by Talbot Mundy
“No!” said Grim. “I don’t believe in your police protection. How much were we protected last night?”
At that Ibraim Noorian Pasha taxed us with supine immorality. “The white races are growing degenerate!” he announced with an air of pained conviction. But Grim uncovered the weakness of his position.
“If you don’t like our attitude why don’t you arrest us as material witnesses?” he asked.
“Pffaah. The English would order you released immediately.”
And he got up and left us, walking away in a fine fit of assumed anger with his tarboosh set at an angle that made him look like a bantam rooster.
“Here endeth the second lesson!” announced Jeremy.
Nothing further transpired until we dressed for dinner and came down again to the veranda to await Madame Poulakis and her friends. There is no limit to Egyptian surprises. They came half an hour ahead of the appointed time in two closed carriages that wouldn’t have looked badly at a coronation. Up on the platform behind the front carriage stood no other than Narayan Singh, sober as a judge, gorgeous in new turban, and silk from shoulder to heel, with a scimitar, if you please, tucked into the sash at his waist. It was he who got down to open the carriage door and escort Madame Poulakis up the hotel steps.
We had ordered a special dinner. There was no use going to the dining-room at once, for it wouldn’t be ready. The three women whom Madame Poulakis had brought were married, if rings on their hands meant anything, and well used to being waited on hand and foot with all the luxuries. “Cocktails in a corner! Who’ll play?” asked Jeremy, striking an attitude — and they would all play, obviously.
Jeremy led the way to a corner lounge, and Grim managed to get a word to me.
“Cairene women are never punctual,” he said. “There’s purpose in this. Suppose you walk right on through and see whether Narayan Singh doesn’t follow you.”
* * * * *
Making no excuses, I shoved both fists into my jacket pockets and strolled through to the palm garden. There I sat down on a bench beyond the big fountain in the center, with both eyes lifting to make sure there were no spies in close attendance. It is in just such simple ways that fish escape from nets and plots crack open. Nobody paid any attention when Narayan Singh, dressed as a servant, followed me through the hall ostensibly toward the rear where he belonged. He came straight to where I was waiting, and sat down beside me.
“Sahib,” he said, “our Jimgrim has a dangerous friend in Meldrum Strange. It is all one to the gods whether a man is drunk or sober, and at times they need a drunken man. Yesterday in the very early morning I was drunk. But the whisky was good, and I only had a bottle of it. I rang for more, but the black badmash who answered told me impudently that the bar was shut; so, being wrathful and indignant at such limitations, I set the furniture outside on the veranda, leaving a naked room, and went out in search of some place where conviviality knows no limit and a man’s thirst isn’t held answerable to the clock.
“But they run this city like an army canteen, sahib! I walked far, but found no liquor. And having found fault with an Egyptian policeman, who refused to direct me to an open drinking-place, and who blew his whistle lustily from underneath the garbage in a night-cart into which I thrust him to teach him manners, I set out to put great distance between this hotel and me, not wishing that you sahibs should be disturbed on my account.
“So I crossed the Nile by a bridge, cursing the water for being unintoxicating stuff; and if curses have value, sahib, the Nile in its next life will be a sewer flowing in the dark under unclean city streets! Ever seeking whisky, I walked on and on, not drunk enough to be unreasonable, but with a certain ardor in my veins for conquest and the clash of forces. My intellect was alert and rational, for I recalled that I spoke to myself in English, French, and German as I walked along; but my heart had the mastery, and intellect could only serve the heart that night. First I desired more whisky; but after that I longed above all else to find a damsel in distress and to smite her enemies. At that hour the gods had use for a man exactly in that mood!
“There was a fracas, sahib, a fracas in the dark, and it was music to me! I approached a house that resembled nothing else so much as one of those new palaces our fat, degenerate rajahs build — a pastry-cook’s delirium, made up of all new fashions blended, with sufficient of the old to cause the lot to ferment like indecency within an old man’s body. Phaugh! A house of money without brains! There was a great carriage outside this abortion of a house, and a woman within it screaming; so I came swiftly.
