Dangerous Inheritance (15 page)

Three of the foremost launched themselves forward, grabbing at the loose wire to tear it away. But Richard, Marie Lou and Fleur had armed themselves with pit-props and with them jabbed at the ferocious black faces. Fleur got one man in the mouth, Richard another in the eye and Marie Lou got her man in the neck. With howls and groans the attackers staggered back, but only to be replaced by others seemingly berserk and urged on by the taunts of their women.

For ten awful minutes the fracas raged. A part of the barricade was torn away but none of the Tamils succeeded in penetrating it. The sun was now high in the heavens and the heat in the cave almost intolerable. Its defenders—dirty, dishevelled, wild-eyed—were streaming with sweat. When, at last, the attack ceased they could hardly believe that they had succeeded in beating it off.

Although no more of the Tamils seemed inclined to risk punishment, the men remained crowded outside while the women led off their wounded. After a short while they turned to one another and began to chatter like monkeys, evidently debating some means of more successful attack. Then, as though by common consent, they all moved away and in a matter of seconds the broad rock shelf in front of the cave became empty.

Still keeping a sharp eye on the now deserted space, the inmates of the cave sat down to take a desperately needed rest. But not for long. Ten minutes later the Tamils appeared again, now carrying broken pit-props, branches of trees and other pieces of useless wood. One by one they flung their burdens down outside the barricade. De Richleau, grimly watching them,
said in a low voice, ‘The devils are preparing a bonfire. They mean to smoke us out.'

Only a sally could have prevented the steady increase of the heap of wooden debris, and had they attempted it they would have been torn to pieces. With growing apprehension, they looked on as the pile steadily grew higher. Twenty minutes later the Duke's foreboding proved right. The Tamils set the heap alight.

There was no means of putting the blaze out, and the green branches that had been mixed with the old wood gave off a dense smoke. The inmates of the cave began to cough and splutter. Their only remedy was to retreat further into the low tunnel. Even there the smoke penetrated, making their eyes water and rasping their lungs. It would not have been quite so bad had they had a little water in which to soak torn-off parts of garments to cover their mouths and nostrils, but they could only hold their hands over their faces while retreating still further into the airless cave, fearing as they did so that in the darkness they might stumble headlong down a mine shaft.

Suddenly there was a roar like thunder. The earth shook, small pieces of shale rattled down from the roof of the cave, a searing blast of hot air struck them and they were thrown to the ground.

Richard was the first to pick himself up. Groping through the darkness he located de Richleau and found, to his great relief, that the old Duke was badly shaken but not seriously injured.

‘What happened?' gasped Fleur. ‘That terrific explosion and blinding flash at the end of the tunnel. Surely they can't have bombs to throw in at us?'

‘No,' Richard told her. ‘There must have been some explosives for blasting in one of those boxes. The intense heat would have set it off. Anyway, it must have taught those swine a lesson.'

For a while the acrid fumes of the explosive made it impossible to advance but, when they could do so without being seized by violent fits of coughing, they cautiously made their way back to the entrance to the cave. Their barricade had been blown to smithereens. Only a few charred sticks of it remained.
Outside a dozen black bodies, their rags burnt away by the flash, lay dead with grotesquely twisted limbs, or were writhing in agony. With wails of lamentation other Tamils were returning to carry away those who still lived. Ten minutes later, apart from dead bodies, the rock shelf outside was empty.

Soon afterwards Richard went out to make a brief reconnaissance. The plank by which they had retreated was now at the bottom of the gully, and too far down to be recoverable. At either end of their side of the valley sheer cliffs made exit from it impossible, except to a skilled climber. The only other way out was by the bridge that led direct to the village and there the Tamils were congregated, making a hideous din as they mourned their dead.

When Richard returned, he shook his head dolefully. ‘I'm afraid there's no way out. We're trapped here.'

‘Help must reach us soon,' Marie Lou declared optimistically. ‘Although those wretched cowards deserted us, they must know we'd be attacked and will at least have telephoned the nearest police station.'

