March 20 Friday – Sam and Carlyle G. Smythe traveled 174 miles to Rawalpindi. Livy and Clara likely stayed behind, as the men returned to Lahore the next day.
Parsons calls Rawalpindi the “most heavily garrisoned of British Indian military stations” [“MT India” 92].
Sam’s notebook:
Lectured at Rawal Pindi. Dead Man, Plug, Poem, German, Golden Arm, Whistling — 1.15 [hrs] Supper-guest of Club. Left for Lahore at 12.45 [NB 36 TS 57]. Note: 12:45 p.m. on Mar. 21
Parsons writes,
He had intended to penetrate the North-West Frontier as far as Peshawar, only a few miles from the Khyber Pass, portal of Afghanistan, but sickness had dislocated his schedule and two more days were lopped off by a message that his ship was sailing from Calcutta ahead of time. As The Englishman
commented, “he most disappointed person is Mark Twain himself” [“MT India” 92].
(Fears)