Dangerous Inheritance (16 page)

They fed one of the bananas slowly to the Duke, divided two between them, and kept the fourth to give him later in the night. For darkness was now falling and they feared that if help did not come soon a rescue party would fail to find them until the morning.

Before long they were to suffer still further cause for dread. About two hours after Richard had fetched the water a stone whizzed without warning into the cave and clattered on the floor. It was followed immediately by a volley of a dozen, one of which struck Richard on the side of the face, gashing it badly. Under cover of the darkness the Tamils had crept up to within close range and in this new attack were seeking revenge for the casualties they had suffered.

A swift retreat further into the stuffy cave was the only course open; yet as they made it they feared that was just what their enemies wanted, so that they could rush the entrance, then overwhelm them. As soon as they had carried de Richleau to safety, Richard grabbed up his cudgel and Fleur and Marie Lou threw stones back at the attackers. But in the first scramble what remained of the precious water was spilled and the last banana trampled underfoot.

For desperate minutes they crouched staring out into the darkness, but no attack matured and after a while the bombardment ceased; although only to be renewed again with odd stones and sudden volleys, from time to time, for over an hour.

The strain of remaining constantly on the
qui vive
was appalling, and they now felt they would never be able to stick it out till morning. De Richleau lay unmoving at full length and Marie Lou was near collapse. Then there came the sounds of distant shouting. Wild cries suddenly rent the night outside the mine. There was a patter of naked feet and odd stones ceased to ricochet from the sides and roof of the cave.

After a few minutes Richard cautiously advanced to the entrance to see if he could discover what had caused the
stampede. He gave an excited cry, ‘The village is on fire! Come out and see! What the devil's happening?'

The women joined him and Fleur said, ‘It must be the Sinhalese. It was said on the radio last night that they were attacking the Tamils all over the island.'

That seemed the only explanation, and for the next half-hour they watched the awful spectacle of a small community becoming the victims of the ferocious hatred of a much larger mob. The wooden houses and palm huts caught fire like tinder and by the lurid light of the flames they could see small dark figures running about, struggling together and being trampled on.

At length the blaze died down and the place where the village had stood could be located only by scattered piles of glowing embers. They then debated whether to make their way to the village and ask the help of the Sinhalese to secure transport for the Duke to the nearest house where he could be put to bed; but decided against it. Shrill cries of agony and terror were still coming up from the jungle across the river, where solitary Tamils were being hunted down and their women being raped. It was against probability that any of those peasant Sinhalese would understand English; and maddened by blood lust as they were, it would have been too great a risk to count upon their not proving hostile.

The small amount of water they had sipped up from Richard's panama had only temporarily quenched their thirst, and a craving for more had been afflicting them for many hours; so, now the coast seemed clear, Richard made three more journeys to the river, while Fleur stood on guard nearby with a stone in her hand ready to throw if any natives suddenly appeared. The three hatsful enabled them to drink their fill as well as again temporarily reviving the Duke; but soon afterwards he became comatose.

The night hours seemed interminable yet, desperately tired as they were, they did not sleep. They were all far too concerned for de Richleau and sent up prayer after prayer that the old man would live.

At last dawn streaked the sky and, with the rapidity of the tropics, soon afterwards it became fully light. Another
half-hour passed, then three police cars came speeding down the road towards the now deserted village where bodies lay sprawled among the charred remains of the burnt-out buildings. Richard was sitting hunched in the entrance of the cave. Standing up he gave a hoarse shout and began to wave. He was seen at once. Ten minutes later four policemen had crossed the bridge and were approaching him.

Their leader was a big man who introduced himself as Inspector van Goens. Fleur, who had been reading up the history of Ceylon, recalled that the name of one of the Governors of Ceylon during the Dutch supremacy had been van Goens; so, although the Inspector obviously had some Asiatic blood, he was a ‘Burgher', as the numerous descendants of Dutch colonists were termed.

