An Importunate Kashmiri. 



tonga, flourishing a letter in his hand, which on inspection I found 

 to be addressed to me in a hand unmistakably that of the local 

 babu's. But I had been there before and was not to be so easily 

 trapped. With a face as immovable as the Egyptian sphinx I 

 informed him that the Sahib was coming behind and that the 

 best course he could adopt would be to press on to meet him, 

 which he did, setting off up the road at a pace calculated to 



"THE WAV WAS BLOCKED BV A HUGE AVALANCHE OF 

 ROCK AND STONE." 



win renown on the racing track. Thus relieved I drove on into 

 Srinagar to the Chenar Bagh, so called from the chenar trees 

 which cover the grassy patches by the water's edge, where I 

 found my camp pitched, Giyani and the cook having arrived a 

 few days before. 



Rain was falhng fast, and the threatening rise in the river 

 indicated a possible retreat from the garden to higher and less 



17 c 



