101. A Call of Love (16 page)

“But you did not report it?” “What was the point? He had been missing for so long and it was more or less accepted that he had died after falling into a lake or perhaps some mountain torrent.”

“And no one found him except you, Major?” “There was no way of knowing it was he, except by the ring, which is now in my possession. I was told some months ago that our enemies had used those holes in the hillside when they needed to hide or, as on this occasion, they had a prisoner, but it was only a casual suggestion and there was no actual proof that they were doing any harm.”

“I understand that, if you had talked, we should not be going there now,” Lord Kenington commented.

“Exactly, but I find that in life and, as you know, my life has been very peculiar, the strangest coincidences do happen when we least expect them. Thinking it over, I cannot imagine anywhere else near Peterhof where Aisha could be hidden.”

“Do you really believe that if you told them the names they want, they would let her go?”

“That is a question I cannot answer for sure,” Major Warde replied, “but quite frankly I don’t think they would. I have had experience of them in so many ways. A number of their activists have been shot or imprisoned by us and they would obviously be delighted to torture me.”

Lord Kenington drew in his breath.

“You don’t think that it would be wise to bring some soldiers to search every hole in the mountain, which we may not be able to do ourselves?”

“If they did find Aisha, she would be dead,” the Major replied.

There was no answer to that and Lord Kenington remained silent.

The road improved in places and was very rough in others and eventually they reached a village in which there was a Church, some fairly well-built houses and a number of smaller places of habitation.

It was at the foot of a range of small hills that were not high enough to be called mountains.

Lord Kenington had not spoken for some time and, almost as if he asked the question, the Major said,

“This village has living in it a very interesting man whose vast collection of ancient weapons and implements, which have been found in the hills, is famous. He also purveys a great deal of rubbish in his shop that he sells to tourists. He is much respected in this part of the country.”

The way he spoke, rather than what he said, told Lord Kenington that this was where they had someone to assist them.

The Major drove the horse into a yard at the back of the shop and a man came out and went to the horse’s head. The Major talked to him in Urdu and he was obviously pleased to see him.

Then, as he took the horse away, the Major and Lord Kenington entered the back of the house.

The passages were very narrow and the walls very old and the Major led the way and Lord Kenington found himself in what he imagined was part of the shop.

There were many strange and ancient uniforms and some weapons, that could only have been used a hundred years earlier, hanging from the ceiling.

They had been there a minute or two when from the front came a man, middle-aged, but with a somewhat bent and contorted body.

He held out his hand in delight to the Major and they chatted together for a moment in Urdu before Lord Kenington was introduced.

Then he found himself looking into the weird eyes of the man, who he was quite certain was scrutinising him.

It was almost as if he looked, not so much at his outward appearance, but into his very soul.

Then, as if he was reassured, his eyes flickered and he said to the Major,

“You’ll find everything you want upstairs.”

“Thank you, you never fail me,” the Major replied, “and this time what I am doing is absolutely vital.”

The man smiled.

“It always is,” he muttered and disappeared the way he had come.

The Major opened a door that had been hidden by the display of ancient uniforms and inside there were steps leading up to the floor above.

The ceiling was low and they had to bend their heads.

The Major opened another door and they entered a small square room where there was only one very narrow window that was covered up so that it would be impossible for anyone to see in from the outside.

When Lord Kenington looked round, he realised why they were there.

Hanging on the wall and on several chairs were clothes and one look at them told him they were the sort of clothes used by members of
The Great Game
to disguise themselves.

Without speaking, the Major began to search for some for Lord Kenington.

Around half-an-hour later two ordinary and rather ugly men left the shop by a different route from the one they had entered by.

They slipped out at the back of the shop, but this time they turned to the left.

Passing over a piece of rough ground, they walked up a road that soon trailed off into nothing but a path.

Still the Major went on.

They walked in silence, looking, Lord Kenington thought, so shabby that no one, even their own mothers, would have recognised them.

He had touched up his face with a cream that gave him the same complexion as an Indian and the Major’s was darker still.

In fact looking at him Lord Kenington knew that he would have passed him on the road and not imagined for a moment who he really was.

The clothes he himself was wearing were exactly what might have been worn by any of the men who worked on the roads.

They saw no one and they were now walking over the rocky ground of the lower part of the hills above them.

Without speaking, they carried on and on for what Lord Kenington felt must be miles and yet it might have been less because it was impossible to move at all quickly.

Then, as the sun began to sink, it became far cooler and not so unbearably hot as it had been when they started.

Next, when Lord Kenington almost felt that they were walking to nowhere, he saw a strange valley ahead.

On each side of it rose what he knew was called by the natives
The Mountain with Eyes
.

The hills, and it was something of a compliment to call them mountains, were not really high, but they were extremely rocky.

Cut into the rock on either side of the small valley there were dark holes – they looked like the entrances to caves or, as the local people called them, ‘the eyes of the mountain.’

He could understand that it would have been a perfect place for any religious sect to settle. They would be near to each other and, running through the valley, was a small stream.

It was then to his relief that the Major, who had walked a little ahead, sat down on a convenient rock and Lord Kenington, who was beginning to find that his legs were tiring, sat down beside him.

“We are here,” Major Warde said, “but we have to wait until dark before we can go any further.”

The place he had chosen for them to sit down was concealed by a rock overhanging them.

“Do you think there is anyone there?” he asked.

The Major shrugged his shoulders.

“One never knows,” he said. “There might be no one or possibly a number of people. It all depends on who is using the place at the moment.”

