Page:Doughty--Mirrikh or A woman from Mars.djvu/110

 “Philpot, are we going to inquire into the business or take it for granted that he is dead?” I demanded.

“Why of course he is dead.”

“Ah Schow says he couldn’t make out what was supposed to be the matter. That human sheep who first broke in on us, just said the body had been given them by some  lamas in Bootan, with orders to leave it at this inn."

Now this was all we could make out of Ah Schow’s version of the affair, and we had no doubt he told us all  that had been told to him.

Strangely enough, it seemed to us, after the body had been brought in, not one of the caravan people would enter  the place.

The lamas of Bootan had told them to leave the corpse here, and here they proposed to leave it. Beyond that they had nothing to say.

And it seemed very, very strange to me then, that their arrival should have been so nicely timed as to find us at the  inn ready to receive the body. It was, however, to be least among innumerable strange happenings present in my  thoughts, before many days had passed.

Now they were all gone and we were alone with our dead; for if not ours, whose was it, I should like to  know?

Positively it almost seemed as though Mr. Mirrikh meant to give us another of his surprises; as though the whole  matter had been pre-arranged.

“Look here, boys, we’ll soon settle the question!” exclaimed Philpot, after we had indulged in some further discussion. “Let’s pull off some of these coverings and see what our Martial friend is made of. It won’t take me two seconds to tell if he has passed in his checks or not.”

There could be no objection to this idea. Nothing could be more important than to have the question settled once  and for all.

We all lent our aid and removed the sheepskin without much difficulty, despite of the fact that it had been securely  sewed round the body.

Yes, it was Mirrikh. Not in the dress in which we had last seen him, but, like ourselves, attired as a Thibetan lama, with  shaven head, black cloak and all. You may be very sure the Doctor pulled aside the shirt to see if the strange discoloration extended down upon the breast and shoulders,