He has been a thief and a pimp, a smuggler and a runner of guns and other contraband. He has but one loyalty, to himself, is egocentric and cunning. He has the shrewdness developed from practice and from the peoples who live in the marketplace. He is a completely ruthless man, totally unimpressed by beauty. He still operates a chain of whorehouses throughout the ports of the Eastern Mediterranean, and women mean nothing to him. He takes them when he wants them, discards them when he wishes.
Villette, accustomed to coping with men without too much trouble, finds herself completely at a loss with him, a thing she does not sense at first.
Decebilus is interested only in money, and over the years, through murder, blackmail, and a series of fast operations he has become a financial leader in the Near East. He owns a line of decrepit freighters and tankers, a small airline operating in the Middle East, and various other enterprises.
He uses bribery, threats, and blackmail to get what he wants, but being absolutely ruthless and willing to kill or destroy anything in his way, he is a man feared wherever he appears.
He is handsome, dresses with great care in suits tailored in London. His outward manners and good taste are visible everywhere except that he constantly wears three large rings on his right hand, two on his left. His good taste in clothes is an acquired thing….Personally he would prefer something more garish, but he has learned. Only in the rings is this aspect visible. Yet the veneer is thin. When angry the change is shocking.
—
RASHID: A goatherd who is twelve years old going on forty; young in one sense, he was never young in another; he has listened well over his few years, and has observed the comings and goings of men. He will have more to do in the story than the brief outline of the action indicates.
—
MUSTAFA BEM and BARBARO: Sharp tools for the cutting hand of Decebilus, they supply his “muscle” when he does not wish to be involved.
—
YUSUF: An old man who has lived long in Istanbul and for whom life holds no mysteries. He knows much of rugs, the rugs of Persia, Turkey, Bokhara, India, and China…he knows the myths and legends woven into the rugs, even some of their origins, for each rug is itself a puzzle, and the motifs may be borrowed from China that appear in a Persian or Turkish rug, or vice versa. Long ago his family were retainers of the Maharajah of Kasur, and like him, he is a Moslem.
—
HAMID: A cool, hard-bitten, and thoroughly honest police officer; formerly of the Army, he knew Ballantyne in Korea, where the latter functioned as an intelligence officer and liaison man because of his command of languages. They mutually respect each other, but Hamid has always been a little suspicious of his friend. Hamid has a complete dossier on Decebilus but no opening for an arrest. Hamid is, however, more than a mere officer of the police…he is a liaison man between the police and the national government.
—
YACUB & KHALID: Father and son, who know the secret of the rug and have searched for it as have their fathers and grandfathers before them.
—
ZAIDA: Who has her own ideas about Ballantyne, Decebilus, and the rug. She is dark, slender, exotic, and is brought into the picture by Decebilus but decides to double-cross him and get the rug for herself.
LOCALE:
Algiers, Casablanca, and Hong Kong have been the subject of successful motion pictures, but Istanbul, formerly Constantinople, has never been used as it should have been. The harbor, the Golden Horn, the Bosporus, are indescribably beautiful and photogenic. The Old City, with its ancient walls which still stand, its mosques and minarets, is romantic and exciting.
During spring, summer, and fall the air is usually startlingly clear and the sky blue as it only is in the Greek islands, southern Italy, or Istanbul’s vicinity. The average temperature in July and August is 72 degrees. Istanbul is 16 hrs. by air from New York, 5 hrs. from Paris.
The best view of the Golden Horn, long famed as one of the most beautiful harbors in the world, is from the cemetery at the end of the bay.
The city is divided into three parts: the Old City, and then across the famed Galata Bridge over the Golden Horn is the modern city, and some old suburbs. Across the Bosporus (the fare across by ferry is about five cents) lies Asia.
Pop. about 1,200,000, and a mixture of all nationalities in the world. The city was founded in the 9th century B.C.
The Istanbul Hilton is the city’s luxury hotel, new, bright, and smart. The Parc used to be the lushest spot in Europe and was a hangout for correspondents and adventurers. In the Chez Afrique, a subterranean nightclub off the Street of Spices, von Papen used to meet his secret agents. Every street has its own story; many of them have thousands of stories.
