I
went in and told Hilda and Lady Meadowcroft. Our spoilt child cried
a little, of course, at the idea of being enshrined; but on the whole
behaved admirably. At early dawn next morning, before the village was
awake, we crept with stealthy steps out of the monastery, whose inmates
were friendly. Our new guide accompanied us. We avoided the village, on
whose outskirts the lamasery lay, and made straight for the valley. By
six o'clock, we were well out of sight of the clustered houses and
the pyramidal spires. But I did not breathe freely till late in the
afternoon, when we found ourselves once more under British protection in
the first hamlet of the Maharajah's territory.
As for that scoundrel, Ram Das, we heard nothing more of him. He
disappeared into space from the moment he deserted us at the door of the
trap into which he had led us. The chief Lama told me he had gone back
at once by another route to his own country.
CHAPTER XI
THE EPISODE OF THE OFFICER WHO UNDERSTOOD PERFECTLY
After our fortunate escape from the clutches of our too-admiring Tibetan
hosts, we wound our way slowly back through the Maharajah's territory
towards Sir Ivor's headquarters.
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