"None of yer blarney," returned the man. But the other, who was of a romantic temperament, said, "Wot"s the odds? Let the heathen do it if he wants."
"You see, gentlemen," said the Baboo eagerly, "it is my very last opportunity. I shall be lifelong imprisoned for the inauspicious event of this evening. It is positively my last appearance in the open. Let me worship Agni as I do in my own land. No Englishman has yet witnessed the entire ceremony. It shall not take long. I will compress my supplications. Five minutes will be ample dispensation."
The grooms looked at each other. Their curiosity settled the matter.
"We"ll give you four minutes, so look sharp," said one.
"Thank you," replied Ramma Lal gratefully. "Agni will bless you for your beneficence."
The men released their hold. One closed the window, the other shut the door, and placed himself before it.
Ramma Lal took off his silk hat, m.u.f.fler, and coat. He advanced to the idol and salaamed low three times. Then he raised his eyes and sang.
Travers knew the song. It was a ribald ditty of the bazaars, and it had as much to do with the worship of Agni as with the laws of gravitation.
He watched the Baboo with increasing interest. He had evidently some ulterior object in view, but what was it? Ah!
Ramma Lal had gradually approached the idol. Still singing, he had bowed his head till it had almost touched Agni"s knees. Travers hardly saw the movement of the hands. Only an Oriental could have done it so swiftly.
The two candles were suddenly extinguished, and the room was in absolute darkness.
With loud imprecations the two grooms rushed to where the Baboo had been--to collide with each other, and incidentally bring down the huge candlesticks. Then recovering, they dashed about the room in search of their prisoner, only to seize the boy who had the clothes. Finally one of them struck a light.
They were alone with the boy. The window was again wide open.
The men leaned out. There was no moon. The lights of the searchers flashed in the distance. They turned blankly to each other.
"There"ll be pop to pay for this," said the boy, who was still suffering from rough usage in the dark. "You"ll both jolly well get sacked."
"All your blamed fault for lis"nin" to his tommy rot," said the one man savagely to his companion.
"Who"d have thought he was so cunnin"?" rejoined the other. "Wot"s the good of talkin" here? Come out an" look for him. He may have broke his neck," he added hopefully.
Again the lights flashed in the garden, and then gradually extended beyond. Travers waited until he was sure there was no one below. Then he emerged from his recess, and followed the Indians through the window.
Leaving the park to the searchers, he kept to the main avenue, and soon gained the high road. A ten-mile walk brought him to Dorton junction, where he just missed the last train to town.
The sun was high when Danby Travers reached his rooms, and it was late in the afternoon when he awoke. The morning papers and his letters were at his bedside. He at once opened one of the former, curious to see if there was any reference to the events of the previous night.
Good heavens! What was this?
"BURGLARY AND FIRE AT KNOWLESWORTH.
THE ILLINGWORTH PEARL STOLEN.
THE HALL GUTTED.
"Knowlesworth Hall, the historic seat of the Illingworths, was last night the scene of two extraordinary events.
"Lord and Lady Illingworth were entertaining one of their famous week-end parties at dinner when a daring and successful attempt was made to steal the celebrated Pearl of Agni, the largest known black pearl in the world.
"A native Indian was found in a summer house in the Italian garden by a servant. As several determined attempts to steal the Pearl had already been made, the safety of this remarkable jewel was at once called into question. Lord Illingworth and his guests hurried to the Temple room, where the great Pearl was kept, and there found another native, who was promptly secured. The Pearl was missing, and the strictest search failed to bring it to light. It is believed that the thief has swallowed it, a fact which it is to be hoped that the X-rays will be able to demonstrate.
"Owing to gross mismanagement somewhere, the two natives escaped from custody, and it was midnight before they were again apprehended--one of them at Dorton, in a state of collapse from fear and cold; the other at Lingfield, defiant, but suffering from a sprained ankle. They will be brought up to-morrow at the Dorton Petty Sessions.
