After our afternoon tea, Byomkesh took Kaligati aside and whispered to him, "We will proceed according to last night's plan — all right?"

Kaligati looked worried, "Have you given it a serious thought?"

Byomkesh said, "I think we should go to the hut tonight. We have to solve this mystery once and for all. The moon will set at about ten at night. Ajit and I will go there before that and wait for the culprit to come, and catch him as soon as he walks in!"

Kaligati said, "But if he does not come?"

Byomkesh said, "Then I'll assume that my earlier guess was correct — Harinath is dead."

Kaligati thought for some time and said, "But I think you should go once before to the hut now to see where it is — let's go!"

Byomkesh said, "All right, if we don't see it in daylight, it will be difficult for us to locate it in the dark." He did not reveal to Kaligati that we had already seen the hut. The three of us reached the hut. Kaligati walked ahead, and took us inside. We saw that there was a heap of ashes in the middle of the room — otherwise there was no change.

Kaligati opened the back door overlooking the stretch of sand. Byomkesh said, "What a lovely open space!"

I repeated, "Yes, yes!"

Kaligati said, "You will stay in this room tonight.... but I am a little nervous about it. I have heard people say that a tiger has come to the forest."

I said, "So what, — we will bring our guns!"

Kaligati smiled, "It will be so dark that you will not be able to see your target. Your guns will be of no use. Anyway, I hope the rumour about the tiger is false. There is no need to bring a gun. But we can't be too careful — so please be on the alert. In case you hear the roar of a tiger — don't stay inside this room. Come out of this back door, close it, go down on to the sandy area, and stand there. Even if the tiger enters the hut, it will not be able to climb down on to the sand."

Byomkesh said happily, "That's a good idea. We should not bother to bring guns. Besides Ajit has newly learnt to use a gun — he will needlessly make a noise, and all our efforts will go to waste."

We returned home. But my mind was covered by a mist. In the evening, we were sitting together in Himangshu's armoury, when Byomkesh asked, "Himangshubabu, suppose that a person had killed a simple, harmless, dependent man for his own selfish ends. How should that man be punished?"

Himangshu said with a smile, "Death — a tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye."

Byomkesh turned to me, "Ajit, what is your opinion?"

"I agree with Himangshubabu."

Byomkesh was silent for some time. Then he went