He handed a leather case to Granger who opened it and took out a packet of bank notes and counted them. "Eight hundred and fifty rupees," he said. The men around him looked at the notes and at each other. A young engineer whistled and said: "Whew! It pays to be a brigand. I'll turn robber myself, I think. Poor but honest man that I am I have never gazed on so much wealth before. Hullo! What's that bit of string?" Dermot had taken from his pocket the cord that he had cut from the corpse of the second raider and laid it on the table. "Perhaps some of you may not be sufficiently well acquainted with Indian customs to know what this is." "I'm blessed if I am, Major," said the engineer. "What is it?" "It's the _janeo_, or sacred cord worn by the three highest of the original Hindu castes as a symbol of their second or spiritual birth and to mark the distinction between their noble twice-born selves and the lower caste once-born Súdras. You see it is made up of three strings of spun cotton to symbolise the Hindu _Trimurti_ (Trinity), Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, and also Earth, Air, and Heaven, the three worlds pervaded by their essence." "Oh, I see. But where did you get it?" asked the engineer. "Off the body of the second man that I shot, together with the pistol and pocket-book. Now, Bhuttias do not wear the _janeo_, not being Hindus. But high-caste Hindus do--and a Brahmin would never be without it." "Oh, no. So you mean that the man wasn't a Bhuttia?" "This is the last exhibit, as they say in the Law Courts," said Dermot, producing a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles. "You don't find Bhuttias wearing these." "By Jove, no," said Granger, taking them up and trying them. "Damned good glasses, these, and cost a bit, too." Dermot turned towards Daleham. "Do you remember showing me on this garden one day a coolie whom you said was a B.A. of Calcutta University?" "Yes; he was called Narain Dass," replied Fred. "We spoke to him, you recollect, Major? He talked excellent English of the _babu_ sort." "What has happened to him?" "I don't know. He disappeared a short time ago. Deserted, I suppose, though I don't see why he should. He was getting on well here." Dermot smiled grimly and touched the cord and spectacles. "The man who wore these, who led the Bhuttias in the raid, was Narain Dass." These was a moment's amazed silence in the room. Then a hubbub arose, and there was a chorus of exclamations and questions. "Good Heavens, is it possible, Major? He appeared to be such a decent, civil chap," exclaimed Daleham. "His face seemed familiar to me, as he lay dead on the ground," replied Dermot. "I couldn't place him, though, until I found the spectacles. I put them on his nose, and then I knew him. His hair was cropped close, he was wearing Bhuttia clothes, but it was Narain Dass, the University graduate who was working as a coolie for a few _annas_ a day." "And he had eight hundred and fifty rupees on him," added the young engineer.