Having got the gist of Richard's story, the Inspector proved quick, efficient and kindly. He said they had been notified the previous morning that four Europeans had been left stranded among rioting Tamils; but before the operator could get the name of the village where they were the line had gone dead, so they had supposed it to have been cut. Then, only an hour earlier, a report had come in that there had been a massacre at the Olenevka mine.

Richard made no comment at the moment, but smiled sardonically at the thought of how clever the d'Azavedos had been. They could not now be accused of having failed to notify the police that a party of whites were in danger, but by refraining from giving their name or the place had sabotaged any hope of the party being rescued.

Expecting that there would be casualties in the village the third police vehicle was an ambulance. A stretcher was brought up and the Duke carried down to it. The others walked, but were so exhausted by their ordeal that they had to be helped along the stony way. Thermos flasks of iced tea and flasks of brandy were produced to fortify them for the time being. Then the ambulance set off and, a little over an hour later, delivered them at the hospital in Ratnapura.

They were still greatly concerned for de Richleau. When he had been carried out of the cave the light had shown his face to
have turned an ugly shade of violet. Marie Lou, breaking down at last, had burst into tears and, holding his unresponsive hand, wept all through the bumpy journey. But, after a brief examination, the doctor in charge at the hospital said that the Duke's heart was as sound as a bell and that as there was nothing physically wrong with him, there was a very good chance that he would pull round.

Greatly comforted, Richard had the wound in his cheek dressed while Marie Lou and Fleur had their bruises treated. Then, utterly exhausted, they were put to bed, given sedatives and slept the clock round. By the evening de Richleau's state had improved and the others had recovered sufficiently to eat a hearty meal. Inspector van Goens came to take a more detailed statement from Richard, then he said:

‘Old d'Azavedo is as crooked as they make them. That's well known in these parts; and his son is no better. From what you tell me of this inheritance I've not a doubt in my own mind that they planned to get your old gentleman killed. We have questioned some Tamils who escaped and d'Azavedo undoubtedly provoked them. He told them that they were dirty scum, sacked the lot and gave them three days to quit; so it's no wonder they acted as they did. When I went to the house he refused to see me. That lush young woman of his said he was in bed and prostrate with distress at having panicked and left you people at the mercy of the Tamils. The Duke's manservant confirmed that. Of course they told him that they had telephoned the police, so a rescue party would have started out to find you; but the poor old boy sat up all night worrying himself sick and silly. I left him packing your clothes and we are sending a car to fetch him this evening.

‘Young d'Azavedo had gone off to Colombo, no doubt to stir up more trouble; because that's just what the political gang to which he belongs wants. It was he who ‘phoned the police, and conveniently forgot to give his name or let us know from where he was speaking. But we can't bring a case. There isn't one they couldn't knock the bottom out of in ten minutes. D'Azavedo had a perfect right to sack his Tamils if he wanted. It's no crime to panic and desert people who are supposed to be
your pals. The telephone line was cut, and there's no proof that a Tamil didn't cut it.'

Richard gave a grim smile. ‘So that's that. Anyway, we're lucky to have escaped with our lives. How are things at the moment?'

‘Bad. Damn' bad. And they will continue to be as long as we are saddled with this weak-kneed Government. To curry favour with the Buddhists they've curtailed the powers of the police, and we'd be fired if we laid a finger on one of these monks who are preaching murder up and down the country. Yesterday there were serious riots in Colombo. Still, that may be all for the best. Our Governor General, Sir Oliver Goonetilleke, is a good and strong man. He's had enough, and this morning he took over. He has proclaimed a State of Emergency, which cuts the ground from under these dirty vote-catching politicians, and now we may have a chance of restoring law and order.'

By midday on the 28th all of them except the Duke were fit to leave the hospital; so Richard went to the Rest House to secure rooms, but the Sinhalese manager told him in a surly manner that he had none that were free. Richard then went to the police station in the hope that van Goens might be able to tell him of suitable accommodation.

