"Well, Burton, what is your opinion now?" asked Doctor Mullen on their
return to camp about three o'clock in the morning, after an unsuccessful
search for Mark.
"I am sorry to say I think he has met with a serious accident and is
unable to help himself. Listen to those natives shouting 'Sahib! Sahib!'
and far beyond them others are calling, and the boy would have replied
if he could have done so. You are sure he went alone?" asked Burton.
"Yes. He took his gun, which seems to suggest that he started for that
lake about a mile from here after duck. Had he gone after oorial he
would have taken his rifle and would have been accompanied by the
shikari," said the Doctor, who was greatly distressed about his son's
disappearance.
"As soon as it is light I will have every nullah and bush searched for
miles round," said Burton, and then he mused without giving expression
to his thoughts. "He may have fallen over a kud (precipice), or his gun
may have burst, or he may have been bitten by a snake, or he may have
run against those--well, fragments of slab"; and he left the tent and
sent off messages to the headmen of the villages around.
Harry Burton was one of the cleverest officers in the Indian police; he
was a few years over thirty, a dark-complexioned man of medium height,
very agile and powerful, and was known to the Salt Range natives as Koj
(tracker) Burton Sahib, owing to his smartness in following up the
slightest clue.
Burton, at the Doctor's request, went to occupy Mark's empty tent for an
hour or two, and as he stretched himself on the camp bed his busy brain
was engaged in trying to form a connection between the broken slab and
Mark's absence, and these thoughts kept him awake, so he was the first
to hear the footsteps of an approaching horse.
"Hello! Is that you, Ellison?" greeted Burton, as the new arrival
dismounted.
"Yes. I heard at Gunjyal about Mark, so, instead of waiting for
daylight, I hunted up a horse, and, by all this shouting, I conclude
Mark is still missing," said Tom, and in a very few minutes he had
related to Burton and the Doctor his experience in the train and what he
had learnt in Lahore.
"Ah, things are getting a bit more complicated," said Burton aloud, and
then muttered to himself, "But I begin to get a better hold of the
idea."
"Now you clearly understand me," said Burton when instructing the
headmen. "You are to send out every available man and boy from your
villages, and they are to search every nullah until they meet the men
from the next village. We think the young Sahib has met with an
accident, and if you find him you are to send word here immediately; and
you, Appoyas, instruct your men to be most careful in searching those
cliffs near your village."
"What's that man's name?" asked the Doctor as soon as the men had gone.
"Appoyas. It is an unusual name--certainly not a Punjabi one," replied
Burton.
"I never heard the name before. He is a fine-looking man," remarked the
Doctor.
"And a very wealthy man, according to report. That is his village on the
very edge of those cliffs about a mile away. It is the most prosperous
village on the Salt Range, and celebrated for its stamped-cloth work.
Appoyas and his brother Atlasul--another uncommon name--buy up all the
cloth made and stamped in the place, and give a good price too, and
their camels frequently go off laden with bales. But come over here a
minute," and Burton led the Doctor some short distance from the camp.
"I can scarcely credit it; surely it is too improbable, how----" began
the Doctor when he had heard what Burton had to say.
"Never mind; kindly act in the manner I suggest," interrupted Burton,
"and I think you will find I am right. Now I must be off, and--well,
expect me when you see me, as they say"; and in a couple of minutes he
was riding from the camp on a secret and dangerous expedition.
The search was continued all day, but not the slightest sign of Mark
could be discovered.
If any one, about sunset, had been near the place where Mark was resting
at the time he thought he saw the porcupine, a Fakir might have been
seen sitting on the identical spot. He appeared to be in deep
meditation, but, as soon as it was dark, he crept cautiously to the
entrance of the cave into which Mark thought the porcupine had
disappeared.
The Fakir paused, and after listening intently for a few moments he
scrambled in; and after again listening he produced a bull's-eye lamp--a
most unusual thing for a native to possess--and carefully lit it.
He next examined a revolver and a knife he carried in a girdle under a
loose garment he had wrapped round him, and in addition to these weapons
he had an iron rod about three feet and a-half long, similar to what
many Fakirs carry.
He now advanced along a narrow passage which widened into a large cave,
from which opened another narrow passage, and this he proceeded
cautiously to explore, but when he had gone about a hundred yards it
came to an abrupt end, the roof here being exceedingly high, and as he
flashed his light around he could not see the top.
For the space of an hour he probed about with his iron rod, and felt in
the cracks and crevices in the walls; then suddenly he sat down, and,
had any one been near enough, they would have heard him chuckling to
himself, for he had made a great discovery.
In a short time he made his way out of the cave and disappeared into the
darkness of the night.
"What do you make of this, Ellison?" said the Doctor early next morning.
