“The sooner the better.  We shall be there in three days from here, by the help of Ram Lal’s wonderful post.”

“Between you I managed to get here quite well.  How did you do it?  I never missed a relay all the way from Julinder.”

“Oh, it is very easy,” answered Isaacs.  “You could have a dak to the moon from India if you would pay for it; or any other thing in heaven or earth or hell that you might fancy.  Money, that is all.  But, my dear fellow, you have lost flesh sensibly since we parted.  You take your travelling hard.”

“Where is Ram Lal?” I asked, curious to learn something of our movements for the night.

“Oh, I don’t know.  He is probably somewhere about the place charming cobras or arresting avalanches, or indulging in some of those playful freaks he says he learned in Edinburgh.  We have had a great good time the last two days.  He has not disappeared, or swallowed himself even once, or delivered himself of any fearful and mysterious prophecies.  We have been talking transcendentalism.  He knows as much about ’functional gamma’ and ‘All X is Y’ and the rainbow, and so on, as you do yourself.  I recommend him.  I think he would be a charming companion for you.  There he is now, with his pockets full of snakes and evil beasts.  I wanted him to catch a golden eagle this morning, and tame it for Miss Westonhaugh, but he said it would eat the jackal and probably the servants, so I have given it up for the present.”  Isaacs was evidently in a capital humour.  Ram Lal approached us.

I saw at a glance that Ram Lal the Buddhist, when on his beats in the civilisation of Simla, was one person.  Ram Lal, the cultured votary of science, among the hills and the beasts and the specimens that he loved, was a very different man.  He was as gray as ever, it is true, but better defined, the outlines sharper, the features more Dantesque and easier to discern in the broad light of the sun.  He did not look now as if he could sit down and cross his legs and fade away into thin air, like the Cheshire cat.  He looked more solid and fleshly, his voice was fuller, and sounded close to me as he spoke, without a shadow of the curious distant ring I had noticed before.

“Ah!” he said in English, “Mr. Griggs, at last!  Well, you are in plenty of time.  The gentleman who is not easily astonished.  That is just as well, too.  I like people with quiet nerves.  I see by your appearance that you are hungry, Mr. Griggs.  Abdul Hafiz, why should we not dine?  It is much better to get that infliction of the flesh over before this evening.”

“By all means.  Come along.  But first send those dooly-bearers about their business.  They can wait till to-morrow over there on the other side.  They always carry food, and there is any amount of fuel.”