ungry and cold, or exhausted by struggling against the forces
of untamed Nature.

At noon next day, in the cantonments at Jelapahar, an officer saw a
strange sight--a field-hospital doolie with the red cross, and twelve
_kahars_, Lucknow men, whose plaintive chant must have recalled old days
on the North-West frontier. Behind on a mule rode a British orderly of
the King's Own Scottish Borderers, bearded and weather-stained, and
without a trace of the spick-and-spanness of cantonments. I saw the
officer's face lighten; he became visibly excited; he could not restrain
himself--he swung round, rode after my orderly, and began to question
him without shame. Here was civilization longing for the wilderness, and
over there, beyond the mist, under that snow-clad peak, were men in the
wilderness longing for civilization.

A cloud swept down and obscured the Jelap, as if the chapter were
closed. But it is not. That implacable barrier must be crossed again,
and then, when we have won the most secret places of the earth, we may
cry with Burton and his Arabs, 'Voyaging is victory!'

CHAPTER VIII

THE ADVANCE OF THE MISSION OPPOSED

The intention of the Tibetans at the Hot Springs has not been made
clear. They say that their orders were to oppose our advance, but to
avoid a battle, just as our orders were to take away their arms, if
possible, without firing a shot. The muddle that ensued lends itself to
several interpretations, and the Tibetans ascribe their loss to British
treachery. They say that we ordered them to destroy the fuses of their
matchlocks, and then fired on them. This story was taken to Lhasa, with
the result that the new levies from the capital were not deterred by the
terrible punishment inflicted on their comrades. Orders were given to
oppose us on the road to Gyantse, and an armed force, which included
many of the fugitives from Guru, gathered about Kangma.

The peace delegates always averred that we fired the first shot at Guru.
But even if we give the Tibetans the benefit of the doubt, and admit
that the action grew out of the natural excitement of two forces
struggling for arms, both of whom were originally anxious to avoid a
conflict, there is still no doubt that the responsibility of continuing
the hostilities lies with the Tibetans.

On the morning of April 7 ten scouts of the 2nd Mounted Infantry, under
Captain Peterson, found the Tibetans occupying the village of Samando,
seventeen miles b