He turned back, puzzled, to find the khansamah calmly seated at the table and enjoying one of Amber"s choicest cigarettes.
"Thank G.o.d," he said, with profound emotion, "for a civilised smoke!"
"Labertouche!" cried Amber.
The pseudo-khansamah rose, bowed formally, and shook hands with considerable cordiality. "It"s good to see you whole and sound," he said. "I had to wait until Ram Nath"s work began to show results. He"s out there, you know, keeping the bottle moving. I don"t believe those d.a.m.ned sepoys will bother us much, now, but we"ve got no time at all to spare. Now tell me what you have to tell, omitting nothing of the slightest consequence."
Amber dropped into a chair, and the Englishman sat near to him. "I say, thank G.o.d for you, Labertouche! You don"t know how I"ve needed you."
"I can fancy. I"ve had a ripping time of it myself. Sorry I couldn"t communicate with you safely before you left Calcutta. But we"ve not a minute to waste. Get into your yarn, please; explanations later, if we can afford "em."
Inhaling with deep enjoyment, he narrowed his dark eyes, listening intently to Amber"s concise narrative of his experiences since their parting before the stall of Dhola Baksh in the Machua Bazaar. Not once was he interrupted by word or sign from Labertouche; and even when the tale was told the latter said nothing, but dropped his gaze abstractedly to the smouldering stump of his cigarette.
"And you?" demanded the Virginian. "Have pity, Labertouche! Can"t you see I"m being eaten alive by curiosity?"
Labertouche eyed him blankly for an instant. "Oh!" he said, with an effort freeing his mind from an intense concentration of thought. "I?
What"s there to tell? I"ve been at work. That"s all.... I was jostled off to one side when the row started in the bazaar, and so lost you.
There was then nothing to do but strike back to the hotel and wait for a clue. You can figure my relief when you dropped out of that ticca-ghari! I gave you the word to go on to Darjeeling, intending to join you _en route_. But you know why that jaunt never came off. I found out my mistake before morning, wired you, and left Calcutta before you, by the same train that conveyed his Majesty the Maharana of Khandawar. Fortunately enough we had Ram Nath already on the ground, working up another case--I"ll tell you about it some time. He"s one of our best men--a native, but loyal to the core, and wrapped up in his work. He"d contrived to get a billet as tonga-wallah to the Kuttarpur _bunia_ who has the dak-service contract. I myself had arranged to have the telegraph-babu here transferred, and myself appointed in his place.
So I was able to attach myself to the "tail" of the Maharana without exciting comment. Miss Farrell came by the same train, but Salig Singh was in too great a hurry to get home to pay any attention to her, and I, knowing you"d be along, arranged that tonga accident with Ram Nath.
He bribed his brother tonga-wallah to bring it about."
"Thank you," said Amber from his heart.
Labertouche impatiently waved the interruption aside. "I looked for you at the telegraph office this morning, but of course when you didn"t appear I knew something was up. So I concocted a message to you for an excuse, came down, engaged the khansamah in conversation (I think he had some idea I was an agent of the other side) and ... he is an old man, not very strong. Once indoors, I had little trouble with him. He"s now enjoying perfect peace, with a gag to insure it, beneath his own charpoy. Ram Nath happened along opportunely and created a diversion with his gin-bottle. That seems to be all, and I"m afraid we mayn"t talk much longer. I must be going--and so must you."
He glanced anxiously at his watch--a cheap and showy thing, such as natives delight in. Both men rose.
"You return to the telegraph station, I presume?" said Amber.
"Not at all. It wouldn"t be worth my while."
"How"s that?"
"The wires haven"t been working since ten this morning," said Labertouche quietly. Amber steadied himself with the back of his chair.
"You mean they"ve been cut?"
"Something of the sort."
"And that means--"
"That this infernal conspiracy is scheduled to come to a head to-night--as you must have inferred, my dear fellow: this is the last night of your probation. The cutting off of Khandawar from all British India is a bold move and shows Salig Singh"s confidence. It means simply: "Governmental interference not desired. Hands off." He knows well that we"ve spies here, that enough has leaked out, unavoidably, to bring an army corps down on his back within twenty-four hours, if he permitted even the most innocent-seeming message to get out of the city."
Amber whistled with dismay. "And you--"
"I"m going to find out for myself what"s towards in Kathiapur."
"You"re going there--alone?"
"Not exactly; I shall have company. A gentleman of the Mohammedan persuasion is going to change places with me for the night. No; he doesn"t know it yet, but I have reason to believe that he got an R.S.V.P. for the festive occasion and intends to put in a midnight appearance. So I purpose saving him the trouble. It"s only a two-hour ride."
"But the risk!"
