282 SPORT, TRAVEL, AND ADVENTURE 



our heads, whereas if we stop you we shall receive a 

 reward.' They maintained that they would rather risk 

 being killed in attempting to oppose us than meet with 

 certain death for negligence of their work in letting us 

 go through. Argue as we might, nothing would alter 

 their determination, namely, that the only road open to 

 us was back by the road we had come. It was by 

 this time growing late, and the officials took leave 

 of us. 



Throughout the still night we could hear the loud 

 talk and peals of laughter that rang out from the 

 groups of men who had bivouacked by the stream. 



At daybreak we discovered that more men had 

 swollen the gathering, but nevertheless we began to 

 load up as usual, and having distributed our sporting 

 rifles and guns amongst our muleteers, tried to impress 

 upon them the necessity of having to fight our way 

 through should we meet with opposition. 



A few hundred yards from our encampment, in the 

 direction in which we were anxious to go, was a stone 

 wall, built probably as a shelter against the wind, 

 and behind this the Rundore and Rudok men had taken 

 up a position, and from their demonstrations it was 

 evident that they did not intend to let us go by easily. 



As soon as our last mule had been loaded and we 

 had begun to move towards the wall, our opponents 

 rushed forth and began to drive our animals back, 

 meeting with little or no resistance from our faint- 

 hearted followers, who had no pluck to face superior 

 numbers, whose actions and feelings were those of 

 fanatics. A loaded revolver pointed at a few paces 

 distant at the chest of one of them had no other result 

 than to induce the man to tear aside his garment, and 





