SERIAL STORY “VIPER’S VENGEANCE”

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 107, 7 May 1936, Page 10

SERIAL STORY “VIPER’S VENGEANCE”

by

RALPH TREVOR

(Chapter X Continued.l Apparently, ton. they had been given , detailed instructions before arriving. They sei to work on these rooms in the old house that had been left untouched by the previous workmen, and they proceeded to make sundry alterations to the windows. In three of those rooms they covered the interior , of the windows with a Cnc steel mesh. ' This device was embedded into the brickwork at the sides and subse- . quently plastered o\ ami suitably • decorated. This steel covering, which did not interfere unnecessarily . with the light from without, was ‘ sufficiently effective tu prevent anyone, I who happened at some future date I to be incarcerated therein from getting actually to the windows them- ■ selves, while external appearances ' were such that those >a me windows I appeared to the observer to be in- , noccnt of all guile. The person .who had planned these j virtual prisons had shown sufficient I perspicacity Io know that the old idea j of the barred window made it obvious j from the outside that the room was not part of the normal layout of the house 1 which, at times, be hoped to utilise as a ‘ country residence whenever the exigencies of his operations in the city and . elsewhere made it expedient or desirable that he should do so. Simi- 1 iarly these new workmen both of whom possessed a definitely Oriental cast of , countenance, turned their attention to the connected series of deep and substantial cellars with which ‘ Beech ' Grange’’ was subterrened. Here there ' was. In more than one instance, no ' necessity to bar ttie windows because ‘ the latter were non-existent, but in one of the cellars in particular they ■ spent some considerable time in erect- 1 ing a number of strange devices which I were not usually found in the normal ■ dwelling-house. One such device I resembled a guillotine of the French ’ Revolutionary period; another was a rack that savoured of the torture chambers of the Middle Ages, after i which they plied their attentions to the • task—a comparatively simple one—of making the respective chambers as sound proof as possible. To this end i eacli chamber was provided with a double door; the outer one of normal ! design; the inner one padded deeply with gutta-percha, and double the i thickness of the other. Having completed their interior ; tasks, further workmen arrived at , • Beech Grange.” They came by night, j as also did a lorry load of material, ■ which included a pair of wide doors j on ball-bearing runners, which, after two cellars at the rear of the house had been converted into one great underground chamber, newly concreted, were duly placed in position. Outside, immediately opposite the doors, a number of the surrounding trees were cleared and a runway constructed, also of concrete, which extended for a considerable distance an 1 terminated at the edse of a broad, j flat meadow which formed part of the estate. In due lime, and ab«mi a week before the new owner entered into possession of “Beech Grange, an <o< »- plane might have been seen flying low over the Tudor chimney stacks of the house. Had anyone been sufficiently interested in the machine to note its movements he would have seen the pijot land in th'* meadow, and, lurning the burnished nose of Hie. machine j towards the house, taxi senliy over the turf, and on reaching tin wide con- I crete runway, s<?cn the saffron wings of the machine fold inwards, the wid? doors slide silently open, and the aeroplane disappear down im-lim* and into its underground hangac, • where there was sufficient room for it to be turned about in readiness for its exit whenever a further flight was required. On this January evening witn wnicu ! we are particularly concerned—the' night following the mysterious murder of a man known only by a number, on : the dance floor of "The Sign of the ' Twin Moons’’—Rama Singh was hold- : ing high council in his private apart- ' ment at “Beech Grange.” If the Indian had look' d imposing to the be- ! holder the previous night in his im- ■ maculate!? tailored evening suit, he looked ever more, remarkable to-night dressed in his luxurious Eastern raiment, with scarlet turban wound' around his bead and his Inng coat of i gold and black bor <,■ bt o vhich one caught a glimpse of his anrner ' satin trousers ending in a pair of heel- ' less shoes fashioned from calfHo was seated on a throne-like ; chair, his hands, with their -slender,' tapering fingers, gaily bejewelled. 1 resting lightly on the carved arms. I At that moment, he was the typical' Rajput, one of the purest specimens ■ of the Aryan race in India, tall, slight.' loose-limbed, with a head long in pro-! portion to its bread!h; a long and prominent nose and a skin of light, trans- i parent brown—the ruler, the overlord. the owner of the land, bui! whose high casle precluded his tilling I it. Kneeling on a cushion at his feet J a man looked up into the stern fare j of his master, seated there as coldly impassive as an idol in a temple ui j Vishnu, the god who preserved the' world. Indeed it was from Vishnu ■ that Rama Singh acquired his name, I for was not Rama the hero prince of' the Rarnayana epic I The room was hixuirously furnished! in Eastern fashion. A* galaxv efi cushions, rich tapestries, colourful embroideries; ypj the man on the dais; appeared to have eyes for none oil these. His lean face was set and stem; his lips were, pressed together! In a straight, bloodless line, and when he spoke there was an edee to his voice. "You say, Kalil, that this young fool! appears unshaken by the warnings we have given him?" “That it so, my master. He goes about his affairs as though nothing had happened." "Yet he was visited by the police by Superintendent Adcock. What doos tiiat mean?” "It means nothing, my master. The police in England have their work Io do. They do not hurry. It is likely that they have spoken with everyone who was at ‘The Sign of Hie Twin Moons’ last night. That is Hie pro- ' jedure—tiresome, but necessary.”

