KASHMIR VALLEYS 261 



then it was the turn of those in India to pay the price 

 of empire and vast-added territories, and climate, 

 unfortunately, has still to be conquered. 



If Pindi had been hot, Umballa station was 

 the under-side of a molten mass of metal. Un- 

 expectedly a friend was on the platform, nearly 

 unrecognisable from the cheery cold-weather comrade 

 I had known. " I am the only one in the 

 station, I believe; the bungalow cannot be worse 

 than the train, and there is a night mail to go on by."" 

 I said good-bye to the sad-eyed mother, and passed 

 quickly from that burning platform to the dusty, thirsty 

 mall. We drove, we drank cold drinks, we sat under 

 punkahs, and a " boy " fanned me, but not one single 

 moment of coolness was to be obtained. " Have you 

 heard there is cholera below ? They had only two days'" 

 rains, but they were enough to set it going. They talk, 

 too, of trouble again in the Swat Valley before the 

 month is out, but I'm afraid there'll be no such good 

 luck; anything's better than rotting out here in this 

 copper ste wing-pan. My best sergeant went out with 

 heat apoplexy last week, and I should be gone too only 

 I get to the hills every ten days or so. I pity those poor 

 devils down in Central India, nowhere to go to, and they 

 are dying like flies of enteric at M - this season. 

 Ah, it's good to see any one sunburnt ; talk to me and tell 

 me about the snows. Yes, everything ; and did you see 

 any bear; and was Jerky Jones up there; and was it 

 beautifully cold ? " 



By midnight I was into the train again. By this 

 time the carriage was a scalding coffin, and that 

 particular one was ornamented with thousands of flies. 

 They squelched as I lay down and caught in my hair,. 



