When Mohammad Ali had gone out of sight, another man approached the secret door and softly asked, “May I enter?”

Pashupati replied, “Enter.”

A spy entered. Bowing low, he received Pashupati’s blessing, who then asked, “How calm you look! Is there good news?”

The spy replied, “Please ask your questions one by one—I shall present all the news in order.”

Pashupati: Did you go to the place where the Yavanas are encamped?

Spy: No one can go there.

Pashupati: Why not?

Spy: The forest is very dense, impenetrable.

Pashupati: Why did you not go, cutting through the trees with an axe?

Spy: There is the menace of tigers and bears.

Pashupati: Why did you not go armed?

Spy: The woodcutters who entered the forest, slaying tigers and bears, have all perished at the hands of the Yavanas—not one has returned.

Pashupati: Then why did you come back?

Spy: If I had not, who would have brought you this news?

Pashupati smiled and said, “You alone would have come.”

Shantashil, bowing, said, “It is I who have come to deliver the news.”

Pashupati, delighted, inquired, “How did you manage to go?”

Shanta: First, I procured a turban, weapons, and Turkish attire. I fastened them and arranged them upon my back. Then, mingling with the woodcutters, I entered the forest path. Later, when the Yavanas caught sight of the woodcutters and sought to slay them, I slipped away and changed my disguise behind a tree. Thereafter, as a Muslim, I wandered freely throughout the Yavana camp.

Pashu: Praiseworthy indeed. How many Yavana soldiers did you see?

Shanta: As many as that vast forest could contain. I believe there must be twenty-five thousand.

Pashupati, furrowing his brow, remained silent for a while, then asked, “Did you hear any of their conversations?”

Shanta: I heard much—but I could not report any of it to you.

Pashu: Why not?

Shanta: I am not learned in the Yavana tongue.

Pashupati smiled. Shantashil then said, “I fear danger from the fact that Muhammad Ali came here.”

Pashupati, startled, asked, “Why?”

Shanta: He could not have come unnoticed. Some have come to know of his arrival.

Pashupati, deeply anxious, said, “How do you know this?”

Shantashil replied, “As I was coming to pay my respects to you, I saw that a man, armed for battle, was hiding at the gate. From my conversation with him, I understood that he had seen Muhammad Ali enter this city and was waiting for him. In the darkness, I could not recognize him.” Pashu. And then?

Shanta. Then I locked him up in the picture gallery and came here.

Pashupati began to praise the thief-catcher, and said, “Tomorrow morning, we shall decide what is to be done with that man. For tonight, let him remain imprisoned. Now, you have another task to fulfill. The Yavana commander desires to see the severed head of the Magadha prince tonight. You must procure it at once.”

Shanta. The task is not at all easy. The