Feluda swung his arm and threw the stone in the direction of the forest. This was followed by a breathtaking sequence of events.

Our invisible adversary threw himself out of his hiding place in an attempt to catch the diamond, but fell on a slab of half-frozen snow. In the next instant, he lost his foothold and was rolling down the hill like a giant snowball. He finally came to rest near the snow-covered nullah that ran alongside the road. By this time, the pistol and binoculars had dropped from his hands. A pair of dark glasses and a pointed beard lay not far from these.

There was no point in our hiding any more. The three of us leapt to our feet and ran forward to join Feluda. I had expected the other man to be at least unconscious, if not dead. He had slipped from a considerable height at enormous speed. But, to my surprise, I found him lying flat on his back, glaring malevolently at Feluda and breathing deeply.

It was easy enough now to understand why his voice had sounded familiar. The figure stretched out on the snow was none other than the unsuccessful film star, Amar Kumar, alias Prabeer Lahiri, Dinanath Babu’s nephew.

Feluda spoke with ice in his voice. ‘You do realize, don’t you, that the tables have turned? So stop playing this game and let’s hear what you have to say.’

Prabeer Lahiri did not reply. He continued to lie on his back, snow drifting down on his upturned face, gazing steadily at Feluda.

Nothing was as yet clear to me, but I hoped Prabeer Babu would throw some light on the mystery. But still he said nothing.