The flight of the geese told us that dawn was at hand, and I sat up and watched. The stars set one by one. The ponies began to graze. I gave them more rope; now that the night had passed they did not need to be tied so close to the fire.
In another ten minutes the intense stillness of the dawn held all things in its grip, and that had its effect on our two beasts. This time I could see clearly both of them lifting their heads and listening. What sounds were they trying to catch? I did not have long to wait. In a tree not far off a bird shook itself, then another did the same thing, on another bough. One of them sang. It was a song sparrow and its cry roused all nature. Other song sparrows trilled; then other birds, and still others! By now shapes and colours were coming to light with blinding rapidity. Thus passed the short tropical twilight, and Ghond got up to say his prayers.
That day our wanderings brought us to the Lamasery near Singalele of which I have spoken before. The Lamas were glad to give us all the news of Gay-Neck. They informed me that the previous afternoon Gay-Neck and the flock of swifts who nested under the eaves of the monastery had flown southwards.
Again with the blessings of the Lamas we said farewell to their hospitable serai, and set out on Gay-Neck's trail. The mountains burnt like torches behind us as we bestowed on them our last look. Before us lay the autumn tinted woods glimmering in gold, purple, green, and cerise.
CHAPTER VII
GAY-NECK'S STORY
n the preceding chapter I made scanty references to the places and incidents through which Gay-Neck was recovered. Ghond found his track with certainty the first day of our ten days' search for him, but in order to see those things clearly and continuously, it would be better to let Gay-Neck tell his own Odyssey. It is not hard for us to understand him if we use the grammar of fancy and the dictionary of imagination.
The October noon when we boarded the train at Darjeeling for our return journey to town, Gay-Neck sat in his cage, and commenced the story of his recent truancy from Dentam to Singalele and back.