The Devil's Cocktail (8 page)

Abdullah spoke with great feeling, and Hugh felt very sorry for him. He could just imagine how the other had accepted the post of Principal with the high hope that he could do much for the advancement of Mahommedan education, and how bitterly disappointed he must have been to find the almost insurmountable obstacles in his path. Hugh decided that his own situation had become very difficult; and with his other job before him, he was going to be placed in a very unenviable position.

The car drew up in front of the Punjab Hotel, and Shannon alighted. He stood watching Abdullah, as he drove away.

‘Rotten luck!' he murmured. ‘He seems such a good chap, too.'

He had to explain to Joan why he was so late, and she and Cousins listened with interest to his description of the morning's doings. They laughed when he told them about the professors.

‘Oh, surely, Hugh,' said the girl, ‘they are not as bad as all that?'

‘Every bit,' he replied; ‘in fact, I have rather flattered them than otherwise.'

‘What a dreadful lot they must be!'

‘They are!' he said grimly.

After lunch he had a consultation with Cousins.

‘I am puzzled how to set about our job,' he said. ‘We have come out here with a lot of ideas and suspicions, but without the slightest tangible point to go upon. What do you suggest?'

‘Well of course you must become a member of the club as soon as possible. That is essential! In the first place a club in India is the centre of gossip, and it is likely that you may pick up something there. Secondly it is necessary for Miss Shannon, because she will never have any friends unless you are a member – the idea being that those not inside the sacred portals of the club must necessarily be outsiders! For my part I will make acquaintances among the rank and file, and do my best that way. I have already made myself known to a couple of fellows this morning.'

‘You haven't lost any time,' grinned Hugh. ‘Who are they?'

‘Nobody of any account I'm afraid. The manager of Edgar and Watson, chemists, and a sergeant of police named Spink.'

‘Did you cable that we had arrived?'

‘Yes!'

‘Perhaps we will receive some instructions in a day or two. I wonder what happened to Kamper?'

‘I wish I knew,' said Cousins. ‘That man raises a mildly inquiring curl on my forehead every time I think of him.'

‘When Hudson comes you had better watch him as closely as possible. He may lead us somewhere, though I'm afraid if he is in
league with the Soviet, he will make it exceedingly warm for us. In fact, Lahore is likely to be rather dangerous.'

Cousins shrugged his shoulders.

‘A little danger might make it attractive,' he said.

‘Don't you like it?'

‘Not a little bit. Lahore is a splendid place to make one reflect what a glorious country England is.'

Hugh laughed.

‘You've been very quick in forming an opinion,' he remarked.

‘I formed most of it yesterday, and consolidated it this morning. Of course there are some places worse.'

‘I like what I have seen of it.'

‘Including Sheranwala College?'

Hugh made a grimace.

‘No; the College is rather a blot!' he said.

Cousins took out a pipe and filled it.

‘I wonder if it would be possible to get a complete list of the members of the club,' he said.

‘What do you want it for?'

‘We might find out the antecedents of every member and make a list of any doubtful ones.'

‘Good Lord, man, that would take ages! Besides I don't see how it would help. The people we are after may not belong to the club.'

‘I think they will. They wouldn't lose an opportunity of getting in with the social life, and if they kept outside they would be far more likely to be regarded as questionable characters. I am going to try to get that list anyhow.'

‘You have a job before you, and my sympathies! You don't expect the secretary to hand such a thing over to a complete stranger, do you?'

‘I have no intention of asking the secretary, my lad.'

‘Then how do you propose to set about it?'

‘Money talks! Though it doesn't always answer when it's spoken to,' he added.

‘I see. You favour bribery and corruption?'

The little man nodded.

‘It is a favourite pastime in this country,' he said. ‘And when in Rome do as Rome does. At any rate I do not intend to sit down and twiddle my thumbs, do you?'

‘Certainly not! But I've got to think a bit before I do anything definite!'

‘Well, I don't suppose the Chief expects us to buzz around without any idea what we are buzzing about. Still I hate doing nothing even in these early days.
Ex nihilo nihil fit
!'

