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Mystery of the Ravenspurs

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[Pg 211] <h2>CHAPTER XXXIX PRINCESS ZARA'S TERMS</h2> Geoffrey had no reason to fear anything from his adventure in the way of catching cold, seeing that beyond his feet he was not in the least wet. But the exertion had brought the great beads to his forehead, and he lay at the entrance to the cave exhausted. Meanwhile Tchigorsky had appeared again clad in the long Oriental robes that suited him so well. Even in the strong light that filtered through a crack on to his face Geoffrey found it impossible to recognize him. "Are you feeling better?" he asked. "All right," Geoffrey gasped. "I'm a little bit pumped, of course." Tchigorsky pointed to the boat pulled over the ledge of rock. "Then oblige me by shoving her off and letting her sink in shallow water," he said. "It is not pleasant and may cause your friends a great deal of anxiety, but for a little while it will be necessary for the world to regard you as one who has met with a watery grave." "But surely this does not apply to my family?" Geoffrey asked anxiously. "To your family most of all," said Tchigorsky coolly. "It is all part of the scheme. "My dear boy, I am the last man in the world to cause unnecessary suffering—goodness knows I have had enough of my own—but one must be cruel to be kind sometimes. I have worked out the scheme; I have seen the enemy's cards, and I am playing mine accordingly. I tell you the step is imperative." "But Vera," Geoffrey groaned. "It will kill Vera.[Pg 212] In normal circumstances the shock would be great; with a girl who has been so awfully tried the news may mean loss of reason." "I have thought of that," Tchigorsky said. "At least your uncle Ralph and I have worked it out between us. Miss Vera is not to know anything of our scheme, but she is to know that you are safe and well. Come, I fancy you can trust Ralph Ravenspur." Geoffrey nodded. He felt easier in his mind. Not that he was satisfied, but it would be flying in the face of Providence to interfere with the delicate and deeply laid scheme of a man like Tchigorsky. "All right," he said. "I'll do as you desire." "Then push the boat off without further delay. You will understand why I don't want to be seen in the matter. Go, before any one comes along." Geoffrey went obediently. He had not much fear of anybody passing. Nevertheless he did not neglect proper precautions. As he reached the cave again he found Tchigorsky lying on a heap of dry seaweed smoking a cigarette. "I suppose I have to thank Mrs. May for this?" Geoffrey asked. "For this and other things," Tchigorsky nodded. "I knew it was coming; in fact, very little can happen now that I am not in a position to discount. My ruse succeeded capitally. Behold in me Ben Heer, one of the two miscreants who succeeded in destroying Voski. My colleague perished in the attempt." "The princess is convinced of that?" "Absolutely. She is certain that I, Sergius Tchigorsky, have gone over to the great majority. Besides, I have placed proofs of my alleged crime in her hand—the Garuda stone all the fuss was about. It is a clever imitation, but that is beside the question." "So you have been taken into her confidence?" "Well, not exactly that. But every new scheme is relegated so far as details are concerned to some of us,[Pg 213] and therefore I am in a position to discount the future. In ordinary circumstances I should simply have warned you against going fishing to-day, and thus checkmated the foe again; but that would have been inartistic. "Besides, I wanted the princess to regard you as another victim, hence the whole of this rather cheap dramatic business. You will come to life again in a few hours—when we shall have to be guided by events." "Who was it who tampered with the boat?" "You will learn in good time. Let us meanwhile assume that it was the work of one of my dusky companions. For the present you and I remain where we are—till dark probably—when it will be possible to smuggle you up to your uncle's room. I have not been regardless of your creature comforts. Here are cold meat and a bottle of champagne. We dine together." Geoffrey accepted his portion with resignation. And Tchigorsky was an entertaining companion. There was no dullness in his presence. "Very well," Geoffrey said as he lighted a cigarette. "We are safe here. Now's the time for a further recital of your thrilling adventures in Lassa." "Agreed," Tchigorsky cried. "Where did I leave off?" "You had been gagged and bound at the instigation of the princess." "True. It is also true that but for the intervention of the same princess we should have been torn to pieces on the spot; and, incidentally, I may mention that that would have resulted in the absolute extinction of the house of