"I guessed--that is---- Ah! Help!"
She shrieked loudly and with good reason. Vernon's hand had shot out while he kept her attention engaged, and in a moment he had ripped the mask from her face. Head-dress and all came away in his grip, and Diabella covered her face with her hands. At her shriek the fold of the tent door was torn open and the burly Indian appeared. Vernon flung aside the mask and veil and head-dress and seized Diabella's wrists as the Indian ran forward to aid her. "I must see who you are," cried Vernon and pulled her hands away. "Maunders!"
He fell back a step and into the arms of the Hindoo. It was indeed Maunders whom he beheld, shrinking back into the shadows with a furious, shameful face, startled as a trapped animal. Vernon had no time to see more, for the Hindoo made a clutch at his throat, silent and venomous. Mindful of how Colonel Towton had been assaulted and Dimsdale killed, the young man turned fiercely to grapple with his assailant. As the two men closed in what promised to be a deadly struggle Maunders recovered his presence of mind sufficiently to dash over the lamp, and the tent became pitchy dark.
In that Cimmerian gloom the combatants swayed and swung and fought with silent earnestness. But the Hindoo was the stronger of the two, and Vernon felt the lean, long fingers grip his throat with vicious strength. He faintly heard Maunders, now at the door, hurriedly call to the native in an unknown tongue, and, fearful lest the two villains should escape, he tore himself away with a violent effort, crying as loudly as he could for assistance. The next moment his opponent flung himself forward and, picking him up as though he were a child, dashed him with gigantic force to the ground. His head struck the turf with a thud, and everything was swallowed up in blank insensibility.
[CHAPTER XIV.]
RUN TO EARTH.
In half an hour, more or less, Vernon came to himself slowly, and opened his eyes in a bewildered manner. He was in complete darkness, and for the moment could not remember where he was or what had taken place. Gradually memory returned to him and he sat up painfully to recall details. His head throbbed with the violence of the fall, and the short, sharp struggle had set his nerves jangling like ill-tuned bells. Rising to his feet with an effort he wondered why the Indian had not finished him off, then recollected the rapid words of Maunders in an unknown tongue. Probably he had been speaking Tamil and had ordered the man not to go to extremities. As in the case of Colonel Towton, when the creature had been warned by Diabella, or, rather, by Maunders, as in this instance, the native had stopped short of actual murder. In Maunders' desperate enterprise it was necessary that he should remain on the right side of the law.
Striking a match, Vernon ascertained that he was still in the tent, for its blue glimmer showed the figures and hieroglyphics weirdly flickering on the canvas walls. Apparently the criminals, for they were nothing else, had fled, leaving him insensible, and Vernon wondered that he had not been discovered. But when he walked outside he saw on the door a notice stating that the booth was closed for an hour, and guessed that in this way Maunders had provided time for flight. So warned, no one would enter the tent, and evidently both the noise of the struggle and his cry for assistance had passed unheeded. Vernon drew a long breath and stood where he was, watching the crowd of people merry-making under hundreds of coloured lamps, quite oblivious to the fact that a tragedy had nearly taken place under their very noses. He wondered what was best to be done.
It was useless to go to those in authority at The Georgian Hall as no one would credit his wild tale, although the flight of Diabella and her accomplices might lend colour to his narrative. Moreover, Vernon decided that more than ever was it necessary to hunt down Maunders in secrecy, as he wished for a full explanation from him before calling in Drench to assist. Likewise, for the sake of Ida, of Mrs. Bedge, and Lady Corsoon, Vernon wished if possible to avoid publicity, since any scandal would certainly bring their names into unpleasant notoriety. For these reasons the young man left The Georgian Hall without telling anyone what had happened. But he chuckled as he went to think how the public would be disappointed to find the tent of the sorceress empty. Also, how amazed those managing the bazaar would be to discover that Diabella had vanished with her takings for the day, which would be considerable. Vernon felt quite sure that a man so unscrupulous as Maunders would not hesitate to seize the till seeing that, having been exposed, and doubtful if his old schoolfellow would hold his tongue, he would want all the money he could get to assist his flight.
The question was to learn whither he had fled and what track to follow in order to hunt him down. It was close upon seven o'clock, and outside The Georgian Hall Vernon hesitated as to his next step. He wondered whether it would be better to go home and retire to bed, since he felt shaken by the struggle, or to seek out Colonel Towton and enlist him as a fellow-pursuer in the man-hunt. Finally he decided to take a taxi to the Colonel's chambers and relate what had happened, for he knew that unless he discussed the matter he would only worry the whole night over the catastrophe. He therefore fortified himself with a stiff brandy and soda at a near hotel and pulled himself together for a serious conversation. And serious enough it would be for Constantine Maunders, who could not be permitted to continue in his nefarious career.