A Call for Aid
The trail leading to the promontory was overgrown with weeds and brush.
For a minute after she plunged into the forest Madge feared that she had
lost her chum. She could not see Enid and only a faint crackling of
sticks far ahead convinced her that she had taken the right path. At the
risk of being heard, she hurried faster.
Soon she caught a glimpse of Enid’s white dress through the trees and
slackened her pace. Apparently, Enid had sensed that she was being
followed, for unexpectedly, she wheeled about and looked intently toward
the very spot where Madge stood.
She observed nothing amiss and went on again, walking faster, as though
eager to be finished with an unpleasant ordeal. Madge exercised more
caution in trailing her, for she did not wish to ruin her carefully laid
plans by being detected.
Enid walked directly to a large white birch tree. She glanced sharply
about but there was no other person within sight.
Madge approached within fifty yards and secreted herself in the bushes.
It was too dark to see her watch but she knew it must be midnight. Would
the kidnappers fail to keep the appointment?
Enid was obviously ill at ease. She moved about, looking first in one
direction, then another, and clutched her package tightly in her arms.
Madge felt none too secure in her own hiding place. She could well
imagine what might happen to her should she be discovered. The very
silence was disturbing. She could almost feel that hostile eyes were
watching her every move.
She waited five minutes, ten, and then from among the trees a tall figure
suddenly emerged. Enid was so startled that she uttered a smothered
scream and nearly dropped her package.
Madge could not see the man’s face but she noted that he wore a turban on
his head and knew that he must be a native of India.
“Did you bring the Zudi Drum?” she heard him demand in a guttural voice.
“I will give it to you when you assure me that my father is safe and will
be released,” Enid responded.
Madge failed to catch the man’s reply, but from the tone of his voice,
she inferred he was threatening Enid. He advanced a step as though to
take the package by force. Enid retreated. Then, apparently realizing
that resistance was useless, she halted.
“I’ll give you the drum but you must promise to release my father
immediately.”
The man took the package from her, roughly grasping her arm as she pulled
away.
“Not so fast,” he muttered. “Think I’ll let you get away and bring the
police down on us? You come with me!”
Enid uttered no cry, but she struggled frantically to free herself.
Involuntarily, Madge started forward to aid her friend, then checked
herself. Undoubtedly, the kidnapper was armed and likely other companions
were hiding nearby. To expose herself might ruin every chance of a
rescue. Deliberately, she waited.
“Come along quietly and you’ll not be harmed,” she heard the man tell
Enid. “Resist and it will be the worse for you.”
He held her arms so that she could not have escaped had she tried. She
permitted him to lead her away.
“Where is he taking her?” Madge thought, torn by indecision. “Shall I
follow or try to get aid?”
After a moment of frantic debate, she decided upon the latter course.
Slipping quietly through the brush until she was a short distance away,
she raced madly toward the beach. She reached the motor boat and groped
for the rockets which she had stored under the seat.
The first match was wet and went out. She struck a dozen without success.
Then as she was about to despair, one lighted and she touched off the
rocket. It shot into the sky, leaving a trailing arch of fire which
disintegrated into a shower of stars and vanished.
Madge tried to touch off a second rocket but could find no match which
would light. Fearful of delaying so long that she would lose track of
Enid and her captor, she gave it up and darted back into the woods.
At the white birch she found the trail which the two had taken. Before
following it, she dropped her handkerchief as a clue for Rex, should he
find it difficult to discover which way she had gone.
She had hurried some distance before a crashing of bushes directly ahead,
warned her that she was overtaking Enid and her captor.
She followed more cautiously, taking pains to mark the trail well. At one
turn she dropped her scarf, and a little farther on, broke twigs and
placed stones in such fashion that they indicated the way she had gone.
“Rex may not notice,” she thought anxiously, “even if he has a
flashlight. If it were Jack, he’d be looking for signs, but Rex hasn’t
been trained to it.”
It was well that Madge had marked the trail, for the kidnapper was
leading her deep into the forest. She wondered where he could be taking
Enid and was fearful for her chum. If only Rex brought aid in time!
At last she beheld a clearing just ahead, and reaching the edge of it,
dared not leave the security of the trees. She noticed a small,
tumbledown cottage which stood at the edge of a ravine. The kidnapper led
Enid toward the house and tried to force her to enter.
“No! I’ll wait here for my father!” she cried. “Keep your promise. You
have the Zudi Drum—now free my father.”
“He is inside,” the man told her. “If you wish to see him, you must
enter.”
Enid hesitated, beside herself with doubt and suspicion. Then the desire
to find her father overshadowed all else, and she reluctantly entered the
house. Instantly, the door slammed shut.
“They have her now!” Madge thought in alarm. “She walked straight into
their trap.”
For a full minute she stood at the edge of the clearing, trying to decide
what was best to do. Should she return to the beach there to await Rex
and the authorities or attempt to find out what was transpiring inside
the house?
“Rex may not have seen my signal rocket,” she told herself anxiously. “In
that case, help will never come. If it comes to the worst I must make an
effort to save Enid myself.”
Convinced that it would never do to leave the scene, she stealthily moved
across the clearing. Once she paused to look back toward the forest,
feeling that someone was following her.
The windows of the house had been darkened and in only one room was there
a sign of a light. Madge tiptoed across the porch and tried to peer
inside. The crack between the bottom of the curtain and the window sill
was too small to permit even a glimpse. She could hear a faint murmur of
voices inside but was unable to distinguish a word.
“It’s possible the men really mean to release Mr. Burnett,” she
considered. “If they intend to keep their promise, Enid should be coming
out in a minute or so.”
Then she thought of the Zudi Drum Bowl and the substitution she and Rex
had made. If the package were opened, Enid would be involved in even more
difficulties.
