my
poshteen.

I have no excuse for this folly except a misplaced contempt for Tibetan
arms and courage--a contempt which accounted for our only serious
casualty in the affair of 1888.[12] Also I think there was in the margin
of my consciousness a feeling that one individual by an act of rashness
might make himself responsible for the lives of hundreds. Hemmed in as
the Tibetans were, no one gave them credit for the spirit they showed,
or imagined that they would have the folly to resist. But we had to deal
with the most ignorant and benighted people on earth, most of whom must
have thought our magazine rifles and Maxims as harmless as their own
obsolete matchlocks, and believed that they bore charms by which they
were immune from death.

[12] When Colonel Bromhead pursued a Tibetan unarmed. Called upon to
surrender, the Tibetan turned on Colonel Bromhead, cut off his
right arm, and badly mutilated the left.

The attack on the south-east corner was so sudden that the first man was
on me before I had time to draw my revolver.[13] He came at me with his
sword lifted in both hands over his head. He had a clear run of ten
yards, and if I had not ducked and caught him by the knees he must have
smashed my skull open. I threw him, and he dragged me to the ground.
Trying to rise, I was struck on the temple by a second swordsman, and
the blade glanced off my skull. I received the rest of my wounds, save
one or two, on my hands--as I lay on my face I used them to protect my
head. After a time the blows ceased; my assailants were