"Where is the Gra.s.s Jungle?" Cadman asked.
"n.o.body seems to know. As for me, I never heard of it--till this. The silk-merchants say that once in several years some strange man--one or another--in strange garments, comes down with a peculiar kind of silk, to exchange for cotton cloth. He won"t take money for it and he"s easily cheated. He won"t talk--only that he"s from the great Gra.s.s Jungle. He usually calls it "great.""
"It must be possible to find," said Cadman, glancing at Skag. "What do you say?"
"I"m with you," Skag answered.
"Now am I gone quite mad, or do I understand you?" the Doctor enquired.
"I think you understand us," Cadman answered.
The Doctor sprang up, exclaiming:
"I"ve often told you, Cadman, you Americans develop most extraordinary surprises. Most remarkable men on earth for--for developing at the--at the very moment, you understand!"
"Do you know anyone who might give us something on the locality?" Skag asked Cadman.
"That"s the point. I think I do," Cadman nodded. "But we"ll have to go and find out."
"My resources are at your disposal," the Doctor put in.
"Your resources have accomplished the first half," smiled Cadman. "It"s fair that the rest of it should be ours."
"Then what"s to do?" the Doctor questioned.
"A few things to purchase first, easily done to-day," Cadman answered, glancing out at the faint dawn. "Then, I know d.i.c.kson of the grain-foods department, at Hurda--Central Provinces. He ought to be familiar with the topography of all the inside country. We"ll risk nothing by going to him."
"Then away with you to bed and get one good sleep. The boy will bring you a substantial choti-hazri when you"re out of your bath at six. I have a couple of small elephant-skin bags--you"ll not find the like in shops--they"re made for the interior medical service."
So Cadman and Skag went up from Bombay that night on the Calcutta-bound train, facing the far interior of India. The boy in Skag found joy in every detail of his outfit; especially the elephant-skin bag, stocked with necessary personal requirements and nothing more. But somewhere, far out before him, lost in this mystery-land--was a woman. That woman must be found.
"What"s the secret about the Doctor?" he asked Cadman, after they had been rolling through the night some hours.
"n.o.body knows, unless it"s a woman he didn"t get," Cadman answered.
"What"s the grip this wonder-woman has on him?"
"Beauty and music and life, in the superlative degree; when it all happens together, in one woman--she grips."
After that they both dreamed vague man-dreams of Dhoop Ki Dhil.
"There stands d.i.c.kson Sahib himself!" Cadman exclaimed, at Hurda station; and Skag saw the two meet, perceiving at once that it was a friendship between men of very different type.
Then d.i.c.kson Sahib promptly gathered them both into that Anglo-Indian hospitality which is never forgotten by those who have found it. Skag was made to feel as much at home as the evidently much-loved Cadman; not by word or gesture, but by a kindly atmosphere about everything. He met a slender lad of twelve years, presented to him by d.i.c.kson Sahib as "My son Horace," whose clear grey eyes attracted him much.
After dinner Cadman told the story of Dhoop Ki Dhil. There was perfect silence for minutes when he finished. Skag was groping on and on--his quest already begun. d.i.c.kson was smoking hard, till he startled them both:
"Of course, it"s altogether right; I"d like to be with you."
"Then will you direct us?" Cadman asked.
"As an officer in a land-department, you understand--" d.i.c.kson answered slowly, "I"m not supposed to send men into a place like that, to their death. But I want you to know that my responsibility has nothing whatever to do with my concern. Because I value your lives as men--I want to be careful. You must let me think it out loud. It"s a maze. I may place you, as I get on."
"We appreciate your care," Cadman said earnestly.
"The "great" Gra.s.s Jungle is the proper name for vast territory--not all in one piece," d.i.c.kson Sahib began. "It comes in rifts between parallel rivers among the mountains. Seepage back and forth between the streams, gives the moisture necessary for such growth--year round.
"When white men come to the edge of one of those rifts, they turn back.
It"s pestilential with wild beasts. Natives call it the Place-of-Fear.
White men don"t challenge it--they go round. Government has named one part of it--over toward the eastern end of the Vindhas--the Bund el Khand, the closed country; that name tells its own story."
d.i.c.kson Sahib stopped, frowning.
"The native with silks to exchange goes down to Bombay?" he went on.
"That means, not Calcutta-way. It also means, not anywhere in the Deccan--which clears us away from large tracts. Yet he usually calls it "great"--that should mean, the Bund el Khand. No one knows how far in; but you"ll best approach it from this side. I"m not dissuading you; I"d like to be along. I"m offering you choice of my a.s.sortment of firing-pieces. I"ll work you out some running lines--they"ll be ready by late-breakfast time. But I"m certain your best place to leave the tracks will be Sehora."
d.i.c.kson Sahib was worrying with a match, his face troubled, as he muttered:
"Now if Hand-of-a-G.o.d--"
"What is that?" Skag asked quietly, of Cadman.
"That," smiled d.i.c.kson Sahib, "is a Scotchman. This civil station of Hurda is famous because he lives here. He is an absolutely perfect shot.
Years ago he took all the medals and cups at the great shooting tournaments. He took "em all, till for shame"s sake he withdrew from contesting. He goes to the tournaments just the same--the crackshotmen wouldn"t be without him--but he doesn"t enter for the trophies any more."
"He is called the avenger of the people, Skag," Cadman put in, "because he goes out and gets the man-eaters; never sights for anything but the eye or the heart, and never misses."
"As I was saying," d.i.c.kson Sahib went on, "if Hand-of-a-G.o.d were here, he"d go without asking. Or even if the Rose-pearl"s brother Ian were here, he"s quick enough. But he plays with situations, rather."
"Don"t let this situation trouble you, d.i.c.kson," said Cadman.
There fell a moment of curious silence. Cadman was a bit pale, but Skag"s face looked serene, as he questioned innocently:
"Rose-pearl?"
"Yes," d.i.c.kson Sahib began absently, "she"s here when she"s not visiting one of her numerous brothers; just now it"s Billium in Bombay. Her degree is from London University and the medical service recognises her work among the people. She"s a holy thing to them; indeed, she never rests when there"s much sickness among them. But one wouldn"t ask a favour of one of her brothers."
"Hold on, d.i.c.kson, I protest!" Cadman interrupted laughingly. "I"m not such a bad shot myself, you know!"
"The Gra.s.s Jungle is crowded--I say crowded--with the worst kinds of blood-eaters. You may want an extra good shot; at the very top notch of practice, what"s more."
As d.i.c.kson Sahib came out with it, he noticed Skag"s surprise, and challenged him:
"Bless your soul, man, I believe it"s your grip that grips us!"
Skag"s serene face got warm, but Cadman a.s.sented.
"Skag dwells in the fundamentals," he explained; "most of us never touch "em. He"s practically incapable of fear; and the idea of failure never occurs to him."