It is amazing what lavish expenditure of fuel one will indulge in when it
costs nothing a ton!
We are just beginning to find out the exact spots where chairs may be
planted so as to avoid the searching draughts which go far to make our
happy home like a very airy sort of bird-cage.
Well! we might have been worrying through all this in a sodden tent, where
even a boarded floor would barely have kept out rheumatism, and where one
would have been liable to alarms and excursions at all sorts of untoward
times when drains wanted deepening and guys slackening. The mere thought
of such things sent us into a truly thankful state of mind, and we
discussed from our cosy chairs the probable condition of the party from
the Residency which set forth, full of high hope, on Saturday morning to
attack the markhor of Poonch.
Here it has rained with vehemence ever since they left; up in the high
ground it has doubtless snowed; and although they were well armed with
cards and whisky, yet it would appear but a poor business to play bridge
all day in a snow-bound tent on the top of the Pir Panjal! Nothing short
of a hundred aces every few minutes could make the game worth the candle!
This spell of bad weather has greatly interfered with the movements of a
large number of the folks who were to leave Gulmarg early this week. Many
got away betimes on Saturday, and a few faced the elements on Sunday, and
a painful experience they must have had.
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