They flee together into Tibet, and reach a major Tibetan temple. With his strict Calvinistic upbringing Theodore is at first repelled and horrified by lamaistic Buddhism, but eventually comes to terms with it.
Set at the time of the Chinese Boxer Rebellion of 1900. Theodore, the son of American missionaries, escapes when the rebels destroy his father’s settlement and falls in with a foul-mouthed female ex-music-hall star, now a plant-hunter.