The Seraglio Palace, which used to be the harem of the sultans of Turkey and the Ottoman Empire, is now a museum. It is a maze of rooms and passages, and part of the chase sequence in this story takes place there. It covers acres and acres of parks and buildings, is picturesque and exciting.
The Sunken Palace is one of the ancient cisterns built beneath the city (miles of these still exist, most of them forgotten long ago) to supply the city with water in time of siege. This one looks more like a vast cathedral than a cistern, and has 12 rows of 28 columns to hold the vaulted roof, 336 columns in all. But this is only one of the cisterns. It still contains water, and part of the chase takes place there, by boat and torchlight.
The Grand Bazaar has 92 streets and thousands of shops selling everything in the world. Not so mysterious-looking since the fire of some years back, but still an interesting place, always crowded and busy.
The Tin Village is a collection of shacks and huts built of old sheet metal, oil barrels, packing cases, etc. Gypsies live there.
The Gulf of Izmit and Eski Hissar is roughly fifty miles from Istanbul by a good road.
The Pandeli, mentioned in the story, is a romantic place in the Old Town, and the best food of the Turkish variety. There are a lot of good eating places in town. The Abdullah, also mentioned, is very good and considered the best in town.
Istanbul is a hotbed of intrigue, and visitors are there from every country in the world. The Turks are a hardy, rugged people who have fought the Russians many times in their history and any Turk believes he can whip any four Russians and is quite ready to prove it. Their government is friendly to ours and has been so for a long time.
The Istanbul Hilton is located in the heart of the city in a lovely park, and alongside the lobby is a promenade overlooking a garden terrace, a reflecting pool, swimming pool, cabanas, tennis courts, and the gardens.
There are a lot of theaters, good music, etc. The city has nearly 500 mosques, some of them extremely beautiful. There are miles of good beaches, and the place has a romantic flavor all its own.
BRIEF OUTLINE OF ACTION:
BALLANTYNE discovers the body of an old man in a worn black suit on the shore near Eski Hissar, and the man has been murdered by three knife wounds in the kidney. This use of the knife is a trademark of MUSTAFA BEM, the right-hand man of LEON DECEBILUS, formerly known as “Dice,” a name he would like to forget. Decebilus has in the past been a thief, a panderer, and a murderer….He is now a shipping magnate and financier.
Few recall his criminal background, or that his success was founded more upon blackmail and murder than upon financial cunning. The few who do remember prefer to keep silent.
Ballantyne waits among the ruins and sees a Renault come along the goat track. Mustafa Bem gets out and talks to RASHID, the goatherd, asking about a blue car with a woman in it. Rashid professes to know nothing, and they leave.
The boy comes over and after some talk with Ballantyne, introduces him to VILLETTE MALLORY.
VILLETTE was to have met her fiancé, the Maharajah of Kasur, in Istanbul, but he was killed in a plane crash en route. She has beautiful clothes, and almost no money. She is living on her jewelry, which she has pawned bit by bit, and other than that has only a rug, a prayer rug given her by the Maharajah,
who told her to keep it at all costs, that it would make them rich. She had thought of the rug as more of a good-luck piece than anything else but there have been several attempts to take it from her and she is no longer so sure it is only that.
The only person she knows is an old man who keeps a shop in the Grand Bazaar, known as YUSUF, and her fiancé has assured her that he is trustworthy. She has no one to turn to except him, and he is a relatively poor man.
Ballantyne, a fast operator where a buck is concerned, has arrived at some conclusions of his own, which explains his presence among the ruins at Eski Hissar. Actually, he knows nothing of what is going on except that something is happening. He has learned a few things and drawn some conclusions.
The Maharajah, an internationally famous sportsman, suddenly canceled, without explanation, an all-important polo game on the eve of the game, and took a flight for Istanbul.
The plane exploded in midair over Iran and the Maharajah is killed. There is some doubt about how the plane came to explode.
