KASHMIR TO CHINA 209 



hunger makes robbers of us all, let him put it to the 

 test. We took those horses and galloped bareback 

 at top speed along the road toward Murree, soon 

 becoming separated in the darkness, but with one 

 common impulse urging us ahead, careless of rocks, 

 trees, streams, or bridges, or anything save only 

 dinner. Somehow we reached Murree. I remember 

 galloping through the town like Paul Revere on his 

 midnight ride, startling the groups of natives squat- 

 ting about their fires by the roadside, turning at top 

 speed from one dark wooded road into another, till 

 finally the welcome lights of a hotel, a real civilized 

 hotel, came into sight. 



The manager of the Rowbury pleasantly in- 

 formed me that the hotel was full, and that not a 

 room was to be had for love or money ; but I imagine 

 that my appearance must have aroused his sym- 

 pathy, for he gave orders that dinner should be 

 served and a sofa prepared for me in the hall, where 

 a few minutes before midnight, after twenty-one 

 hours of work, I threw myself down and fell asleep 

 without further delay. Perry I found the next 

 morning at another hotel, he having had much the 

 same experience as myself, and feeling assured that, 

 having been thrown from my horse, I was probably 

 lying in the bushes somewhere on the road. The 

 horses were duly returned. 



