"You should have picked Diwan Chand for my job," he said, "but as for going along, I don't think Diwan Chand would have. So I guess I'll have to do."
"You will do very well. Any more questions?"
"Just one, Colonel. What about the Chonsi Lama? Have you any reports on him?"
"Nearly twenty years ago," stated Colonel Gorak, "the Chonsi Lama visited Leh and received a tremendous ovation. He was then a man in his early thirties and impressed all who met him with his great vigor and his keen mind. In the years since, the Chonsi Lama has preserved the balance of the border. He has refused to listen to the demands of dictators who have tried to curb his power. They are unable to oust him because they cannot find him."
"And all the while his influence has increased?" Barma Shah inquired.
"Yes. Today, the Chonsi Lama is regarded as one of the wisest men in the East and, without a doubt, the most mysterious. No one has seen him since that time in Leh, but he has been heard from often, and his well-weighed decisions have increased his fame. Now in his early fifties, he is probably at the peak of his career—that is, if Lamas have careers. When one dies, his spirit is supposed to be reincarnated in an infant born at that same time, who then continues on as a Living Buddha."
Biff and the other boys wanted to hear more on that intriguing subject, but Barma Shah asked:
"Will anyone block us between Leh and Chonsi?"
"One man will if he can," returned Gorak grimly. "That is Bela Kron, who heads the international spy ring. Have you ever run across him here in India?"
"No, but I would like to." Barma Shah gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. "I would repay him in kind for the way he tortured some of my friends."