204 CHUMANAKO. Chap. XXV. 



Shortly afterwards the three returned, the Soubah 



looking more spectral than ever, and still more violently 



agitated, and I thought I perceived that whatever were 



his plans, he had failed in them. He asked me what 



view the Governor- General would take of this proceeding ? 



and receiving no answer, he went off with the Tchebu 



Lama, and left me with the third individual. The latter 



looked steadily at me for some time, and then asked if 



I did not know him. I said I did not, when he gave 



his name as Dingpun Tinli, and I recognised in him one 



of the men whom the Dewan had sent to conduct us to 



the top of Mainom the previous year (see vol. i. p. 305). 



This opened my eyes a good deal, for he was known to be 



a right-hand man of the Dewan's, and had within a 



few months been convicted of kidnapping two Brahmin 



girls from Nepal,* and had vowed vengeance against 



Campbell for the duty he performed in bringing him 



to punishment. 



I was soon asked to go to my tent, which I found pitched 

 close by ; they refused me permission to see my fellow- 

 prisoner, or to be near him, but allowed me to hang up my 

 instruments, and arrange my collections. My guards were 

 frequently changed during the night, Lepchas often taking 

 a turn ; they repeatedly assured me that there was no 

 complaint or ill-feeling against me, that the better classes 

 in Sikkim would be greatly ashamed of the whole affair, 

 that Tchebu Lama was equally a prisoner, and that the 

 grievances against Campbell were of a political nature, but 

 what they were they did not know. 



This act as I have mentioned at v. i. p. 341, was not only a violation of the 

 British treaty, but an outrage on the religion of Nepal. Jung Bahadoor 

 demanded instant restitution, which Campbell effected ; thus incurring the 

 Dingpun's wrath, who lost, besides his prize, a good deal of money which the 

 escapade cost him. 



