Part 16 (1/2)
I interrupted Holmes at this point
”I dare say, Holmes, that the contrast between the couestsone”
”Indeed, it did, Watson, for Schauh men, bent on a mission of which I had uncovered little Benoit was the leader, steady, cold, and calculating, with nerves of steel Schauerous perhaps because of his unpredictability”
”It must have been very difficult for you at tie and your forbearance”
”One tends to be courageous during the active crisis, Watson As toI could do but be patient I knew too little, and I reeable, and shall we say, a bit British at so but pleasantries, and even during the sandstorfroid I was in all ways the English pharer Lloyd-Smith
”Jaisalmer was as hot as any place in India,” he continued, ”so hot even in the night that I took to sleeping on the roof of a hotel to which we had moved, where it was far cooler than inside I aith the dawn and watched below as the city ca fires for the first foods of the day”
It was on the fourth day, towards evening, that a fortunate occurrence enabled Holress towards a solution of the itated, and they ventured forth very little They were obviously waiting, perhaps for sonal for them to proceed The heat was intense, and Holmes had availed himself of a free moment away from them to purchase the cool white cotton clothes that the natives wore, including the h walls in order to view the desert froether below him, shi+va and their two camel drivers, all of whom he had presumed to be dead or lost in the desert
They did not see Holmes, and he watched as they talked The camel drivers soon went off, and Holmes rushed down to follow shi+va to his lair He walked so quickly that Holht up with hiy doorway of a native hotel Holently so as not to alarm him He removed his mask and when shi+va opened he turned pale as if he had seen a ghost He tried to resist, but Holmes forced his way in
”Do not be afraid, shi+va,” he said calmly He told him that despite the storm, they had arrived safely in Jaisal that he knew of Schau and Benoit
”They will kill me if I talk to you,” he said
”So you ran away in the storht that all three of us were dead, correct?”
”Yes, I thought you were dead, yes, and that I was finally free from them I have been Benoit's slave for three years, and now I aain”
”Have no fear, shi+va, I a you can”
He slowly gained his coan, ”I e, and I needed work badly There had been a terrible drought, and es, enough for me to send money back to my wife to care for our fah Rajasthan three times This is the fourth trip He would come every year at the same time We would take the sao on to Hyderabad in Sind, where he would leave me and continue on to Karachi, and I would return to Bombay
”Towards the end of each stay in Jaisalo to Mandor, where we loaded s of canvas I did not learn as in those bags until the third trip This was last year, when one night there was a secret s Captain Fantome came to Jaisalmer He spoke not at all, wore a hood over his head, and merely nodded when addressed Later some of the servants and workmen told e people whose ancestors had h the centuries they grew in numbers and are now very rich But they keep to themselves and do not mix with the Hindoos and the Jains Many men are employed by them, but no one ever returns from there”
”Where does Captain Fantoe house in the center of Mandor That is his palace”
”Take o with you only as far as the walls of Mandor, for it is said that it is easy to enter Mandor, but no one ever leaves without the permission of Captain Fantome”
”'Very well then, but let us hurry'”
They walked froreat wall There they found a tongawallah, a rather robust oldto take theet shi+va to talk a bit more, but he was silent in the presence of the driver
When they arrived at what he thought was a safe distance, shi+va asked Holmes to step down, pointed towards the east, and then asked the tongawallah to return to Jaisale of Mandor, Watson There was no one about I walked in the direction that shi+va had pointed until I cauards to be seen, and I walked through without interruption Once into the city, I left the stillness behind The streets were filled with people and the city had the appearance of great opulence It was as if I had left India altogether There were street signs, walled co the walls What I could see of the houses rees from the Midi The streets were cobblestoned and clean It was as if I had entered a small town in Europe”
Hole he heard seemed to be a form of French heavily mixed with Indian words As he sat down, however, all eyes in the crowded rooreat silence suddenly broke out He decided to throw caution to the wind and said in French in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear that he wished to meet ”le Captain Fantome” What had been until then a rather boisterous and happy crowd enjoying a late dinner stood up and began to leave Holmes was soon left alone except for the proprietor
