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"It’s got to be easier when we get to the top of this hill," I said, with more hope than expectation. "It has to flatten out sooner or later. We can take a break then. Besides," I added, "it’s going to start pelting down soon."

This was true. Although the forecast had been for clear skies, the day had clouded over as we had worked our way up the hill, and thick grey rolls of nimbus lay overhead now, dark with the shadow of rain. We normally didn’t mind inclement weather, but the path we were on would be twice as treacherous with water sluicing down it.

"We ought to find some kind of shelter," I said.

"That’s just because you’re lazy," Bimohit said, but it was obvious he was feeling the strain, too. He hadn’t even tried to leave me in his dust. "You’re scared of getting wet."

I didn’t reply, because the path had steepened abruptly, and I needed all my breath. Besides, the first drops of rain started coming down, at first a few random globules of water that spattered on the rocks, but quickening rapidly, the sting of the drops like bullets. We couldn’t even stop on that slope to drag our rainwear out of the rucksacks.

Fortunately, the slope ended only a short distance above us, in a stand of trees, and we managed to scramble up to the top fast enough to avoid the onset of the downpour. And there, beneath the trees, we saw something surprising.

The path, which had long since degenerated into a stony mountain track, suddenly flattened out and broadened into a gravel road large enough for a car to travel. On one side of the road there was a small round summerhouse, with a conical roof on pillars over a waist-high wall. We had no time to waste, because with a crash of falling water the deluge came down, and we just had time to rush for the summer house before we were soaked to the skin.

There was a low and narrow bench around the wall inside the summerhouse, and Bimohit and I squeezed ourselves on to it. It was a very narrow bench, though, so narrow as to be acutely uncomfortable. Also, the roof leaked just about everywhere, and rain blew in through the open upper portion of the summerhouse sides between the pillars, so we weren’t much less uncomfortable than we’d have been outside. Bimohit, saying his calves were hurting him, tried to knead them and nearly fell off on the rubbish-strewn floor.

"This is pretty awful," I said, rummaging inside my rucksack for my raincoat. "Looks like it’s going to go on for a while, too."

"Look," Bimohit said, and touched my shoulder. "Look there."

Straightening, I turned in the direction he was pointing, across and a short way down the gravel road. At first I didn’t understand what he meant, and then I saw a small white and black dog trotting along, head down and fur sodden.

"Wonder whom he belongs to," Bimohit said. "Odd to find a dog way up here on the hill."

"There must be people somewhere," I told him. "This isn’t much of a road, but it’s in better shape than the track." We watched the dog as it glanced briefly over its shoulder at us and then trotted on, until it suddenly turned to the side of the road and vanished.

"He went in there," Bimohit said, "through the gates." For the first time, I noticed the metal railings of a pair of tall gates between the trees. They space around them was fairly overgrown, so it was not surprising that I hadn’t seen them before. Beyond them, squinting through the foliage and the rain, I could make out the roof of what must have been a substantial mansion.

"That will be better shelter than this," I said.

"Yeah," Bimohit said. "I guess." He didn’t seem particularly enthusiastic, but shouldered his bag and followed me out, head bent against the rain.

The path beyond the gates was overgrown, as though nobody used it any longer, and had not for a long time. The gates themselves were higher than we could reach, the railings surmounted by barbed spikes, their two halves secured by a latch and hook. I was examining this to see if it could be turned when there was a rush through the rain and the dog we’d seen earlier hurled itself at the gate, wriggled frantically through the gap between two railings, and raced off down the road, its tail tucked firmly between its legs. I caught a glimpse of its face as it passed me, and seldom have I seen such a mask of terror.

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