| caption: |
burning village and decision to retreat |
| text: |
When the people who set fire to the third khel return Williams pushes for a retreat. Both the upper and the third khel stand in a blaze of flames and the smoke darkens the sun and results in strange effects of light as apparently it allows the red rays to shine through. Therefore the lower khel in the shadow of the smoke cloud is enveloped in a strangely dark pink in an unnatural and magical contrast to the piercing sunshine all around. It is decided that we and the entire column should go down to the camp while a group of coolies sets fire to the lower khel and then meets us below as we bypass the khel on our way home. Nlamo is supposed to go with them to get some heads from the skull tree. (248) We still see how the houses of this khel break into flames and then go slowly down the steep descent to our camp where we arrive around twelve o'clock |
