The Buddhist Monk
The party topped a high rise and stopped, spellbound at the scene that
spread before them. They were on the rim of a great valley. Far on the
other side of the valley stood the high peaks of the Himalayas, a mighty
screen between them and India.
Below, a lush green path marked the course of a wide river. On either
side of it, sloping up to the mountains, was the lighter green of
grasslands.
Sing pointed. "There is Korse Lenken."
Rick had to look hard before he saw it. Then he began to make it out.
The monastery was built under a great cliff on one side of the valley.
At first glance it seemed like part of the cliff itself. It was huge,
with tier after tier of gray stone buildings rising in piled masses from
the valley floor. Around it, like tiny mounds of earth, were the hair
tents of the Tibetans.
"Magnificent," Zircon rumbled. "Well worth coming to see, even if we
find nothing at the end of the trail."
"We'll find Chahda," Scotty said. "I'm sure we will. And the sooner the
better."
Rick felt the same way. Now that the end of the trail was in sight,
excitement was rising within him. He was anxious to find his Hindu
friend and to find at the same time answers to some of the mysteries
they had encountered.
"Let's hurry," he said impatiently.
Sing shouted at the bearers and the party took a narrow trail that
dipped into the valley. Scotty rode ahead with Sing, and his rifle was
ready for instant use. Rick and Zircon brought up the rear, their own
rifles held ready. They had taken no chances since the fight on the
hilltop. Worthington Ko had been left afoot far behind them, but there
was no assurance his friends hadn't come to the rescue with horses. Rick
kept glancing behind him, just in case of an attack from the rear.
They had reached the rim of the valley by midmorning. All through the
day they made their way down the mountain, reaching the valley floor
about three in the afternoon. Another two hours of steady travel took
them past the yurts of Tibetan herders--conical tents made of horsehair
felt. The stolid Tibetans watched them pass, no interest in their beady
eyes.
Then, as darkness began to set in, they reached the monastery. Korse
Lenken towered above them, already shaded in twilight. From somewhere
within the great pile they heard the tinkle of bells, then the deep
tones of a mighty gong. Lamas, priests in yellow robes, walked past with
bowed heads. Some of them spun their prayer wheels and intoned the
Buddhist ritual.
_Om Mani Padme Hum. Hail, the jewel in the lotus!_
The jewel, of course, was the Lord Buddha.
They watched the pageant for a few moments, enthralled. Then Zircon
commanded Sing. "Find someone you can talk to. We'll want to see the
High Lama."
Sing nodded. "I will go into the monastery. The bearers will find a
place to camp." He issued orders in Chinese.
The bearers scattered at once, searching for a suitable place to pitch
camp. The three Americans sat their horses and watched the activities
around the great monastery, too interested even to talk.
Rick saw countless yellow robes on the various balconies. There must be
thousands of monks, he thought. And there were an equal number of
Tibetans, many of them already busy at cooking fires near the base of
the gray stone buildings. He smelled mutton cooking, and the acrid,
unpleasant odor he had learned to identify with yak butter. Hot buttered
tea was a Tibetan staple. He had tried it on the trail, because he was
interested in everything, even yak butter. But he didn't think it would
ever take the place of ice cream in his affections.
One of the bearers came back and motioned to them. They followed as he
led the pack mules to a place in the shelter of a great rock. The other
bearers were foraging for wood. In a few moments a fire was going and
camp was being set up.
Sing returned. "No one may see the High Lama," he reported. "He is in
the middle of some kind of ceremony that takes a month. But I talked
with an important priest. He was friendly. He said he would send one of
the lamas to be our guide and to help us find your friend."
"Good," Zircon said. "Now, let's have some dinner. I'm famished."
The boys echoed his sentiments.
It was fully dark before they ended their meal. They were squatting
around the fire, sipping coffee and listening to Zircon's description of
the Buddhist ritual when one of the bearers suddenly called out. The
three Americans and Sing reached for their weapons as a yellow-robed
lama shuffled out of the darkness.
This, evidently, was their guide. He was of less than medium height, but
that was all Rick could tell about him. His loose robe draped around his
body and his cowl was pulled up, hiding his face.
"Welcome," Zircon boomed. "Sing, speak to him and tell him we are
grateful for his coming."
Sing spoke to the monk in Chinese.
The robed lama stood immobile, just within range of the firelight. The
yellow flames made shadows across his cowled figure. Rick felt a little
shudder run through him. The quiet figure was somehow weird.
Sing shifted to another language, but the lama made no reply. Then,
slowly, he brought his hands up level, outstretched toward them. He
chanted slowly, his voice muffled under the cowl. Then the chant died
and his hands were lowered once more.
Sing turned to the group. "I don't know what he said. It's not in a
language I understand." He spoke to the apparition. The monk stood
motionless.
"Wish they'd sent us someone we could talk with," Scotty grumbled. "A
lot of use this joker will be!"
