But Annaiah knows. And tells him his answer, mutely. Sannegowda sees in Annaiah’s eyeballs not a reflection of his own image but of his sister Putti. His blood boils with the rejection and a burning jealousy that he cannot acknowledge. Instead he blusters with anger and warns Annaiah, don’t look at my sister. After that, he has secretly watched both Putti and Chikthayi run after Annaiah and monitored everything that he can.

No way Putti was pregnant, he would have known. But she killed herself for Annaiah or he egged her on to it, he believes. And that is sufficient reason to hate him, kill him and end his own longing.

Doddegowda has no need to think at all. If the man killed his sister, revenge must be taken. Ningamma’s contention that Putti cannot have been pregnant and that the numbers don’t add up are completely irrelevant. It might just be Ningamma’s way of preventing him and Sannegowda from taking revenge.

The two brothers complete Putti’s last rites to the best of their ability. They have to do this themselves because Dyavamma says neither Dasegowda nor anyone else will perform the rites for someone who has died an unnatural death. They dig a hole right next to the well and bury Putti there, in their own backyard, completely dry-eyed. And they close up the well, the only one inside a house in that village, forever.

Doddegowda makes everyone present swear over Putti’s grave, with the Ooramma as witness, that they will reveal nothing of what happened to anyone.

The two brothers leave in search of Annaiah. Ningamma, as advised by Sannegowda, tells the villagers that a rishi appeared in Doddegowda’s dream to tell him that he must undertake a journey with his brother and sister if Putti’s sudden illness is to be cured.

The rishi directed them to go over the wall and keep going in the southern direction till they find a hill with two interlocking trees on the top. Behind this hill is a lake, filled with crystal-clear water and beyond that the rishi’s hut. The rishi warned them that if they do not set out instantly, Putti’s illness will spread to the whole village. So, the three siblings left in the night itself, Ningamma says.

Uneasy about the brothers going over the wall with Putti, but unable to argue with their headman’s wife, the villagers just let it be for the next few weeks. In the absence of the headman and his younger brother, Ajji and Chikthayi’s brother Kalegowda will look after the village’s affairs, they decide.

Both the superstitious Doddegowda and the rational Sannegowda are too scared to scale the wall, although they know full well that that is where Annaiah most likely is. They convince themselves, instead, that he has fled the land altogether. Nobody has heard of him, nobody has seen him. Even Sannegowda’s underground network of contacts – whom he meets everywhere, much to Doddegowda’s discomfort – has not heard of Annaiah. If anything, people give them strange looks when they describe the long-haired, shabby man they are searching for.