CHAPTER IV.--A CAPTURE
Soon after Burton had left the camp the Doctor received a letter fromProfessor Muirson in which he said, "The only word on the rubbing yousent me from the last fragment of slab you found means 'Cave,' and Ithink it should be placed before the words 'of Hydas'; thus you have areference to the 'Cave of Hydas,' in which there is, or was, somethingto be carefully guarded."
"Then, putting two and two together, the men who hold Mark a prisonerare either anxious to learn where this Cave of Hydas is, or they knowwhere it is and do not wish any one else to obtain the knowledge," saidthe Doctor.
"I am inclined to think that Mark is in that very cave at the presentmoment," said Tom.
"Quite possible. By the way, Tom, tell the natives who are crowdingabout the camp to continue the search for Mark. Burton wishes it to bekept up for some reason or other," said the Doctor as he went into histent.
"Hi! Tom; come here a moment," almost immediately shouted the Doctor;and as soon as Tom had joined him he said, "I have just foundthis--listen: 'I have been asked to say that I am all right, and toadvise you to do what my captors have requested you. Your reply is to bewritten on the blank part of this paper and placed where you put thelast. Mark.' There can be no doubt about the writing--it is Mark's, andmy mind is greatly relieved," said the Doctor.
"Mark knows one of his captors understands English or he would havewritten more; he was only allowed to write what he was told," said Tom.
The Doctor at once wrote the following reply: "Mark, you are to tellthem that if one of their number will come with you here he may takeaway any of the stones we have found."
This answer was written with the object of delay until Burton's return;and, as before, the Doctor took the paper to the salt spring, while Tomwent to a position where he could watch the goat carry away the messageto the boy; and he had not long to wait, for within a couple of hoursthe boy and his goats appeared and slowly passed the place, and, as theyquietly went along from bush to bush cropping the leaves, one took theletter, and in a few minutes the boy had taken it from the goat.
That night, as soon as it was dark, the mysterious Fakir again enteredthe cave he had examined a couple of nights previously. He lit his lampas soon as he was inside, and went straight to the far end.
Here he stood for a time and listened; then he flashed his light up thechimney-shaped opening high above him, the top of which extended farbeyond the reach of his light; then, having satisfied himself that allwas quiet, he put his arm into a narrow crack in the side of the caveand his fingers grasped two thin ropes; he gave them a sharp jerk, andinstantly there was a rustling, swishing noise as a rope-ladder cametumbling down.
The Fakir tugged at the ladder, and, finding that it was securelyfastened above, he at once climbed up. When he had gone about forty feethe found the entrance to another passage; but before venturing toexplore it he carefully drew up the ladder as it had been before.
The Fakir cautiously made his way, frequently stopping to put his ear tothe floor to listen, and keeping a sharp look-out for any sidegalleries, of which he passed three, but they were much narrower thanthe one he was following.
He had proceeded about three hundred yards when he suddenly closed theshutter of his lamp; then, after listening a while, he went on in thedark, and it was well he had turned off his light, for the passage tookan abrupt turn, and he saw the glimmer of a light in the distance andfaintly heard the sound of voices.
Slowly and noiselessly he approached the light, for he concluded it camefrom some side cave, and this proved to be the case when he had gone alittle farther.
"I tell you again that you have got all the stones if, as you say, youhave stolen the one Ellison Sahib was taking to Lahore."
The words were spoken in a loud voice, and so suddenly had they brokenthe stillness of the dismal place that the Fakir started with surprise,and then crouched closer to listen.
"What the Sahib says is not true, for we have only got one of the lastyou found the other day," said another speaker.
"Then get the rest if you can, for I know nothing about any more. Howlong is this farce going to last? My father says he will let you haveany stones he has found if one of you will go with me for them, but Itold you when you first captured me that you would get nothing of valueby keeping me a prisoner," replied Mark, for he it was.
"Then you shall not leave this cave until the other parts of the brokenslab are discovered and in our hands, and I may tell you that it is morethan a hundred years since the slab was broken and some of the partsstolen and lost. Take him back to his cave"; and the Fakir could hearfootsteps ascending steps and then die away in the distance.
"Now, brothers, hearken," began the speaker who had addressed Mark. "Wehave learnt that Koj Burton has almost guessed who we are, and if hefollows up his idea he will surely track us down. Our forefathersthrough many generations protected the secret of their work and amassedwealth in the way we are doing, and, with the exception of the man whoaccidentally found his way into this cave and stole the inscribed slab,no outsider has ever known the secret of the Cave of Hydas--and that manmet his death without having an opportunity of revealing what he hadlearnt, although he caused us to lose part of that on which was writtenthe command to guard the secret of the cave with our lives.
"Are we now going to allow this Koj Burton to bring destruction upon usand thereby destroy our method of obtaining wealth?" asked the speakerfiercely.
"Never! never! never!" shouted fully half a dozen voices.
