It is an immutable law, and it is as impossible for us to relax it as it is for you to escape from it Sooner or later we shall come to you and claim your life in atonement for the one which you have taken.
"The same fate shall be meted out to the wretched soldier, Smith, who, though less guilty than yourself, has incurred the same penalty by raising his sacrilegious hand against the chosen of Buddha.

If your life is prolonged, it is merely that you may have time to repent of your misdeed and to feel the full force of your punishment.
"And lest you should be tempted to cast it out of your mind and to forget it, our bell--our astral bell, the use of which is one of our occult secrets--shall ever remind you of what have been and what is to be.

You shall hear it by day and you shall hear it by night, and it will be a sign to you that do what you may and go where you will, you can never shake yourself clear of the _chelas_ of Ghoolab Shah.
"You will never see me more, accursed one, until the day when we come for you.

Live in fear, and in that anticipation which is worse than death." With a menacing wave of the hand the figure turned and swept out of my tent into the darkness.

The instant that the fellow disappeared from my sight I recovered from my lethargy which had fallen upon me.