Mystery of the Ivory Charm (2 page)

“Not in America,” Nancy said firmly.

The man laughed raucously. “I am not subject to the laws of your country. We are from India.”

What might have become a very ugly scene was interrupted by the arrival of Rai’s assistant and two guards. The situation was quickly explained to them.

One guard said, “Rai, you’d better talk the matter over with Mr. Strong. Right now I’d advise you to go back to your quarters and wait for the show.”

Rai looked at the man angrily but said nothing. Rishi led the animal from the crowded area. Nancy and her friends hurried away. Tommy, still shaking from fright, promised he would behave.

Bess winked at George and Nancy as if to say, “Well, at least for a while!”

As they wandered along, Bess stopped at a booth where stuffed wild animals were being sold. “Look at this darling panda,” she said, picking up one of the plush black-and-white-haired animals. “I’m going to buy him.”

At this moment Nancy realized that someone was standing beside her and she turned to see Rishi.

“Hello!” he said shyly. “Rishi not speak English much. Thank you for help me.”

“I was glad to do it,” she said. “Tell me about yourself. Do you travel with the wild-animal show all the time?”

“Yes. Rai makes me.”

George spoke. “Don’t you go to school?”

“No school,” Rishi answered. “Man in circus teach me.”

As the group turned toward the big tent where the show would be held, Bess said, “Nancy, I don’t want to carry this panda around. Suppose I put it in the trunk of your car. May I have your key?”

Nancy opened her purse and handed Bess the key case. As Bess turned toward the parking area, Tommy said, “I want to go with you.”

She took his hand, and the two went off. Rishi followed them and Nancy did not stop him.

A moment later Nancy was glad she had not. Rai was coming back! He stopped in front of Nancy and George. “Where is my son, Rishi?” he demanded.

The girls preferred not to tell the cruel-faced man what they knew. Instead they looked around and George said, “I don’t see him.”

Nancy’s eyes became fastened on an unusual, beautiful carved-ivory elephant charm that the man wore on a black velvet cord around his neck. She mentioned it to him.

“It is very old and very rare,” Rai replied, still with a trace of annoyance in his voice. “Besides, the charm has special meaning. The person who wears it is protected from harm. I wear it when I am around the elephants. Sometimes one of them becomes ugly.”

The man strode off. In a few minutes Bess and Tommy returned, but Rishi was not with them. They said he had gone to prepare for the performance.

“Let’s go inside,” Tommy urged.

The show was even better than the advertisements had promised. The lion acts, the tigers, and the dancing elephants were enthusiastically applauded.

“Here comes Rishi!” exclaimed Bess, as he made his entrance.

The young Hindu boy sat astride old Arun’s trunk. Little by little the lad climbed to the tip of it. With a sudden flip, the elephant threw Rishi into the air. The boy neatly executed a somersault and landed on Arun’s back while the animal continued his steady rhythmic plodding around the ring.

Every few minutes Rishi would repeat his performance to the delight and amazement of the crowd. Everyone clapped loudly and Tommy was on his feet, waving both arms and screaming, “Do it again! Do it again!”

When the whole show was over, everyone agreed that the little acrobat from India was the best performer. Over and over he was called to take final bows. His father, Rai, stood in the background, looking very unhappy.

“He should be proud of his son,” George remarked. “Instead he acts as if he’d eaten a box of tacks.”

Bess giggled. “Maybe he’s jealous.”

Nancy and her friends hurried to Mr. Strong’s trailer-office. Bess and George offered to keep Tommy busy outside while Nancy had her conference.

“Come in!” the owner of the wild-animal show greeted Nancy. He smiled broadly. “Your father has great faith in your ability to solve mysteries. Well, here’s a sticky one for you.”

He went on to say that the man in charge of the elephants, named Rai, was a strange person. “He’s very secretive and thinks it is perfectly all right to disobey United States laws because he’s an alien. I haven’t caught him in anything illegal, but I’ve told him many times that if he does not change this attitude, he will certainly get into trouble with the authorities.

