United States or Montenegro ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Kachi came on board the next morning, and was given the letter from the governor of Okhotsk. The other Rikord would not deliver except in person, and after much delay an interview with the governor was arranged, at which Rikord was received with much state and ceremony.
Kachi kept his word, and soon was able to obtain a letter in the handwriting of Golownin, stating that he and his companions were all alive and well at Matsumai. Afterwards one of the Russian sailors was brought to Kunashir and sent on board the Diana, with the understanding that he would return to the fort every night.
Kachi, who had been intrusted with a stubborn, strong beast, which I had specially promised my men for their dinner if they made a long march that day, was outwitted by the sheep. It freed its head from the cord with which Kachi was dragging it, and cantered away full speed in the opposite direction to the one in which we were travelling.
We stumbled on amid large stones and bowlders, and fell over one another on slippery rocks. Farther on we sank up to our knees in mud, which stuck in lumps to our feet and made them as heavy as lead. It was a downpour such as I had seldom before experienced. "Are you quite sure that this lake is the home of the gods?" I inquired of Kachi.
The Shokas became alarmed, and immediately pronounced the folks to be brigands. I maintained that they were not. Kachi had a theory that the only way to tell brigands from honest beings was to hear them talk. The brigands, he declared, usually shouted at the top of their voices when conversing, and used language far from select, while well-to-do Tibetans spoke gently and with refinement.
"Yes," I murmured, incredulously. My doubt sustained a shock when Kachi returned, buoyant, saying, in his peculiar English: "Five Shokas come, sir. Then you, sir, I, sir, five coolies, sir, start night-time. What clock?" "By Jove, Kachi," I could not help exclaiming, "you are a smart lad!" "'Smart, sir?" inquired he, sharply, hearing a new word.
In the evenings in camp they often joined in weird love-songs, in memory of the fair maids of their hearts whom they had left behind, on the other side of the Himahlyas. Kachi hurried away in a state of great excitement. He was back in a few minutes. "How many coolies will you take, sir?" "None will come." "Oh, I will get them," said he, with assurance. "Will five do?"
The people, laughing and chatting, stood on the roofs watching us. While I was strolling about some fifty or sixty men armed with matchlocks and swords appeared on the scene. I looked upon them with suspicion, but Kachi reassured me, and said they were not soldiers, but a powerful band of robbers encamped about half a mile off, and on friendly terms with the Lamas.
Our camp was at a height of 16,150 feet, an elevation higher than the highest mountain in Europe. Doctor Wilson insisted on accompanying me on my reconnoitring trip. Kachi Ram and a Rongba coolie also volunteered to come. Bijesing, the Johari, after some persuasion, got on his feet to accompany our little exploration party.
"Ilchik tangshin-tul rul basketball ul hayoshimnita kachi?" The boy knew his genius in interpretive skills. A sense of pride exuded over his face in a white light but the flush of expression was extremely ephemeral. It came upon him and vanished in just a few seconds. "Who won?" asked Sang Huin in English. The fat boy pointed to himself with his thumb.
Word Of The Day