Chapter 22 - A terrible torture!
The mandah was frightened and also angry. If that rascal knew the three fugitives so well, there was a danger that the English authorities would go to find them and then send them back to the penitentiary».
«You are crazy» he said to One-eye «Those men have never escaped, they are honest people who fished for pearls in the bay of Martaban. I'm not who you say. You were wrong, and a lot. Go look elsewhere».
«It is not necessary. Why did you hurry to hide them? You, after fishing, did not return to the City of Pearls like the other boats».
«Who told you this?» cried the mandah. «We followed and spied on you.».
«The steamboat! he carelessly let the mandah escape.
«It was mounted by us. I knew that those fugitives were aboard the sailing ship and I hired the lifeboat, that still arrived in time I see them transfer to your boat ».
«Throw away your cards, old sport. I won the game.» concluded Foster.
For several moments the mandah was unable to find a sentence, then, looking the wretched man in the face, challenged him:
«And if so? What do you want from me? Here we are neither in the middle of a jungle, in the City of Pearls there is no shortage of policemen».
«The police have other things to do right now than take care of us, old mandah.» the Irishman said.
«So what do you want from me?» shouted the impatient fisherman
«Don't get so hot, old man, and keep answering. What did those men come here to do?» One-eyed answered.
«Go and ask them!»
«Take care, old man!» Foster threatened, «You won't get out unless you first tell us why I'm here, instead of running away. Kaj wants to free Liling!».
«Then if you know everything why bother me!» said the mandah.
«I want to know how he will try to free her. That girl whom I loved perhaps more intensely than that damned pearl fisherman must not end up in her arms. Or mine or death, do you understand me?» One-eyed was resolute.
«Go! Get him, if you care so much.» said the mandah. «My women are the pearl oysters».
The other said:
«Bah! Those good little beasts will make him scream better than a peacock».
«You are a scoundrel, One-eye!» Foster laughed.
"Whether I'm an honest man or not, it doesn't matter. I want to know how Kaj intends to free old Chital's daughter.»
«Go ask him, rascal.» the mandah shouted again.
A terrible flash flashed in One-eyd only eye.
«Ah! Well, we'll see if your will be stronger than sleep!»
«What are you going to do, scoundrel?» cried the mandah.
«Wait a little.» He leaned towards the Irishman and whispered in his ear. The overseer made a gesture of approval and left, clamoring the door behind him.
«Mandah» One-eyed gave a fierce smile «How long will you last? The narcotic must have left you with an irresistible sleep. You won't be long in closing your eyes, will you?».
«Yes, I feel exhausted.» replied the mandah.
«Someone will prevent you from closing your eyes, unless you speak!»
«Shut up or I'll end up strangling you, miserable one!»
«You want to joke! We're just us and I'll do what I want with you!»
«Tomorrow I will have you arrested, miserable one.» said the mandah.
«Tomorrow! Too soon, my dear!»
One-eye lit a lamp that was in a corner and crouched, like a lurking wild beast, on the mat where the mandah lay.
The pearl fisherman settled down on the mat. He felt an irresistible desire to sleep, but he had not forgotten the threat, while he was smoking placidly. He did not speak, but smiled wickedly, stroking from time to time, two half coconuts that he had placed next to him.
The effect of the narcotic had not completely waned and the wretched fisherman felt himself recovering from sleep. One-eye did not take his eyes off him and grinned maliciously.
«Let me sleep, I can't take it anymore.»
«Yes, if you first tell me how Kaj intends to free Liling.»
«I repeat, I don't know anything about this.»
«I don't know what to do with the talk. Either you confess or, for all the Ceylon cobras, I won't let you sleep.»
«Mind that one day I can be free and then ...»
One-eye laughed.
«For now you are here, in my hand. Do you confess yes or no?»
«Let me sleep first.»
«No.»
«I'll sleep anyway.»
The mandah dropped heavily, eyelids lowered.
«Ah! Do you want to sleep anyway?» laughted One-eye.
He opened one of the coconuts off the lid and glanced into it.
The vessel was filled with large velvety black spiders and scorpions of all sizes and colors, fighting fiercely with each other.
