182. A Winter Journey amongst the Lutzu 
On October 28 the official returned, but if he knew 
anything, which was doubtful, he kept it discreetly to him- 
self ; and two days later Mr Edgar and his party started. 
The day before I left an unfortunate thing happened. 
By some means or other it leaked out that I was bent on 
returning to the Salween valley, and in the afternoon the 
story was all round the village. It was the more annoying 
because I had purposely refrained from saying anything 
about it even to my men, thinking it best to say nothing 
and just go. Probably my attempt to secure the services 
of a Tibetan interpreter—in which, by the way, I failed— 
aroused suspicions and caused someone to jump to a fairly 
accurate conclusion as to my real intentions. For one does 
not need a Tibetan interpreter for a quiet journey down to 
Wei-hsi, which was my professed destination after leaving 
A-tun-tsi. Be this as it may, my friend Chao the local 
official heard the rumour and at once sent round a deputa- 
tion forbidding such a journey. He would be very pleased, 
he said, to give me men and animals to see me safely down 
to Wei-hsi, but if I persisted in my plan of going to the 
Salween he would lay an embargo on all transport and thus 
give me checkmate. 
In the afternoon I paid a farewell call on the official, 
who had treated me with kindness and consideration during 
my stay in A-tun-tsi, and I asked for permission to go to 
the Salween on my own responsibility, a suggestion which 
met with no response. The interview was then terminated 
by Chao who said politely, when bidding me good-bye, that 
he hoped I would come again next year. 
On the following morning, November 1, the animals 
came round to my house with an escort of three soldiers, 
and before nine o’clock I had finally turned my back on the 
little village which had been home to me for six months. 
The only European now left was M. Perronne, who stayed 
boldly at his post, but he had grown too much accustomed 
to the place and its people to fear anything. I often won- 
dered how he fared in those troublesome times, but towards 
the end of May I received a letter from him written in 
Rangoon, saying that he was all right. 
As a parting gift I sent Chao a silver-topped bottle 
from my suit case, the only respectable article I had left 
