threw down his load and strode back to his tent. The
Argoons, who had looked threatening and defiant, slunk
away to their cooking-pots.
An hour afterwards, the Ladaki, Soonam Sirring,
whom we knew to he faithful, came to our tent and
told us that he had heard these Argoons declare that,
when it was dark, they would take the ponies and
go. This, of course, had to be prevented, so Soonam
Sirring was sent out to watch the animals and drive
them close in to our ten ts; our guns were also
placed in a handy and conspicuous position. The
evening, however, passed in peace, and nothing untoward
occurred during the hours of darkness.
On leaving our tent early the next morning, we
were greeted by the men with many salaams and everyone
was on his best behaviour. A sharp look-out was
kept for some days, but from this time the conduct of
the men was all that could be desired, and no further
signs of discontent were seen.
CHAPTER XV II
STOPPED BY TIBETANS
The caravan crossed a low pass, made its way through
a narrow cutting, and somewhat unexpectedly entered
into a rolling, grassy valley which stretched away to
the west as far as the eye could reach; not a soul
was in sight, and, though we examined the ground
most carefully, could find no trace of human beings.
By the position of the mountains, however, it was
clear that we were now on the straight road to
Rudok.
The surrounding country was teeming with animal
life, and yaks and gazelle were seen in abundance ;
sand-grouse were also plentiful, far more so than on the
earlier part of the journey. They were so ridiculously
tame that we never once succeeded in getting a
sporting shot; when approached, they just waddled
on ahead, and if we ran, they fluttered a little way
in front. The only thing to do when we wanted to
obtain a bag was to fire at them as they sat on the
ground, and even this treatment scarcely ruffled their
tempers. We passed from covey to covey, taking
toll from each, leaving the remainder as calm and
undisturbed as when first discovered.
It was a very different matter with the goa, for I
have never come across wilder animals. We saw many,
but only obtained one shot, and that at a running
animal; the bullet unfortunately broke the poor
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