Show ER T sum US west UW ill cat ib CW dl H BY TALBOT MUNDY 0 0 0 0 MUNDY SERVICE THE STORY THUS FAR captain carl norwood has hag been sent from his native england to the kadur river district in india along with his indispensable manservant moses oleary soldier 0 of fortune No job Is to survey the district to determine whether a valuable v a luibl e secret see re t diamond mine belongs to the temple priests or to the ruler uie the maharajah Mah arajah of kadur norwood calls on the british residency to pay his initial respects on his way he catches a glimpse of two women in a palace carriage one of whom Is young and beautiful the other woman he knows to be the of kadur oleary later tells him that the young woman Is an american girl named lynn harding who with her aunts aunt mrs deborah harding Is a guest at the palace on a sightseeing tour mrs harding sprains an ankle and sends to the palace for aid prince Rund hla hia handsome spoiled nephew of the rulers comes to her rescue and takes her back to the palace where he meets lynn at a banquet that night in the palace attended by captain norwood mrs harding takes one of the native doctors pills and becomes violently ill she Is placed in bed and arrangements are made tor for lynn to move out of the quarters with her aunt and stay with the that evening prince attempts to make love to lynn she is unwilling to listen to him and at the crucial moment norwood appears on the scene much to Rund hlas hias disgust oleary has located the secret entrance to the diamond mine which Is being worked by the temple priests lie he takes lakes norwood to the mine where death Is narrowly averted when a live cobra Is thrown in No face later norwood visits the brahmin priests one ohe of whom slyly slips a packet of diamonds in his pocket unknown to norwood they are intended as a bribe while norwood Is talking to lynn the diamonds tall fall from his pocket she notices them and sees that he Is surprised I 1 CHAPTER VII continued when lynn glanced at again he had his back to the iron chest and he was staring at her dark eyed not smiling noticeably not lynn accepted the unspoken challenge 1 41 I am sorry I 1 let you kiss me this morning I 1 have it fair it may have given you a wrong impression the correct one being oh I 1 was just being mischievous it meant nothing no 1 eyed her for several seconds without speaking she feel afraid of him but every fiber in her being was aware of crisis simulating calmness that she did not feel she almost unconsciously moved the tennis racket from one hand to the other careful with that he advised put it down you might break something come over here and see the emeralds she did not put down the tennis racket that would have been obedience she was obeying no one it was not obedience that made her walk toward him around the over loaded table she was walking straight into danger she deceive herself about that tor for a moment neither did try to deceive her passion confident and self avowed glowered in his asplen did eyes they were more arrest ing than the diamonds in the glass case he looked bold experienced and much more beautiful than any human being she had ever met she could feel her heart pounding and she felt as sure of herself as if she were about to plunge into a warm inviting sea she hesitate lynn I 1 love youl you you going to show me the emeralds strange how such tactics checked him he behaved as he did in the garden the previous night when she mentioned the british resident and norwood it seemed to make him nervous to remind him of some insufficiency within himself he glanced past her at the in the door then turned and opened the iron chest he took out two handfuls of huge emeralds thousands she said 1 I suppose are like me what is it about precious stones that thrills you sensuous things arent they feel their magic press them against your face enec one of these days be mine these emeralds are not state property lynn love me and ill give them to youl you thank you I 1 dont want them lynn of kadura how would that be lynn he moved both arms toward her she poured back the emeralds into his hands he had to take them or they would have crashed to the tiled floor and that might have brought in the g guard 1 dumped them back into the chest lynn spoke before he could show me the diamonds captain norwood flinched lynn noticed it show me those that he has again she had sent Rund hias thought off on a tangent his eyes steady any longer lynn followed up they looked like big ones but hes careless with them if I 1 noticed them fall he might have lost them diamonds said Rund hia in No pocket when this morning he let them fall while he was talking to me she was already sorry she had said it Rund hias eyes darkened with what looked like cunning lynn felt safer was running wild along a new line for the moment but lynn felt guilty she should not have defended herself at No cost she meant to but she guessed now that she had it made her self contemptuous and angry Rund hia what are you thinking about you you only his eyes sought hers again to hell with norwood lynn beloved beautiful glorious aua lynn laughed ask aunty aulty harding what I 1 am she saw us damn her what do we care captain norwood also saw us any of his business checked again his eyes darkened look here lynn I 1 dont like to tell tales about people why do it then you ought to know this norwood has been talking about me yes while he was waiting to enter the audience room just now he asked a palace official where you slept last night 1 I dont believe it the official told me captain norwood never would do such a thing dont you know hes a spy for the british intelligence such fellows a scruple do you think I 1 would lie to you yes I 1 know you would lets go now Rund hia ive seen enough I 1 want to talk to the Merci merciless lessl you want to tantalize me im already mad about youl you mad I 1 tell youl lynn do you bethe Z 5 1 4 I i 3 1 1 wf 44 resident decided to taki take hatred by the horns lieve this love that sweeps me like a storm cant conquer you do you suppose you can fire my veins torture my heart and not burn in the same ecstasy I 1 said burn burial you are as passionate as I 1 ami yo you are no cold beauty come here she was against the table he was pushing her backward things were falling off the table he was kissing her his face was buried in her hair she freed her right arm groped seized the tennis racket and struck him hard in the face with its edge blood blood on her frock lots of it let go then he found his handkerchief and held it to his face blood lynn gasped breathless what have I 1 done he answer with the handkerchief to his face he turned away from her Rund hia she said 1 I have hurt you for worlds you have broken my heart he answered Rund hia it was the Mahar anees voice the great teak door had swung open the stood i in the doorway staring with the guards behind