But what was hidden from Government House in Peshawur and the Old Mission House at Kohara was already whispered in the bazaars.

There among the thatched booths which have their backs upon the brink of the water-channel in the great square, men knew very well that Shere Ali was the cause, though Shere Ali knew nothing of it himself.

One of those queer little accidents possible in the East had happened within the last few weeks.

A trifling gift had been magnified into a symbol and a message, and the message had run through Chiltistan like fire through a dry field of stubble.

And then two events occurred in Peshawur which gave to Ralston the key of the mystery.
The first was the arrival in that city of a Hindu lady from Gujerat who had lately come to the conclusion that she was a reincarnation of the Goddess Devi.