To Kamuka, this was intriguing indeed, for it carried him back to his own jungle life in Brazil, especially when he caught the chatter of the monkeys from the higher branches. But to Chandra, who was familiar with it all, such sounds were an annoyance as he tried to explain his plans to Biff.
"This road will take us to the Grand Trunk Road," stated Chandra, "which we will follow until nightfall to reach the village of Supari, where my uncle is patwari—"
"Patwari?" interposed Biff. "What is that?"
"The same as karnam or kulkarni or talati—I have heard it called by all those names—but it means in English, the man who keeps the village accounts."
"That would be the town clerk in America." Biff nodded. "So your uncle is an important man. Go on."
"On the Grand Trunk Road," continued Chandra, "we will look like everybody else, because all India is there. You will see hathi, oont, ekka—"
"Wait now, Chandra," put in Biff. "Hathis are elephants, that I know.
And oonts are camels. But I never heard of ekkas. What are they?"
"Pony carts," returned Chandra seriously, "and you will also see bicycles and jeeps."
"It sounds good," decided Biff. "But what if we were being watched on the train. Do you think they will catch up with us?"
"They cannot catch up," returned Chandra, "because they have gone ahead. If they talked to ticket agent or to the man who took our tickets, they know where we should get off and will look for us there."