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When we came to patches of débris we slid down at a great pace amid a deafening roar from the huge mass of loose stones set in motion by our descent. It was still snowing. "Hark!" I said to the Rongba. "What is that?" With hands up to our ears we listened attentively. "Ao, ao, ao! Jaldi ao! Tumka hatte?" Come quickly! We quickened our pace.
"She muss come bat 'jaldi," shouted Fay "jaldi" being Hindustani for "quickly." Meg sighed. "I'm afraid she can't do that. Come, my precious, and let me bathe you; you'll get cold standing there." With a quick movement Meg seized the plump, round body. She was muscular though so small, and in spite of little Fay's opposition she lifted her into the bath.
The rain had stopped, but we were now enveloped in a white mist which chilled us. I was tired. Chanden Sing was intrusted to keep a sharp watch while I tried to sleep. "Hazur, hazur, jaldi apka banduk!" "Do you hear the sound of bells?" The tinkling was quite plain. Our pursuers were approaching, evidently in strong force. There was no time to be lost.
He had been pounced upon at the same moment that I was, and had fought gallantly until, like myself, he had been entangled, thrown down, and secured with ropes. During my struggle I heard him call out repeatedly: "Banduk, banduk, Mansing; jaldi, banduk!" Mansing was a philosopher.
However at this stage we were introduced to mainly Indian words, charpoys for rope beds, chatties for unglazed urns, pani for water, jaldi for quick and many, many more. We met some of the regular army characters who had spent years in India and gleaned snippets of information from them. Were there any poisonous creatures around? Well, yes, scorpions for one thing. What about snakes?
His never-failing good-humor and his earnest desire to learn and to be useful were quite refreshing. My luck seemed to have turned. A few minutes later Chanden Sing, quite unaware that any one had undertaken to accompany me, entered the tent, and exclaimed, in a disgusted manner: "Shoka crab, sahib! Hunya log bura crab. Hazur, hum, do admi jaldi Lhassa giao." The Hunyas are very bad.
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