152 The Wonderful Mekong 
was a Chinaman sitting by the fire and to him I explained 
my position, quickly reassuring everybody. 
They got me some tea and ¢samda, sent a boy to look 
after my pony, and generally did what they could to make 
me comfortable, which wasn’t much; for my goods not 
having arrived, I was forced to sleep on the floor with my 
saddle for a pillow and the saddle-cloth for a blanket. 
I do not remember ever before to have been so full of 
aches as I was that night after fourteen hours riding and 
walking—till the following morning! 
Having partaken of a little more Tibetan fare at five 
o'clock next morning, I set out for A-tun-tsi and had 
reached the other end of the village, a couple of miles 
down the valley, when I fell in with Gan-ton and my 
caravan, who had arrived at eleven o'clock on the previous 
night, and hearing no word of me, had taken refuge in the 
first house they came to thinking that I had gone on to 
A-tun-tsi. I called a halt at once and made Gan-ton 
prepare me a square meal with lots of fresh yak milk and 
new-laid eggs, after which we set out for A-tun-tsi, reaching 
our base camp at midday, having been absent just over 
three weeks. 
For the excitements of that hurried journey to Batang 
and thence to Chianca in S.E. Tibet I had to thank the 
French priest at Tsu-kou with his amazing story from 
Lhasa, which strange to say he still persisted in, even after 
I had effectually exploded it! 
