‘You will get a tiger skin, Felu Babu, but what about me?’ Lalmohan Babu asked, sounding disappointed. We had finished dinner an hour ago. Our host had regaled us after dinner with exciting stories about his experiences in the wild. We had only just wished him a good night and returned from the drawing room. ‘Why do you say that, Lalmohan Babu? Whoever solves this code will get that skin. At least, he should. So why don’t you give it a go yourself, eh? You are a writer, you have a good command over your language, and you have imagination. So come on!’ ‘Pooh! My command over language would never get me through all that hollow-follow and hands- stands and what have you. You’re the one who is going to get the reward. Do you think he might give you this one?’ He looked at the skin that lay sprawling on the floor. ‘No, I don’t think so. Didn’t he mention a big tiger? I have no interest in leopards.’ Feluda had already written down the few lines that made up the puzzle and was now staring at his notebook. ‘Is it making any sense at all?’ Lalmohan Babu persisted. ‘No, not really, except that I am positive it involves hidden treasure,’ Feluda replied without looking up. ‘How can you tell? What’s all that about following a hollow old man?’ ‘I don’t know yet, but I think the word “follow” is important, and so is “pace”. Perhaps it’s simply telling you where you should go—take paces to something, or from something. Nothing else is clear. So we must—’ Feluda couldn’t finish speaking. Someone had walked in through the open door. It was Devtosh Babu. He was still wearing the purple dressing gown. His eyes held the same wild look, as though he suspected everyone he met of having committed a crime. He looked straight at Lalmohan Babu and said, ‘Did the Bhot Raja send you?’ ‘Bh-bhot?’ Lalmohan Babu gulped. ‘Do you mean vote? El-elections?’ ‘No, I think he is talking of the Raja of Bhutan,’ Feluda said softly. Devtosh Babu turned his eyes immediately on Feluda, thereby releasing Lalmohan Babu from an extremely awkward situation. ‘Are the Bhots coming back?’ he wanted to know. ‘No, I don’t think so,’ Feluda replied, his voice absolutely normal, ‘but it is possible now to travel to Bhutan quite easily.’ ‘Really?’ Devtosh Babu sounded as though this was the first time he’d heard the news. ‘Good,’ he said, ‘That’s good. They had once been very helpful. It was only because of them that the soldiers of the Nawab couldn’t do anything. They know how to fight. But not everyone knows that, do they?’ He

sighed deeply, then added, ‘Not everyone can handle weapons. No, not everyone can be like Adityanarayan.’ He turned abruptly and began walking to the door. Then he stopped, turned back, looked at the leopard skin on the floor and said something perfectly weird. ‘Do you know about the wheels of