I waited for another ten minutes to see if Feluda turned up. When he didn’t, I went in and knocked on Lalmohan Babu’s door. He opened it at once and said with large, round eyes, ‘I’ve seen it all from the lobby! Don’t both those characters look highly suspicious? I wonder if they’ll go to Ellora? One of them—you know, the bearded one—might well be into ganja and other drugs.’ I nodded. ‘Jayant Mallik has also arrived and checked in,’ I told him. ‘Really? I didn’t see him. I came back to my room as soon as that hippie walked in. What does Mallik look like?’ When I described him, Lalmohan Babu grew even more excited. ‘Oh, I think he’s been given the room next to mine. I saw him arrive and something struck me as very odd. A bearer was carrying his suitcase, but it was obviously extremely heavy. The poor man could hardly move. And no wonder. Isn’t the yakshi’s head supposed to be in it?’ I could think of nothing except Feluda’s disappearance, so I said, ‘What is much more important now is finding Feluda. Never mind about Mallik’s suitcase. We’ve made no arrangements to go to Ellora. Mallik, I am sure, hasn’t come here simply to see the sights of Aurangabad. If he reaches Ellora before us, he might damage more—’ ‘What’s that?’ Lalmohan Babu interrupted me, staring at the door. I had shut it after coming into the room. Someone had slipped a piece of paper under it. I leapt and grabbed it quickly. It was another note, written by Feluda: ‘Collect all our luggage and wait outside the hotel at one-thirty. Look out for a black Ambassador taxi, number 530. Have your lunch before you leave. All hotel bills have been paid in advance.’ I ran my eyes over these few lines and opened the door. There was no one in sight. A second later, however, Jayant Mallik came out of his room and went busily towards the reception desk. He caught my eye briefly, but did not seem to recognize me. ‘He didn’t lock his room,’ Lalmohan Babu whispered. ‘There’s no one about. Shall I go in and have a look? Think of the stolen statue—!’ ‘No! We mustn’t do anything like that without telling Feluda. It’s nearly one o’clock now. I think we should both be getting ready to leave.’ Sometimes, Lalmohan Babu’s enthusiasm caused serious problems. Luckily, he agreed to restrain himself. We had a quick lunch and came out with our luggage—including Feluda’s—at one twenty-five. An empty taxi arrived in a few minutes, but it was green and had a different number. Its driver stopped it a few feet away from us. I saw him raise his arms and stretch lazily. Three minutes later, another taxi drove up to us. A black Ambassador, number 530. Its driver peered out of the window and said, ‘Mr Mitter’s party?’

‘Yes, yes,’ Lalmohan Babu replied with an important air. The driver got out and opened the boot for us. I put the three suitcases in it. Two men came out of the hotel: Shubhankar Bose and Jayant Mallik. I had seen them having lunch together. They got into the green taxi. It roared to life and shot off down Adalat Road, which headed west. Ellora lay in the same direction. All this suspense is going to kill me, I thought. Where were we going to go? Why wasn’t Feluda with us? I couldn’t help feeling annoyed with him for having vanished, although I knew very well he never did anything without a good reason. Another man emerged from the hotel. It was the tall hippie, carrying his canvas bag. He came straight to us, stopped and said, ‘Get in, Topshe. Quick, Lalmohan Babu!’ Before I knew it, I was sitting in the back of the taxi. The hippie opened the front door, pushed the bemused Lalmohan Babu in, then got in beside me. ‘Chaliye, Deendayalji,’ he said to the driver. I knew Feluda was good at putting on make-up and disguises, but had no idea he could change his voice, his walk, even the look in his eyes so completely. Lalmohan Babu appeared to be speechless, but he did turn around and shake Feluda’s hand. My heart was still speeding like a race horse, and I was dying to know why Feluda was in disguise. Feluda opened his mouth only when we had left the main town and reached the open country. ‘The disguise was necessary,’ he explained, ‘because Mallik might have recognized me, although we had exchanged only a few words in that garage in Barasat. Naturally, his suspicions would have been aroused if he saw that the same man who had asked him awkward questions was also going to Ellora. I didn’t tell you about my plan, for I wanted to see if my make-up was good enough. When neither of you recognized me, I knew I didn’t have to worry about Mallik . . . I had these clothes and everything else in my shoulder bag this morning. When I said I was going off to take photos, I actually walked ahead and disappeared into cave number six. Not many people go in there, since it’s far from the others and one has to climb higher to get there. When I finished, I climbed down and walked back to town. First I arranged this taxi, then went to the station to see if Mallik got off the train. When he did, I followed his taxi, having collected another passenger who also wanted to go to our hotel. This helped me as I could then share the taxi fare with him. Now, if Shubhankar Bose asks you anything about me, tell him I’ve sent you a message saying I had to go to Bombay on some urgent business. I cannot remove my disguise until I go to bed. In fact, we shouldn’t even let Mallik see that you and I know