Year of the Tiger

‘He’s a Pathan,’ Chavasse said simply. ‘You know what they’re like. He’d walk into the jaws of hell just to have a look.’ He smiled. ‘I’d better get moving.’

Ram Singh pulled on a parka and led the way out. It was snowing a little, loose flakes on the wind and very cold. They crossed to the Navajo, where Piroo already had the engines warming up. Chavasse paused at the bottom of the Airstair door and Ram Singh shook hands and saluted.

‘As God wills, my friend.’

Chavasse smiled, went up the steps and pushed the door shut. Piroo glanced over his shoulder, boosted power and they roared along the airstrip and lifted off.

In spite of the layers of clothing he wore, Chavasse was cold – very cold – and he found breathing difficult. He looked out of the window to a landscape as barren as the moon, snow-covered peaks on either side. Now and then they dropped sickeningly in an air pocket and were constantly buffeted by strong winds.

Piroo glanced over his shoulder and shouted above the roar of the engines.

‘I’ll curve round to the gorge first. Let’s make sure the Chinese are still on the other side before we communicate with Hamid.’

‘Fine,’ Chavasse told him.

They entered low cloud which enveloped them for five minutes, came out on the other side and there was the gorge below, the bridge in clear view. Even clearer was the Chinese column perhaps a quarter of a mile on the other side, racing towards the bridge very fast over what was at that point a flat plain.

‘No time to hang around. They’ll be at the bridge in ten minutes,’ Chavasse shouted. ‘I’m on my way. Take me down to five hundred.’

Piroo dropped the nose, the Navajo went down and levelled out. Chavasse moved awkwardly because of the bulk of his equipment and released the Airstair door. There was a great rush of air. He waited until they were as close to the bridge as possible and tumbled out head first.

Hamid dismounted and waited while one of the Tibetan freedom fighters galloped to where the signal can lay on the snow, the scarlet streamer plain. The man leaned down from the saddle, picked up the can and galloped back.

Hamid was a typical Pathan, a large man, very tall, dark-skinned with a proud look to his bearded face. Behind him the column had stopped as everyone waited. The horseman arrived and handed over the can. Hamid opened it and took out the message and read it. He swore softly.

From behind, a voice called, ‘What is it, Major Hamid?’

The Dalai Lama, covered by sheepskins, lay on a kind of trailer pulled by a horse for he was too ill to ride.

‘It’s from Chavasse.’

‘So he got through?’

‘Unfortunately there’s a Chinese column very close to us on the other side of the Cholo Gorge. It would seem Chavasse has dropped in by parachute in an effort to blow the bridge. I must go to his aid.’

‘I understand,’ the Dalai Lama said.

‘Good. I’ll take two of the escort with me. The rest of you must press on with all possible speed.’

He rode across to one of the carts and picked up a Sten-gun and two magazines which he stuffed into his saddle-bag, then he gave a quick order to two of the Tibetans and galloped away. A few moments later they went after him leading a spare horse.

Chavasse hit the ground heavily perhaps 100 yards from the bridge. He lay there for a moment, winded, then stood up and struggled out of his parachute harness. There was still no sign of the Chinese and he unslung the Sten-gun and ran along the uneven track between outcrops of rock.

It was stupid, of course, such exertion at that altitude, and by the time he reached the bridge, he was gasping for air, his breath like white smoke. He started across and it swayed gently. He got to the centre, took off the haversack and selected a block of plastique, inserted a five-minute timer, lay down and reached over the edge and wedged the explosive into a space between the ends of two struts. He activated the timer, stood up and, at that moment, a Chinese jeep appeared on top of the rise on the other side.

Its machine gun opened up at once. Chavasse ran, the Sten-gun in one hand, the haversack in the other. He reached the end of the bridge, ducked behind one of the supporting posts, found another block of plastique, inserted a yellow two-minute fuse and activated it.

The jeep kept firing, bullets clipping wood from the post. He laid the plastique block down, returned fire with his Sten and a lucky shot knocked one soldier out. The jeep, half-way across the bridge, paused, another just behind it and, on the ridge above, the rest of the column arrived.

‘Just stay there,’ Chavasse prayed and tossed the block of plastique out on to the bridge.

