Stan released her hand. “That was kind of you. But I’ll really need a prayer unless I get out of here.”
“They will not come until daylight to get you,” she said. “That is the way it is done. There is a ceremony going on in a dark temple room right now. When it is over, they will come.”
“Fine,” Stan said. “Now if I can just get away from here.”
“You could not get far in those clothes. I will bring you white robes and a turban.”
“Good for you, Niva,” Stan whispered. “I’ll just lie here and wait.”
Niva got to her feet and vanished into the night. Stan sat on the platform and listened. After a time he heard footsteps and lay down. Niva slipped into the shed along the dark side. She knelt beside him.
“Put this on your hands and face. It will make you brown,” she whispered.
She poured liquid into his cupped hands out of a bowl. Stan smeared his face and hands. The stuff smelled bad and burned like fire.
“What is it?” he asked.
“It is polish for the harness of the sacred elephants,” she said and he heard her giggle. “I could find no other brown stain.”