The Spider Sapphire Mystery (14 page)
Read The Spider Sapphire Mystery Online
Authors: Carolyn G. Keene
“I am glad the old man did such good work,” he said “Did he put in the secret eye sockets?”
Nancy showed him and he said this custom was still followed by some African blacks. A mask was put over the face of the deceased person and precious belongings inserted into the sockets.
When the girls reached their taxi, Nancy held up the mask for their guide to see, then slipped it into her large shopping bag. As they continued their tour of the city, she asked him to take them to various shops where wood carvings were sold. The driver looked a little puzzled, having just taken them to the best one. But he merely nodded.
They returned to the heart of the city and stopped at one shop where a variety of gift items were sold. The girls thoroughly combed the shelves and counters but saw no carved pieces of three gazelles together. The searchers went into several other shops.
Finally in one George exclaimed, “Nancy, here are three gazelles!”
The girl detective ran over to look. At almost the same time Bess and Gwen discovered two others. They were exquisite pieces, but there was no artist’s name carved into the bottom.
Nancy approached a clerk and asked if she might see the store owner. She was taken to a little office at the rear of the shop. The owner was a very pleasant English woman.
“I am very much interested in these pieces of three gazelles,” Nancy said. “Would you mind telling me who the artist is?”
The woman said, “I do not remember but I will look it up.”
She took a ledger from a shelf and began to turn the pages. After checking her list of purchases, she pointed to one entry. “The man’s name is Huay. He is a black and like so many of those people is a very fine wood carver.”
“I will buy this,” Nancy said, indicating the one in her hand. “Does Mr. Huay have a shop near here?”
“Right around the corner. There are some old stone buildings. You’ll see an alleyway with a gate. It’s the only one on the block. Mr. Huay’s shop is at the rear.”
Nancy paid for the figurine and the girls hurried outside. They told their driver they were going to a shop around the corner and would return soon.
The girls found the gated alleyway easily, let themselves in, and walked to the rear. A fine-looking black sat cross-legged on the floor near the doorway of his shop. He was carving gazelles. At the girls’ approach, he looked up.
“Mr. Huay?” Nancy asked.
The man arose and laid down his work. “Yes, miss. May I help you?”
Nancy was trying not to stare at the man, but instinct told her she had found Tizam, using an assumed name. He looked very much like Madame Bulawaya!
Many thoughts raced through her mind. Was he hiding because of something he had done? If not, then he must be suffering from amnesia. Could she startle him into a confession or recollection?
“I have just purchased one of your beautiful pieces, Mr. Tizam,” she said.
The wood carver looked at her blankly. “Yes, that is one of my pieces, but my name is Huay.”
The other girls looked at Nancy, wondering how she would proceed. They too were convinced that this man was indeed Tizam and that he had lost his memory.
“Have you been here long?” Nancy asked him.
“I am not sure,” the wood carver replied, and a frown crossed his forehead.
“As you have probably guessed, we girls are from the United States. Just before we flew to Africa, we attended a concert by Madame Lilia Bulawaya.”
Nancy paused and carefully watched the effect on the man.
“Oh yes, Lilia,” Huay said. Then again his eyes clouded. There was no mistaking the fact, however, that there had been a slight semblance of recognition in the name.
Nancy now tried a new tack. Softly she began to hum the Swahili lullaby which Madame Bulawaya had taught her. In a moment Mr. Huay began to hum with her.
Bess thought excitedly, “I just know something is going to happen!”
When Nancy finished the tune, she began to sing it again, this time with the words. Mr. Huay smiled and joined her. The light in his eyes became clearer and clearer.
When the song ended, he said, “Where did you learn those Swahili words?”
“From your sister, Madame Lilia Bulawaya.”
“Yes, yes of course,” the man said.
Bess could not refrain from asking, “You remember her, don’t you, Mr. Huay?”
The wood carver turned puzzled eyes on the girl. “You called me Mr. Huay? That is not my name. It is Tizam.”
The girls could have jumped for joy. They had found the guide, long supposed dead but only suffering from amnesia!
