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the world, could compensate for physical discomfort, we should have been
able to consider ourselves domiciled in luxury. From one window we could look
across the range of mountains, over valley and peak, into the very eye of the
setting sun. From another we could gaze down, nearly three hundred feet, sheer
drop, into the valley, and perceive the track we had followed that morning,
winding its way along, while, through a narrow gully to our left we could
distinguish the stretch of plain, nearly fifty miles distant, where we had
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camped two nights before.
As the sun dropped, a chilly wind sprang up and tore round the building,
screaming through the cracks and crevices with a noise that might have been
likened to the shrieks of a thousand souls in torment. The flame of the
peculiar lamp with which our room was furnished rose and fell in unison with
the blasts, throwing the strangest shadows upon the walls and ceiling. This
eccentric light, combined with the stealthy movements of the coarserobed,
shaven monks, as they passed and repassed our door, did not, as may be
expected, conduce to our cheerfulness, so that it may not be a matter for
surprise that when I sat down with Nikola to our evening meal, it was with a
greater feeling of loneliness, and a greater amount of homesickness in my
heart, than I had felt at all since the journey commenced.
When our repast was finished we lit our pipes and sat smoking for half an
hour. Then, being unable to stand the silence of the room any longerfor
Nikola had a fit of the blues, and was consequently but a poor companion I
left our side of the house and went out into the courtyard before the central
hall. Just as I
reached it a loud knocking sounded upon the outer gate. On hearing it two of
the monks crossed the yard to open it, and, when they had swung the heavy
doors back, a small party of men, mounted on donkeys, rode into the square.
Thinking the arrival of a party of travellers would at least serve to
distract my thoughts, I
went down to watch them unload.
As I approached them I discovered that they were five in party, the
principals numbering three, the remaining two being coolies. Their profession
I was unable to guess; they were all armed, and, as far as I could tell,
carried no merchandise with them. When they had dismounted the abbot came
down to receive them, and after a little talk conducted them to the guest
chambers on the other side of the hall opposite to our quarters.
For some time after the leaders had retired to their rooms I remained where I
was, watching the coolies unharness; then, just as the last packsaddle was
placed upon the ground, one of the owners left the house and approached the
group. He had come within a few paces of where I stood before he became aware
of my presence; then he stooped, and, as if to excuse his visit, opened the
packsaddle lying nearest him. I noticed that he did not take anything from
it, and that all the time he was examining it he did not once turn his face
in my direction; therefore, when he wheeled quickly round and hurried back to
the house, without speaking to either of his men, I felt that I had every
right to suppose he did not wish me to become aware of his identity.
Dr. Nikola Returns
Chapter XI. En Route To Thibet
81
This set me thinking, and the more I thought the more desirous I became of
finding out who my gentleman might be. I waited in the courtyard for nearly a
quarter of an hour after the animals had been picketed, and the packsaddles
and harness had been carried away, but he did not put in another appearance.
Seeing this, I
returned to the buildings, and set my brain to work to try and discover what
I wanted so much to know. It was a long time before I could hit on any plan;
then an idea came to me and I left the room again and went round to the back
of the buildings, hoping, if possible, to find a window through which I could
look in upon the new arrivals as they sat at supper; but it was easier, I
discovered, to talk of such a window than actually to find it.
The back of the monastery was built flush with the edge of the cliff, the
rampart wall joining the building at the angle of our room. If only,
therefore, I could manage to pass along the wall, and thus reach a small
window which I guessed must look out on to a tiny court, situated between the
rearmost wall of the central hall and that on the left of our room, I thought
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I might discover what I wanted to know. But to do this would necessitate a
long and dangerous climb in the dark, which I was not at all anxious to
attempt until I had satisfied myself that there was no other way of obtaining
the information I required.
It might very well be asked here why I was so anxious to convince myself as
to the man's identity. But one instant's reflection will show that in such a
situation as ours we could not afford to run a single risk. The man had
allowed me to see that he did not wish me to become aware of his personality.
That in itself was sufficient to excite my suspicion and to warrant my taking
any steps to satisfy myself that he was not likely to prove an enemy. As I
have said before, we were carrying our lives in our hands, and one little
precaution neglected might ruin all.
Before venturing on the climb just mentioned, I determined to go round to the
other side of the house and endeavour to look in through one of the windows
there. I did so, and was relieved to find that by putting my hands on the
rough stone windowsills, and bracing my feet against a buttress in the angle
of the wall, I could raise myself sufficiently to catch a glimpse of the
room.
I accordingly pulled myself up and looked in, but, to my astonishment and
chagrin, there were only two people present, and neither of them was the man
I wanted.
I lowered myself to the ground again and listened, hoping to hear the sound
of a third person entering the room, but though I remained there nearly
twenty minutes I could not distinguish what I wanted. That the man was a
member of the same party I was perfectly convinced, but why was he not with
them now? This absence on his part only increased my suspicion and made me [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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