Mystery of the Ambush in India

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE I A Mysterious Message 1 II The Boy and the Basket 9 III The Rajah's Ruby 16 IV Biff Vanishes 25 V Danger at Dawn 33 VI The Cry of Death 42 VII The Temple of Kali 49 VIII Chandra Finds a Way 57 IX The Man in the Jeep 65 X The Tiger Hunt 74 XI A Thief in the Night 83 XII A Double Surprise 91 XIII Biff's Mission 99 XIV The Valley of Doom 106 XV The Caravan Halts 114 XVI The Bamboo Bridge 123 XVII The Monster of the Mountains 133 XVIII The Frozen Waterfall 142 XIX The Lost City 151 XX The Master Spy 158 XXI Secret of the Snows 164

I
A Mysterious Message

It was sunset along the Calcutta waterfront. The reflection of the vivid tropical sky turned the murky water of the Hooghly River into a rippling rainbow. The river was alive with a variety of craft, including native sailboats, side-wheel steamers that plied up and down the Hooghly between Calcutta and the Bay of Bengal, eighty miles south, as well as sturdy tugs, launches, and lighters that served the ocean-going ships moored in midstream along the strand.

Biff Brewster was standing at the bow of a big freighter, the 10,000-ton Northern Star, which only that afternoon had cast anchor in the Port of Calcutta. Biff was a blond-haired youth of sixteen, with broad, square shoulders and blue-gray eyes that were as keen and expressive as his strong, well-formed features. With Biff were two other boys, his companions in previous adventures.

One was Kamuka, a Brazilian boy of Biff's own size and age. They had met at the headwaters of the Amazon, where Biff had accompanied his father, Thomas Brewster, in an adventurous search for a fabulous gold mine. Kamuka, who had spent most of his life on jungle rivers, was keenly interested in the scenes he now was viewing along the Hooghly.

The other boy was slightly younger and smaller of build, but quite as wiry and athletic as his two companions. He was Likake Mahenili, a Hawaiian youth known as "Li" to his friends. Li, a skilled diver, had helped Biff crack the riddle of a vanished sloop when they had teamed in a thrilling sea hunt off the Hawaiian shores.

Now, all three were newly arrived in India, the land of mystery. But there was no mystery as to why and how they happened to be together. That was due to a simple turn of events.

Months ago, Biff's father had gone to India to open long-neglected gold mines in some of the former princely states that had been absorbed by the Indian Republic. It had taken much longer than Mr. Brewster expected—as many of his jobs did—so he had arranged for the family to come by air to India and join him there.