The monk's cowl turned slowly toward Scotty. The figure moved
majestically toward the boy, then the hands lifted again. From under the
cowl a sepulchral voice issued.
"Could be more use than you think, muttonhead."
For an instant there was stunned silence, then Rick and Scotty leaped
for the robed figure with yells of delight. Rick hit him high and Scotty
hit him low. They held him down and pulled the cowl from him, then
pommeled him unmercifully, while Zircon cheered them on.
Only when the monk begged for mercy did they let him up. He tossed the
robe aside and grinned at them.
"Okay," Chahda said. "You win. But it took you plenty time to get here!
Why you take so long?"
The slim Hindu boy hugged them solemnly, one at a time, and shook hands
with Sing. "Now," he announced, "I eat. Got plenty sick of sheep meat,
you bet!"
Then they were all laughing and talking at once while the cook hastened
to prepare a meal. In a few moments Chahda was attacking a high-piled
plate and talking between bites.
"Good you came now," he said. "I got plenty worry. You find Bradley?"
Zircon told him of the meeting in the hotel.
Chahda nodded. "Good. I think he show up soon."
"Start at the beginning," Rick demanded. "There's a whole lot we don't
know. In fact, if you come right down to it, we don't know anything."
"Okay." Chahda took a sip of coffee. "I start at start. In Bombay."
Chahda had been visiting with his family in Bombay when Bradley arrived
in the Indian city. The two had met by accident. Chahda had gone to the
Taj Mahal Hotel to write a letter to the boys, because there was no
paper or ink at home. Bradley, who happened to be in the lobby, had
noticed the address on the envelope as Chahda handed it to the desk
clerk.
Once the scientist discovered that Chahda knew the Spindrift group and
had been on expeditions with them, the rest followed naturally. Bradley,
realizing that the clever little Hindu boy would be of great value in
his undercover work, had hired him. Chahda didn't say so, but Rick could
understand that such was the case.
Chahda's duties had been those of general assistant. He had cared for
baggage, run errands, acted as secretary, and on a few occasions had
been assigned to follow people in whose destinations Bradley was
interested. The two had gone from Bombay to New Delhi and Calcutta, then
to Singapore. At Singapore, while following up another matter, Bradley
accidentally had discovered that heavy water was being sold.
"He was much excited," Chahda said. "I did not know why. Heavy water? I
asked myself what is heavy water. I knew about ice, which is frozen
water and which is heavy. But who would have much excitement about ice?
The Sahib Bradley hurried to the Consulate of America and he sent a
cable to Washington."
Then the scientist had assigned Chahda to watch a certain house in
Singapore, the place from which the heavy water was being taken to
unknown destinations. Chahda had watched for three days without relief,
and he had seen Worthington Ko. Then, since Bradley had not come for
him, he deserted his post long enough to return to their quarters, a
room in an obscure Chinese hotel in Singapore. There he had found
evidence of a fight and bloodstains on the floor. There was no sign of
Bradley.
It was then, Chahda guessed, that Long Shadow had found him. He saw the
shadow several times while he hunted for Bradley. Then, while searching
for his boss in the Tamil quarter, he had been attacked by Chinese thugs
led by Worthington Ko. They had beaten him into insensibility, hustled
him into a taxi, and were carrying him somewhere into the inland of
Malaya when he regained consciousness. He escaped by going headlong
through a window while the car was traveling and then taking cover in
the jungle alongside the road. Going by a roundabout route, he reached
Singapore again. There he found that their luggage was held by the hotel
and the room had been rented to someone else.
Chahda polished his plate with a biscuit and groaned expressively. "I
say to myself then, Chahda, now is time to think real hard. What to do?"
He knew that the cable Bradley had sent asked for Hartson Brant to be
assigned to the job. And he knew also that from Singapore they were to
head for Hong Kong. He knew nothing about Hong Kong, but he did know
that Bradley was acquainted at a place called the Golden Mouse because
he had heard him mention it to a Chinese the scientist used for
undercover work now and then.
"The Long Shadow came again while I was thinking," Chahda continued. "I
saw it in front of the hotel. So I went quick-fast out the back, and ran
through many places until I was sure he could not find me. I went to
where many Indians live in Singapore, and I found a friend."
The friend, another Indian, had gone to the United States Information
Library in Singapore and borrowed a copy of _The World Almanac_. Chahda
already had decided he would cable the boys, and how he would do it. He
knew, because of what they had told him, that they would be able to
figure out a book code and that they would realize his choice naturally
would be the _Almanac_. Knowing the annual by heart, he naturally also
knew the table that converted Roman numerals to Arabic numbers and had
used the letter L as a clue to the right volume.
"But how did you know about nulls?" Rick asked.
