| caption: |
Chapter Sixteen. Into the Blue |
| caption: |
anticipation of fight with Pangsha |
| text: |
Day has not yet broken but the camp is alive. The porters pack their loads and squat chatting round the fires, warming themselves and boiling their rice. Nagas will discuss the most negligible thing for hours and now that the excitement of the tour grips the whole camp conversation is rife; looking at their eager, determined faces you would think that they were making important decisions. They are asking each other over and over again: will there be a fight? This is the question on all lips. However much I hope there will be no bloodshed, I feel deeply for the porters. They are filled with the hope of glory, and dream of attaining the rank of head-hunters. They are desperately afraid that at the last moment we will come to terms with Pangsha, and that all the trouble and privation of the last weeks will have been in vain, for to the Naga money is no compensation for heroic exploits missed. |
