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Chapter one. The Beginning |
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It was the end of a dream. Already the outer world was near us, Silchar, and Imphal, where Nagas were an obscene joke, and the incredible beauty of the jungle meant nothing. There was this last camp, with the Kabuis of Kambiron, who, old friends of Jeffery's, had moved down in a body seven miles and taken us to their hearts in a family picnic, but every moment was sharpened by its impermanence. And then the end came. The logs smoked out in the sunlight in the abandoned fire, the porters took their loads, the long file started, and the camp was left deserted under the trees. |