“How are we to know where they may have hidden Aisha?” Lord Kenington enquired.

“That is exactly why I wanted someone with me,” the Major replied. “There will be just time for us to search every hole and corner of this place. You take one side and I will take the other.”

Lord Kenington drew in his breath.

There were very many holes in the rock face and, if he was to search them in the dark, he felt there would be every danger of slipping and injuring himself.

Then he realised that the Major was opening what looked like a small sack, which he had carried with him all the way. Because he thought it was a weapon of some sort and they were walking in silence, Lord Kenington had not asked him what the sack contained.

Now he saw that the Major was drawing out of it two lamps of the sort that workmen use and contained only a candle inside them.

But, because they were used in this part of the world, Lord Kenington realised that they would throw enough light for one to see down the passage to a cave and inside it.

“I have brought us three extra candles each,” the Major said, “in case we need them. We can only pray that one of us will find Aisha quickly.”

“Yes, of course we must,” Lord Kenington agreed.

He could not help feeling that, if they did not find her quickly, it would take a very long time to reach the far end of the valley if they were to investigate every cave.

“Now what we have to do,” the Major said, “is to rest and to concentrate mentally on what lies before us.”

He smiled before he added,

“It is what I always do before I set out on a difficult and dangerous mission and I most sincerely believe that I have been successful so many times because I use not only my brain when I am working but also my heart.”

Lord Kenington looked at him in surprise.

“I don’t understand, Major.”

“I want to win. I believe I will win. And with the help of God, I do win.”

It was the sort of thing that Lord Kenington had not expected a man like the Major to say, but he respected him for it.

It suddenly occurred to him it was more or less exactly what Aisha had said the monks did when they were getting in touch with a man miles away from them.

‘If I think about her, perhaps I will find her,’ Lord Kenington said to himself.

He glanced at the Major and realised that his eyes were closed. He was not only concentrating on what he was about to do but was also relaxing completely.

‘I must do the same,’ he determined.

Then, as he too closed his eyes, he felt that Aisha was calling him.

He told himself at first it was just his imagination.

Then he was sure that she was thinking of him.

Just as he had been able to read her thoughts and she had read his, they were for a moment linked with each other spiritually, although physically they were apart.

When he opened his eyes, he found that the sun was sinking in the West. Darkness was coming quickly, as it always did in India.

Now it was hard to see clearly below them and the far end of the valley was in deep shadow.

“Now we can move,” the Major said unexpectedly. “You must not light your lamp until you are actually in a cave. And be very careful to blow it out before you come outside.”

Lord Kenington looked at him in surprise and he explained,

“If anyone is here and sees a light moving about, they will of course investigate. And if they suspect it to be intruders, they will shoot at us.

“So what you have to do is to light your lamp when you are far enough into the cave to be certain it will not be seen from the outside. Then hold it as high as you can until you have gone in deep enough to make sure that there is no one there.”

Lord Kenington thought it would take a very long time, but he did not comment and then, almost as if he had asked the question, the Major said,

“There is a full moon tonight and in a short while it will be easy to see your way from cave to cave, although I need not ask you to walk very carefully.”

As they were talking, the sun seemed to disappear except for a luminescence in the sky and overhead the first stars were appearing.

“Now we will go,” the Major said. “Do you want the caves on the right or the left?”

For a moment Lord Kenington did not reply.

Then, as if he felt once again that Aisha was calling him, he said,

“I will take the right. If I find Aisha, how do I get in touch with you?”

“I think you will find that, if we shout, our voices will echo in a strange and almost frightening way. Those who hear us at this time of the night, unless they are very civilised, will attribute it to the demons or the ghosts who are supposed to haunt these caverns. They will therefore run as quickly as they can in the opposite direction!”

Lord Kenington laughed, but by putting up his hand he prevented himself from making a sound.

“I understand,” he said, “and I will take the right.”

“Very well and I will take the left. Let me know if you find Aisha and you had better take this with you.”

He drew from under his coat a very long shining stiletto. It was much longer than an ordinary one and was almost like a small sword.

Lord Kenington, who had seen one before, knew that they were one of the most dangerous weapons for any man to encounter.

“If there is anyone in any cave at the moment,” the Major said, “they will certainly be an enemy and are better dead than alive. They will, I am sure, have the same sort of weapon or perhaps a pistol. It is up to you to move first and very quickly, if you wish to save your own life.”

“I understand,” Lord Kenington nodded grimly.

“I am glad, very glad indeed, that I have you with me,” the Major said. “Good hunting and you appreciate that to me everything depends on finding my daughter.”

There was an emotional note in his voice that Lord Kenington found very touching, but he merely replied,

“And good hunting to you,” before he started to climb towards the right side of
The Mountain with Eyes
.

It was very difficult to gain a firm foothold in the gathering darkness and Lord Kenington did not hurry.

He was trying to feel that Aisha was calling him. It seemed to come and go.

When it was with him, he was almost certain it was her voice reaching out to him.

He entered the first cave and once inside as far as he could go, he then lit his lantern.

The cave was empty and it was impossible to go any further.

He wasted more no time there, but went outside and climbed once again as carefully as he could to the next one.

After he had explored five caves with no result, he found himself wondering if he should have taken the left side of the valley.

He could not see any movement, but he was certain that the Major was moving quicker than he was.

‘At this rate I will be doing this for the next two or three months!’ he thought as he set off again.

He entered the sixth cave and was suddenly aware, as he moved into it, that at the far end there was a light.