His kingdom was 11,000 feet above the sea, and
exactly four miles square, but most of the miles stood on end, owing to the
nature of the country. His revenues were rather less than 400 pounds yearly,
and they were expended on the maintenance of one elephant and a standing army
of five men. He was tributary to the Indian government, who allowed him certain
sums for keeping a section of the Himalaya-Thibet road in repair. He further
increased his revenues by selling timber to the railway companies, for he would
cut the great deodar trees in his own forest and they fell thundering into the
Sutlej River and were swept down to the Plains, 300 miles away, and became
railway ties. Now and again this king, whose name does not matter, would mount
a ring-streaked horse and ride scores of miles to Simlatown to confer with the
lieutenant-governor on matters of state, or assure the viceroy that his sword
was at the service of the queen-empress. Then the viceroy would cause a ruffle
of drums to be sounded and the ring-streaked horse and the cavalry of the
state--two men in tatters--and the herald who bore the Silver Stick before the
king would trot back to their own place, which was between the tail of a
heaven-climbing glacier and a dark birch forest.
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