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404 ADVENTURES IN TIBET.
the Tibetan officers, who never grew tired of looking at
my watch and hearing it tick ; in fact, I never took it out
of my pocket but what they began to repeat, " Tick, tick,
tick, tick !
"
’ " It is my gavo " (talisman-case), I said, " and the god
inside it goes on repeating his On maneh padnieh hum day
and night without stopping."
At this they would look at one another earnestly, and
evidently considered that I was a wonderful person.
Every evening we used to hear sounds of swishing and
mumbling : it was the Tibetans reciting their daily prayers,
an occurrence which filled our lama with sad, if not bitter
reflections, for never more would he hear the growing
volume of prayers which at the same hour always swells
up from the numerous temples of the Holy City.
By day, too, we had the sleepy sound of bells in our ears,
for each soldier had a collar of bells fastened round his
horse’s neck. Our escort did not travel very fast, and made
only short stages. Against this I had no objection to offer,
for after they left us we should push on by forced marches
and long stages, so as to get across the robber-haunted
zone as quickly as possible. Solang Undy advised us, if
we were attacked again at night, just to shoot at once.
Evidently, therefore, the Tibetans were not in collusion
with the horse-thieves.
Old man Dakkyeh became a special friend of mine. It
was killing to see him when he came and greeted me by
sticking out his tongue as far as he could, jerking both
thumbs upwards, shrugging his shoulders, and nodding
his head. And when I returned his greeting in the same
way, I did it with such energy that Shagdur almost split
his sides with laughing.
By this the Saju-sangpo had dropped so considerably
that we crossed it without the least difficulty ; but then
the Tibetans knew accurately how the ford ran.
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