air to the bridle road where my men and ponies waited, eager to
be off. We stood at last in the fringe of trees on a small height
which commanded the way; - a high uplifted path cut along the
shoulders of the hills and on the left the sheer drop of the
valleys. Perhaps seven or eight feet in width and dignified by
the name of the Great Hindustan and Tibet Road it ran winding far
away into Wonderland. Looking down into the valleys, so far
beneath that the solitudes seem to wall them in I thought of all
the strange caravans which have taken this way with tinkle of
bells and laughter now so long silenced, and as I looked I saw a
lost little monastery in a giant crevice, solitary as a planet on
the outermost ring of the system, and remembrance flashed into my
mind and I said;

"I have marching orders that have countermanded my own plans. I
am to journey to the Buddhist Monastery of Tashigong, and there
meet a friend who will tell me what is necessary that I may
travel to Yarkhand and beyond. It will be long before I see
Kashmir."

In those crystal clear eyes I saw a something new to me - a faint
smile, half pitying, half sad;

"Who told you, and where?"

"A girl in a strange place. A woman who has twice guided me -"

I broke off. Her smile perplexed me. I could not tell what to
say. She repeated in a soft undertone;