“No fewer than nine men, sahib — for they seem to call such creatures by the name of men in Egypt — were endeavoring to drag this woman from the carriage. And another woman helped them, while only two men took the other side, and they timidly, using more voice than violence. All this I saw as I came upon them, thinking how I might best apply my strength and whatever skill I may have picked up in course of a few campaigns.
“It was nothing to me what those Egyptians wanted with the woman, but a very great deal it meant to stand between them and their desire. I burst on them as a typhoon smites the trees. I hurled, flung, smote! I threw them under the horses! I trod men underfoot. To their eyes I must have seemed to be a dozen men! I was swift, crashing their heads together, attacking now this and then that one, aided a little at last by the coachman and footman, who took courage.
“The other woman ran. I know not what became of her. She may have entered the house. A fool aimed a pistol at me dwelling on the trigger and I ducked. I seized him around the belly, he firing as I lifted him. I flung him under the horses, hoping they would tread him into red mud, and what with his carcass striking their forelegs, and the pistol-shot, the horses, which were mettled beasts, took fright and bolted, but not before the coachman had scrambled up and seized the reins.
“The gods take charge of a man’s intellect in moments such as that, sahib. I was minded neither to remain and defend myself against the men, nor to forego the acquaintance of that lady in the carriage, who might wish to acquire merit by thanking me for service rendered. So I seized the carriage and jumped in, she screaming. I doubt not that in the dark I was an apparition to terrify any woman, with my turban all awry amid one thing and another.
“ ‘O Queen,’ said I, ‘I will defend you against your enemies. There is no need to fear me at all.’
“And I sat on the front seat with my arms folded thus, that she might see I had no intention of affronting her. Even so in the dark I could see that she was young, and more beautiful than the moon and stars; and I thanked the thoughtful gods who had brought me there. I had just sufficient whisky in my belly to make me adventurous, without unsettling discretion. Clear, reasonable, discreet my mind was.
“ ‘O lady, I have sworn an oath this night to serve in future none but queens,’ said I, ‘so if you are not yet a queen, lo! I will make you into one. Trust me!’ said I.
“ ‘If you have ten-thousand enemies, they shall die ten thousand deaths, one each, and that is all about it! Charge me with a service. Name but a deed, and I will do it!’
“So she bade me stop the horses, which were galloping pell-mell, we swaying this and that way like a big gun going into action, first this wheel and then that striking against a curb-stone as the coachman wrenched at the reins.
“ ‘If you could save us from an accident,’ she said, ‘by doing something that would stop the horses, that would be a kindness beyond words.’
“Well, sahib, that seemed a very little thing to me in the state of mind that I was in. I climbed out on to the driver’s seat. I thrust aside the coachman, whose wits fear had taken from him, I leaped on the back of the near horse. I come of a race of horsemen, sahib. No pair of horses lives that can say ‘yea’ to my ‘nay’ for more than a minute or two. Presently they stopped, and I climbed back into the carriage, sitting as before with folded arms.
“By that time the lady had regained her self-command, and eyed me curiously rather th
an with fear. She began to question me, asking my name and who I might be; and I, not squandering truth as some men do when strong drink is in them, but inspired by the gods to tell the first lie that crossed my mind, said I was a deserter from the British Army.
“Whereat, sahib, she clapped her hands delightedly and offered me a place to hide, saying I should be her private bodyguard and strong protector. And I, caring nothing what the future should bring forth, would only that the present should continue interesting, fell in with her suggestion, protesting with great oaths that I would tear up Egypt by the roots at a word from her.
“And after a while we came to the palace in which you found me. There at the gate the carriage stopped, and the footman, who had ridden on the platform behind the carriage, opened the door and offered me insolence. I was minded to pull his head out by the roots, but she checked me in time to save his life. She said it would not look well for me to ride into the house inside the carriage with her so I sprang on the footboard. Thus we drove in, the footman walking, hugging at his throat where I had twisted it, and the great gate clanged behind us.
