I didn’t get the chance at all that day to speak to Feluda about his dazzling matchbox. Baba wanted us to go to bed early since we had to be up at the crack of dawn the following morning; but by the time we finished dinner and were able to go to bed, it was past 10 p.m. As I got into bed, I could hear someone snore very loudly through the communicating door between our room and the next. ‘Bilash Babu,’ said Feluda briefly. ‘How do you know?’ ‘Why, he was snoring in the train yesterday. Didn’t you hear him?’ In the train? Was Bilash Babu in the train with us? Of course! One little piece of the jigsaw puzzle fell into place. ‘Those big toes!’ Feluda gently patted my shoulder. ‘Good!’ he said. Yes, that was right. Bilash Babu was the man who had lain on the upper berth, wrapped in a sheet from head to toe. But I had seen his toes. It was now time to ask Feluda the question that had been bothering me all day. But I had to wait until Baba was asleep. I could tell by his movements that he was still awake. The dharamshala was gradually falling silent, as was the whole town. It was the beginning of winter, so people would, in any case, retire early. It was dark inside our room, but a light from the courtyard outside fell on the threshold. What was that noise under the bed? A rat or a mouse, probably. Baba was now asleep. I could hear his deep, regular breathing. Turning to Feluda, I whispered, ‘It was the ring, wasn’t it?’ Feluda said nothing for a few moments. Then he sighed and whispered back, ‘All right. Since you have guessed it already, there’s no point in hiding things from you. I have had the ring from the very first day. When all of you—including Dhiru Kaka—had gone to sleep, I saw that his trousers were hanging from a rack. I knew the keys of his almirah were in one of its pockets. So I took them out, opened the almirah and removed the ring. I didn’t take the box deliberately, so that there would be no doubt that only the ring had gone.’ ‘But why?’ ‘Because I knew that would only provoke the real thief. And then it would be easier to catch him.’ ‘Does it mean that the sannyasi had turned up simply to steal the ring?’ ‘Yes, but it wasn’t Ambika Babu. It was the other fake one, who had an attaché case in his hand. He must have had the shock of his life when he saw another sannyasi in the living-room! I bet that’s when he went to the station and changed his clothes.’

‘Who is this fake sannyasi?’ ‘I have my suspicions, but not enough evidence—yet.’ ‘You mean you’ve been carrying that ring in your pocket all these days?’ ‘No.’ ‘What did you do then?’ ‘I kept it in a safe place.’ ‘Where?’ ‘In the Bhoolbhulaia. In one of those little niches.’ Good God! What a clever mind! Now I could see why he had disappeared in that maze for a few minutes. ‘But how could you have gone back to find it? You didn’t know how the maze had been built? I mean, its plan . . .’ ‘I had made an arrangement for that. You may have noticed that the little finger on my left hand has a long nail. I had scratched numbers with it on the walls of those passages. The ring was in the seventh passage. I went back before leaving Lucknow and took it out. I didn’t like the idea of the ring lying there while I went out of town.’ My heartbeat grew faster again. ‘What if those burglars suspect that you’ve got the ring?’ ‘So what? They couldn’t prove it. Anyway, I don’t think they’re clever enough to guess where the ring is.’ ‘In that case why are they threatening you?’ ‘Because they haven’t given up hopes of getting hold of it. And they know very well that I am capable of ruining all their plans.’ ‘But—’ my throat was so badly parched I could hardly speak, ‘you might be in great danger!’ ‘Felu Mitter thrives on risks and danger.’ ‘But—’ ‘No more buts. Go to sleep.’ Feluda yawned and turned to his side. The dharamshala was now totally quiet. A dog barked somewhere. The snoring in the next room continued non-stop. I could not get the matchbox and its content out of my mind. One had to marvel at the courage Feluda had shown. If it wasn’t for what he had done, the ring would have been stolen and the thief would have got away with it. ‘Kir-r-r-r-r-r kit kit kit! Kir-r-r-r-r-r-r kit kit kit!’ From the next room came the faint noise of the rattle-snake; but it sounded as though it was coming from a distance. Bonobihari Babu must be listening to his favourite music. Strangely enough, this funny noise soon soothed me to sleep. Baba had set the alarm on his travelling clock for 5 a.m. I woke a little before it went off. It did not take us long to get ready after a cup of tea. ‘We needn’t worry about taking food,’ said Dr Srivastava, ‘there are shops at the foot of the bridge in Laxmanjhoola that sell very good puri-subzi.’ We were all wearing our woollens. Laxmanjhoola was further up in the hills and was bound to be cooler.

The two taxis arrived at a quarter to six and stopped by the front gate. Bilash Babu came out and joined us. It turned out that he, too, was going to Laxmanjhoola and would travel with us. As I stood debating on which car to get into, Bonobihari Babu said, ‘Three in each car, obviously. I could tell you some interesting stories about animals, Tapesh. Would you like to join me?’ ‘Yes, why not? I’m