In the forbidden land, an account of a journey into Tibet . had been of them picked up my Martini-Henry, and the othersurged him to fire it off. He came to me, and when Ihad explained to him how to load it, he took a cartridgeand placed it in the breech, but would insist on notclosing the bolt firmly home. When I warned him ofthe consequences, he struck me over the head with thebutt of the rifie. It is the fashion, when aiming with one of their match-locks, which have a prop attached to them, to place the 157 IN THE FORBIDDEN LAND butt in front of the nose instead of holding it
In the forbidden land, an account of a journey into Tibet . had been of them picked up my Martini-Henry, and the othersurged him to fire it off. He came to me, and when Ihad explained to him how to load it, he took a cartridgeand placed it in the breech, but would insist on notclosing the bolt firmly home. When I warned him ofthe consequences, he struck me over the head with thebutt of the rifie. It is the fashion, when aiming with one of their match-locks, which have a prop attached to them, to place the 157 IN THE FORBIDDEN LAND butt in front of the nose instead of holding it firmly to theshoulder as we do. So the Lama aimed in this fashion atone of my yaks peacefully grazing some thirty yards everybody watched anxiously to see the results ofthis niarksmans shooting, he pulled the trigger; the riflewent off with an extra loud report, and behold! the muz-zle of the Martini burst and the violent recoil gave theLama a fearful blow in the face. The rifle, flying outof his hands, described a somersault in the air, and the. MARTINI-HENRY EXPLODED Lama fell backward to the ground, where he remainedspread out flat, bleeding all over and screaming like achild. His nose was squashed, one eye had been put out,and his teeth shattered. Whether the rifle burst because the bolt had not beenproperly closed, or because mud had got into the muzzleas well, I could not say; but I give here a photograph ofthe broken weapon, which the Tibetans returned to meseveral months later through the Government of India. The injured Lama, I may say, was the one at the headof the party that wanted to have my head cut off, sothat, naturally enough, I could not help betraying mysatisfaction at the accident. I was glad they had let melive another day, were it only to see his self-inflicted pun-ishment. 158 CHAPTER XC A CONSULTATION — UNTIED FROM THE RACK — THE MOST TERRIBLETWENTY-FOUR HOURS OF MY LIFE — I LOSE THE USE OF MY FEET—CIRCULATION RETURNING—INTENSE PAIN—
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