Horror-stricken, Wargrave questioned the forest guard.  The man had not been at the bungalow at the time of the outrage and could not greatly supplement the information contained in the letter.  The story that he had learned from the servants was to the effect that a party of Chinamen had arrived at Mr. Benson’s bungalow and asked for employment as carpenters.  There was nothing unusual in this, as Chinese from the Southern Provinces frequently make their way on foot through Tibet and Bhutan over the mountains in search of work on the tea-gardens or in Calcutta.  Apparently they had suddenly struck the old man down and surprised Miss Benson before she could offer any resistance.  Producing fire-arms they had terrified the servants.  They had a mule hidden in the jungle and on this the girl was placed and led off.  Long after they had disappeared some of the forest guards had timidly followed their track for some distance and found that it led towards the Bhutan Frontier.

When Wargrave had extracted from the man all the information that he could he rushed into the Mess and acquainted the two officers in it with the terrible news.  Like him they were horrified at the outrage.  Major Hunt went at once to the Fort to order out parties of the detachment in accordance with the District Superintendent’s request; and Macdonald got ready to proceed to the Forest Officer’s bungalow forty miles away.

The Assistant Political Officer despatched a cipher telegram to the Foreign Department, Government of India, at Simla, informing them of the occurrence and of his intention to investigate the affair personally, and, if possible, rescue Miss Benson.  He knew that the Heads of the Department, although they would not sanction or approve officially of his crossing the frontier in pursuit of the raiders, as it would be contrary to the Treaty with the Bhutanese Government, would not enquire too closely into his movements.  But whether they liked it or not he intended to follow the abductors if necessary into the heart of Bhutan, Treaty or no Treaty.

His first step was to send for Tashi and order him to prepare the disguise that he intended to use.  His rifle he left behind, but armed himself with a brace of long-barrelled automatic pistols to which their wooden holsters clipped on to form butts, thus converting them into carbines accurate up to a range of a hundred and fifty or two hundred yards.  He found a third for Tashi in Colonel Dermot’s armoury, which was at his disposal.

Night had fallen long before the detachment elephant that bore Wargrave, Macdonald, Tashi and the forest guard as well as its own mahout, reached the bungalow where the District Superintendent of Police awaited them.  The doctor found Benson suffering from a wound in the head, with concussion and fever.  Frank interrogated the servants carefully and elicited from them one fresh fact about the outrage that shed a flood of light on its motive and its author.  It was that the leader of the party was pock-marked and blind in the right eye; and this at once confirmed Frank’s suspicion that the instigator of Muriel’s abduction was the Chinese Amban, whose parting threat to the girl had thus materialised.