“So far, good. My walk had produced no whisky, but some amusement nevertheless. I was in a mood for great adventures, sahib. Said I: ‘O queen, lead me to your apartment, that I may sleep in front of the door and guard you. Impudent devils who would try to drag you from your carriage would stop at nothing less than such an obstacle as me! These servants of yours are muzzled dogs that can’t bite,’ I said; and she laughed with no little reassurance.
“So we entered that palace in which you found me, and she led me to a great room like a chamber in paradise, overlooking the Nile, which nevertheless is no heavenly river. And she sent for Narendra Nath, an old fool of a Hindu soothsayer. His perpetual study is of all the world’s religions. His wisdom is a patchwork of craziness. He is teller of fortunes. He had foretold to her that she would be attacked, as any child might have done, knowing already what Narendra Nath knew; for she tells him everything.
“Narendra Nath said that the gods had sent me, which is doubtless true. She bade me go with him and learn what is required of me, he saying to her in an undertone that a little drunkenness in the circumstances was no bad thing. My ears are sharp, sahibs. So I feigned greater drunkenness, behaving as one from whose brain the fumes of liquor are fading, which is a stage in which few men have their wits about them; and he took me to the room upstairs in which you found me, where certain bigger fools than he set up a wailing on wind instruments such as is never heard outside of India, and only there in the performance of certain secret rites during which they hypnotize the neophyte. None can hypnotize any man, sahib, who is not afraid to do his own thinking — which, I take it, is why the British govern India.
“Narendra Nath plied me with drugs, which he said would relieve my headache. But Jeremy sahib has been teaching me legerdemain, and I was able to palm the pills and make away with them. Nevertheless, observe, sahib; see how I can make my eyes grow large, as if drugs had dazed them. That is a muscular trick; I have used it to get into hospital at the end of arduous service, when I needed a rest and a change of diet.
“When he believed me under the influence of drugs and music, he sent for her; and they asked me questions about you sahibs. I left nothing unsaid in praise of you. I recalled a multitude of things that never happened. I magnified real deeds until they sounded like the miracles of gods. Then they asked me about Meldrum Strange; but knowing nothing about him, I said less than nothing, being satisfied to look perplexed.
“ Too many men prefer to look wise, sahib, when they know nothing, which causes the sensitive gates of uncertainty to close on confidence; whereas a look of perplexity tempts indiscretion.
“So they told me about Meldrum Strange, believing me to be hypnotized and receptive to all manner of suggestions. She told me how her husband had been a member of a society so secret that it has no name. And then Narendra Nath took up the burden of the tale, and told how the lady Poulakis had continued to be a member of the society, because of their rule that none may escape from membership except through the door of death.
“ ‘She is a bird in the net,’ said he, ‘too young to wish to die; too potentially useful for them to desire to kill her; yet doomed to death, unless she shall serve their present purpose.
“ ‘And their suspicions of her,’ said he, ‘are well founded. She is weary of this wicked business. She is anxious to be free from them, yet can find no way out of the net. So little do they trust her,’ said he, ‘that, as you yourself have seen, they sought to make her prisoner in another woman’s house, where the pressure of tenfold fear could be brought to bear on her. Therefore, let your duty and your highest pleasure be to guard her day and night. Be devoted to her service.’
“To which I, speaking as a man who dreams, made answer that I am liable to be arrested for desertion; for it seemed to me, sahib, that that might open a way of communication with Jimgrim. As in truth it did. Later on, when they had well considered matters, they bade me write a letter, as you know.
“Then they had an argument as to whether they should tell me more, he taking the nay and she the yea of it, and she prevailing, as a woman will. ‘His inner mind,’ said she, ‘is opened. It will be an inner secret, to be well kept, and will add to the inner impulse that governs his waking brain.’ That is the way people argue, sahib, who have a smattering of occult knowledge.