One-eye took a stick, rummaged inside the bowl and took out a large dark scorpion. With a quick gesture he took off a shoe from the mandah, baring his right foot and brought the scorpion up to him, saying:
«Go ahead.»
The furious scorpion planted the branches in the finger by injecting a drop of poison.
The mandah screamed in pain.
«Dog!»
«I warned you not to sleep," said One-eye, putting the scorpion away.
«That you are electrocuted, scoundrel!»
The mandah writhed in pain and struggled to free itself from bonds.
«Words, nothing than words. Do you want to confess?»
«I told you I don't know anything!»
«A nice black spider will bite you better than a scorpion.»
«No! No!» yelled the mandah.
The mandah was panting, his forehead was covered with sweat, his lips were frothy, and his face expressed terror.
«Will you speak?» he repeated, waving the spider menacingly.
«Yup. I will speak, damn!»
«So tell me what he intends to do?»
«With the red pearl. Miserable, you force me to betray a friend.»
«I'm not going to tell him. The red pearl! Then you know where it is. Tell me or I'll start over.
«At the end of the reef, between the last edge and the three rocks, there the man who stole it drowned himself.»
«Will his body still be found? He had that pearl in his thigh».
«What do you still want to know?»
«How is Kaj going to look for her?»
«I don't know.»
«Come on, old mandah, empty the bag or I'll start over.»
Determined to get what he wanted, he brought the velvety spider to his right foot. At that contact the pearl diver shivered horribly and a real scream escaped his lips.
«No! No!»
«Speak then!»
«They'll use the diving suit.»
«Ah! I hadn't thought of that device invented by those white man demons. I don't really know what it is, the Irishman will tell me.»
One-eye wanted to know what would happen next.
«Come on, tell me where they're going to get that diving suit.»
«To Colombo.»
«Kaj, Jody or the Englishman?»
The mandah, sweating cold.
«Bite!» One-eye said, bringing the legs of the spider, armed with sharp points, had entered the plant.
«Enough, dog!»
«Yes, if you finish your confession.»
«Blake!»
«All right, we'll capture him before he leaves Columbus. He will feel good in the penitentiary for the rest of his life!»
The pearl fisherman did not answer. He had dropped like a dead man.
«Stupid, when a man gets older, he becomes a fool. Foster can be pleased with me. I will have the pearl and Liling, he the three fugitives»
He carefully closed the coconuts so the insects couldn't escape and he lay down next to the mandah.
No one disturbed their sleep, and when Foster entered shortly after dawn, they had not yet awakened.
«Come on One-eye», hitting him with his foot. «You sleep too much. So?».
«He confessed everything. To you the three convicts, to me the pearl, is it true?»
«I promised to help you.»
«There are only two of them on the rock right now.»
The overseer frowned. «Who is missing then?»
«Blake.»
One-eye informed him of everything he had managed to learn from the mandah.
«Ah! Is he getting some diving suits? I'll have him arrested before he leaves Colombo.»
«No, sir. Later, when they have found the pearl.»
«But by now you know where it is!»
«I don't trust the mandah's information. I want to see them come down.»
«You will then need a diving suit. I'll take care of it. You're right: first the pearl, then we'll take them. And what will you do with this man?»
«I will keep him prisoner until we find or steal the pearl, and his friends are arrested. He is tied up with good ropes, he will not be able to escape. When do you plan to leave for Colombo?»
«Right away. It won't be difficult for me to rent a boat. I couldn't find the diving suit you need here. Do you think that little island where Kaj and Jody took refuge is accessible?»
«No, its walls are steep. I know that den well.» answered One-eyed.
«And how did those damned get up there?»
«That's what I've wondered several times, sir. We haven't seen any ladders set up, and besides, there are never any on board the pearl fishermen's boats.»
«Yet they can't have flown up there like sea swallows or gulls.»
«There must be some passage, sir.»
«If you could find out!» Foster murmured.
«That's what I'll try to do tonight. Yes, there may be a passage».
«Be careful not to kill him. I don't want to have trouble with the police. Farewell, One-eye and watch over the prisoner. If he runs away, you will lose the pearl and I maybe the three convicts.».