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Chapter Seventeen. Pangsha Burns |
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another bad march and setting up camp |
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It is the worst march of the whole tour, and we soon give up the thought of reaching Pangsha's colony that evening. The sun is already sinking before we find a flat place in the bend of the river for our camp. Water flows on two sides, and towards the mountains the sepoys erect a palisade of quickly-felled bamboos. The mist gathers over the river intensifying the cold, and the camp fires provide only a very inadequate warmth. There is a full moon tonight, which, shedding a cold, clear light, silvers the earth and heightens the bewitching unattainability of the high mountains behind Pangsha. |
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It seems senseless to carry our luggage up the hill, when a small force is enough to burn the village, and Mills decides to send the porters, protected by half our escort, back to Noklak early in the morning. The long line of the porters will move as ostentatiously as possible along the open clearings on the opposite hills, while we attack Pangsha's colony with forty rifles. |