‘I don't suppose there is one nearer than Ratnapura,' Fleur said gloomily, ‘and it would take hours for the police to get here.'

‘Even if they are on their way,' Richard added with a bitter laugh. ‘It's my opinion that old d'Azavedo deliberately planned this pretty little party.'

‘What?' Marie Lou's big violet eyes opened to their fullest extent. ‘You can't mean that he left us hoping we'd be murdered?'

‘Not you and me and Fleur, darling. We were just expendables and he didn't give a fig whether we lived or died. It was Greyeyes that he wanted his Tamils to do in. Anyway, I lay long odds that that was the big idea.'

‘You mean to scotch the claim to this property?' Fleur said slowly. ‘But if he had, someone else would have inherited it under Greyeyes's will.'

‘No doubt,' her father replied. ‘But as things are at the moment the claim is not a very sound one; so an heir might not feel inclined to risk his money fighting it.'

‘I think Richard is right,' put in the Duke. ‘At least with me out of the way there would have been a long delay before my heirs brought a case against him; and they might well have decided that he was not worth powder and shot. I think, too, that several things point to this having been an attempt to rid himself of me. He must have been aware that his Tamils were already in a state of unrest. In fact the reason he gave for pulling up and asking us to get out of the car was that he would have to be a bit sharp with them and they might react unpleasantly. What he said to them I don't know, but I gained the impression that instead of trying to reason with them he gave them deliberate provocation. Before that, even, he had turned his car round in readiness to make a quick getaway. That shows that he expected them to become violent. Then when they made a rush for him and he drove off he had an ample lead to have slowed down and pick us up. But he shot past without even giving us a glance.'

‘It all adds up,' agreed Richard. ‘So does the way that rotten little blighter Lalita behaved. He wouldn't have stopped his car on the hill-top if he hadn't known what was going to happen. When the outbreak started he had ample time to run down the hill and you could have clambered into his car while the Tamils were still a couple of hundred yards off. But not a bit of it. The moment they began to shout at his father he started to turn his car about. I had to slog him one in order to pull him up so that I could get out. He was just waiting there for the balloon to go up, and he's in this damnable plot up to the neck.'

For half an hour they sat nursing their hurts, then Richard went out again to make another reconnaissance. On his return he gloomily shook his head. ‘The majority of the Tamils are still down in the village. But a little group of them are squatting on this side of the river, only about a hundred yards away, keeping watch on the cave. As soon as they saw me they got to their feet; so we daren't attempt to ford the river or they'd attack us again.'

It was still not midday, but the sun was blazing down so that at the entrance to the cave it became unbearably hot and they
had to withdraw well inside it. They had no torch and Marie Lou and Fleur had lost their handbags when first attacked, so the only means of exploring the mine was by Richard's lighter and a box of matches that de Richleau carried for lighting his long Hoyo de Monterrey cigars. With this faint light Richard penetrated as far as he dared, hoping that he might come upon another entrance that would give them a better chance of escaping the Tamils; but the cave sloped straight down into the hillside, and when his lighter petered out he felt again that it would be dangerous to go any further in case, in the pitch darkness, he fell down some hidden shaft.

After his abortive foray they reasoned that, although the d'Azavedos seemed to have deliberately abandoned them, they would not dare leave it at that. To save their faces they must give to the nearest police and also to Max some version of what had occurred. He had been the Duke's personal servant for close on forty years and was devoted to his master. Although he was a very shy and timid man he was no fool, and was not likely to allow himself to be fobbed off with some dubious explanation for the party's failure to return. It seemed, therefore, that in another hour or two help must reach them; so they reconciled themselves to waiting, with the best patience they could muster, for their state of siege to be relieved.

Yet throughout the afternoon their situation remained unchanged and during it they began to feel hungry and thirsty. None of them had any means of satisfying their cravings and about the Duke the others were greatly worried. The physical strain from the time he had had to run for the plank until they had reached the cave must have been terrible for a man of his years. He was sitting with his back propped up against the side of the cave and when, from time to time, they asked him how he was feeling he endeavoured to reassure them. But during the long hours he spoke very little and was obviously suffering from extreme exhaustion.

