I had scarcely taken possession of my new dwelling in Leh when Muhamed Isa appeared with a pleasant, kindly “Salaam, Sahib.”
“Peace be with you,” I answered; “you have not changed much in all the years since we met in Kashgar. Are you disposed to accompany me on a journey of two years through the high mountains?”
“I wish nothing better, and the Commissioner Sahib has allowed me to report myself to you for service. But I should like to know whither we are to travel.”
“We are going northwards to Eastern Turkestan; you will hear about our further movements when we have left the last villages behind.”
“But I must know the details of your plan because of the preparations.”
“You must take provisions for horses and men for three months, for it may happen that we shall be so long without coming into contact with human beings.”
“Then, surely, we must be making for Tibet—that is a country I know as well as my house in Leh.”
“What are your terms?”
“Forty rupees a month, and an advance of two hundred rupees to leave with my wife at starting.”