“Rai feels that how he treats Rishi is his own business. Once I threatened to report him. Afterward, his behavior toward Rishi seemed to improve. But it didn’t last long.”

Nancy nodded. “We saw evidence of that before the show began.”

The owner continued, “Several times I’ve thought of discharging Rai, but I haven’t done it because I’m very fond of Rishi.”

Mr. Strong said that he wanted the Drews to find out more about Rai and his background. “He apparently is in this country with proper credentials, but I feel that there’s something sinister behind the whole thing.”

“Can you give me any ideas?” Nancy questioned.

“I’m afraid not,” Mr. Strong replied. “But I’m sure it will not be long before you have some.”

“We’ll do our best,” Nancy promised.

She met Bess, George, and Tommy outside. They went to the car immediately. Many people had already gone, leaving the parking lot almost empty.

When the group reached Nancy’s house, she suggested that everyone come in and have a refreshing drink. Before anybody could accept, they were startled to hear loud banging from inside the car trunk.

Nancy hurried to the back of the vehicle and unlocked the lid. As it sprang up, a boy began to climb out!

“Rishi!” Nancy exclaimed.

THE group stared at Rishi. Finally Nancy said, “How did you get into the trunk?”

There was silence for a few seconds; then Rishi and Tommy looked at each other. Finally Tommy revealed that he had not closed the car’s trunk lid securely.

“I wanted the panda to have some air,” he explained, “so I asked Bess to let me shut the lid.” The little boy grinned. “But I didn’t close it tight.”

Rishi spoke up. “Rishi see chance run away from Rai. Rishi tell you more.”

Nancy interrupted him and suggested that Tommy had better run home. “I’m sure your mother will be looking for you.”

Tommy skipped off. Nancy invited all three into the house, saying to Rishi, “Then you can tell us your story.”

Nancy went to get some cool drinks before the strange tale began. After Hannah was introduced to the Hindu boy, she took him off so he could tidy up his appearance. When he returned, Rishi looked even more handsome than he had before.

“Rishi have two mothers in India. One wife to Rai. She nice to me. One day take Rishi to park. Big house. Mother say, ‘Rishi should live here, not with animals!’ ”

His listeners nodded but said nothing.

“Mother become very sick. Tell secret to Rishi. Must never tell Rai. Mother say she not Rishi’s real mother but get him when baby. Rai not real father. Real mother dead, and real father in America in River Heights.”

The boy gulped back tears, then went on, “Tell Rishi if animal show bring him near here sometime, look for real father. She say, ‘Rishi tell him
Manohar.’
Real father will know what word mean. He think Rishi dead. He will know truth when Rishi say
Manohar.”

Nancy and the other girls were excited by this information. Nancy asked the boy what his real father’s name and address were. Rishi merely shrugged.

“Rai’s wife die before she tell Rishi.”

The three girls knew that this assignment would be difficult. The man who was supposed to be Rishi’s real father might have moved away from River Heights, or he might have returned to India. He could even have died!

Nancy rose and said she would go to the police and try to get some information. Noticing Rishi’s frightened look, she said, “Don’t worry. Nothing is going to happen to you, Rishi. I’ll make sure of that.”

Fortunately, Nancy’s friend Chief McGinnis was at his desk when she arrived, so she was able to talk to him privately. She related Rishi’s story and asked if the chief knew of any man from India who was living in River Heights.

“Yes, I do,” McGinnis replied. “His name is Vivek Tilak and he lives in a large house out on Bradford Avenue. He’s an importer and a fine gentleman. Be sure to let me know what you find out, Nancy. This is an intriguing situation.”

Nancy promised to do so and obtained the number of the Tilak house. When she returned home and entered the living room, Nancy smiled at Rishi and said, “We have one very good lead. Let’s follow it.”

