He saw that the town had tainted her—that she was struggling with one of those rare moments when glamour tarnished and she was close to surrender to her feelings. She had shown fine courage during the journey, flexing herself to meet every circumstance. Pure metal was behind those eyes. And it amazed him that she could meet the tests of the wilds and lose none of the feminine. (A romanticist always, this Trent, seeking in woman those elements that keep her in the vestal niche.) At times the call of her vibrated through his every nerve—but he had not forgot the circlet of gold. "Bracelet-brother." That he would be until they returned to metaled roads and electric-tramways; then the lover, with the lover's message to deliver....
"Don't trouble about me," she said. "When we get into the open spaces again it will be different; there our lungs won't be poisoned."
While Masein was cooking the evening meal the soldier who told of the purloined message appeared and in exchange for three taels pressed a folded sheet of rice-paper into Trent's hand. By the firelight the Englishman inspected it. It was written in Urdu and ran:
They tell a tale of Chunda Ram, the juggler, who made two cobras dance; of a mongoose that entered a lair and instead of vipers found a fat-bellied spider; of a lioness that guarded her whelps. You shall hear it—this tale of tales—from Rabsang Lama, who has journeyed north, into the falcon's country.
That was all—no signature. Trent read it and reread it. A fourth time his eyes traveled over the cryptic lines before he mined their meaning. Then he chuckled. Kerth—Kerth of many identities—was the lama who had passed through Tali-fang seven days before, and it was he who arrested Da-yak and Tambusami. The spider was Li Kwai Kung; the lioness the British Empire. The message came as a rift in gloom.
Perceiving the soldier who had brought the missive still standing close by, he directed a questioning look at him.
"I would speak with you alone, Tajen," he said.
Trent started to rise, but Masein and the porters were not within earshot and he decided otherwise.
"Speak. This"—indicating the girl—"is my brother. What I know he knows."
Trent could have sworn that the soldier winked at him slyly as he said "brother," but it was too dark to be sure.