Although our hotel was called Snow View and the rooms at the rear were supposed to afford a view of Kanchenjunga, we didn’t manage to see any snow the day we arrived, for the mist didn’t clear at all. There appeared to be only one other Bengali gentleman among the other guests in the hotel. I saw him in the dining hall at lunch time, but didn’t get to meet him until later. We went out after lunch and found a paan shop. Feluda always had a paan after lunch, though he admitted he hadn’t expected to find a shop here in Gangtok. The main street outside our hotel was quite large. A number of buses, lorries and station wagons stood in the middle of the road. On both sides were shops of various kinds. It was obvious that business people from almost every corner of India had come to Sikkim. In many ways it was like Darjeeling, except that the number of people out on the streets was less, which helped keep the place both quiet and clean. Stepping out of the paan shop, we were wondering where to go next, when the figure of Mr Bose suddenly emerged from the mist. He appeared to be walking hurriedly in the direction of our hotel. Feluda waved at him as he came closer. He quickened his pace and joined us in a few seconds. ‘Disaster!’ he exclaimed, panting. ‘What happened?’ ‘That accident . . . do you know who it was?’ I felt myself go rigid with apprehension. The next words Mr Bose spoke confirmed my fears. ‘It was SS,’ he said, ‘my partner.’ ‘What! Where was he going?’ ‘Who knows? What a terrible disaster, Mr Mitter!’ ‘Did he die instantly?’ ‘No. He was alive for a few hours after being taken to a hospital. There were multiple fractures. Apparently, he asked for me. He said, “Bose, Bose” a couple of times. But that was all.’ ‘How did you find out?’ Feluda asked, walking back to the hotel. We went into the dining hall. Mr Bose sat down quickly, wiping his face with a handkerchief. ‘It’s a long story, actually,’ he replied. ‘You see, the driver survived. What happened was that when the boulder hit the jeep, the driver lost control. I believe the boulder itself wasn’t such a large one, but because the driver didn’t know where he was going, the jeep tilted to one side, went over the edge and fell into a gorge. The driver, however, managed to jump out in the nick of time. All he got was a minor cut over one eye. But by the time he could scramble to his feet, the jeep had disappeared with Shelvankar in it. This happened on the North Sikkim Highway. The driver began walking back to Gangtok. On his way he found a group of Nepali labourers who helped him to go back to the spot and rescue Shelvankar. Luckily, an army truck happened to be passing