"I have just found this note in my tent; it is written in Punjabi, and
in English it reads: 'If the Sahib wishes to learn where his son is he
will be told if you promise to give up the other pieces of stone you
found. Let the Sahib write his promise on the blank part of this paper
and place it on the small olive-tree near the salt spring. The Sahib's
men need not watch, for they will not see who fetches it.'
"Do you think it is a hoax?" asked the Doctor.
"I don't know. I scarcely think so. I wish Burton was back," said Tom,
who thought that Burton's experience might enable him to get something
of a clue from the strange message. "They have got all the stones," he
added.
"We took others that did not belong to the slab," said the Doctor.
"Of course, I had forgotten; and the writer of this is under the
impression they are parts of the slab," remarked Tom.
"If this is genuine, then Mark is a prisoner, which is Burton's opinion;
and I believe he is acting in some secret manner on his opinion," said
the Doctor.
After a long consultation the Doctor tore off the blank piece of paper
and wrote on it in the native language: "You must first give me some
proof that you know where my son is before I promise to comply with your
request. Let him write to me."
"We both know where the salt spring is, Tom, so I will take the paper
there, and you go to some place where you can watch the spring through
your field-glasses," said the Doctor.
"Very good. By the time we get a reply Burton may be back," said Tom,
and they left the camp.
Tom watched patiently all day, but, with the exception of a boy in
charge of some goats, no one went near the spring, and the boy did not
go within a hundred yards of it, though his goats were feeding all round
and close to it.
"Glad to see you back, Burton," exclaimed Tom when he returned to camp
and found the officer there.
"What luck, Tom?" asked the Doctor.
"Bad. I waited until it was too dark to see, and the message had not
been taken when I came away," he replied.
"You are wrong, Tom, my boy, for I saw it taken," said Burton.
"How? Where were you?" asked Tom, in surprise.
"Not far from you, and I saw a goat sniff it and quickly walk off with
the paper in its mouth, and five minutes later the boy had it in his
hand. Here, smell this," and Burton held out the paper containing the
message to the Doctor.
"A peculiar smell," said Tom.
"Yes, and the goat is trained to carry anything impregnated with that
subtle odour," explained Burton.
"Do you believe the writer of this knows where Mark is, Burton? Have you
discovered anything?" asked Tom.
"Yes, the man knows well enough, and I know to half a mile," said
Burton.
"They why not try to release him at once?" exclaimed Tom.
"Easier said than done, and I am fully convinced it would be dangerous
to force matters without careful arrangements. I practically know with
whom we have to deal, and, if I am any judge of native character, I
believe we are in conflict with some of the most cunning and fearless
men in India--men who had been carrying on their work for many years,
and that, too, without raising suspicion, and who will not hesitate to
risk life and cause death to accomplish their purpose, and----" Burton
suddenly stopped speaking; then, almost in a whisper, he hurriedly said,
"Go on talking about Mark," and noiselessly he left the tent.
In a few moments there was a sound of a scuffle at the back of the tent,
followed by a thud and an exclamation from Burton; so they rushed out to
see what had happened, the Doctor taking the lamp from the tent-pole as
he passed.
"What's the matter, Burton?" asked Tom.
"Bring the lamp here," he answered, rubbing his knees. "They were too
smart for me, and I got the worst of it this time," he added.
"What is that rope doing there?" asked the Doctor, as the light revealed
a long rope extending from a tent-peg to a considerable distance into
the darkness.
"Oh, it is there for a purpose, and it answers too well to suit me, for
it has given me one of the heaviest falls I have had for a long time. A
man was there listening to us, and it would have made no difference
which way I had come round the tent, for the eavesdropper would have
gone in the opposite direction. When I heard him making off I dashed
after him, and his comrade, who was at the far end of the rope, jerked
it taut when it was between me and the man I was after, with the result
that I came a most terrific cropper; then they promptly fled, and are
safely away by this time," explained Burton.
"But how did you know there was any one outside?" asked Tom. "I never
heard a sound."
"I saw the side of the tent shake, and there is not a breath of air
stirring. The man who was listening must know English, I feel sure; and
I am afraid we have made a terrible mistake in not taking precautionary
measures against being overheard. If they understood what I said about
suspecting who they are, I may make up my mind to having a rather lively
time." Burton said in a whisper, for he did not know but some one might
still be listening screened in the darkness.
"They may have only come to watch us, and probably did not grasp the
meaning of our conversation," said the Doctor, in a low voice.
"Let us hope so, for it may mean life or death," was Burton's serious
reply, and that night guards were set over the camp.
Early next morning Burton left, but before going he slipped a letter
into the Doctor's hand, saying as he did so, "Don't open it unless I am
not back by eight o'clock to-morrow morning. Inside you will find full
instructions what to do if I have not returned."