To his horror it actually bounced over the edge where it exploded in space. The jeep started forward, firing relentlessly, followed by the other, and the column moved down on the other side.

Chavasse ran up amongst the rocks, head down, glancing back to see the two jeeps reach firm ground. At that moment and just as the convoy started across, there was a huge explosion. The centre of the bridge twisted up into the air, lengths of timber flying everywhere. The two lead jeeps in the convoy on the other side went with it.

As the reverberations died away there were cries of rage from the Chinese soldiers in the two jeeps which had got across, three left in one and four in the other. They both fired their light machine-guns into the rocks below the escarpment and Chavasse cowered down and opened his haversack. One block of plastique left. He inserted the remaining two-minute pencil and started to count, the Sten-gun ready in his other hand.

He fired it in short sharp bursts with his left hand, still counting, and they raked the rocks with machine-gun fire so fierce that he had to keep his head down and hurl the block of plastique blindly. This time his luck was good for it landed in the jeep containing four soldiers and exploded a second later with devastating effect.

He glanced over a rock and saw only carnage. The four soldiers killed outright and the other jeep tilted on one side, its three occupants thrown out. As Chavasse watched, they got to their feet, coughing in the acrid smoke and picked up their weapons. He stood and opened fire with the Sten, three bullets kicking up dirt beside them, then the magazine simply emptied itself. He threw it down, turned and ran for his life as the three Chinese cried out and came after him.

Bullets ploughed into the ground beside him, kicking up snow as he struggled up the slope and then a cheerful voice cried, ‘Lie down, Paul, for God’s sake.’

Hamid appeared on the ridge above, holding the Sten light machine gun in both hands. He swept it from side-to-side, cutting down the three Chinese in a second. As the echoes died away he looked at the ruins of the bridge.

‘Now that’s what I call close.’

‘You could say that.’ Chavasse scrambled up the slope and saw the two Tibetans below holding Hamid’s horse and the spare. ‘How thoughtful. You’ve brought one for me. Prime Minister Nehru and the Indian Government are prepared to receive the Dalai Lama. The Indian Air Force plane that just dropped me in will be waiting on the airstrip at Gela. We’ll all be in Delhi before you know it.’

‘Excellent,’ Hamid said. ‘So can we kindly get the hell out of here?’

The British Embassy in Delhi was ablaze with light, crystal chandeliers glittering, the fans in the ceiling stirring the warm air, the French windows open to the gardens.

The ballroom was packed with people, anyone who counted in Delhi, the great and the good, not only the British Ambassador, but Prime Minister Nehru, all there to honour the Dalai Lama, who sat in a chair by the main entrance, greeting the well-wishers who passed him in line.

Chavasse in a white linen suit, black shirt and pale lemon tie, stood watching. Hamid was at his side resplendent in turban and khaki uniform, his medal ribbons, particularly the Military Cross from the British, making a brave show.

‘Look at them,’ Chavasse said. ‘All they want to do is to be able to boast that they shook his hand. They’d ask for his autograph if they dared.’

‘The way of the world, Paul,’ the Pathan told him.

There was a Chinese in the line, a small man with horn-rimmed glasses, an eager smile on his face. Chavasse stiffened.

‘Who’s that?’

The young lieutenant behind them said, ‘His name is Chung. He’s a doctor. Runs a clinic for the poor. He’s Chinese Nationalist from Formosa. Came here six months ago.’

Dr Chung took the Dalai Lama’s hand. ‘Chung – Formosa, Holiness,’ they heard him say. ‘Such an honour.’

The Dalai Lama murmured a response, Chung moved away and took a glass from a tray held by one of the many turbaned waiters.

The Dalai Lama beckoned the young lieutenant to him. ‘Enough for the moment. I think I’ll have a turn in the garden. I could do with some fresh air.’ He smiled at Chavasse and Hamid. ‘I’ll see you again in a little while, gentlemen.’

He made his way through the crowd, escorted by the lieutenant, nodding and smiling to people as he passed, and went out through one of the French windows. The lieutenant returned.

‘He seems tired. I’ll just go and tell them at the door to warn new guests that he’s not available for presentation.’

He walked away and Hamid said, ‘When do you return to London?’