"Yes, he was not like the others in face. He didn't seem to me to be a Bhuttia at all. He was one of the two that you shot--the man with shoes. It seems absurd, but do you know, his face appeared rather familiar to me somehow. But of course I could never have seen him before." "Are you sure that you hadn't? Think hard," said Dermot eagerly. The girl shook her head. "It's no use. I puzzled over the likeness most of the time that I was in their hands, but I couldn't place him." Dermot looked disappointed. The girl continued: "We went through the forest for hours without stopping, except to change the bearers of my chair. I noticed that the leader spoke to one man only, the man with the scars on his face whom you shot, too, and he passed on the orders." "Could you tell in what language these two spoke to each other?" "No; they never talked in my hearing. In fact I noticed that the man with shoes always avoided coming near me. Well, we went on and on and never halted until we reached the place where you found us. It seemed to be a spot that they had aimed for. I saw the scarred man examining some marks on the trees in it and pointing them out to the leader, who then gave the order to stop." "How did they behave to you?" "No one took any notice of me. They simply carried me, lifted me up, and dumped me down as if I were a tea-chest," replied the girl. "Well, that is all my adventure. But now please tell me how you came so opportunely to my rescue. Was it by chance or did you follow us? Oh, I forgot. You said you saw Lalla, so you must have been at Malpura. Did Fred send you?" Dermot briefly related all that had happened. When he told her of his dispute with Badshah about the route to be followed and how the elephant proved to be in the right she cried enthusiastically: "Oh, the dear thing! He's just the most wonderful animal in the world. Forgive me for interrupting. Please go on." When he had finished his tale there was silence between them for a little. Then Noreen said in a voice shaking with emotion: "How can I thank you? Again you have saved me. And this time from a fate even more dreadful than the first. I'd sooner be killed outright by the elephants than endure to be carried off to some awful place by those wretches. Who were they? Were they brigands, like one reads of in Sicily? Was I to be killed or to be held to ransom?" "Oh, the latter, I suppose," replied Dermot. But there was a doubtful tone about his words. In fact, he was at a loss to understand the affair. It was probably not what he had thought it at first--an attempt on the part of enterprising Bhuttia raiders to carry off an Englishwoman for ransom. For when he overtook them they were on a path that led away from the mountains, so they were not making for Bhutan. And the identity of the leader perplexed him.