HEAD COOK
Mackenzie and Jackson, it will be remembered, had been removed from the
Temple before Forrester, at the close of the scene with the Old Man.
They were taken back to their separate cells, and locked in for the rest
of the day. Jackson's nerves were shaken all to pieces; Mackenzie,
whose robuster physique was less affected, was in desperate anxiety as
to Forrester's fate. He spent a wretched day, a still more wretched
night. By turning his back on the monster he managed to fend off the
worst effects of the baleful eye; but the consciousness that it was
there behind him with its unwinking glare intensified his distress.
When morning came, and he was escorted again to the foot of the rock
stairway, he welcomed the respite afforded by the prospect of a day in
the open air, and hoped against hope that the Old Man had relented, and
would allow Forrester to join him.
Night brings counsel, and Mackenzie was a long-headed Scot. He had come
to the decision that it would be sheer folly, after what had happened,
to repeat his refusal to work on the plantations. The depressing
influence of solitude and the mysterious light was no doubt relied on by
the Old Man to bring his prisoners to a proper docility. Well,
Mackenzie would assume that virtue, if he had it not, and he would
advise his friends, if they came, to fall in with his own plan: to work
with apparent resignation, though always alert to seize on any
opportunity of escape that might offer itself.
When he was handed a spade, therefore, by the priest who appeared to act
as taskmaster, he accepted it, and set to work on the plot of ground
assigned to him. But he took care not to ply his implement too
energetically, stopping every now and again to mop his brow with his
sleeve and to heave the sigh appropriate to a forced labourer.
As the day wore on, and neither of his friends appeared, he feared the
worst. Jackson's absence might easily be accounted for by a nervous
breakdown natural to a man of his temperament; but Forrester would have
come if he had been at liberty to do so, and it seemed only too likely
that he had either been demolished by the Eye, or that he was still
confined to his cell, or possibly condemned to some other punishment
whose nature Mackenzie could not guess. At the close of the day he
sought to relieve his suspense by addressing a question to the priest,
but received only a stony stare. He could not tell whether the man
understood him or not.
Several days passed in the same dreary, hopeless fashion. Mackenzie
kept away from the old zamindar, who, though his daughter had been
restored to him, was visibly broken down by a haunting dread of
calamities yet to come. He exchanged only a few words now and again
with Sher Jang, fearing, in the one case as in the other, that closer
intercourse with them might tend to their harm. But one morning he was
as much delighted as surprised to see Jackson appear at the head of the
stairway. He had been supported in the climb, practically pushed up, by
one of the priests. The taming process was evidently regarded as
successful. From that time the two friends remained constantly on the
plateau, being given a small hut among the cluster nearest to the
dwellings of the priests. It contained no furniture; their only bedding
was a blanket apiece.
In the fresh air, and under the bracing influence of Mackenzie's
companionship, Jackson, in some degree, recovered tone. The two friends
worked side by side. No check was placed on their association; it was
evidently assumed that they were resigned to their lot, or at any rate
too much dominated by their fears to give trouble. After the first day
together they never spoke of Forrester: in their hearts they believed
that they would see him no more.
But they sometimes speculated on the fate of Hamid Gul. They had never
seen him since they passed his unconscious body in the rift. It seemed
monstrous that so humble a member of their party should have fallen a
victim to the Old Man's malignity; yet they could only surmise that,
whatever the reason might be, the man had been put out of the way.
It was therefore with a joyous surprise that they saw him one day
staggering across a field under a load of vegetables. Mackenzie called
to him, but Hamid, though he must have heard the cry, pursued his way
without so much as a turn of the head.
"There's a reason for that," said Mackenzie. "Hamid is no fool."
Some hours later, when work had ceased, and all the slaves had returned
to their huts, a dark form appeared in the open doorway of that which
Mackenzie and Jackson shared.
"Where is Forrester sahib, please to say, sahibs?" came in a whisper
from Hamid Gul.
"Come away in, man," cried Mackenzie, "--if it is safe."
"It is right as rain, sahib," replied the Bengali. "Chinky jossers
believe me a one-eyed ass. But Forrester sahib?"
"We don't know: we fear he is dead."
Hamid's one eye and twisted features told rather of rage than of sorrow.