Hugh looked at him suspiciously, and with a smile he got up, and went out of the room.

Hugh lost no time in making acquaintances, and within a fortnight he had the satisfaction of being nominated as a member of the club. The committee meeting was due in a few days, when his and Joan's names would be put up and the nomination ratified. In the meantime he went daily to his work at Sheranwala College, and began to get on well with the students. He was less successful with the professors. Most of them he found were very harmless, though not at all the type of men with whom he had anything in common, and they seemed to think that flattery would make them popular with him. There was a system of toadyism among some of them with the higher authorities which nauseated him, and in consequence he avoided them as much as possible.

After some consideration he signed the contract which was duly stamped-to his disgust he found that he was expected – to pay for the stamp – and Abdullah reiterated his promise to do all in his power to get the salary increased. Thus he became a fully sworn member of the
staff. Among the students he discovered a few with the characteristics of gentlemen, but the majority were quite the opposite. They loved to crowd round him and talk to him, laughing immoderately at the vaguest witticism, run errands for him, and generally do all in their power to curry favour with a view to future profit for themselves. They all looked upon an Englishman in the College as a decided asset, not so much for what they expected to learn from him, as for what he might be able to do for them in the way of obtaining posts in the future. He had not been in the College for more than three days when he was asked for testimonials, and several of them visited the hotel with gifts of fruit, and left cards with their names written upon them so that he might remember them always.

The Indian mind is subtle, but not so subtle that Hugh could not see the purpose that underlay all the extravagant flattery and popularity which suddenly came upon him. He, with Joan and Cousins, laughed many times about it, and the students, and others, would have been surprised had they heard the opinions that were frankly expressed about them.

Cousins, by some means known only to himself, had managed to bribe one of the Indian clerks at the club to make out a full list of regular male members with their professions and addresses, and he spent several days in finding out as much as he could about the doubtful ones. Of course a large proportion were military and police officers and these were passed by. On the Friday he came to Hugh as the latter was preparing to go out, and triumphantly waved a sheet of paper at him.

‘Here I have a list of doubtfuls,' he said. ‘There are seventeen of them, and the eight with crosses against their names are very doubtfuls.'

‘What constitutes a doubtful?' asked Hugh.

‘No visible means of support; that is to say they appear to live by their wits. The eight very doubtfuls are either foreigners or of foreign origin.'

‘Good Lord! You're a wonder!'

‘Dear me! Have you only just discovered that very apparent fact? Why I've known it for a long time!'

Hugh studied the paper carefully.

‘Who are the two at the bottom?' he asked.

‘Ah! They are the tit-bits, the
chefs d'oeuvres
so to speak!'

‘What? Extremely doubtfuls?'

‘No; they are not doubtfuls at all. They happen to be men of wide affluence, authority and importance. The first is the head of a large mercantile firm, and the second the principal of one of the colleges.'

‘Then why are they on this list?'

‘Do their names convey nothing to you?'

Hugh looked at the paper again.

‘Novar and Rahtz,' he said ‘They're foreign names, of course!'

‘My son, they are Russians both of them!'

‘How do you know?'

‘Because they make no attempt to hide their nationality, and are registered as such. But that is not the chief point. This is where I come to the climax of my story, as the novelists say. They are the two men whom I saw with Hudson at Bombay!'

‘Good Lord!' exclaimed Hugh, and sat down.

‘Ah,' said Cousins, with deep satisfaction. ‘I have made my point!'

‘But how did you find this out?'

‘I spent some time waiting outside the house of each, and was rewarded by seeing them, when of course I recognised them.'

‘By Jove! This is better! We are beginning to move.'

‘There is certainly a suspicion that the cobwebs are being shaken
away. What about Hudson? You have spent some time watching his movements. Has anything suspicious transpired?'

Hugh shook his head.

‘No; he is leading the life of a respectable member of society, as far as I can make out.'

‘You haven't let him see that you are watching him?'

‘Of course not!' said Hugh indignantly. ‘What do you take me for?'

‘A Professor of English literature!'