"Scarcely had Lord Illingworth and his guests retired to rest after an exciting evening than they were again alarmed, this time by an outbreak of fire in the Temple room. Its cause is unknown, but the flames, a.s.sisted by a high wind, spread with extraordinary rapidity, in spite of the prompt measures taken by the Hall fire brigade. Engines quickly arrived from Lingfield and Dorton, but the supply of water was totally inadequate, and it soon became evident that the whole structure was doomed. At the moment of telegraphing, the fire was raging furiously, but all sleeping in the house had been rescued without injury.
"In one night Lord Illingworth has lost his great family jewel and his ancestral seat. The "Luck of the Illingworths" seems to have deserted him.
"It is a remarkable coincidence that a fire consumed the Hindu Temple of Agni the night that the Pearl was taken from it by Major Illingworth in 1803.
"Agni is the Hindu G.o.d of Fire."
"Thank Heaven, Mary"s safe!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Travers. "I hope she hasn"t had a great fright." Then, after a pause, "And Ramma Lal caught, after all!
He deserved a better fate. What an uncommon good thing I got the Pearl!
If I hadn"t taken it, the Indians would have been well on the way to Bombay with it by now, and if neither of us had taken it, the stone might have been burnt up. Would it, though? There mightn"t have been a fire at all. Rummy notion that Agni should blaze the whole show in revenge for my desecration! It shan"t interfere with my feelings of satisfaction. I"m a public benefactor--an Illingworth benefactor, anyway. I shall explain this to my lord at an early date. Hullo, what"s this? A lawyer"s letter. I can tell "em by the smell. What"s he threatenin" this time?"
But it wasn"t a threat. It was simply an intimation that under the will of Colonel Thomas Archer, a distant relative lately deceased, he, Danby Travers, succeeded to the whole estate, a bequest made "on account of intrepidity shown in the recent Irawadi campaign." The income therefrom, the solicitor added, was estimated at about 3,000 per annum, and he would be pleased to have an expression of Mr. Danby Travers"s wishes with respect to the same.
3,000 a year! Travers jumped out of bed and executed a series of gyrations. 3,000 a year! That meant Mary. But did it? It was a fortune to him, but how would Lord Illingworth view it? Well, if he didn"t like it he needn"t. Mary and he were now independent of everybody.
He made his way to the Burglars" meeting in a blur of happiness. He was rather late. Other men were there already, and they one and all congratulated him.
"Aren"t you rather premature?" he asked. "You haven"t seen the Pearl yet."
"Bother the Pearl," said Altamont. "We mean the t.i.tle."
"What the deuce are you drivin" at?"
"Haven"t you seen the papers?"
"Crowds of "em, and lawyers" letters too. My head"s buzzin" with "em.
What is it this time?"
"Your cousin tumbled down some stone steps in Vienna last night, and you are Lord Travers now--that"s all!"
Danby sat down. This final stroke of fortune was too much for him.
"I can"t say I"m sorry," he blurted at length. "Bertram wouldn"t have been sorry if it had been me. And I"m glad about the t.i.tle because of----. Here, I say, you fellows, what"s come over the world since last night?"
"The Black Pearl of the Illingworths has changed hands, we hope," said the Secretary, who wanted to start the business of the evening.
"The Black Pearl has, and the Luck of the Illingworths went with it.
They"ve had a fire, and I"ve got a bequest and a t.i.tle. Perhaps you fellows"ll be more superst.i.tious in future. That"s what brought my luck, anyway." Saying which, he produced the Black Pearl of Agni.
To his unbounded joy and immense surprise Lord Illingworth received the missing stone from London during the course of the next day.
The Indians had been remanded for a week, pending further inquiries, and as they had obviously not stolen the jewel after all, Lord Illingworth declined to prosecute, and they were released from custody. An unknown friend interested himself in the natives. One of them, a Baboo, was sent back to Bombay by an early steamer. The other, who refused to return to India, thanks to the same unknown benefactor, was put in the way of earning his living by teaching Hindustani. He has since gone over to the Mohammedan faith.
With repossession of the Pearl, good fortune came once more to the Illingworths. In making excavations consequent on rebuilding the Hall, a coal seam was discovered, which eventually doubled the family wealth.