Among the Celestials : vol.1 / Page 268 (Color Image)

0268	Among the Celestials : vol.1

226 AMONG THE CELESTIALS. [CHAP. IX.

brushwood to keep up a fire for cooking ; but

my Chinese servant cooked a simple meal of

rice and mutton for us all. We gathered round

the fire to eat it hot out of the bowl, and then

rolled ourselves up in our sheepskins and went

to sleep, with the stars twinkling brightly

above, and the frost gripping closer and closer

upon us.

Next morning, while it was yet dark, Wali,

the guide, awoke us. We each had a drink of

tea and some bread, and then we started off to

attack the pass. The ponies, with nearly all

the baggage, were left behind under the charge

of Liu-san, the Chinaman, and some of the

older men. All we took with us was a roll of

bedding for myself, a sheepskin coat for each

man, some native biscuits, tea and a large tea-

kettle, and a bottle of brandy. The ascent to

the pass was easy but trying, for we were now

not far from nineteen thousand feet above sea-

level, and at that height, walking uphill through

deep snow, we quickly became exhausted. We

could only take a dozen or twenty steps at a

time, and we would then bend over on our

sticks and pant as if we had been running hard

uphill. We were tantalised, too, by the

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