Among the Celestials : vol.1 / Page 301 (Color Image)

0301	Among the Celestials : vol.1

CHAP. IX.]

RAWAL PINDI. 253

uphill towards Murree, and arrived at a dak

bungalow at sunset. Here I rested for part of

the night, but at three o'clock in the morning

started again, marching the ten miles into Mur-

ree on foot. From there in a tonga I drove

rapidly down the last thirty-nine miles into

Rawal Pindi. The change was wonderful. I

had thought riding a miserable native pony a

luxury in comparison with the weary marching

on foot. Then trundling along at a jog-trot in

a native cart on the Kashmir road had seemed

the very essence of all that was comfortable.

But now I was in a conveyance with a pair of

ponies galloping down the hill, and with what

seemed perfect rest to me was covering every

hour three or four times the distance I had

been able to accomplish on foot. Still better, I

was freeing myself from the nightmare of the

mountains, and, in place of the never-ending

barriers of ranges blocking the way and shutting

me in, there was stretched out before me the

wide open plains of the Punjab. From the

plains of Turkestan on the one side, I had made

my way through the labyrinth of mountains,

over one range after another, past each suc-

ceeding obstacle, till I had now reached the

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