‘Bah!' said Hugh loudly, and with disgust.

Cousins' eyes twinkled, his face creased, and he chuckled.

‘“Is life worth living? Yes, so long as there is wrong right. Wail of the weak against the strong, Or tyranny to fight.” Bear up! Remember thy country hath need of thee!'

‘For two pins, Cousins,' said Hugh threateningly, ‘I'd punch your head.'

‘Don't do that! My head is not at its best these days. I think it is suffering from topeeitis. By the way is the bungalow fixed up yet?'

‘Yes. At present it is undergoing a much needed coat of whitewash, the furniture goes in tomorrow, and we move in on Sunday.'

‘Dear! Dear! On the seventh day thou shalt rest,' murmured Cousins, then added sadly: ‘but not in India!'

‘Don't remind me of the affliction I have to bear in lecturing on Sunday!'

‘I thought you said that Abdullah was arranging to relieve you of duties on that day.'

‘So he promised; but he hasn't said anything further!'

‘Bless the man! Why you have only been here on one Sunday so far! Well, I suppose I must turn up at the bungalow tomorrow in my character of ideal
valet de chambre
and see the furniture installed!'

‘I suppose you must,' said Hugh. ‘I'm sorry, but—'

‘Don't be sorry! I'm not! I rather fancy myself as a decorator. The position of even a chair in the room makes all the difference to its artistic appeal. Of course you wouldn't understand that. Only Miss Shannon and I could be expected to know whether the leg of a chair should stand in the heart of a rose on the carpet or beyond it.'

‘There are no roses on the carpets,' said Hugh triumphantly, ‘and they are not carpets, but plain blue durries with red borders.'

Cousins gazed at him sorrowfully.

‘You have taken the salt out of my life, Shannon,' he said. ‘I had naturally calculated on Persian carpets covered with rugs of priceless worth from Kashmir.'

‘Then I'm jolly glad to tell you that you will be disappointed,' jeered Hugh.

‘How unkind! How very unkind! “A little word in kindness spoken, A motion, or a tear, Has often healed the heart that's broken, And made a friend sincere.”'

‘Hugh!' called Joan's clear voice, outside the door. ‘How much longer are you going to be?'

‘I'm just coming!' he called back, and smiling at Cousins he went off to join his sister.

Through the offices of Mahommed Abdullah, Hugh had succeeded in obtaining a bungalow in Crescent Road, a thoroughfare running parallel to the Mall, and near the gardens. It was quite a small house with six rooms. Four of them with dressing rooms and bathrooms attached were to be bedrooms, for Joan, Hugh, and Cousins, and a spare guest chamber. One of the others was the dining room and the other a sitting room. A shady veranda, a garden large enough for a badminton court, a garage, and extensive servants' quarters completed the premises, and Hugh had obtained the whole
for a rental which was almost moderate for Lahore. The garage would not be wasted for, with the knowledge that a car is almost a necessity in Lahore, Hugh had decided to buy one as soon as they were settled in the bungalow.

Joan and Cousins, with the aid of the newly-engaged cook, sweeper and bistee, spent the greater part of Saturday in receiving the furniture and placing it in position. As is often the case with Europeans in India, the furniture had been hired from a dealer in the Anarkali, that crowded commercial thoroughfare in which anything from a pin to a complete suite of furniture can be purchased.

Joan insisted on doing quite a lot herself, which brought forth protests from Cousins, who appeared to be in his element. He bustled his helpers round until they did not seem to have minds of their own, and at his slightest command dashed about with a haste quite un-Indian. Lahore in the cool season is very pleasant, but when Cousins eventually called a halt at six o'clock in the evening, he was drenched with perspiration, and looked gratefully at the whisky and soda which Joan mixed for him.

‘You are a brick to have worked so hard,' she said. ‘I really don't know why you should.'

‘Because it's my job, Miss Shannon. I wish you would get it into your head that I am really a servant.'

‘How can I? Anyhow I am grateful for what you have done.'

‘Oh, tush!' he said disgustedly. ‘You have worked jolly hard yourself. Hugh is the lucky one!'

