KASHMIR VALLEYS 7 



About five we reached the last village in Indian 

 territory, Kohalla, and shivering with cold, sodden with 

 damp, stiff and aching, managed to crawl to a bungalow 

 near by, where hot tea and a new cake put some 

 warmth into me, and nerved me for a small incident 

 that nearly caused the abrupt termination of the 

 Kashmir tour before being begun. Our new ponies 

 did not fancy proceeding in such bad weather, and 

 jibbed ; all the village turned out and pulled, Kochwan 

 shouted, then the mob tugged; the moment was 

 imminent when cart and cattle must part company, the 

 off-pony knew better, he had been in that place before, 

 wherefore he turned abruptly, removing his most 

 pressing antagonists by well-directed kicks, and faced me 

 with a grin. " See that," he said, with his wicked eyes, 

 " now look at me," and with a jerk he had festooned 

 all his light headgear over one eye and dropped the 

 reins twice round his neck, " and now see where 

 you are going." With a vast pirouette he had his head 

 well down over the edge of the road, and was preparing 

 to follow down the steep bank into the whirling, wind- 

 tossed, swollen river below. Luckily, the onlookers were 

 prepared ; a rush, a noble disregard of life and limb as 

 they hurled themselves on the practical joker, a strong 

 push and a long pull together, and both steeds were at 

 last looking the same way, and with two wild plunges 

 fled down the hill. " Shabash " (hurrah!) shouted the 

 people. " Shabash," echoed the driver, clinging to his 

 reins. I remained silently thoughtful; it did not seem 

 necessary to shout till we w^ere out of the wood, or 

 rather across the river, for at the foot of the steep hill, 

 with a sharp twist, the road was carried over a suspen- 

 sion bridge with but sketchy barrier between life 



