This was putting the situation in an unpleasant light indeed. 'We shall have to have a say in that,' I said. 'Agreed. But how?' 'You think they'll keep us by force?' 'God knows. But I begin to fear this people, Mirlees. There is a cold magnificence about them and their city that oppresses me. I feel they are benevolent to a point, but that beyond it they could be unpleasant in a way we don't dream. How do you suppose they've kept their secret from the world for twenty-two centuries? The impassable mountains would account for it to a great extent, but even we know of two men who have strayed into this valley from the outer world. Kalliboas admits the coming of one--why, I don't know, unless he thought the tomb these people have for some reason or other built for the stranger is so conspicuous that sooner or later we should find it for ourselves, and all about it. But who's to know there were no other strays? There may have been many in the course of the centuries. Some may have been content to spend the rest of their lives here, but what of those who wanted to go back? They never left this valley alive, Mirlees--only the one man, the Tibetan who built the _obo_, and that perhaps only because he ran before they saw him. Had others got out alive, this valley would not have remained secret from the world. Then again, doesn't it strike you as queer that a man who could get over those mountains on foot and alone should die of heart-failure climbing the foothills this side? What was that man doing when he died?' Poyning was striding swiftly to and fro, clenching and unclenching his hands in a curiously agitated fashion. Suddenly he halted, and stared. There, framed in the doorway, stood Kalliboas. 'Inquiry has been made,' he said. 'You are to be received by the King within a few days.' Poyning bowed in silence, and the old man was gone. 'It's a tall order,' said Poyning with a queer look at me, 'but I wonder if our ancient friend knows English?' 'I'm beginning to be shy of assigning limits to our ancient friend and his people,' I said. 'But for the future we shall do well to discuss private matters in a whisper. I never heard Kalliboas approach then.' 'Neither did I. But it was uncommonly odd he should turn up at the moment he did. This place gets on my nerves, Mirlees. Thank God we're to see Philipson. We may be able to catch some hint of what these people intend to do with us. But we must take care not to give him or anybody else the slightest inkling that we want to leave the valley, and if ever you had an idea of writing a book about it, for God's sake keep the ambition dark!'