He poured forth a torrent of abuse in his own tongue, invoking the
direst curses on the heads of the oppressors, and the uttermost
defilement of their graves.
"Where have you been all this time? What have they done to you?" asked
Mackenzie.
"I am head cook and bottle-washer, sahib--may the sons of pigs boil
everlastingly in oil! Hiked into kitchen, there I was, I having sung my
praises quite a lot. For sake of self and master, I pocketed feelings
and dignity and concocted that pilaff of lamb Forrester sahib was such
nuts on. A bald-headed chap kept eye on me, and made me gobble a bit;
then carried dish away, and told me in due course it was well. When he
was gone, pig of Chinky cook put his nose out of joint and was
exceedingly rude, saying many things in barbarous lingo of libellous
nature."
"But you don't understand Chinese!" Mackenzie interposed.
"Exactly, quite so, sahib; but he had a face! My sublime effort took
the cake, sahibs. They offered me job on spot. Every day I made
something fresh and bilious, and cook in office did not get look in. He
lost his wool, sahibs, and one day set on me tooth and nails, and
bald-head found us going at it hammer and tongs. Chinaman got bag, and I
got crib."
Hamid went on to explain that the fly in his ointment was his employer's
want of trust. His work was always done under the eyes of a priest, and
he had to taste of every dish before it was removed. He was disgusted,
too, because he received neither money nor thanks. He had never learnt
who it was that consumed his viands; the dishes always came back empty,
and his unknown master had evidently a keen tooth for dainty fare.
His quarters were a lean-to adjoining the kitchen. On the other side
was the door through which the priest carried the dishes to and fro.
Hamid had had the curiosity one day to follow the priest at a safe
distance, but was brought up by a closed door. In the wall of the
passage there was a grating which had given him the idea that his
employer must be a man of great wealth, for the bars of it appeared to
be of pure gold. Once, to avoid the trouble of carrying a pail of dirty
water to the field on which it was usually poured, he had been on the
point of emptying it through the grating; but the priest had come by at
that moment, and had rebuked him with such violence, and used such
alarming threats about the punishment of the Eye, that he had never
ventured to save his labour again.
"Do you know anything about the punishment of the Eye?" Mackenzie asked.
"Devil a bit, sahib. My one optic is only feature I have to boast of,
and it goes without saying that I cannot afford to lose it."
The Englishmen felt that Hamid had much to be thankful for. It was
clear that he had no suspicion of the horrors of the place, and they saw
no reason for enlightening him. The less his fear, the more useful he
might be.
"Well, man, you had better not stop any longer," Mackenzie said. "And
don't come here again: you may be spied on. But I wish you to keep your
eyes open--your one is as good as two--and find out all you can. We are
keen to get away; but we see no chance of it. Maybe you'll find out one
of these days how they get down to the rift. Don't make any attempt to
see us unless you have something important to communicate. We will
always be on the look-out. You go into the fields sometimes. If we see
you open and close your hand three times, we will know you have
something to say, and we will find some way to hear you; but not here:
it's maybe not safe."
"Better warn him against the Old Man," Jackson suggested.
"Ah, true! Your cooking, Hamid, is done for the master of the place, a
very old Chinaman. You may never see him; if you do, watch him
carefully, and above all, never cross him. Now go, and mind yourself."
In giving instructions to Hamid Gul, Mackenzie had no definite hope.
The man, being practically confined to his kitchen when within doors,
was not in a position to ascertain for himself the interior arrangements
of the place; and his ignorance of any language but his own and English
would prevent his understanding any conversation he might overhear among
the Chinese. But he could be trusted to make the best use of such
opportunities as might offer.
Thinking over the little information that Hamid had been able to give,
Mackenzie was struck with a suspicion. The grating!--was it not likely
that here, as in European castles, there were dungeons beneath the floor
of the principal chambers? Might not Forrester be immured underground,
in a cellar to which the grating gave access? He wished he had thought
of this when Hamid was with them, and enquired about the nature of the
grating, and the size of the opening it covered. Why had the priest
objected to its use as a sink? Not from any tenderness towards
prisoners, if prisoners there were. Either there must be, below, some
treasure of the Old Man which water might injure, or--and here Mackenzie
felt some excitement--it was desired that the existence of the aperture
should not be known to the prisoners.