Next she asked the boy if he had any idea what the word
Manohar
meant. He shook his head and replied, “Rishi never hear it, except one time.”

The boy and his new-found friends were excited as they climbed into Nancy’s car and went to Bradford Avenue. When they reached the attractive Tilak residence, the four walked up to the front door together. Nancy suggested that Rishi ring the bell.

Everyone waited anxiously to see who would answer. To their disappointment no one came to the door. They tried the bell again, letting it ring a long time. No one appeared. Rishi suddenly put his arms around Nancy and trembled a little. She patted him soothingly.

“I know this is hard for you, dear, but we won’t give up. Mr. Tilak is probably at work. Let’s find out if any of his neighbors know where he is.”

Bess and George returned to the car, while Nancy and Rishi walked to the next house. Again there was no answer. They hurried across the street and rang the bell of another neighbor’s home.

This time a woman appeared at the door. She smiled at them. “Yes?”

Nancy explained that they were trying to get in touch with Mr. Tilak. “Could you tell me where we can find him?”

“Yes,” she answered. “When he is in the United States, he spends most of his time at home, but he travels a great deal. Mr. Tilak goes back and forth to India a lot. He’s there right now.”

Again Rishi’s enthusiasm and smile had turned to a look of sadness. This was not lost on Mr. Tilak’s neighbor.

“I understand he’ll return in three weeks,” she said. “Why don’t you leave a note for him to get in touch with you at that time?”

“We’ll come again,” Nancy told her. “Thank you very much for the information. This boy is from India and is eager to see him.” Rishi smiled shyly.

“I understand,” the neighbor said. “Mr. Tilak is a charming gentleman. I know little about his life, but I believe a good part of it was sad. Now he keeps very busy and that takes his mind off the past.”

Nancy thanked her and left with Rishi.

“Any luck?” George asked as the two got into the car.

“Yes and no,” Nancy replied and then told them what she had learned. She dropped Bess and George at their homes and went on. During the drive she kept wondering what her next move should be and finally decided to phone her father to ask his advice. As soon as she reached her own home, Nancy called his office.

The lawyer was astounded at the progress Nancy had already made, but said Rishi must be returned to Rai at the wild-animal show. Whether or not the man was the boy’s real father had nothing to do with it. For the time being, Rai claimed that Rishi was his son and he had taken care of the boy since his infancy. Nancy’s heart sank at the thought of sending Rishi back.

When Nancy explained this to Rishi he tried hard not to cry. “Rishi so happy for little while,” he said. “Now bad news come.”

He pleaded with the girl to let him stay at her house. In his halting English he told her about Rai’s cruelty to him—relating incidents about which Mr. Strong, the owner of the show, knew nothing.

“I’ll tell you what I’ll do,” Nancy said. “Instead of taking you back to the show, I’ll phone Mr. Strong to let him know you’re safe. Then I’ll ask him what he thinks we should do.”

In order to avoid upsetting the boy Nancy went upstairs to phone while Hannah took Rishi to the kitchen and tried to interest him in dinner preparations.

Meanwhile, Nancy had dialed the number of the show and in a few seconds was talking with Mr. Strong. He was astonished to hear where Rishi was and how he had managed to get there.

“I assumed he had gone off with Rai. This will surprise you, but Rai suddenly resigned and told his assistant he was leaving and would not come back.”

Nancy was astounded by this turn of events. Had Rai deliberately abandoned Rishi because he had learned of Strong’s suspicions about him, or had he left the animal show to hunt for Rishi? She asked Mr. Strong what he thought.

The show owner was perplexed. “One thing I certainly know,” he said, “is that Rishi is much better off with you than he would be here. Until Rai returns, would you be willing to keep Rishi at your house? I suppose I’m now his guardian, and I’d like him to be with you until we learn more about Rai. I’m sure Rai would have no idea Rishi is there, so he can’t come and make trouble.”