Leon Decebilus, long known to Ballantyne, arrives suddenly in Istanbul and occupies a suite opposite that of Villette Mallory. Heretofore Decebilus has always stayed at the Parc.
A beat-up old freighter, owned by Decebilus, has come from Greece in ballast and is anchored in the Golden Horn; it is not attempting to load a cargo but is instead waiting….Why?
The Maharajah, who lost his estates during the split between Pakistan and India, is nearing bankruptcy, but before flying for Istanbul assured his creditors they would all be paid in full within the month.
It is obvious that the Maharajah expects to come into money in Istanbul and that Decebilus is aware of it.
Rumors are coming through on the grapevine, but nothing tangible. Not until Rashid spoke of it had Ballantyne heard of the rug.
Always keenly aware of any opportunity to turn his hand to making a fast buck, Ballantyne discovers that Villette is driving to Eski Hissar each day, and begins to haunt the place to meet her, and to discover what she is doing there. It is an unlikely place for such a girl to be.
Villette has lunched and dined with Decebilus, and Ballantyne warns her about him. He asks if she does not think it strange that he was so quick to arrange a meeting on arrival. She replies that men always meet her when she arrives anywhere, and if they did not she would change her perfume…or her coiffure.
She doubts his warnings until she hears him mention the dead man on the shore. She recognizes the description as that of a man who had come to the hotel and tried to buy the rug from her…a fact she had mentioned to Decebilus when the man followed her to her meeting with Decebilus at the Abdullah.
She had mentioned it…and now the man was dead.
She doubts the connection but she is uneasy. She agrees to lunch with Ballantyne but she will also see Yusuf…whom Ballantyne also knows.
Ballantyne observes that Villette is followed to Istanbul and to the hotel by a man in a battered Volkswagen whom Ballantyne later recognizes as having a strong resemblance to the murdered man.
Following his policy of pushing the opposition until they make mistakes, Ballantyne promotes trouble between Mustafa Bem and the man in the Volkswagen, whom he correctly supposes is son to the murdered man.
Villette meets Decebilus for dinner, but though she’s discounted Ballantyne’s suspicions she is wary when the subject of the rug arises and Decebilus suggests that to avoid future trouble she dispose of it. In fact, he would buy it himself.
When she refuses, he drops the matter. Later, speaking as a “friend,” he warns her.
Ballantyne, meanwhile, has been visited by Hamid, the police officer. It turns into a fencing match. Hamid likes Ballantyne but does not altogether trust him. Hamid also has received the rumors Ballantyne has been getting. He is alert to something going on.
Villette returns to find her suite ransacked.
Hamid then appears to ask about the death of the Maharajah. They are cooperating with the Iranian authorities in the investigation. Hamid inquires about her association with Decebilus.
She meets Ballantyne at the Pandeli and she is followed to that place. Evading their pursuers they go to Yusuf’s shop and find him murdered, the shop a shambles.
As Ballantyne and Villette are about to leave the shop, Mustafa Bem and Barbaro appear. Ballantyne keeps them occupied while Villette escapes with the rug, which the searchers had failed to find.
Thoroughly frightened, she narrowly eludes a man who grabs at her, escapes down an alley, and hiding in a doorway, sees three men consult, then dash off in separate directions.
She is stalked along the Step Street, and people seem to be watching her or pursuing her everywhere. At last, frantic with fear, she runs into the Tin Village. Around her are people who look at her with utterly emotionless eyes, strange faces, savage faces, empty faces. At last she falls, and is helped up…by Ballantyne.
They are stalked through the cisterns, through the Sunken Palace, and then by a secret way under the Seraglio Palace itself. Coming up inside, they manage to join a party of tourists and file out with them. They get to Ballantyne’s car and escape into the country, driving to Eski Hissar.
From a point near Hannibal’s tomb they stop, take the rug, and open it for study. It is late afternoon.
The secret of Hannibal’s treasure is woven into the rug. Ballantyne studies the pattern, explains something of the symbols, many of them very ancient, as he goes along. Yet he cannot solve the problem. Somewhere here there is a key.