As memory fluttered back to Tizam, he was besieged with questions. But he remembered nothing from the time a lioness began to maul him and he had blacked out.
“Perhaps you girls can tell me more about my recent life than I can,” he said.
Nancy told what little she knew, including the fact that a guide named Butubu had saved Tizam’s life by killing the lioness before he had a chance to maul Tizam to death.
“I shall go to Nairobi someday and find this Butubu to thank him,” the wood carver said. “I am curious to know how I got to Mombasa and rented this shop. Perhaps I can find out from my neighbors. But the most important thing now is to get in touch with my sister. Do you know where she is?”
Nancy said she did not know exactly, but thought her friend Ned Nickerson could find out through the college where Madame Bulawaya had given a concert.
“I’ll ask Ned to cable as soon as we get back to out hotel,” she promised. “Mr. Tizam,” Nancy added, “when we visited the tribe that befriended you, they told us that a couple of times you had made a certain remark. It was ‘I must go to Mombasa at once and report those thieves to the police.’ What did you mean?”
Tizam looked puzzled. To jog his memory, Nancy asked, “Could it have had anything to do with the famous spider sapphire?”
The wood carver stood up very straight and his eyes blazed.
CHAPTER XIX
The Dungeon Trap
FoR a few moments Nancy began to wonder if she had undone all the good she had accomplished in restoring Tizam’s memory. His eyes continued to stare into space and smolder with anger. The girls glanced at one another and waited in fear for him to speak.
With a deep breath Tizam finally said, “It all comes back to me now. Just before I was attacked by the lioness I was watching, I heard two men speaking in English. They were evidently spying on me, but thought I did not understand the language.
“I could not see either man and did not hear them call each other by name,” Tizam went on, “but I judged they were from India, because every once in a while they would slip in an Indian word.”
“Were they talking about you?” Nancy queried.
“Yes. They said they were going to take a valuable spider sapphire in Mombasa and then start a rumor blaming the theft on me!”
“And they did just that,” George spoke up, recalling Mr. Tagore’s accusation.
Although Tizam was still angry over this injustice, he spoke softly to the girls.
“I was sure those two men intended to kill me, so I could never report them. I turned to confront them, forgetting the lioness. At that moment the animal attacked. The two men apparently thought I had been killed and in order to save their own lives I guess they ran away.”
George told Tizam that the guide Butubu who had saved his life had spotted a lioness, evidently the companion of the one he had killed. It sprang at him so he too had run.
“By the time he got back to help you, Mr. Tizam, you had disappeared.”
When Nancy revealed that the spider sapphire was gone, and told how she had become involved in the mystery, the wood carver looked amazed.
“Did those men say where they intended to take the gem after they had stolen it?” Nancy asked.
Tizam thought a moment. “They mentioned something about a dungeon and Vasco da Gama. He was a Portuguese explorer who came here many years ago. A street was named after him.”
“Then it’s probably in an old part of town,” Nancy surmised.
“It is,” Tizam replied.
Nancy said she would investigate the dungeon as soon as possible. In the meantime her friend Ned Nickerson would cable the college to try to find out Madame Lilia Bulawaya’s address.
“Are you sure you will be all right here alone?” Bess asked the wood carver.
He smiled. “I think so. But perhaps, until the mystery is solved, I had better remain as Mr. Huay.” The others agreed this was a wise decision.
When the girls returned to the hotel, stories of the day’s events were exchanged with Ned, Burt, and Dave, but none could compete with the astounding adventure of finding Tizam.
“I’ll cable the college at once,” Ned offered, and went to do this.
The others sat in a quiet corner of the lobby, discussing how to go about locating the spider sapphire. “I think we should alert the police,” Bess said positively.
George did not agree. “Wouldn’t it be more sensible to go to Mr. Tagore? He seemed honest to me, and after all the spider sapphire belongs to him.”
Nancy, who had been deep in thought, spoke up. “I now suspect not only Jahan and Dhan, but Mr. Tagore’s secretary Rhim Rao. I suggest that we go right to that dungeon.”
