Tibet and Turkestan : vol.1 / Page 131 (Color Image)

0131	Tibet and Turkestan : vol.1

On to Polu 71

great circle's quadrant separates you in space, a

hundred kowtows separate you in social rank, but

you stand together in one white man's memory as

having given him, each of you, a bushel of trouble

for an even bushel of reasonable suspicion against

him !

Now, the things which the Beg did, or inspired,

or seemed to inspire, were these : the desertion of

the head-and-tail holders for our ponies before the

plateau was reached ; the disappearance of the

donkey-caravan, bearing two-thirds of our grain-

supply, of which a part was recovered ; and the de-

sertion of our guide before he had taken us to an

agreed point on the plateau, beyond which neither

he nor we knew the way, but which we wanted as a

tie-point on the map. It all smelled of treachery.

But one never knows. We dealt through the un-

speakable Achbar. There was room for some

misunderstanding.

The assistant caravan-men, eight in number, did

excellent work for three days, fording the ice-cold

stream scores of times, legs bare, coats soaked in the

swirling torrent, no possibility of warming their half-

frozen limbs. Then, all the frightful steps saving

the last two having been surmounted, they disap-

peared one after the other. The caravan was badly

strung out — impossible to watch them. Hence

Achbar was told to promise backsheesh when the

end should be gained. Their regular pay, fifteen

cents per day, had been deposited with the Beg.

The backsheesh would have nearly doubled it.

The donkey men started away from Polu ahead

of us. We stipulated that they should take

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