CHAPTER III.--THE MYSTERIOUS FAKIR
"Well, Burton, what is your opinion now?" asked Doctor Mullen on theirreturn to camp about three o'clock in the morning, after an unsuccessfulsearch for Mark.
"I am sorry to say I think he has met with a serious accident and isunable to help himself. Listen to those natives shouting 'Sahib! Sahib!'and far beyond them others are calling, and the boy would have repliedif he could have done so. You are sure he went alone?" asked Burton.
"Yes. He took his gun, which seems to suggest that he started for thatlake about a mile from here after duck. Had he gone after oorial hewould have taken his rifle and would have been accompanied by theshikari," said the Doctor, who was greatly distressed about his son'sdisappearance.
"As soon as it is light I will have every nullah and bush searched formiles round," said Burton, and then he mused without giving expressionto his thoughts. "He may have fallen over a kud (precipice), or his gunmay have burst, or he may have been bitten by a snake, or he may haverun against those--well, fragments of slab"; and he left the tent andsent off messages to the headmen of the villages around.
Harry Burton was one of the cleverest officers in the Indian police; hewas a few years over thirty, a dark-complexioned man of medium height,very agile and powerful, and was known to the Salt Range natives as Koj(tracker) Burton Sahib, owing to his smartness in following up theslightest clue.
Burton, at the Doctor's request, went to occupy Mark's empty tent for anhour or two, and as he stretched himself on the camp bed his busy brainwas engaged in trying to form a connection between the broken slab andMark's absence, and these thoughts kept him awake, so he was the firstto hear the footsteps of an approaching horse.
"Hello! Is that you, Ellison?" greeted Burton, as the new arrivaldismounted.
"Yes. I heard at Gunjyal about Mark, so, instead of waiting fordaylight, I hunted up a horse, and, by all this shouting, I concludeMark is still missing," said Tom, and in a very few minutes he hadrelated to Burton and the Doctor his experience in the train and what hehad learnt in Lahore.
"Ah, things are getting a bit more complicated," said Burton aloud, andthen muttered to himself, "But I begin to get a better hold of theidea."
"Now you clearly understand me," said Burton when instructing theheadmen. "You are to send out every available man and boy from yourvillages, and they are to search every nullah until they meet the menfrom the next village. We think the young Sahib has met with anaccident, and if you find him you are to send word here immediately; andyou, Appoyas, instruct your men to be most careful in searching thosecliffs near your village."
"What's that man's name?" asked the Doctor as soon as the men had gone.
"Appoyas. It is an unusual name--certainly not a Punjabi one," repliedBurton.
"I never heard the name before. He is a fine-looking man," remarked theDoctor.
"And a very wealthy man, according to report. That is his village on thevery edge of those cliffs about a mile away. It is the most prosperousvillage on the Salt Range, and celebrated for its stamped-cloth work.Appoyas and his brother Atlasul--another uncommon name--buy up all thecloth made and stamped in the place, and give a good price too, andtheir camels frequently go off laden with bales. But come over here aminute," and Burton led the Doctor some short distance from the camp.
"I can scarcely credit it; surely it is too improbable, how----" beganthe Doctor when he had heard what Burton had to say.
"Never mind; kindly act in the manner I suggest," interrupted Burton,"and I think you will find I am right. Now I must be off, and--well,expect me when you see me, as they say"; and in a couple of minutes hewas riding from the camp on a secret and dangerous expedition.
The search was continued all day, but not the slightest sign of Markcould be discovered.
If any one, about sunset, had been near the place where Mark was restingat the time he thought he saw the porcupine, a Fakir might have beenseen sitting on the identical spot. He appeared to be in deepmeditation, but, as soon as it was dark, he crept cautiously to theentrance of the cave into which Mark thought the porcupine haddisappeared.
The Fakir paused, and after listening intently for a few moments hescrambled in; and after again listening he produced a bull's-eye lamp--amost unusual thing for a native to possess--and carefully lit it.
He next examined a revolver and a knife he carried in a girdle under aloose garment he had wrapped round him, and in addition to these weaponshe had an iron rod about three feet and a-half long, similar to whatmany Fakirs carry.
He now advanced along a narrow passage which widened into a large cave,from which opened another narrow passage, and this he proceededcautiously to explore, but when he had gone about a hundred yards itcame to an abrupt end, the roof here being exceedingly high, and as heflashed his light around he could not see the top.
For the space of an hour he probed about with his iron rod, and felt inthe cracks and crevices in the walls; then suddenly he sat down, and,had any one been near enough, they would have heard him chuckling tohimself, for he had made a great discovery.
In a short time he made his way out of the cave and disappeared into thedarkness of the night.