Gwen, in the meantime, had asked to be excused and had gone to her room. Nancy asked the desk clerk where Vasco da Gama Street was and was directed to a section some distance from the hotel.
“You had better take a taxi,” he said.
Nancy went back to her friends and there was more discussion on how to proceed. Finally it was decided that Bess and Dave would pay a friendly call on Mr. Tagore. The couple would not mention what they had learned or what their group suspected. The main reason for their visit would be to check on the secretary, Rhim Rao.
The other four would go directly to Vasco da Gama Street. If they could find the dungeon, George and Burt would stay outside and act as lookouts. Nancy and Ned would enter and search for the missing spider sapphire.
One taxi carried Bess and Dave to Mr. Tagore’s home. Another took the others to the old part of the city where Vasco da Gama Street was located. They got out and dismissed the driver. Smiling, Nancy approached a small, barefoot boy. She asked him if he knew where there was a dungeon on this street.
The grinning little native said, “Americans ask me funny questions. Yes, I know where a dungeon is. I show you.”
Ned handed the boy a coin and the four followed him down the street. On either side were ancient stone buildings. The boy stopped in front of one.
“No one inside,” he said. “You go to dungeon alone. Many sightseers do. I will not enter. Evil spirits might be in there.”
He scampered off. George and Burt took up posts on opposite sides of the street. George walked across while Burt remained near an unlocked basement door. Nancy and Ned knocked. Receiving no answer, they stepped inside.
The place was dank and dark and at once the searchers turned on their flashlights. A steep incline led them to a door which opened into a wine cellar with a great many kegs. It was apparent that the place had not been used in some time.
“I’m sure nobody would hide a precious gem in one of these kegs of wine,” Nancy remarked. “It might mar the luster.”
Nevertheless, Ned shook each keg to be sure of this. He and Nancy heard nothing but the sloshing of wine.
Next, they began an examination of the walls, which had once been covered with plaster, but now most of it had crumbled away, revealing the rock foundation. There was no noticeable hiding place in the wall Ned was examining.
Nancy had turned her attention to another wall where the upper section set back about six inches making a narrow earthen shelf. As she beamed her light along it, Nancy saw that in one spot the dirt and plaster had been dug out, then replaced. She called softly to Ned.
He held both flashlights as Nancy quickly removed the soft dirt with her fingers. At the bottom of the hole lay a gold box. The two young detectives held their breath. Had they solved the mystery?
Hoping against hope, Nancy opened the box. Inside lay a gleaming sapphire and in its center rested a spider!
“This is it!” she whispered excitedly, and asked Ned to hold the light closer. “The gem’s not synthetic! See, that spider has no spinnerets!”
The couple continued to stare at the magnificent gem, which sparkled like a weird, unearthly fire.
Finally Ned said, “Nancy, you’ve done it again! You’ve solved a very puzzling mystery!”
She smiled at him, then said, “I think we had better get out of here as soon as possible and take this to Mr. Tagore.”
“You’re right.”
Still carrying the box, Nancy led the way to the door. It would not open.
Ned yanked and pulled at the latch but it did not budge. “Someone has locked us in!” he said.
Nancy’s heart sank. Any minute their enemies might come in and take the spider sapphire away from her!
“I must hide it,” she thought. “But where?” There was no likely place in the dungeon.
Just then she thought of the mask which was in her shopping bag. Handing it to Ned, she whispered, “Help me!”
She handed him the jewel box, then reached into the bag and pulled out the mask. Quickly she lifted the little door behind one of the eye sockets and slipped the precious gem inside it. Then she tucked the mask back into her bag.
At the same instant she and Ned heard a sliding door scraping open. They looked toward the sound which came from the opposite side of the room. A concealed door was slowly being opened. Two men in Indian dress walked in.
Jahan and Dhan!
The latter was carrying a whip which he began to brandish.
“So you thought you would spoil our little game!” Jahan said. “You underrated us.”
He reached toward Ned’s hand and grabbed the jewel box. Nancy had a fleeting hope that he would not open it, that the men would leave, and she and Ned escape.
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