The march from my last camp was a very short one, so I had the greater part of the day left for work. Previously I had usually halted in Daramsallas (stone-walled shelters), and in default of these my men put up for me a neatly-made "Chahna"[5] or "choepper," a hut of mats and branches of trees, in the construction of which the Paharis are wonderfully dexterous. I had also my small "mountain tent," a _tente d'abri_, quite comfortable enough for ordinary requirements. [Illustration: THE TENT] It seems, however, that this style of travelling is not considered _comme il faut_ by the officials of India. It is the number and size of one's tents, according to these authorities, that make one a greater or a smaller gentleman! I had put up my tent--three feet high, seven feet long, and four feet wide--by the side of the two double-leaf eighty pound tents of the Deputy Commissioner, but this official and his companions were far from pleased with this act of familiarity. For a double-tented sahib to be seen in company of another sahib whose bijou tent rose from the ground hardly up to one's waist, was _infra dig_ and a serious threat to the prestige of the British in India. I was therefore politely requested to move from my cosy quarters to a more dignified abode lent me by the one-eyed Lal Sing, a Tokudar[6] and brother of the Patwari.[7] Being thus promoted in everybody's estimation except my own, I wrote and copied out my first article for _The Daily Mail_, and, having done this, I dined and spent a pleasant evening with Mr. G. The night was stormy; the wind shook my tent. I went to sleep wrapped in my solitary camel-hair blanket. Some hours later a sharp knock on my head woke me. It was the centre pole of the tent that had moved out of its sockets and had fallen on me. This was followed by a rushing noise of canvas, and I found myself in a moment uncovered and gazing at the stars. There were white things flying about in the air, and, to my horror, I discovered the leaves of my _Daily Mail_ article scattered in the wind. I jumped up, but of the ten or twelve foolscap leaves on very thin paper, I only managed to recover two or three. The others soared gracefully to and fro in the air, and I suppose settled eventually in the Kali. This meant recopying the article next day, a tedious job when you are burning to get on. The sun rose. The camp began to wake up. All were shivering with cold. I took my usual cold bath surrounded by a half-frozen crowd of astonished onlookers, wrapped up in their thick woollen blankets, crouching round me with their chins on their knees. The tent was recovered after a while, and soon all was ready to start. [5] _Chahna_--Pahari. _Choepper_, Dehsi--Hindustani. [6] _Tokudar_--Head-village man. [7] _Patwari_--Accountant for a Pargana. CHAPTER X