‘That reminds me – I wonder where he is! When he went out after tiffin he said he would be back soon to help us, but it's gone six and there's no sign of him.'

Cousins scratched his head.

‘He's somewhere about!' he said with the air of one who has made
a very intelligent remark. ‘If I didn't know him so well, I should say that he is keeping out of the way on purpose.'

‘No,' she said, with decision: ‘he is not like that. Perhaps he's at the College coaching them at cricket.'

‘If he had been going there he would have said so. Probably he is detained over some private work. Anyhow he'll turn up some time or other.'

Joan looked at him seriously.

‘Mr Cousins,' she said, ‘is there likely to be any danger to Hugh and you out here?'

‘Nothing to speak of,' he replied easily. ‘We are here more or less to investigate affairs in this country, so danger is practically – I won't say entirely – a negative quantity.'

‘I'm glad to hear that,' she sighed. ‘A secret agent's life must be a very dangerous one, as a rule. I shudder to think what risks Hugh may have been running during those two years I was fondly imagining he was merely an ordinary official of the Foreign Office.'

He smiled.

‘Oh, well, you didn't know,' he said, ‘and were thus saved a lot of anxiety.'

They were silent for a while, then Cousins started to his feet, his face wrinkled with concern.

‘What a thoughtless fool I am!' he exclaimed. ‘Why, here it is past six, and you haven't had any tea, and I calmly sit down and guzzle a whisky and soda!'

‘Really I forgot all about tea until a few minutes ago,' she smiled. ‘When you are ready we will take a tonga back to the hotel, and get some.'

‘I say; I'm awfully sorry,' he said penitently.

‘Don't be, please! I shall enjoy it all the more when we get back!'

She had one more look through the rooms, and then joined him on the veranda.

‘It is ever so much nicer to have one's own house, than to live in a hotel!' she said. ‘Everything is ready for tomorrow now, and even Mr Miles' room is prepared for him if he turns up. I wonder why he hasn't come!'

‘He is probably having a good time with some fellow countrymen of his in Bombay.'

She pouted.

‘He might have written, especially as he said he would come to Lahore in a week, and it's a fortnight now since we left.'

A tonga came rattling through the gates, and Hugh jumped out.

‘Oh, I say, I'm so sorry!' he said. ‘Are you people just going?'

‘We are!' said Cousins sternly. ‘You have managed to work things rather well, my son!'

‘What do you mean?'

‘Well, you waited until we had done all the work before you turned up!'

‘Oh, you rotter!' said Hugh. ‘I have been chasing round Lahore all the afternoon trying to find someone.'

‘Whom?'

‘Of course, I may have been mistaken, but as I came out of the College about three, a taxi passed by, there were two men in it, and I could have sworn that one was Kamper. I noted the number of the car and have been trying to find it since in the hope that the chauffeur would tell me where he took them.'

Cousins whistled.

‘So the fellow has got here after all!' he murmured, almost to himself.

‘Mind you, I couldn't be certain. I may have made a mistake.'

‘Not you,' said Cousins. ‘If you are pretty sure you saw Kamper,
then Kamper is here. As a matter of fact I was expecting him. He has only arrived rather sooner than I anticipated.'

‘Who is Kamper?' asked Joan.

‘A rather elusive friend of ours,' replied the little man. ‘Come along! You must have that tea!'

When they had installed themselves in the bungalow, there was nothing much to be done except unpack the boxes, and Hugh was in his room busily engaged with his, when Cousins joined him. The latter sat on the bed and watched for a few minutes.

‘I suppose I ought to be doing that,' he remarked, at length.

‘Nonsense!' said Hugh. ‘We haven't got to carry on the pretence so much here, and what's more, I'm going to get a bearer. You can chivvy him round if you like, but he'll do the work.'

Cousins smiled.

‘You're a marvel!' he murmured. ‘You have a bungalow, hire furniture, keep your sister and an English valet as well as a cook, and other servants, and you receive a salary of five hundred rupees a month!'

‘Well, I've made no secret of the fact that I have private means.'