Rama Singh abruptly changed the course of the questioning. “Where is Ghotah?” he demanded imperiously. "Was he not to be here to-night? Why does he tarry when he must know how anxious I am to know the truth ?” “Ghotah will be here presently, my master. The ways of the searcher in this London are indeed tortuous.” “I! is well, Kalli. Return Io your task.” The Hindu addressed as Kalli bowed obsequiously and departed on his unknown mission. For many moments Rama Singh closed his eyes, and under the iniiucnce of karma translated himself from the present into the future. His lips moved; they formed the words, “There is one thing, Brahma; there is nothing else. That is the God of all. There is no real universe, no reality of experience. What appears solid earth or pain or pleasure are mere dreams. They are nightmares io be escaped from. Let me break the chain of existence; let the individual spirit that is mine merge into the universal spirit that I may so find reality.” Rama saw himself before Vishnu in the Great Temple. He was facing a great congregation of his race. They flowed into the hall of the temple like , a Hood illuminated, not by the stars, but by the fanatical the of a million eyes all turned in his direction. Below him, at his very feet, would the white procession of the priests, the High priest at their head, carrying on a jewelled salver the sacred Viper the reincarnation of Vishnu—the symbol of release from the bondage of the infidel, and he —Rama Singh—was the one man in the whole of India who had made possible the triumph. . . . • . - A bell tinkled. Its silvery notes cascaded like water in the sunshine when the wind blows softly, but Rama Singh heeded not, and because he heeded not a rnan entered the room. He had removed his shoes and stood barefoot in the dim light before the carved ebony statue of the Master, whose mask of a face glowed with a greenish radiance. Perceiving this, the newcomer flung himself to the ground and chanted the short sacred words of the Vedic texts that he had learned as his first oblation to the gods. Slowly the lights in the room grew brighter, and with their increase the soul of Rama S'k'i re'.ur.icd to his body. He had come back. He had arrested Time and harnessed it to hiS indomitable will, made the stronger by h!s own spiritual resources. “So, Ghotah.’’ he said softly, “ you have come. Arise from your grovellißff, for there are many things I would know.’’ Ghotah felt himself released from the spell at the voice of the Master. He raised his humble eyes and looked on his face. "It is well, my master. There are i I many things tn be said. ' “Then say them,” pronounced Rama j shortly. "What is the news of the infidel?” "Mr Bayford does not seem to realise what his intervention means. So far as I can sec he has not heeded any . of our warnings.” “So! I am already aware of that, Ghotah. But what of the Viper? There is no question he was admitted l-i the house. But by whom? Bid you Ghotah shook his head. “I did not see. my master. To have seen would have meant revealing myself, ami so j long as I was satisfied that he en“Hevelation, my son. is sometimes considered better than concealment, i especially if by concealemnt my servant has little to reveal when he might have had more.” “We have searched this man’s I rooms, my master. Nothing is hidden “Is that certain?” "It is certain.” Rama Singh’s eyes gazed away above j the head of Ghotah. "And yet 1 am told ! that the Viper is no longer in that j other house where he was known to ibe living? Is it not strange, Ghotaii. i that one man should enter—a man I who is a stranger—that he should | leave, and that after he has left no one remains and the Viper is gone? It | perplexes me, and yet to-night I had a i vision. 1 saw Hip Viper, and hovering • around it was Hip face of a man—the man who has been warned by us Mr i Ronald Rayford. Ghotah, that man is ■ a menace. So king as lie lives I feel I Hint we shall never succeed in our 1 quest for the Viper—the last link with ; lhe fulfilment of our dreams. If mv , hand could toe guided to the Viper no i power on earth could prevent me from I succeeding. But to-night—now ” | he continued wearily. “ a haze comes I before my eyes. lam tired. When I j feel thus I know that my star is setting. . . ." The man's eyes closed as if t > provide emphasis for his words. Aot so, my master! Not so !” cried Ghotah in anguish. "We shall ycl succeed. It is written . . .” ; Rama held up a restraining hand. | "You are right, my son. We shall 1 succeed. Now tell me, where has this ! young man been to-night.” “He left, by road this afternoon bei fore the darkness was complete. 1 i followed him, but the devils entered ! niy car and I had to seek the assistI ance of a mechanic from a garage. I I know so little about car engines, i my master. When I was able to pro- | coed I had lost him.” Ghotah made his confession with fear in his voice. He knew' that llama Singh did not take failure lightly, and it surprised him when the spoke. I m not angry, Ghotah. Perhaps what 'you would hfvc seen would have been painful to us. Who knows? But I have a mind that we shall oe receiving a visit from Mr Bayford, and that, as a result of that visit, he’ will have much information for us.” A slow' smile had spread across the man’s lips, as though, in his mind, a picture was forming in which he saw the young white man actually in the toils of the A’iper itself—the Viper exacting a terrible vengeance. If that is your wish, my mister,” said- the servant, “it shall be p.s you have uttered.” “It is my wish, Ghotah.CTo be continued)