After the death, Dumoise crept into his own house and refused to be comforted.
He did his duties perfectly, but we all felt that he should go on leave, and
the other men of his own Service told him so. Dumoise was very thankful for the
suggestion--he was thankful for anything in those days--and went to Chini on a
walking-tour.
Chini is some twenty marches from Simla, in the heart of the Hills, and the
scenery is good if you are in trouble. You pass through big, still deodar-
forests, and under big, still cliffs, and over big, still grass-downs swelling
like a woman's breasts; and the wind across the grass, and the rain among the
deodars says:--"Hush--hush--hush." So little Dumoise was packed off to Chini,
to wear down his grief with a full-plate camera, and a rifle. He took also a
useless bearer, because the man had been his wife's favorite servant. He was
idle and a thief, but Dumoise trusted everything to him.
On his way back from Chini, Dumoise turned aside to Bagi, through the Forest
Reserve which is on the spur of Mount Huttoo. Some men who have travelled more
than a little say that the march from Kotegarh to Bagi is one of the finest in
creation. It runs through dark wet forest, and ends suddenly in bleak, nipped
hill-side and black rocks.
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