"We tried to take a short cut and whom did we run into?" Muscles turned to Biff. "Your whole crew of porters, heading back to Leh. When they told me they'd been seeing Yeti tracks, I figured somebody had been faking them."
"Somebody was," returned Biff. "Hurdu."
The Chonsi Lama was becoming more and more intrigued. He expressed the eagerness felt by all the boys when he suddenly urged, "Go on, Muscles, tell us more!"
"Well, your honor," Muscles resumed, suddenly impressed by the youthful Lama's robe, "I did some more talking to Tikse and his friends. I told them that there weren't any such things as Yetis, and that having been mistaken for one, I was somebody who should know. So they turned right around and came along with me.
"Then, to convince them further, I rigged myself up in an old yak hide and wrapped old towels around my shoes, so I could scare Hurdu and his tribe into thinking they were really looking at a Yeti and not just his footprints."
"So you were the thing we saw go bounding up the ledge!" exclaimed Biff.
"That's right," said Muscles. "I kept on going, too, clear up beyond a big rock pile."
Chandra turned to Biff. "You see? I was right."
"It was dark when I started out," continued Muscles, "so I brought a rifle with me. I'd left it up behind the rock pile, and when I saw you tangling with that big bear, I up and clipped him, first shot. There was other shooting coming from down your way, so I had my chance to clear out and did."
"And you followed us from then on?" queried Biff.