afterwards found from the prisoners, they on the spot
determined upon nothing less than to permit the advance
guard of the expedition to go through, and then f a l l
suddehly upon the members of the Mission themselves.
The disarmament upon which the General insisted
of course defeated their plans, and it was in the
attempt to carry out this operation that the storm
broke. When the Sikhs advanced towards the wall
and began the work there was difficulty from the outset.
In some cases the Tibetans actually struck the
Pioneers; in others, there ensued a struggle for a
weapon | but^this was not immediately noticeable from
where Younghusband and the General were s t a n d i n g ,
ten yards away from the house at the far end of the
wall. Homer has given the explanation of what then
took place. " Steel of itself,” says he, " draws a man,”
and this handling of weapons was a terrible risk. It
was almost exactly noonday.
The Depen of Lhasa himself was the man who set
the slumbering mine ablaze. He was seated on his
horse just outside the wall, and, exempt himself from
the confiscation of his arms, he shouted hysterically to
his men to resist. They replied by stoning the Sikhs.
Even then, though the whole affair hung in a slippery
balance indeed, the latter held themselves in check.
One of them advanced to the head of the Depen’s pony
as the Lhasan General tried to move up towards the
wall. In an evil moment for himself and his countrymen,
the head of the great house of Lheding drew his
pistol and fired, smashing the Sikh’s jaw. There was
an awful pause, that lasted for perhaps three seconds ;
and then another report broke the stillness. A jezail,
for which a Sikh and a Tibetan were struggling, dis-
The Tibetan Wall at the Hot Springs.
THIS PHOTOGRAPH W A S T A K E N A FEW SECONDS B EFO RE
t h e d i s a s t e r o c c u r r e d . Ochre and dull crimson.