Impatient to question Hamid Gul, Mackenzie hoped every day to see him;
but it was not until the third morning after his visit that the Bengali
again appeared in the fields, with a basket slung on his back. He passed
at some distance from the Englishmen, and they saw his left hand open
and close three times. Looking around to make sure that no priest was
on the watch, Mackenzie left his plot, struck off at an angle, and
slipping round a plantation of tea shrubs, met Hamid in the enclosure
where he was digging truffles.
[Illustration: Mackenzie met Hamid in the enclosure where he was digging
truffles.]
"Well?" he asked eagerly.
"I have got a rise, sahib," the man replied. "Purely honorary; no pay!"
"What do you mean?"
"Rich food sometimes is cause of colic and inward qualms, sahib. After
tiffin yesterday, bald-head comes to me;--he has a face, sahib!--and
says 'Hai! come along!' Off I trot, knees playing castanets, blue funk,
because of his face. Along passage, into room, another room, much to
flabbergastation of humble self; for what do I see but gold everywhere:
table of gold, seats of gold, cups of gold!
"On couch of gold was very old man, very like monkey, bald as egg. Two
bald-heads on knees to him: hai! what faces! Had to go down on knees;
old man he stared at me with eyes like burning coals. I shivered like
jelly. 'You poison me!' he said. I swore by Siva I was innocent as
new-born babe. I talked a lot, told him I was absolutely ignorant he
was so old, too old to eat things that would upset ostrich digestion of
piggish little sons of English sahibs. I declared with great gusto if I
had known I would not have made things so bilious. 'Send for doctor,'
he said. Another bald-head came. Kicked me away, knelt in my place. I
crawled away, pricked in manhood's dignity, but calm in innocency of
heart, and while doctor did his job, I took squint round. Great snakes,
sahib! At one end of room, in recess behind screen of gold wire, I
spotted gorgeous robe hanging on gold peg, and on small gold table most
splendiferous head-dress. My stars! old Chinky could give socks to
American millionaire."
"Did you see the Eye?" Jackson asked eagerly.
"What eye, sahib? Old man's eyes enough for me. They lugged me back;
down I drop again; his eyes made me frizzle. He said 'Go!' Nothing
wrong with him but liver off colour. But this morning bald-head told me
to carry in dish myself: in future I must taste all grub in presence of
old man. That is my rise, sahib."
"Eh, man, you're lucky," said Mackenzie. "But now tell me: the grating
in the passage--what is it like?"
"It is thin bars of gold, sahib."
"How far apart?"
"Width of two fingers, sahib."
"And how large is the hole?"
"As long as my outstretched arms, and a little wider than my spread
fingers."
"Big enough to crawl through?"
"If you were flat as a flounder, sahib."
"Can you see to the bottom of the hole?"
"No, sahib: it is dark, and goes deep."
"Next time you come, bring me a small marrowbone, not wider than your
two fingers. Fill it with dried marrow, closely pressed together. Can
you get any paper?"
"There is rice paper in kitchen, sahib."
"Bring me a piece, and something I can write with--a blackened stick, or
a bit of charcoal. You will remember?"
"Like a book, sahib."
Fingering his beard meditatively, he walked away.
"What do you mean to do?" Jackson asked, when Mackenzie had repeated
what Hamid had told him, and the instructions he had given.
"Put a wee note inside the bone, and get Hamid to fling it down the
grating."
"But if it falls into the wrong hands, and is taken to the Old Man? He
speaks English: he may read it too."
"What I write will only puzzle him."
"In any case, what's the good? Suppose Dick is there. How can he send
an answer?"
"I've my notion about that, Bob. All depends on Hamid; but, as I said,
he is no fool; he will do what we tell him, and take every care. I wish
it were to-morrow!"
"What puzzles me is the Eye. What on earth can it be?"
"That beats me. Clearly it is harmless at times; Hamid didn't notice
it. I think it's a kind of box, containing some destructive substance
in a concentrated form. The Old Man evidently has some device for
opening it without harm to himself. One thing is very clear."
"What's that?"
"Och, man, that the old wretch must be very human after all, or he
couldn't have the stomach ache."