But the next stage, though occasionally exciting, was less arduous than he had been prepared for, and a relief from the lung-bursting strain of the ascent. The track consisted of a traverse cut along the flank of a rock wall whose height above them the mist obscured. Perhaps mercifully it also obscured the abyss on the other side, though Conway, who had a good eye for heights, would have liked to see where he was. The path was scarcely more than two feet wide in places, and the manner in which the bearers maneuvered the chair at such points drew his admiration almost as strongly as did the nerves of the occupant who could manage to sleep through it all. The Tibetans were reliable enough, but they seemed happier when the path widened and became slightly downhill. Then they began to sing amongst themselves, lilting barbaric tunes that Conway could imagine orchestrated by Massenet for some Tibetan ballet. The rain ceased and the air grew warmer. “Well, it’s quite certain we could never have found our way here by ourselves,” said Conway intending to be cheerful, but Mallinson did not find the remark very comforting. He was, in fact, acutely terrified, and in more danger of showing it now that the worst was over. “Should we be missing much?” he retorted bitterly. The track went on, more sharply downhill, and at one spot Conway found some edelweiss, the first welcome sign of more hospitable levels. But this, when he announced it, consoled Mallinson even less. “Good God, Conway, d’you fancy you’re pottering about the Alps? What sort of hell’s kitchen are we making for, that’s what I’d like to know? And what’s our plan of action when we get to it? What are we going to do?”
Conway said quietly, “If you’d had all the experiences I’ve had, you’d know that there are times in life when the most comfortable thing is to do nothing at all. Things happen to you and you just let them happen. The war was rather like that. One is fortunate if, as on this occasion, a touch of novelty seasons the unpleasantness.”
“You’re too confoundedly philosophic for me. That wasn’t your mood during the trouble at Baskul.”
“Of course not, because then there was a chance that I could alter events by my own actions. But now, for the moment at least, there’s no such chance. We’re here because we’re here, if you want a reason. I’ve usually found it a soothing one.”
“I suppose you realize the appalling job we shall have to get back by the way we’ve come. We’ve been slithering along the face of a perpendicular mountain for the last hour – I’ve been taking notice.”
“So have I.”
“Have you?” Mallinson coughed excitedly. “I daresay I’m being a nuisance, but I can’t help it. I’m suspicious about all this. I feel we’re doing far too much what these fellows want us to. They’re getting us into a corner.”
“Even if they are, the only alternative was to stay out of it and perish.”
“I know that’s logical, but it doesn’t seem to help. I’m afraid I don’t find it as easy as you do to accept the situation. I can’t forget that two days ago we were in the consulate at Baskul. To think of all that has happened since is a bit overwhelming to me. I’m sorry. I’m overwrought. It makes me realize how lucky I was to miss the war; I suppose I should have got hysterical about things. The whole world seems to have gone completely mad all round me. I must be pretty wild myself to be talking to you like this.”