ABSTRACT
We were now ready to start; it was the night of the full moon on December 15th. Akong Tulku was carrying a very heavy load on his back and I asked him if he could really take so much, adding cheerfully ‘it might end in your collapse'. Laughingly, he replied, ‘this is the decisive night and I can do it; please remember that I am tougher than you'. When we reached the level ground we could hear voices in the neighbouring village and dogs barking in the far distance; however, we got as far as the sandy approaches to the river and everyone was hopeful. I went from group to group to encourage those in the rear to move more quickly and as I was walking between them I saw a man in Kongpo dress in front of me behind a thorn bush; as I looked at him he disappeared, but soon afterwards I saw another man in the same costume who was carrying a rifle; I thought he might be Chinese as he had a very light skin. He too disappeared. I noticed that some groups of stragglers were going in the wrong direction so I had to rush after them to bring them back. At last my group reached the river and were the first to embark; eight of us got into one coracle with Urgyan-tendzin to paddle, followed closely by a second group. The full moon was just rising. It took some time to get across, though Urgyan-tendzin went as quickly as possible, and as soon as we disembarked he was ready to take the coracle back to fetch another lot of passengers. I heard a shout from the river from the man who was paddling another coracle; he was calling me by name and saying that he was unable to get across and they would all be drowned. I told him not to panic, it would be all right and he carried on and landed his party. As I walked up and down the bank talking to the three groups who had arrived, I suddenly heard gunfire. At first I thought it must have come from one of our party; then a second shot was fired and I could hear shrill shouts from Chinese voices. The firing became continuous and bullets came whizzing 231above us. Some of the remaining refugees jumped into coracles and were able to get across. The firing still went on, becoming even heavier. Altogether about fifty people reached our side and we rushed up the strip between the river and the back-water, expecting to find the dry passage at the end of the water, but no-one could locate it. Since the Chinese were evidently in force on the other side, we expected that there would also be some of them here, so all heavy baggage, such as bags containing coins and jewellery, was thrown into the water. Being unable to find the passage, we tried to wade across the back-water, but found it too deep, so some of the men went back to the riverbank to fetch the two coracles. These were now waterlogged and consequently very heavy and it took time to bring them. The men arrived at last and a few of us were paddled across. Everyone wanted to jump into the two coracles at once, so some had to be ordered to wait for the return journey, till finally all got across.