her she turned and dismissed the guards Rund hia what have you been doing there is blood on lynns frock lynn darling what has he done to you no harm lynn answered she turned to hide the blood and the rip in her frock the spoke to Rund hia in his own language vehemently tor for about a minute she was at no loss for words she let him have it with the governed directed anger that cuts like a whip then in english for lynns benefit dont play for sympathy that is no more than one of your usual nose let your doctor attend to it gol strode from the room the came and put her arm around lynn lynn lynn darling I 1 am too ashamed to tell you how I 1 feel has he hurt you are you all right I 1 have told him I 1 will neither pay his debts nor speak to him again until he has your full forgiveness CHAPTER VIII norwood could almost physically feel those diamonds in his tunic pocket he should have asked lynn not to mention them he knew that it was too late to turn back and besides she was having a row with her aunt and it be cricket to butt in he wished he seen lynn kiss Rund hia there were two things that norwood ached to do that minute one was to punch Rund hia the other was to go to the temple and throw those diamonds at the high priest but that was just the kind ot of thing that norwood could be trusted not to do he knew exactly what he should do but the maharajah Mah arajah and his court were waiting to give him official audience he glanced at his watch there remained only five minutes in which to reach the palace in time for the appointment so he mounted his horse at the gate and rode up the long drive to the front door where he arrived exactly on the minute the sais wiped the dust from his boots and he strode up the palace steps expecting to get away within fifteen minutes but time in india is one of leth argys dimensions As a captain norwood entitled to be received from the throne so the maharajah Mah arajah sat on a gilded chair at one side of the room with officials of only second grade importance on smaller chairs to right and left the chamberlain stood and read aloud from the instruction st for the reception of british captains his highness now enquires after the visitors health the visitor responds his highness is pleased to welcome him his highness begs him to be seated the visitor sits his highness he was met and importunately detained by the maharajahs Mahara jahs minister of state and four other important members of the council silently cursing his luck he did his A s best to escape but servile wretches in silken li veries flung open the door of an anteroom look here diwan sahib id be awfully glad to talk things over with you now but I 1 have urgent business at the residency oh but captain norwood we could phone the residency that help I 1 im afraid im not expected there I 1 need the residents advice ah but captain norwood is not our need greater documents arguments some witnesses are ready now bowl his highness has postponed important business to be present he is waiting in the council room this boundary dispute is so urgent and its implications so important that we feel our importunity is lusti justified fied we beg you I 1 oh well norwood could almost feel those diamonds burning him through the lining of his tunic pocket tension crept into his normally easy manner the ministers detected it tension became mutual 1 I hope bear in mind im in a hurry two cars started from Rund hias palace door within two minutes of each other having brought run chias nosebleed nose bleed under control the bengali doctor drove away first in the smaller car for a professional call on aunty aulty harding if he had been going to his own execution he might have looked equally comfortless perhaps he dreaded auncy aunty hardings temper perhaps something else Rund hia a moment or two later climbed into the new rolls royce and laid his head back on the cushions to prevent the nosebleed nose bleed from recurring he was still bleeding slightly he kept dabbing with a handkerchief the british residency 1 the russian chauffeur drove like like fury but made him slow down near the residency gate though he be affected to despise all ceremonial took cynical pleasure in making sure they should turn out the guard he had phoned to say he was coming so he was shown into the dim library where the shades were drawn against the brazen sunlight and the resident keep him waiting more than a couple of minutes how are you Rund hia how Is the new rolls royce behaving dabbed at his nose with the handkerchief the car is quite well thank you how are you they sat in armchairs eyeing each other in comfortless silence tor for nearly a minute the resident who was feeling drowsy tried to look firm but fatherly and cordial lundh ia was very good indeed at lo 10 oking looking i insolent without giving actual grounds for offense he did his best until the resident decided to take hatred by the horns of course ive no inkling of the reason for this unexpected visit Rund hia however im glai glad d you came there are no witnesses and of course this is off the record I 1 am taking the opportunity to remind you once more privately that our treaty with this otherwise independent state of kadur gives to his Maje indian govern government m ent the right to veto the succession to the throne of any heir in whom his british Maje advisers may lack sufficient confidence 1 I have always been civil to you but you like me even if you tried could youl you retorted 1 I take exception to that said the resident 1 I have my duty to consider not my personal likes and dislikes As a matter of actual fact I 1 could easily like you if you would give me the opportunity when you choose you can be charming and you are very intelligent but on several occasions I 1 have deplored deflor ed your conduct and have had to speak to you about it you have recently returned from delhi rumors reached me without revealing confidences fi I 1 may say they were more than rumors there are limits beyond which an heir to a throne should not trespass in quest of amusement or for any other reason I 1 remind you that your cousin jodha comes of age this week jodha is such a crock he cut up if he tried said Rund hia one leg in the grave the others rotten why drag him in hell be dead soon failing acceptable heirs the throne of kadur can be es cheated I 1 am warning you Rund hia thanks I 1 have heard you now its my turn and I 1 ill ill warn you its what I 1 came for who is this captain norwood I 1 notice you present him at the palace he came alone why are you keeping your hands off why do does es he carry diamonds in his tunic pocket why is he nervous when someone happens to see them Is he one of your british gentlemen who ne never ver never under any circumstances never take a bribe from a priest for instance to report according to his honorable conscience in the priests favor aorl do BE CONTINUED |