Villette recalls that Yusuf’s hand lay on the rug, which he had simply spread on the floor amongst many others instead of hiding it, as he lay dying. Was it accident that his hand lay at a certain position? Or had he, in dying, tried to tell them something?
His hand had lain upon the lamp hanging in the prayer arch of the rug.
Carefully, they examine it. The treasure, they know, is the treasure of Hannibal, and that it is somehow connected with his tomb at Eski Hissar….
And then they see. The design woven into the rug, the design of the lamp, is also the key to the treasure, for it is the design of the ruined walls that lay scattered below them!
And plainly indicated is the place of the treasure.
Excited by their discovery, they start running down the slope toward the ruins.
Rashid is gathering his goats, but he ignores them. They call to him, but he walks on, never turning his head.
Warned by the boy’s actions, they stop. It is too late.
Having lost them in town, Decebilus and his men returned to where the old weaver had tried to contact her. They step from the ruins, and they have guns.
Ballantyne tries to bargain. Let them go and they will give up the rug. Decebilus is too shrewd. He knows the rug holds the secret, woven into it long ago, and if he is willing to forfeit the rug, Ballantyne must have solved the mystery of the weaving.
Decebilus has no intention of struggling to solve a problem when a man who has the solution is in his hands. He has a counter offer: their lives for the treasure. Suppose they found it, he argues. What could they possibly do with it? How would they move it? How could they dispose of it without exciting the cupidity of those with whom they dealt or corrupt officials?
Gold is very heavy, and people are curious. Decebilus offers here some comments on treasure-finding that are rarely considered. Most people at one time or another have thought of finding a treasure, yet few of them have gone beyond that to decide what they would do if they found it.
The government of most countries would take half; some countries would confiscate it all. They would have to transfer a large amount of gold and gems into Istanbul, and like any large city, it is filled with thieves. What then?
On the other hand, Decebilus explains, he is equipped to cope with the problem. He has underworld means of disposing of the loot; he has the force necessary to guard and protect it; he can use methods they as reasonably legitimate people dare not use. He has a ship and a crew prepared to handle
it. He has a truck nearby to take it to the loading dock in a fishing village, and he has means of persuading the curious to be less so.
Ballantyne, realizing that Villette is in worse danger than he himself, tells them where to dig. They dig, uncover a stone slab, remove it, enter an underground chamber.
It is an ancient temple, prepared for worship. A Phoenician god faces them from a dais. In niches in the wall are four slightly smaller replicas. In the center of the room there are twelve large amphorae lying piled in a bunch.
Mustafa Bem calls to Decebilus.
They go to the opening and look. It is not yet dark, although the sun is down. Standing on the slope are forty or fifty people. They are the villagers, the friends of Rashid, and they stand very silently, watching.
Decebilus is furious. He demands of Ballantyne who they are, and Ballantyne can only guess. “They are my friends,” he said, “and they want no trouble, but they are prepared for it.”
It is a Mexican standoff, and Decebilus knows it. If he starts shooting he will kill some of them, but he will also raise such a turmoil that troops will be rushing down from Istanbul, his ship stopped, the treasure confiscated.
He bargains. Ballantyne will let him take half. They argue. Finally to save the villagers from a fight that is not their own, he agrees to let Decebilus go with eight of the amphorae, if he goes at once.
Decebilus departs and Rashid comes.
Villette comments that they have some of it, anyway, but Ballantyne replies that they actually have it all!
THE TREASURE:
After his defeat by the Romans, while they sought him everywhere, Hannibal escaped to the island of Crete. He brought with him some large jars that were heavy and were kept sealed and guarded. These were believed to contain his treasure.
When the Romans discovered his hiding place he slipped away from Crete to the Gulf of Nicomedia, where he lived in a fishing village. Discovered again by the Romans in 183 B.C., he killed himself rather than face capture, and his treasure was never found.
Volume 1: Unfinished Manuscripts, Mysterious Stories, and Lost Notes from One of the World's Most Popular Novelists Page 20
