[1] The book is narrated by John Fothergill West, a Scot who has moved with his family from Edinburgh to Wigtownshire to care for the estate of his father's half brother, William Farintosh.
People hear a strange sound, like the tolling of a bell, in his presence, which seems to cause the general great discomfort.
When he was in the army forty years ago, during the First Afghan War, the general was fighting against the Afridis in the passes of the Hindu-Kush.
As the general was closing in on the remnants of the enemy forces, an old man emerges from a cave and stops him from killing them.
The sound that appeared to emanate from above the general's head was the tolling of the astral bell by the chelas to remind him that wherever he goes, he will never escape their wrath.