noon
A dark spot seen indistinctly through the hot-weather haze marked where the little city of Cooch Behar lay . Sixty miles and more away to the south-east the Garo Hills rose beyond the snaky line of the Brahmaputra River wandering through the plains of Assam . A sharp turn in the narrow defile shut out the view of everything except the sheer walls of rock that seemed almost to meet high overhead and hide the sky . Even at noon the pass was dark and gloomy . But it came abruptly to an end , and as through a gateway the leading elephants emerged suddenly on a narrow jungle-like valley . The first line of mountains guarding Bhutan had been traversed . Beyond the valley lay another range , its southern face covered with trees .