144 RIFLE AND SPEAR WITH THE RAJPOOTS. 



that the baggage mules could not get on, and will, their 

 owner says, take three days to get to Pathankot. " I say 

 you no be Pathankot three days, you this minute Chamba 

 back go." And he sent him. 



We reach Motha about noon, and stop for luncheon at 

 a pretty little bungalow hedged in with prickly pear, and 

 approached by an avenue of cacti some fifteen feet in 

 height. All the mountains around are covered with 

 forests of rhododendrons, and it must be lovely when 

 they are in flower in the spring. 



We have ordered a sleeping carriage to be reserved by 

 the midnight train from Pathankot, and there still remain 

 some fifty miles to cover ; so we have little time to spare. 

 In consequence of the break-down of the baggage mules, 

 the shikaris have to walk ; and Alan starts at a gallop for 

 Nurpoor — the point where we leave the mountains, and 

 reach a cart-road — to order ekkas to be in readiness for 

 them and the other servants. My dandy progresses 

 steadily at about five miles an hour ; and every six miles 

 or so, we find a relay of fresh bearers in waiting. The 

 track descends with the river, and as the valley narrows, 

 follows its bed, and we ford the stream from bank to bank 

 some fifteen times. At this season the river is generally 

 shallow, but the recent rains have swollen it, and the water 

 often comes up to the men's waists. 



At Nurpoor we at last reach the cart-road, and the 