Ravenspur. The men who a moment before had been grave, reserved priests were transformed instantly into raging fiends. "Had they been possessed by devils they could not have flamed out more suddenly. They were mad to know that the secrets of all ages had passed into the hands of Christian dogs—dogs who had defiled their altars. And yet much the same kind of barbarous fanaticism has been displayed in civilized dominions. They[Pg 214] were not any worse than the bigots who burned your English martyrs. "We should have been torn to pieces on the spot, as I told you, but for the authority of the princess. So commonplace a death did not suit her ideas of the eternal fitness of things. Many and many a time afterwards, when racked by agony, I deeply deplored that supposed act of clemency. It would have been a far more merciful death. "Well, we were spared for the moment and cast into a loathsome dungeon, where we were overrun with vermin, great rats which we had constantly to drive off, and spiders whose bite was very painful. "How long we lay without food I don't know; anyway, it seemed days. Perhaps it was only so many hours. Try lying in the pitch dark fighting with nameless unseen terrors and see how many bitter years can be crammed into a minute. And yet we knew there was far worse to come. But for the fact that we were together and could cheer the black hours with the sound of each other's voices we should have gone mad. One moment we were cast down in the depths of gloom, the next we prayed for death; anon we laughed and sang sketches of gay songs. We were not insane, but were treading perilously near to the borderland. "Then, after many years—or so it seemed to us—they fetched us again. We were not led into the banqueting hall, but to a long, low vault-like place on the floor of which were two shallow tanks or baths covered over with a frame of iron, and from the frame of iron ran long sliding rods for all the world like a bird cage, only the sliding wires of the cage ran far into the room. "Around these cages were glowing charcoal fires, the greater part of the sliding bars or wires growing red and crocus blue from the heat. What did it mean? "I wondered. Ah! I was very soon to know." Tchigorsky drew a deep breath and a shudder passed[Pg 215] over his powerful frame. The moisture on his forehead was not due to the heat alone. "On a throne of stone the princess was seated. A few of the higher grade priests were grouped around her. Evidently they had been discussing us, and had made up their minds. We were not going to be tried even. <div class="center"><ANTIMG src="images/plate4.jpg" alt="On a throne of stone the princess was seated" /></div> <div class="box"> On a throne of stone the princess was seated, a few of the higher grade priests grouped around her.—Page 215. </div> "'Stand there!' the princess commanded! 'Dogs, do you want to live?' "Ralph Ravenspur said nothing. He was ever a man of few words. "'We have no desire to die,' I replied. 'Nothing that breathes ever has. Even if I were an old man with one foot in the grave the desire for life would be as strong upon me as it is now!' "The princess smiled. I will not try to describe that smile. If you had seen it you would have given ten years of your life to forget it again. "It is in your hands to live,' the woman said; 'it is for you to say whether or not you return to your people. But you shall not carry our cherished secrets to the West. You shall live, you shall go free, but you shall take no memory of the past with you!' "I guessed at once what she meant. There were attendants upon the priests, poor fools who fetched and carried, who would undertake errands one at a time, but who had no reasoning powers, no wits of their own. "They were not born idiots; they had been made so. They are put under drugs, a portion of the scalp is removed, and then some small fragment of the brain is destroyed. We could have our liberty if we chose, but at what price! We could go free, but for the rest of our lives we should never know the blessed light of reason again. "I tell you it came to me like a cold shock and turned me faint and giddy. As I glanced at my companion I saw that he was ghastly as myself. What use was life to us under such conditions! And the fiends were equal[Pg 216] to the cruelty of getting us to consent to this operation and then detaining us afterwards. We should be a mockery among them and a warning to others. "There was no reason to discuss this defined cruelty, this vile offer. We glanced at each other and shook our heads. Far better death than this. We knew how to die; we could have drawn our revolvers and shot each other then and there. But we did not. While there was life there was hope." <hr /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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