Page:Viscount Hardinge and the Advance of the British Dominions into the Punjab.djvu/143

Rh out that a party of men hired by Lál Singh had been told off to murder him; and that these men, finding that he did not arrive at his house at the usual time, concluded he had gone round by some other street.

The next day we were off to Kashmír, but before starting we found that our shooting jackets had been taken away by the Court tailor. After some delay they were restored to us, not in their original tweed mixture but entirely covered with gold 'kinkob.' Mounting our hill ponies among the salaams of the assembled multitude, we presented rather a strange aspect. None laughed more over it than our charming friend Lord Elphinstone, who headed the cavalcade.

From Jamú our route to the pass into the Kashmír valley was almost impracticable. We repeatedly had to dismount from our ponies and lead them along ledges of granite rock, descending abruptly into the 'khăd' below. Ghuláb Singh had given me his best pony — a perfect specimen of the hill breed, with a white mane reaching to the ground. We had not gone far before we heard shouting in our front. The unfortunate animal had lost its footing; and in spite of the efforts of the coolies to hold it until further assistance arrived, it was precipitated many thousand feet into the torrent below. Nor was this our only disaster. Two days' march further on I had stopped to sketch, sending on my tents and baggage to our halting-ground. Darkness overtook us through a miscalculation of time. It was dangerous to mount, so