ed. The Lhasa Depon repeated the entreaty of the messengers,
and said that there would be trouble if we proceeded. Colonel
Younghusband's reply was terse and to the point.

'Tell him,' he said to Captain O'Connor, 'that we have been negociating
with Tibet for fifteen years; that I myself have been waiting for eight
months to meet responsible representatives from Lhasa, and that the
mission is now going on to Gyantse. Tell him that we have no wish to
fight, and that he would be well advised if he ordered his soldiers to
retire. Should they remain blocking our path, I will ask General
Macdonald to remove them.'

The Lhasa Depon was greatly perturbed. He said that he had no wish to
fight, and would try and stop his men firing upon us. But before he left
he again tried to induce Colonel Younghusband to turn back. Then he rode
away to join his men. What orders he gave them will never be known.

I do not think the Tibetans ever believed in our serious intention to
advance. No doubt they attributed our evacuation of Khamba Jong and our
long delay in Chumbi to weakness and vacillation. And our forbearance
since the negociations of 1890 must have lent itself to the same
interpretation.

As we advanced we could see the Tibetans running up the hill to the left
to occupy the sangars. To turn their position, General Macdonald
deployed the 8th Gurkhas to the crest of the ridge; at the same time the
Pioneers, the Maxim detachment of the Norfolks, and Mountain Battery
were deployed on the right until the Tibetan position was surrounded.

The manoeuvre was completely successful. The Tibetans on the hill,
finding themselves outflanked by the Gurkhas, ran down to the cover of
the wall by the main camp, and the whole mob was encircled by our
troops.

It was on this occasion that the Sikhs and Gurkhas displayed that
coolness and discipline which won them a European reputation. They had
orders not to fire unless they were fired upon, and they walked right
up to the walls of the sangars until the muzzles and prongs of the
Tibetan matchlocks were almost touching their chests. The Tibetans
stared at our men for a moment across the wall, and then turned and
shambled down sulkily to join their comrades in the redan.

No one dreamed of the sanguinary action that was impending. I
dismounted, and hastily scribbled a despatch on my saddle to the effect
that the Tibetan position had been taken without a shot being fired. The
mounted orderly wh