"Send it," decided Barma Shah. "Only your Hawaiian friend will know that you mean the ruby rather than the Taj Mahal."
After dinner at a restaurant in Agra, they drove back to view the Taj by moonlight, when its graceful marble dome and slender minarets were softened into an incomparable silvery whiteness, a striking contrast to its splendor by day.
They were still talking about the Taj when they arrived back at the rest house, where they reduced their tones to whispers rather than rouse the monkeys, which apparently had gone to sleep in the trees. But when Biff himself was dozing off, he heard occasional patter on the roof and scratchy sounds outside his window, indicating that some of the creatures were about.
In his dreams, Biff could see monkeys swarming over everything, even the Taj Mahal, until oddly, they seemed to be clambering over the cot itself. Still half asleep, yet aware of where he was, Biff could feel their breath on his face, their pesky hands clutching at the bag containing the ruby.
Then Biff's eyes came open. He made a convulsive grab with both hands. In the filtering moonlight from the window, he saw a face that was human in size and form, yet leering like a monkey's. He caught hands that were human, too, but long, thin-fingered, and as writhing in their touch as a snake's coils.
Swiftly, expertly, those hands had grabbed the pouch that contained the great ruby and were twisting its chain around Biff's neck like a strangle cord!
XII
A Double Surprise
The struggle that followed was frantic but brief. It couldn't have lasted long, for Biff was unable to wrench the attacker's hands from the chain that they so cruelly twisted. It was already cutting off Biff's breath and blood supply, so that his eyes were seeing black spots in the moonlight.
Biff shifted his grip to his attacker's throat, but it didn't help. If anything, it made him twist the chain harder. Biff couldn't call for help, though the walls of the bungalow were thin enough for even a gargly cry to be heard. But there was a way to make people hear.
As he lashed about, Biff managed to shove the cot away from the wall. Then, wrenching himself to a new position, he began kicking the wall with his feet, pounding a terrific drum beat. There was a muffled, excited cry from the next room, then answering shouts above the din that Biff was raising. The whole dak bungalow was aroused.