”I repeated my request, and the proprietor cae, 'Mandorme personne nahi jo s'appele Fantome,' a perfectly comprehensible sentence if one knew French and Hindustanee-'there is no one in Mandor by the na of course, and I decided to leave his establishment”
Now on the darkened street, Holate, for he was suddenly surrounded by a group of ent of the local gendarmerie They spoke to each other in the sa
”I am here to meet Captain Fantome Please take me to hihHol There, seated at a desk, was a gentle pointed mustache, and all the physical characteristics of a French inspector of police
”Who are you, and why are you here?” he asked gruffly in English
”Who I am is none of your concern,” said Holmes sternly, ”but if you must know, read this”
Holer Lloyd-Sh the Subcontinent and said, ”I wish to see Captain Fantome'
”The letter appeared to have its desired effect, for a look of perplexity appeared on his face and he said: ”Very well Since you insist, you shall There is no difficulty The Captain is not far froers”
They left the bureau, and, accoh what had becoht Hole edifice It was a palace, very ardens and decorations were distinctly European The police inspector handed Hol him a quiet order in the local patois Holmes followed the sentinel into the palace, where he was told to wait in a small antechamber
”I waited several hours, and despite the precarious predicament in which I found myself, I ht me tea and breakfast, and I was informed that the Captain would soon receive me”
Holmes was led presently down a corridor at the end of which he entered a large rooure that he could barely see in the still di As he approached, he saw that he was facing a rather short, stout, ed woman, dressed in the attire of an Indian princess As she beckoned him to a seat near her, she said: ”I am Captain Fantome I understand that you wished to see me”
”Most extraordinary, my dear Holmes!” I ejaculated with utmost surprise
”Yes, Watson, I uard and was not prepared for what I saw”
The Captain herself saw the look of surprise and said, ”You seem, my friend, shall we say, a bit taken aback What is it?”
”The name Captain Fantome led me to expect so,” she said ”It is the name of one of my ancestors, and is used to mislead the outside world My real name is Elizabeth de Bourbon, and I am the Queen of the Frantzi and absolute ruler of Mandor And you,” she continued as she glanced at a file in front of her, ”are not an innocent English traveller by the naent of the British Governents as Sherlock Holmes”
”I aent of Govern detective Why I a story, which I a-”
”To the contrary, Mr Holents have learnedto the folder ”You are a most clever fellow, and your reputation precedes you”
”Thank you, Madam, but I must say that you are far more clever The existence of Mandor and the Frantzi is a most well-kept secret Even the best of our Orientalists, who have virtually mapped the entire Subcontinent, have failed to report on you or your people”
”'A well-kept secret, but not an absolute one,” she said ”We are e have to be in order to survive We are knoell by a very few and only vaguely by a larger number in India, particularly the Maharajahs Our ancestors suffered greatly, and we had to learn how to live in a hostile environment And so we chose to be by ourselves and to survive by our wits”
”Your name tells me that you are probably a direct descendant of Jean de Bourbon,” said Holmes
She s, far more than most Yes, I am directly descended from him, as is most of the population of Mandor Jean le Grand, or Maha-Jean, as we call him, was the founder of Mandor, the brave soldier of Akbar the Great Maha-Jean was given this place as a gift by the Emperor, and he settled here with his wives and family But soon the local rajahs became fearful of their presence, for they were not Hindoos, but Christians Maha-Jean was protected by the E of Jaisal an alliance of Rajpoot princes, attacked, and Maha-Jean was killed with many of his family His oldest son, Piyer the First, fled with the remnants of the family to some caves in the desert, where, hardened by the harsh life in the dunes, they learned to survive on al Then a most wonderful event occurred It is celebrated as the le din de la Neuvieme Ratan, or the day of the Nine Jewels, the fifteenth of July, 1686, in your calendar It was there in those caves, where they had almost starved, that they discovered that their land would make them rich and powerful”
She extended her hand, on which she wore a ring with a large, lustrous red stone