It was just on sundown when, without a murmur, he slid sideways and fell over on his face. With a cry of alarm Marie Lou threw herself on her knees beside him and lifted his head on to her lap.

‘Oh God!' she gasped. ‘Greyeyes, dear Greyeyes! For God's sake speak to me! You mustn't die. We couldn't bear it.' But his mouth hung slackly open and his eyes remained closed.

Richard thrust a hand under de Richleau's shirt. After a moment he exclaimed with relief, ‘His heart's still beating! He's not dead. He's only fainted.'

‘It's this stifling atmosphere in here,' said Fleur quickly. ‘And the fumes left by the explosion. It's water we need. If only we had water we could bring him round.'

‘You're right!' her father declared. ‘I'll have to get some.'

‘No!' cried Marie Lou. ‘No, Richard. If you go out the Tamils will murder you.'

‘I must!' he retorted sharply. ‘We can't risk his dying for lack of it. There's a place not far off where I could get down to the river. Both of you collect as many stones as you can carry. If we can keep the Tamils off even for five minutes that will be long enough for me to scramble down the bank and up again.' As he spoke he quickly began to snatch up some of the larger stones that littered the floor of the cave.

Without a word the two women followed his example, thrusting the rough stones hurriedly into their shirts.

‘Now,' said Richard. ‘Everything depends on speed. We've got to run at them hell for leather. And remember the old dictum. Don't fire until you can see the whites of their eyes.'

Leaving the cave together they raced straight for the little group of squatting Tamils. There were five of them and, coming to their feet, they stared in amazement at the three figures dashing towards them.

When the attackers were within thirty feet, Richard yelled ‘Fire!' and three rocks hurtled through the air at the dark-skinned natives. Two hits were scored. Taken off their guard by this sudden attack the Tamils gave way. Pulling up, Richard and his companions delivered another volley, scoring two more hits. One of the Tamils was struck in the face and went over backwards. The others turned and ran.

While Marie Lou and Fleur continued the bombardment, Richard slithered down the bank, took off the panama hat he was wearing and filled it with water. Then one of the Tamils
looked back over his shoulder. Seeing that the two women were now alone he shouted to his companions and halted. The other four pulled up, then turned and all five began to run back towards the place where they had been squatting. But they had covered some seventy yards and by the time they were nearing it Richard had succeeded in getting up the bank again.

Marie Lou and Fleur gallantly held their ground until Richard shouted to them to retreat. Fleur's last stone rendered another Tamil
hors de combat
then, with her mother beside her, they made for the cave.

Richard was some way ahead of them, carrying the precious water. For fear of spilling it he dared not run all out; so they reached the cave mouth together. The three remaining Tamils were only a dozen yards behind them, but Fleur and Marie Lou snatched up more stones and threw them as they backed into the entrance to the mine. Realising that their prey had now escaped the natives pulled up, stood there yelling abuse for a few minutes, then beat a retreat.

Still panting, but triumphant, Richard said, ‘You two behaved like heroines; but… to quote Wellington … it was a damned close-run thing.'

Kneeling beside the Duke, Marie Lou again took his head on her lap while Fleur dribbled some of the water into his mouth and bathed his face with it. To their heart-felt relief he opened his eyes and, after a few minutes, murmured, ‘Never fainted before … the … the heat… Sorry to have been a bother. I'll soon be all right.'

But they knew him to be far from all right, and continued to be desperately afraid that he might collapse before help reached them.

After taking a few sips of water themselves, they put aside for him what remained. Then, to their joy, Marie Lou produced from inside her shirt four bananas. She had seen them at the spot where the Tamils had been keeping watch; then, when they had been driven off, she had run forward and snatched up the fruit.

Fleur laughed for the first time in hours. ‘Douglas told me
that here in Ceylon if they want to disparage a person they say, “He's a banana”, and apply the word to anything so cheap that they can get it for next to nothing; but these are worth their weight in gold.'