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CHAPTER YI. 



BY THE SOURCE OF THE KION. 



' Twenty miles at least from Shukaclialo to 

 Lapur.' Such was the verdict of our guides, 

 but knowing how little idea they had of 

 distance we rather doubted their statement. 

 At about 8 A.M. we started, determined to do 

 the distance in one day, a feat which our men 

 declared impossible. For once they were 

 nearly right ; it was a really hard day's work, 

 almost too hard for the old mare and for my 

 friend's heart. It was not until after those 

 weary hills that he began to suspect that 

 mountaineering made his heart beat a trifle 

 faster than it had any right to, and when I 



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