Labertouche chuckled grimly. "It"s the day"s work, my boy. I"m not sure I shan"t enjoy it. Besides, I mayn"t hang back where my subordinates have not feared to go. We"ve had a man in Kathiapur since day before yesterday."
"And I? What am I to do?"
"Your place is at Miss Farrell"s side. No; you"d be only a hindrance to me. Get that out of your thoughts. Three years ago I found time to make a pretty thorough exploration of Kathiapur, and, being blessed with an excellent memory, I shall be quite at home."
Amber made a gesture of surrender. "Of course you"re right," he said.
"You"re always right, confound you!"
"Exactly," agreed Labertouche, smiling. "I"m only here to help you escape to the Residency. Raikes and Colonel Farrell have already been advised to make preparations for a siege or for instant flight, if I give the word. They need you far more than I shall. It would be simple madness for you to venture to Kathiapur to-night. The case is clear enough for you to see the folly of doing anything of the sort."
"It may be clear to you...."
"See here," said Labertouche, with pardonable impatience; "I"m presuming that you know enough of Indian history to be aware that the Rutton dynasty in Khandawar is the proudest and n.o.blest in India; it has descended in right line from the Sun. There"s not a living Hindu but will acknowledge its supremacy, be he however ambitious. That makes it plain, or ought to, why Har Dyal Rutton, the last male of his line, was--and is--considered the natural, the inevitable, leader of the Second Mutiny. It devolved upon Salig Singh to produce him; Salig Singh promised and--is on the point of failure. I can"t say precisely what penalty he"ll be called upon to pay, but it"s safe to a.s.sume that it"ll be something everlastingly unpleasant. So he"s desperate. I can"t believe he has deceived himself into taking you for Rutton, but whether or no he intends by hook or crook to get you through this Gateway affair to-night. He"s got to. Now you are--or Rutton is--known to be disloyal to the scheme. Inevitably, then, the man who pa.s.ses through that Gateway in his name is to be quietly eliminated before he can betray anything--in other words, as soon as he has been put through the "Ordeal," as they call it, for the sake of appearances and the moral effect upon the Hindu race at large. Now I think you understand."
"I think I do, thanks," Amber returned drily. "You"re quite right, as I said before. So I"m off to the Residency. But how to get through that guard out there?"
He received no response. In as little time as it took him to step backwards from Amber, Labertouche had resumed his temporarily discarded masquerade. Instantaneously it was the khansamah who confronted the Virginian--the native with head and shoulders submissively bended, as one who awaits an order.
Amber, surprised, stared, started to speak, received a sign, and was silent, the excuse for Labertouche"s sudden change of att.i.tude being sufficiently apparent in an uproar which had been raised without the least warning in the compound. The advent of a running horse seemed to have been responsible for it, for the clatter of hoofs as the animal was checked abruptly in mid-stride was followed by a clamour of drunken cries, shrieks of alarm, and protests on the part of the sepoys disturbed in the midst of their carouse. Over all this there rang the voice of an Englishman swearing good, round, honest British oaths.
"Stand aside, you hounds!"
Amber turned pale. "That"s Farrell"s voice!" he cried, guessing at the truth.
Labertouche made no answer, but edged toward the khansamah"s quarters.
The din subsided as Farrell gained the veranda. His feet rang heavily on the boards, and a second later he thrust the door violently open and slammed breathlessly into the room, booted, spurred, his keen old face livid, a riding-whip dangling from one wrist, a revolver in the other hand.
He wheeled on the threshold and lifted his weapon, then, with a gasp of amazement, dropped it. "By Heaven, sir!" he cried, "that"s odd! Those d.a.m.ned sepoys tried to prevent my seeing you and now they"ve cleared out, every mother"s son of them!"
Amber stepped to his side; to his own bewilderment, the compound was deserted; there was not a sepoy in sight.
"So much the better," he said quickly, the first to recover. "What"s wrong, sir?"
"Wrong!" Farrell stumbled over to the table and into a chair, panting.
"Everything"s wrong! What"s gone wrong with you, that we haven"t been able to find you all day?"
"I"ve been lying there," Amber told him, nodding to the charpoy, "drugged. What"s happened? Is Miss Farrell--?"
"Sophia!" The Political lifted his hand to his eyes and let it fall, with an effect of confusion. "In the name of charity tell me you know where she is!"
"You don"t mean--"
"She"s gone, Amber--gone! She"s disappeared, vanished, been spirited away! Don"t you understand me? She"s been kidnapped!"
In dumb torment, Amber heard a swift, sharp hiss of breath as pregnant with meaning as a spoken word, and turned to meet Labertouche"s eyes, and to see that the same thought was in both their minds. Salig Singh had found the way to lure Amber to Kathiapur.