"Oh, that was very lucky. I learned how to put Sahib Bradley's messages
in code, and there were many nulls." He grinned impishly. "Of course I
did not know if you also knew what are nulls. I was thinking, they are
two who are good with science. But are they also good with code? Maybe
not. But, anyway, they are plenty smart to read a book. That will tell
them about nulls."
"We didn't have to read a book," Scotty said. "Dad told us about them."
"Scientist father also plenty smart even without books," Chahda agreed.
"Anyway, I make the message and I send cable."
Rick interrupted again. "How did you know Ko had a glass eye?"
Chahda smiled. "When they capture me, I fight like maybe ten wild
elephants. I kick honorable Mr. Ko in the face. And what happens? His
glasses fall off and one of his eyes falls out! Also, it breaks when it
falls and I see it is glass. I am so surprised I forget to fight and
someone hits me from the back of my neck, and then all is dark. I did
not know Mr. Ko's name then. My boss tells me it later."
"No more questions for the moment," Zircon ordered. "I want to hear the
rest of this. Go ahead, Chahda."
The Hindu boy had used his friend as a go-between and had arranged for
the consul general to advance him funds. Since the official knew he
worked for Bradley, that was not difficult. Then he had arranged for
their baggage to be shipped and held at the airport in Hong Kong, and
had taken a plane there himself.
At the Golden Mouse, Canton Charlie had given him quarters. In another
day, Bradley showed up. The scientist had been caught in the Singapore
hotel room by Ko and company, but had fought his way clear. There wasn't
time to leave a note for Chahda at the hotel and he didn't dare return
to the room for fear of having the enemy locate him again. So he had
depended on Chahda's wits to tell him the next step and had gone ahead
to Hong Kong, hoping to find more information about the heavy water.
At Hong Kong, Long Shadow had shown up again.
Bradley, in the meanwhile, had not been idle. Through his various
sources of information he had determined that the source of the heavy
water was in the neighborhood of Korse Lenken. Chahda was instructed to
go there at once and start reconnoitering while they waited for the
party from the States. Bradley deliberately dropped the disguise he had
been using, that of a Portuguese seaman, and let Long Shadow locate him.
Then he had started out, hoping to draw the enemy away from Chahda long
enough for the boy to get clear and start for Korse Lenken. Bradley was
to shake the enemy when he could and resume his investigation. Finding
the source of the water was not enough, he had said. It also was
necessary to find out how it was reaching Singapore, and what its
ultimate destination might be.
Chahda had experience with Buddhist monasteries dating back to the time
when he had worked in Nepal. Also, many Indians were Buddhists. There
were some in almost every monastery, and of that number a few could be
depended on to speak Hindi, or Hindustani as it was called, which was
Chahda's language. He also knew a little Tibetan from his years in
Nepal.
"I came here easy," Chahda finished. "There was a big lot of pilgrims
and they took me in." He grinned. "They thought I was a monk. And I
found Indians, like I had thought. They hid me, so I do not think Long
Shadow knows I am here. And now I know where the heavy water comes
from."
Zircon gave an exclamation. "Chahda, you're a marvel! Where does it come
from?"
"Tomorrow I show you," Chahda promised.
"Who is Long Shadow?" Rick demanded.
Chahda shrugged. "Not knowing. We never see him. Only the shadow."
Scotty stirred up the fire a little. "How come Canton Charlie didn't
turn you over to the enemy as he did us?"
"What?" Chahda was astonished.
Scotty quickly outlined their adventures while Chahda listened
thoughtfully. When he had finished, the Indian boy shook his head.
"Something bad wrong. Charlie is one of Bradley's men. My boss pays him,
and he is friendly. You say Charlie told you to go to this junk?"
Rick thought back. Charlie himself actually had not told them. They had
not seen Charlie when the note was dropped on their table.
"Charlie himself didn't tell us," he stated. "It could have been one of
Long Shadow's men. Or one of Ko's. And that Portuguese with the knife
could have been one of Long Shadow's men, too. I'll bet he was the one
who put the finger on us. He must have heard us ask for Chahda. Long
Shadow and his men knew Chahda, of course, and they would certainly try
to get rid of reinforcements like us."
"Right," Zircon agreed. "Perhaps the fault was ours in not waiting for
Charlie to tell us himself, although I don't see how we could have
known."
"I think that is it," Chahda said. "Charlie is a friend. So the men on
the junk with purple sails were Long Shadow's, and you plenty lucky you
get out with your skins, believe me."
Zircon rubbed his chin. "Chahda, our instructions from Bradley were to
bring a rubber boat and a Nansen bottle. That must mean the heavy water
source has something to do with a lake or river. Is that true?"
"Don't know about those things," Chahda said. "I know only that the
heavy water comes from a place near here. I know how to get there and I
will take you. I do not think we will like this place much. It has a bad
name."
"What kind of bad name?" Scotty asked.
"In English," Chahda said, "it is 'The Caves of Fear'!"