Chapter 14
Colonel PP Singh, after watching his two proteges sailing out into the darkness, waited for the moon to rise before beginning his descent. He knew that the moon would be nearly at the full and its light, reflected by the snow would provide sufficient light for him to descend to base camp. He had of course counted on this being a cloudless evening and in this he proved to be lucky, for the evening remained calm and the sky cloudless.
In the Himalayas, the major difficulty in climbing is provided by the high altitude. What would be a rock climb of no more than ordinary difficulty becomes, in the rarefied atmosphere of the high Himalayas, a death defying struggle. Thus it is that peaks that are very difficult to climb are comparatively easy as a descent. So it was with Pyramid Peak. The Colonel made rapid progress, down the rocky steps and gulleys which had seemed so difficult on the way up. He was back in the base camp before nine.
Down in the camp it was lonely. Round about the camp stood snowy seracs, towers and cliffs of ice and snow, fashioned by the wind into fantastic shapes. The breeze had died down and an absolute hush had fallen on the mountain. At such a time the mind is prone to strange fancies, but the, Colonel, who was usually susceptible to the beauty of nature, had other things on his mind.
He was worried mainly about the fate of the two human beings he had sent out into the unknown. How would they fare? What were their chances of accomplishing their mission and coming back alive. The Colonel had to admit to himself that their chances were not very bright. Still one had to hope for the best. Both Mary Joe and Lobsang were brave and selfless individuals. They could not have chosen two better persons to lead the mission. With some of these thoughts revolving through his mind, he fell into a troubled and fitful sleep, from which he woke up to find the morning star dropping towards the horizon in the west. He was up and on his way before the first light of dawn.
He had soon descended through the snow-line and then through the forest of giant conifers to the valley floor. On reaching the bottom he stopped for a smoke in the lee of a large boulder that provided a good view of the mountain whence he had come down and the way that led upto it. The Colonel was surprised to see, lying at the foot of the boulders, two stubbed out bidi ends and a torn packet of lion brand bidis. There was even a slight smell of acrid bidi smoke, still lingering faintly in the air. Someone had been here, not too long ago, someone who had been probably been watching, over the track and who had left a short while ago. The Colonel felt sure, that this individual, whoever he was, had been watching the track and had left on seeing him coming down the valley.
The presence of anyone in this remote valley was cause for suspicion. The Colonel knew of a short-cut that went up a steep saddle and rejoined the path on the far side of the mountain after climbing for an hour. If he took this short-cut, he would be able to overtake this individual who had been snooping on him and find out more about the whole matter. He ran up the path and reached the other side, not more than an hour later and sat down behind a boulder to await matters. He had not long to wait. Coming down the path, apparently oblivious of the fact that he was under observation was a Bhotia trader. When the Bhotia was almost abreast of the boulder, the Colonel stepped out from behind his concealment and signalled him to stop.
"What are you doing here? Don't you know this area is off limit to strangers.
Taken aback, the Bhotia was speechless for a while then found his tongue. "Just looking for my donkey saab! 'I lost the beast a few days ago and I thought he might have run away to this valley. The grazing is good here saab."
The major conducted a search of the man and found a packet of lion brand bidis in his pocket. He took him along to the camp for questioning. The Bhotia broke down rather quickly, all it took was a single sleepless night in a damp cell, where a bright bulb was kept burning overhead and a soldier came every ten minutes to shake him awake. By the time it was morning his resistance was already broken and he was ready to tell all.
The Colonel pondered the information that he had extracted from the Bhatia. It was clear that the Chinese now knew that two Tibetans were being trained in hang-gliding by the Indian army. Would they be able to put two and two together and guess that these gliders were going to be used for sending people into Tibet. He came to the conclusion that the Chinese would be able to draw the obvious inference. Still they did not know the time and place where the intrusion had been made. Perhaps all was not lost. Not yet. And if he played his cards right, things could even be turned to his advantage. He summoned the Bhotia before him.
"Send a message to the Chinese that the two Tibetans have already entered Tibet, near Gyantse. Tell them that you got the information from an Indian contact, and training in this camp was merely a diversionary tactic.
''Yes sir.''
"And from now on, you will stay within the camp at all times and communicate with the Chinese as directed by us."
''Accha, saab, very well, sir."
