Many of the leading papers next morning carried reports of Tarafdar’s forthcoming visit to Madras. His first show there would be held on 25 December, they said. Feluda had gone to have a haircut. When he returned, I showed him the reports. ‘Yes, I’ve already seen them,’ he said, frowning. ‘Clearly, Sunil Tarafdar couldn’t resist a bit of publicity. I rang him before I left to give him a piece of my mind, but he refused to pay any attention to what I said. He told me instead how important it was for him to make sure the media took notice of what he was doing. When I pointed out that those three people would now come to know about Nayan’s movements and that wasn’t desirable at all, he said quite airily that they wouldn’t dare do anything now, not after the way he had handled them the other day. I put the phone down after this since he obviously wasn’t gone to change his mind. But this means my job is going to get a lot more difficult and I have to be ten times more alert. After all, I know Nayan is still in danger.’ A car stopped outside and, a few seconds later, someone rang the bell twice. This had to be Lalmohan Babu. He was late today. It was almost ten-thirty. ‘Have I got news for you!’ he said as he walked in, his eyes wide with excitement. ‘Wait!’ Feluda said, smiling a little. ‘Let me guess. You went to New Market this morning, right?’ ‘How do you know?’ ‘A cash memo of Ideal Stores in New Market is peeping out of the front pocket of your jacket. Besides, that big lump in your side pocket clearly means that you bought a large tube of your favourite toothpaste.’ ‘All right. Next?’ ‘You went to a restaurant and had strawberry ice cream—there are two tiny pink drops on your shirt.’ ‘Shabash! Next?’ ‘Naturally, you didn’t go into a restaurant all alone. You must have run into someone you knew. You didn’t invite him to have an ice cream. He did. I am aware that you don’t have a single close friend—barring ourselves—with whom you’d want to go to a restaurant. So presumably, this person was someone you met recently. Now, who could it be? Not Tarafdar, for he’s far too busy. Could it be one of the four greedy people? Well, I don’t think it was Hodgson. He hasn’t got money to waste. TNT? No, he wouldn’t travel all the way to New Market to do his shopping. That leaves us with—’ ‘Brilliant, Felu Babu, absolutely brilliant! After a long time, you’ve shown me today that your old power of deduction is still intact.’ ‘Was it Basak?’ ‘Oh yes. Nandalal Basak. He told me his full name today.’ ‘What else did he tell you?’

‘Something rather unpleasant, I’m afraid. Apparently, Basak added ten thousand dollars to their original offer. But even so, Tarafdar refused. That naturally annoyed Basak very much. He said to me, “Go tell your snoopy friend, Mr Ganguli, Nandalal Basak has never been defeated in his life. If Tarafdar does a show in Madras, he’ll have to drop the special item by that wonder boy. We’ll see to it!”’ My hands suddenly turned cold not because Basak’s words meant that he had recognized Feluda, but because there was a hidden menace behind his words that I didn’t like at all. ‘That accounts for Basak,’ said Feluda coolly. ‘Tiwari is out of the picture. So we now have to watch out for Tarak Nath Thakur and Hodgson.’ ‘Tarak Nath cannot do anything by himself. It’s Gawangi we have to deal with.’ Feluda started to speak, but was interrupted by the door bell. I could hardly believe my eyes when I opened the door. Never before had I seen telepathy work so quickly. TNT himself stood outside. ‘Is Mr Mitter in?’ ‘Come in, Mr Thakur,’ Feluda called. ‘So you’ve worked out who I really am?’ ‘Of course. And I also know who this satellite of yours is,’ TNT said, turning to Lalmohan Babu. ‘You are Jatayu, aren’t you?’ Yes.’ ‘I had once thought of keeping you in my zoo, do you know that? After all, in the matter of writing absolute trash, you’re quite matchless, I think. Hullabaloo in Honolulu . . . ha ha ha!’ The sound of his loud laughter boomed out in our living room. Then he looked at Feluda again. ‘So we’re meeting once more in Madras, I think?’ ‘Have you made up your mind about going there?’ ‘Oh yes. And I won’t be alone. My Ugly from Uganda will accompany me, of course. Isn’t that marvellous? Sounds just like the title of one of your books, doesn’t it, Mr Jatayu?’ ‘Are you going by train?’ Feluda asked. ‘I have to. Gawangi couldn’t fit into a seat in an aircraft.’ Mr Thakur burst into a guffaw again. Then he rose and began walking towards the front door. ‘There’s only one thing I’d like to tell you, Mr Mitter,’ he threw over his shoulder. ‘In some situations, brain power can’t possibly be a match for muscle power. Your intelligence may be thousand times stronger than Gawangi’s, but if it came to a physical combat, he’d win with both his hands tied behind his back. Goodbye!’ Mr Thakur disappeared as suddenly as he had appeared. I’d love to see this Gawangi in person, I thought.