Riding or walking, the journey was not a pleasant one for any man not as
deeply engrossed in thought as I was then myself, and quite oblivious to
anything affecting the body. I have cultivated the power of mental
concentration to such a degree of late that, on many an occasion, I have
been able to make myself quite unconscious of anything around me when my
mind was wholly bent upon the one object of my life, as several of my
friends will testify; but never to such an extent as in this instance.
It was, I think, between eight and nine A.M. I was following the road
to the town of Sikkhim, whence, I was assured by the people I met on the
road, I could cross over to Tibet easily in my pilgrim's garb, when I
suddenly saw a solitary horseman galloping towards me from the opposite
direction. From his tall stature and skill in horsemanship, I thought
he was some military officer of the Sikkhim Rajah. Now, I thought, I am
caught! He will ask me for my pass and what business I have in the
independent territory of Sikkhim, and, perhaps, have me arrested and
sent back, if not worse.
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