"Then he must die, and I will see that he does so, and in such a mannerthat his death cannot in any way be traced to us"; and as the Fakirheard these words he gripped his revolver more tightly, and a grimsmile played about his mouth.
"If this Koj Burton suspects who we are, do you not think, Appoyas, thathe may also have gained some idea of the Cave of Hydas?" a voice asked.
"It may be so, and we will have the cave well guarded. Do not forgetthat to-morrow night at ten o'clock it will be, according to therecords, exactly fifty years since the offerings in the Temple of Atlaswere removed to the Temple of Hydas. This has been done every fiftyyears, and only on those occasions is the inner temple opened, and----"the speaker stopped abruptly, and then, after a moment's pause,continued--"and, brothers, you may now go."
On hearing the last words so suddenly spoken the Fakir began quickly andnoiselessly to retreat along the passage, but, as no one appeared to befollowing, he stopped.
For some minutes he heard men talking, and dimly saw some figures comeinto the passage and go in the opposite direction, and in a short timethe sound of footsteps died away and the Fakir was left alone in thesilent darkness.
More than a quarter of an hour he remained motionless; then he felt hisway to the entrance of the side cave in which he had heard the men, and,finding all still, he turned on his light.
It was a cave-chamber, about twelve feet square; the walls were fairlysmooth, but the roof was uneven--it was evidently an enlarged cave.From this cave-chamber there was a flight of steps to a passage above,and the Fakir was on the point of ascending them when he heard quickfootsteps coming along the passage towards him, which caused him tohurry back into the passage he had left; then, turning off his light, hewaited and listened.
"One of the brothers must have come back for something," the Fakir heardsome one mutter. "It is all right, though; I will return to myprisoner," and then he went away.
Without venturing to turn on his light the Fakir started for therope-ladder; every few paces he paused to listen; he appeared extremelysuspicious, for at times he would halt for three or four minutes and wasconstantly feeling his revolver.
At last he had nearly reached the ladder, when suddenly he saw a faintglimmer as though from a light in the passage below, so, inch by inch,he approached the edge until he was able to peer down, and almost at theinstant he did so the light below went out; but he had learnt much inthat one glance, and, as the sound of a severe struggle from belowreached hi
m, he quickly lowered the ladder and quietly slipped down.
No sooner had he reached the bottom than he turned on his light for aninstant, which revealed Tom Ellison and a powerful native trying to getthe better of each other, the latter having a knife in his hand, but Tomwas holding him by the wrist and preventing him using it.
In a moment the Fakir had twisted the knife from the man's grasp, andin a few seconds the man was bound and gagged.
"Well I'm----" began Tom, but the Fakir put his hand over Tom's mouthand, taking him by the arm, led him to the cave-entrance.
"Speak low, Tom," said the Fakir in a low voice.
"Marvellous! Is it you, Burton? I should never have known you in thatget-up," whispered the surprised Tom.
"Seems like it. But quick's the word, my boy. We must have that man outbefore any of his comrades come along, and this must be done without hisdiscovering who I am. We must blindfold him, for there is a rope-ladderhanging near him, and on no account must he learn that it is down, andthat we are aware of its existence; as soon as we have him here I willreturn and place the ladder as I found it," said Burton.
"Ah, now I understand why you so promptly put out your light when youhad secured the knife," said Tom. "But where shall you take the man? Hiscomrades will hear about his capture if you take him to the camp," headded.
"That is the very last thing I wish them to learn. About an hour's walkfrom here--but two hours for us to-night, I am afraid--there is asalt-mine, and to-day I arranged--in case I needed it--to use part of itas a temporary prison until we make a grand coup on the rest of thegang. I have a couple of my men waiting near the mine now," explainedBurton.
It was a difficult tramp they had with their prisoner. They kept himblindfolded, and his hands bound; and each held him by an arm as theystumbled over the rough ground in the dark, for Burton would not riskusing his lamp lest the light, at that unusual hour, should attract theattention of the man's friends and cause them to try and discover whatit meant.
When they had safely lodged their prisoner they started for the camp.
"What caused you to go to that cave, Tom?" asked Burton, as they walkedalong.
"Oh, the word on that last piece of stone turns out to be 'cave,' andwhen thinking the matter over I thought of the place Mark had enteredafter the porcupine, so I spotted the place before dark, and thenquietly left the camp after dinner on a private exploring expedition.That man suddenly sprang upon me just before you so opportunely appearedon the scene," explained Tom.
"Then that's all right--you were followed from the camp; I was afraidthey had placed a guard over that entrance," said Burton. "I branch offhere, for I cannot enter the camp in this disguise; I want to use itagain, and as a Fakir I do not wish to be seen near the camp; but I hopeto turn up early in the--or rather this morning. I advise you to get allthe rest you can, for I think I can promise you a very lively timebefore many hours are over."
As Burton went on alone, he muttered, "Yes, I must have all arrangementscarefully made. I expect we shall have a dangerous tussle, for they arenot the class of men to give in quietly."