Page:Doughty--Mirrikh or A woman from Mars.djvu/216

 “And in the meantime how are we to subsist?”

“There are stores of rice and other provisions in the cavern here upon which we shall be obliged to draw. Of water we have enough and to spare.”

“And these provisions were placed here—when?”

“Years ago in anticipation of the bursting of the Dshambi-nor; still they are in good condition. I have examined them. Palatable they certainly are not, but they will sustain life.”

“But how are we to cross even when the water falls; is there not a deep ravine?”

“So deep, my son, that to gaze upon it as I saw it in my boyhood would fill your soul with terror. There was a bridge here then; since it has been swept away; we must  find means, if we can, to construct another; but one thing  weighs heavily on my mind: even if we do in the end manage to cross here, what will become of you?”

“Why do you ask? Shall we not go with you?”

“Children,” he said, gazing upon us pityingly, “so far as lies in my power I shall protect you, but know the worst. You are foreigners; worse still, you are English. The moment you pass through the gates of Lh’asa you will be  seized and put to death. No Englishman has ever been known to enter the city save one, and he lost his life in the  end. The law of our Chinese masters is most stringent. Your friend, Mr. Mirrikh, has left you no letter of safe conduct out of the country. It is simply impossible that you can ever escape from Thibet.”

Not until now had we known this, for we could not read the letter Mr. Mirrikh had given us, which proved so perfect  an open sesame into this strange land. Padma proceeded to inform us that it only requested that we be passed to Psam-dagong, but it made no provision whatever for our return, and not under any circumstances would it save us once we  were in Lh’asa.

It was a gloomy outlook. Padma’s reference to Mr. Moorcroft, who lived twelve years in Lh’asa in disguise, did not cheer us any.

Moorcroft arrived at Lh’asa by way of Ladak, in 1820. He wore the dress of a Mahommedan and managed to deceive the*police up to the last. Indeed his murder was the work of a mountain banditti, and not until his effects