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KAMBA BOMBO. 399
Tibet ; not a breath of air stirred, not a sound was audible,
except the occasional barking of a dog in the distance.
Almost three years have passed since that evening, and
many other changes have taken place in the interval, I
myself am hard at work in my quiet cosy study at Stock-
holm. Shereb Lama has written to me that he has left
Astrakhan, where he settled when the journey was done
in a lamaist monastery of the Kalmucks, and has returned
to his birth-place, Urga. Shagdur—perhaps he is bleed-
ing on some battlefield of Manchuria, slain by a Japanese
bullet ? Who knows ?
Next morning I bade our Tibetan guards bring our two
horses and four mules to the tent, for I was not minded to
lose any more time than was necessary. Yet it would not
do to ride away quite in an unceremonious fashion. I
resolved, therefore, to go alone and visit Kamba Bombo
in his own tent, although Shagdur and the Lama both sought
to dissuade me. When I got about half-way there I was
surrounded by a score of mounted horsemen, who without
a single word arranged themselves before me and behind
me ; but at about half a mile from the Tibetan tents they
stopped and dismounted, and signed to me to do the
same.
After waiting barely a quarter of an hour, I saw ap-
proaching at the gallop the same troop of cavalry who had
visited us the day before, Kamba Bombo in his yellow
robes riding in the middle. Then, taking our seats on a
couple of cushions laid on a carpet, we had a long talk
together, the interpreter being the intermediary. But all
my arts of persuasion were fruitless. Kamba Bombo had
no desire to lose his head in order to please me ; and when
I proposed to ride alone and unarmed to Lassa, he laughed
and shook his head, and pointing towards the north,
repeated, " Back ! Back !
" Then, closing one eye with
a knowing air, he ejaculated the word, " Sahib !
" using
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