"What do you make of this, Ellison?" said the Doctor early next morning."I have just found this note in my tent; it is written in Punjabi, andin English it reads: 'If the Sahib wishes to learn where his son is hewill be told if you promise to give up the other pieces of stone youfound. Let the Sahib write his promise on the blank part of this paperand place it on the small olive-tree near the salt spring. The Sahib'smen need not watch, for they will not see who fetches it.'
"Do you think it is a hoax?" asked the Doctor.
"I don't know. I scarcely think so. I wish Burton was back," said Tom,who thought that Burton's experience might enable him to get somethingof a clue from the strange message. "They have got all the stones," headded.
"We took others that did not belong to the slab," said the Doctor.
"Of course, I had forgotten; and the writer of this is under theimpression they are parts of the slab," remarked Tom.
"If this is genuine, then Mark is a prisoner, which is Burton's opinion;and I believe he is acting in some secret manner on his opinion," saidthe Doctor.
After a long consultation the Doctor tore off the blank piece of paperand wrote on it in the native language: "You must first give me someproof that you know where my son is before I promise to comply with yourrequest. Let him write to me."
"We both know where the salt spring is, Tom, so I will take the paperthere, and you go to some place where you can watch the spring throughyour field-glasses," said the Doctor.
"Very good. By the time we get a reply Burton may be back," said Tom,and they left the camp.
Tom watched patiently all day, but, with the exception of a boy incharge of some goats, no one went near the spring, and the boy did notgo within a hundred yards of it, though his goats were feeding all roundand close to it.
"Glad to see you back, Burton," exclaimed Tom when he returned to campand found the officer there.
"What luck, Tom?" asked the Doctor.
"Bad. I waited until it was too dark to see, and the message had notbeen taken when I came away," he replied.
"You are wrong, Tom, my boy, for I saw it taken," said Burton.
"How? Where were you?" asked Tom, in surprise.
"Not far from you, and I saw a goat sniff it and quickly walk off withthe paper in its mouth, and five minutes later the boy had it in hishand. Here, smell this," and Burton held out the paper containing themessage to the Doctor.
"A peculiar smell," said Tom.
"Yes, and the goat is trained to carry anything impregnated with thatsubtle odour," explained Burton.
"Do you believe the writer of this knows where Mark is, Burton? Have youdiscovered anything?" asked Tom.
"Yes, the man knows well enough, and I know to half a mile," saidBurton.
"They why not try to release him at once?" exclaimed
Tom.
"Easier said than done, and I am fully convinced it would be dangerousto force matters without careful arrangements. I practically know withwhom we have to deal, and, if I am any judge of native character, Ibelieve we are in conflict with some of the most cunning and fearlessmen in India--men who had been carrying on their work for many years,and that, too, without raising suspicion, and who will not hesitate torisk life and cause death to accomplish their purpose, and----" Burtonsuddenly stopped speaking; then, almost in a whisper, he hurriedly said,"Go on talking about Mark," and noiselessly he left the tent.
In a few moments there was a sound of a scuffle at the back of the tent,followed by a thud and an exclamation from Burton; so they rushed out tosee what had happened, the Doctor taking the lamp from the tent-pole ashe passed.
"What's the matter, Burton?" asked Tom.
"Bring the lamp here," he answered, rubbing his knees. "They were toosmart for me, and I got the worst of it this time," he added.
"What is that rope doing there?" asked the Doctor, as the light revealeda long rope extending from a tent-peg to a considerable distance intothe darkness.
"Oh, it is there for a purpose, and it answers too well to suit me, forit has given me one of the heaviest falls I have had for a long time. Aman was there listening to us, and it would have made no differencewhich way I had come round the tent, for the eavesdropper would havegone in the opposite direction. When I heard him making off I dashedafter him, and his comrade, who was at the far end of the rope, jerkedit taut when it was between me and the man I was after, with the resultthat I came a most terrific cropper; then they promptly fled, and aresafely away by this time," explained Burton.
"But how did you know there was any one outside?" asked Tom. "I neverheard a sound."
"I saw the side of the tent shake, and there is not a breath of airstirring. The man who was listening must know English, I feel sure; andI am afraid we have made a terrible mistake in not taking precautionarymeasures against being overheard. If they understood what I said aboutsuspecting who they are, I may make up my mind to having a rather livelytime." Burton said in a whisper, for he did not know but some one mightstill be listening screened in the darkness.
"They may have only come to watch us, and probably did not grasp themeaning of our conversation," said the Doctor, in a low voice.
"Let us hope so, for it may mean life or death," was Burton's seriousreply, and that night guards were set over the camp.
Early next morning Burton left, but before going he slipped a letterinto the Doctor's hand, saying as he did so, "Don't open it unless I amnot back by eight o'clock to-morrow morning. Inside you will find fullinstructions what to do if I have not returned."