The Mistery of Belicena Villca of our camp ; then he concentrated on studying the poor maps of Tibet and Western China . I spent the morning chatting with Oskar and the other SS officers , and at noon we had tsampa lunch , a pot cooked by the monks , all together forming a great wheel of fellow soldiers . The recent adventure had brought us closer to danger and death , and left as a positive balance a healthy camaraderie that reminded me of the days of the hitlerjugend . Yes ; I could even assure you , neffe Arturo , that in those moments we were overwhelmed by a carefree joy .
It was getting dark when the Gurkha , the Lopa commanded by Von Grossen , the two Lopas we left in Yushu , and the five Holite porters with the yaks , zhos , and the terrible mastiffs arrived . I don ' t think that ever in my life did I feel so happy as on that occasion , to recover the Daivas dogs . The arrival was very celebrated by the SS officers because , in addition to supplies , with the yaks came fifty Schmeisser clips and Luger bullets , to exactly replace the ammunition spent against the Duskhas . The two Kaulika monks brought fresh news about the attack , collected on the Chang-Lam road .
The entire region of Tibet would be , apparently , shocked by the event . Along the way , troops of a titled " Prince of Koko Nor " had them intercepted , but after the explanations received they were allowed to leave without problems . That incident was a consequence of the civil war : at some point in its history , the country of Tibet reached as far as Lake Koko Nor ; later , the Chinese formed the province of that name and made the border of Tibet push back further south of the Yang Tse Kiang River ; and lately , after the incorporation of other small states , principalities , or Tibetan fiefdoms , constituted the great province of Tsinghai .
At the beginning of the war between Japan and China , and because of the absence of the central power by the occupation of the capital of the Celestial Empire , the Tibetans saw the opportunity to regain their former estates and become independent from China and join Tibet again . In that particular case , the resurgent Prince of Koko Nor was an ardent Buddhist from the Tibetan Lubum tribe , whose members are part of the Lamaist aristocracy . His devotion and respect for the Dalai Lama had no limits , and the assault on the Duskhas had affected him deeply : for this reason he sent several parties of armed men to search for the attackers .
–“ We are – said the Lopas – servants of a rich merchant from Bhutan , who are heading to Sining to exchange his merchandise ”.
They traveled with the consent of the Dharma Rajah , for whom they had to fulfill certain assignments . And they showed the Tibetan soldiers a letter from the Dharma Rajá in which it stated the list of objects to be acquired .
That was enough . The Lopas presented them with a bottle of solja brandy from Bhutan and the soldiers provided abundant information . " We had to take care during the trip because there was a heavily armed band of bandits that operated in the Region . They recently attacked and destroyed a village of peaceful and Holy Lamas , so it was clear that they were not Tibetans , not even religious , but undesirable foreigners . Unless they were members of the clandestine Kâula sect , who hated the Buddhist Lamas or Hindus in general ; but they would never have dared so much . The Duskha survivors claimed to have been attacked by the Asuras , but the soldiers were not so credulous and suspected that the ' Demons ' would be actually western bandits , seconded by Chinese thugs . If they were right , the criminals would try to return to China through the indefinite border of the East , which they proposed to monitor from now on ”.
So they were looking for us and , as Von Grossen rightly predicted , we shouldn ' t let ourselves be seen for quite some time . The Kâulika monks had other news .
Their contacts with members of the Kâula Circle allowed them to find out that a deep underground movement of sympathy towards us was articulating throughout the spiritual Tibet . Many admired that group of Initiates who ruthlessly killed the disciples of the Lord of Shambhala . It would be very difficult to return to Bhutan by the same route , but our Tibetan allies guaranteed us a safe escape through China to the Japanese lines . Japan had then excellent relations with Germany and in the German consulate in Shanghai was actively working a delegation from the Secret Service of the SS . If we got there , we could embark without drawbacks . The Kâulika community of Sining would help us in this endeavor .
But it was still premature to talk about leaving Tibet . Before we had to find Schaeffer and neutralize his plans . – Are we ready to leave at dawn , Von Sübermann ? --Von Grossen asked politely . – Jawohl , mein Standartenführer ! --I answered confidently . We got everything ready and , at dawn , we broke up the camp and arranged to leave . Von Grossen hoped that I would clearly indicate the course , but the only thing we could do would be to accompany the Daivas dogs . I made him understand and I stood in front of the column , taking with both hands the reins of the mastiffs . From the Infinity of the Spirit , beyond Kula and Akula , descended
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