“I’m partially responsible,” Madge charged herself. “It’s up to me to get
her out of this.”
She waited a few minutes upon the porch until she was convinced that Enid
was not to be released. Then, as her fears gained the upper hand, she
made a tour of the cottage, hoping to find some aperture which would
permit her to see what was going on inside.
The windows were all above her head save for the one opening off the
porch and the curtains had been carefully drawn. However, at the rear of
the house, she found a door which seemed to lead down a flight of stairs
to the cellar. She tried the door and found it unlocked.
Without an instant’s thought for her own safety, she cautiously raised up
the door. It creaked alarmingly on its rusty hinges. After waiting a
brief space to make sure that the sound had not called attention to her
presence, she quietly slipped inside and lowered the door after her.
It was pitch dark within and the cellar gave off an unpleasant, damp,
musty odor. Madge crept down the stairs one at a time taking care not to
make the slightest sound. At the bottom she found a second door which
opened readily at a turn of the handle.
A heap of rubbish had been left just inside and in groping about, Madge
stumbled over it.
“Now I’ve done it!” she told herself.
The flooring above was thin and the sound of masculine voices reached her
ears distinctly.
“What was that?” she heard some one ask. “Thought that sound came from
the basement.”
Madge barely had time to flatten herself against the wall before an
inside door directly above her opened. The beam of a lantern was flashed
about the room. It missed her by a scant two feet.
“Guess it must have been a cat,” the man muttered and closed the door.
Madge breathed a sigh of relief and for several minutes dared not move.
Then she summoned her courage, and quietly crept up the stairs leading to
the interior of the house.
Suddenly she was startled to hear Enid’s cry:
“Let us go as you promised! You have the Zudi Drum. What more do you
want?”
Unable to bear the suspense of not knowing what was transpiring within,
Madge reached up and slowly turned the door knob. She pushed the door
open a tiny crack and peered into the room.
The sight caused her to gasp.
Mr. Burnett, his face pale and drawn, lay upon a sagging couch at one end
of the room. His arms and legs were bound. Enid stood beside him, facing
the kidnappers defiantly.
Besides the man who had met Enid at the white birch, there were three
others in the room. Two of them Madge had never seen before. They were
Indian natives, dressed in strange costumes befitting their race. The
third man had his back turned to the cellar door. As he moved, Madge saw
his face distinctly. It was the boatman who had taken her to The Flora on
the day of her arrival!
“I knew it!” she told herself excitedly. “The entire affair is clear to
me now. Enid and her father are in very grave danger.”
Madge was convinced that she was dealing with a fanatical group of Zudi
Drum worshipers who sought retribution for the loss of their trophy. How
an organization which was thought no longer to exist, had traced the drum
to Mr. Burnett, she had no way of knowing. And matters at hand were too
pressing to consider any question save a means of securing the immediate
release of her friends. From the cruel faces of the kidnappers she read
that the return of the Zudi Drum was not all they wanted. They intended
to inflict punishment upon their victims.
“Enid, dear, you shouldn’t have come,” she heard Mr. Burnett say to his
daughter. And then to the kidnappers, “Let her go free and I’ll give you
anything you ask.”
“So you’re ready to come to terms now, are you?” was the cool retort.
“It’s too late. We gave you your chance and you refused to turn over the
Zudi Drum.”
“I told you I would be willing to give up the drum, providing you could
establish ownership. All this threatening and kidnapping and violence
goes against my grain.”
“You and your daughter shall both pay for taking the drum away from
India,” came the solemn announcement.
“Enid had nothing to do with it,” Mr. Burnett returned earnestly. “How
was I to know the drum had been stolen? I purchased it from a reputable
antique dealer and paid a good price for it. Will you let my daughter
go?”
The spokesman for the three smiled. At a signal from him, the other two
fell upon Enid and before she could make a move, securely bound her hands
and feet. Mr. Burnett struggled to free himself and only succeeded in
drawing his bonds tighter until they cut deeply into his flesh. He
groaned and fell back on the couch.
“Now we’ll have a look at the Zudi Drum,” the spokesman declared.
Madge held her breath as he picked up the wrapped package. What would he
do to Enid and her father when the deception was discovered?
The Indian cut the strings and the paper fell away. A cry of rage escaped
him.
“Tricked!” he exclaimed, his face convulsed with anger and hatred. “Ah,
you shall pay for this!”
“It’s a mistake!” Enid cried. “I had the drum when I left The Flora
tonight. Don’t hold me responsible for something I didn’t do!”
The men paid not the slightest attention to her excuses. They moved to
the other end of the room and conversed in a tongue which Madge had never
heard before, but from the vehemence with which they spoke, she guessed
that they were plotting a cruel punishment for Enid and her father.
“Oh, this is dreadful!” she thought. “I can’t bear it to stay here and do
nothing. Why doesn’t Rex come?”
Abruptly the three natives left the room above and a minute later, Madge
heard them moving about on the second floor.
“They’ve gone up there for something,” she told herself. “If I don’t save
Enid and Mr. Burnett now, I’ll lose my chance. I can’t wait for Rex. He
may not get here until it is too late!”
With a courage born of desperation, she quietly opened the door and
slipped into the room. At sight of her Enid stifled a scream. Madge held
up a warning hand, and with a hasty glance directed toward the stairs
leading to the second floor, snatched up a knife lying upon the table.
Enid was nearest her and with several sharp thrusts with the blade, she
had cut Enid’s bonds and set her free.
She turned to aid Mr. Burnett. Just at that moment, she heard footsteps
on the stairs.
“Go!” Mr. Burnett whispered tensely. “It’s your only chance!”
Madge wheeled about but already escape was cut off. The door was blocked
by the three natives.