124 TllAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPOKT. 



Naib by the colonel, skirmished out from the village, 

 armed apparently with a bunch of roses for a peace- 

 offering, and said he was commissioned by the Naib 

 to show us a halting-place there, beyond which we 

 were not to proceed that day. He pointed out a 

 rather extensive graveyard, through which meandered 

 one of the dirtiest streams I have ever seen, and ex- 

 plained that we should find that an excellent place 

 in which to pitch our tents. This was scarcely good 

 enough, after coming all that distance. 



The colonel thought there must be some mistake, 

 and resolved to beard the Naib in his own den. Ac- 

 cordingly, a native attache Sirdar Mahomed Aslam 

 Khan was despatched with the hero of the roses to 

 explain that we wished for a better halting-place than 

 the one selected, although we were willing, of course, 

 to go anywhere the Xaib should direct. Meanwhile 

 we sat over the remains of departed chiefs, and ate 

 our breakfast, whilst we pondered on the situation, 

 and awaited the result of the mission with more 

 anxiety than any one of us cared to admit. It turned 

 out that it teas a mistake, due partly to the mis- 

 carriage of the letter announcing our arrival, and 

 partly to what we believed to be the Governor's wish 

 in making as little fuss about our proceedings as 

 possible. A most courteous reply was given to the 

 message. A brilliant collection of prancing horse- 

 men were soon seen coming out to meet us. We 

 were informed that we were to be conducted to a 