The Inspector grinned at him and said, ‘The old swab has plenty of rooms. It's the fact that you are British. Maybe you haven't realised that this “Sinhalese Only” agitation isn't aimed only at the Tamils, although they are the principal target. They want to get the last of the British out too, and the Dutch burghers like myself, and what we call the “Moormen”, who are Indian Mohammedans settled on the east coast. The Sinhalese want the whole country for themselves; and when they get it, God alone knows what an unholy mess they'll make of it.'

Nevertheless, van Goens proved very helpful. He offered to take Richard and Marie Lou into his own house and find a room for Fleur with friends of his. And Richard gladly accepted his offer.

By the 30th, after four days of complete rest, the old Duke's splendid constitution had fully restored him; so, having taken
grateful leave of van Goens and his plump kindly wife, they hired two cars and drove back to Colombo.

The State of Emergency was beginning to take effect. Now that troops and police were free of Bandaranaike's wavering hand they were arresting, and even shooting, Sinhalese as well as Tamils whom they caught attempting to kill one another. This led to further outcries by the Sinhalese, egged on by the Marxists and Trotskyites, who were aiming to pull down the Socialist government. Even at the Galle Face, the staff had become slack, inefficient and rude to Europeans, whom they regarded as the secret enemies of their attaining absolute mastery of their island.

In consequence, after the Duke had been back there for twenty-four hours he called the others into conference and said, ‘My friends, this is not good enough. Surly waiters, ill-cooked food, long delays in fetching drinks. I am too old to put up with this sort of treatment. If we are to remain in Ceylon much longer I favour renting a house up at Nuwara Eliya, where we shall be free from this unpleasant atmosphere.'

The others agreed, so that evening after dinner Douglas was consulted. He deplored the state things had reached, praised Sir Oliver Goonetilleke for the strong measures he was taking, then agreed that for the time being they would be much happier at Nuwara Eliya and said he knew that his father would gladly let them have the use of his bungalow there.

Although he did not say so, de Richleau was averse to accepting prolonged hospitality from the Rajapakses, so he enquired of Douglas the number of rooms available. On learning there were only three bedrooms, apart from servants' quarters, he pointed out that three would not be sufficient for Douglas to come up to stay and be with Fleur during weekends; then asked him to find another house with more ample accommodation that they could rent for two months.

Eager to please the Duke, Douglas returned next day with the news that he had found a large furnished house that should prove suitable. De Richleau at once instructed him to take it, and on June 4th the Duke and his party moved up to it.

Many of the British officials who had habitually spent their
summers at Nuwara Eliya had long since left the island, so there was little society at the Club, except for tea planters and their wives who occasionally dropped in. There were fishing, tennis and golf, and the Duke was content to sit placidly in the sunshine; but, with few companions available to join them in their sports, after a week Fleur and Richard became distinctly bored.

As Ceylon abounded in game Richard would have liked to go on safari, but it would have been poor fun to go on his own; so on most days he haunted the Clubhouse in the hope of picking up a partner for a game of golf.

Fleur, meanwhile, grew daily more moody. She could now see Douglas only when he came up for week-ends, could find nothing to interest her at Nuwara Eliya and was longing to get married. At the end of a fortnight she tackled her mother and asked that her engagement should be shortened by a month.

Marie Lou took the opportunity to plead with her again to reconsider if she really wanted to make her home in Ceylon, where there was endless trouble, a Socialist government that at any time might become Communist, and the British, except by a minority and the Sinhalese upper class, were heartily disliked.

To all this Fleur turned a deaf ear. She was madly in love with her handsome Douglas, and her one desire was to become his wife.

Postponing the issue for the moment, Marie Lou privately consulted the Duke. On the advice of the Rajapakses his case against d'Azavedo had been put off until the autumn session, in order to give them a chance to trace Mrs. Fernando, so that she might be produced as a witness; and he was now anxious to get home. But he would not have allowed that to influence him in his advice to Marie Lou.