“So she told me, Narendra Nath unwillingly consenting. Said she: ‘I am required to marry Meldrum Strange, whom they seek to control for the purpose of great financial undertakings in America. Now I am not unwilling,’ said she, ‘to marry Meldrum Strange, having met him and not disliking him at all. He offers my one path of escape. But there is this great difficulty — he undoubtedly believes me to be a wicked woman, and he is the last man who would choose a wife from among a society of criminals. Yet unless he consents to marry me they will murder him. And unless I succeed in this matter they will murder me. So what can I do but protect myself, if that is possible, and hope for the best, and see what happens?’
“I made no answer to all that, sahib, being supposed to be in a sort of trance, and aware also that folk who made use of such practices believe themselves able to arouse all the wisdom hidden in the recesses of a man’s inner mind, so that, although he cannot answer, being in a trance, he will none the less apply great wisdom to his conduct in the matter when the trance is ended.
“So then she retired to her apartment, and old Narendra Nath continued his schooling of me, suggesting to me that it were an act of wisdom to involve all you four sahibs in this matter, by persuading you to conceal my whereabouts, thus conniving at my desertion; by which means a certain hold over you might be obtained, with the aid of which a pressure could be brought to bear that might compel you to act on behalf of Madame Poulakis. But to tell the truth, sahib, the old man is at his wits’ end, not knowing what to say or do, yet afraid to admit to them that his occultism and astrology and what not are of no avail.
“After a while it seemed good to him to put me into a deeper trance, which suited my convenience exactly. Life in the Army, sahib, is a matter of discipline, which has its profit as well as loss — profit of self-control to balance loss of liberty. Certain things are done at certain times, and a man who has the soldier spirit to begin with soon learns to sleep lightly and to wake himself, whether at the right time or at the first unusual sound. A little liquor makes no difference — not such a little as I had had. So I fell asleep with perfect confidence that I would wake when necessary. And so I did. But I awoke with only one eye open, and closed that almost instantly.
“There came into the room a heavy man of coarse build but with a voice like oil. He had puffy, white hands, with a large emerald ring on the right one; but I saw little else, for the first thing he did was to examine me.
“ ‘He is in a trance,’ said Narendra Nath.
“But the man kicked me three times to make sure, putting me to the utmost exercise
of self-control. I have prayed that I may break his neck for those three kicks he gave me. Never have I suffered sharper pain, even when wounded on the battlefield. Yet I lay still; and he believed I was in a trance.
“ ‘Who and what is he?’ he demanded.
“ ‘Merely a madman,’ said Narendra Nath. ‘I have calmed him by the exercise of certain powers I possess.’
“ ‘Mad he must be!’ said the other fellow. ‘Is he that devil who made ninepins out of nine of us early this morning in the street and drove away in the Poulakis’s carriage? The same, eh? And you have him hypnotized? Well, he has qualities that we can use to good advantage. You’d better pour some sense into his ear while he’s in that trance. He’ll make good gallows-meat. And another matter, while I think of it; what has come over the servants in this house? I had to threaten them before they’d admit me!’
“Narendra Nath swore he knew nothing about that; but the other threatened him with dire consequences if it ever should happen again. Said he:
“‘You’re only allowed to live here as a spy on her. It’s your business to see that her servants understand to whom to look for orders. She has been growing willful of late,’ he said, ‘and her servants follow suit.’
“Narendra Nath was very humble in reply, and then the other in a voice more oily than ever went on to say really why he had come.
“ ‘Cast her a new horoscope!’ said he. ‘Cast her a horoscope in which her second husband is an American millionaire. Make it clever. Let there be a dividing of the ways; if she takes the right hand way and becomes the American’s wife, good; if she takes the other, and refuses, promise her a terrible death! Better hear voices, hadn’t you? And one other thing; if Meldrum Strange should refuse he’ll be too dangerous to leave at large. He’ll have to be disposed of. We’ll make use of this fool. Hypnotize him! Tune him up, and keep him tuned!’
