J. S. Fletcher

“ And reckoning up the situation as nearly as I could, I came to the conclusion that when the Hindu arrived at the tower on his second visit—overlooked by me from the edge of the covert above—Uncle Joseph was still there, hidden in some cranny or dark corner (there were no end of both) , and that when Mandhu Khan went up the stairway, prospecting, he hastily fired his pile and cleared out, making his escape through the bushes on the side which I could not see. ”

“ And that brown man will still be on the island! Wouldn’t it be better to run down there and make them take us off, too?”
“Make is a good word!” said I, more ruefully than scornfully. “You can’t make people do what they’re resolved they won’t do, Pepita!—unless you’ve got the whip hand of them, and I’m afraid I haven’t, even with this pistol in my pocket: there are too many of ’em down there for me to tackle. The fact is, Uncle Joseph has slipped us—cheated us, damn him!—he doesn’t want us to be taken off, yet awhile. It’s his own safety he’s thinking about—he doesn’t care a hang about ours! ”

“ It seemed to me—my wits were certainly something moythered, with one thing and another, but still sufficiently clear to put two and two together—that Mandhu Khan had followed Getch to the island, laid in wait for him, probably during the night, and murdered him, and had afterwards smashed the boat so that Uncle Joseph couldn’t escape in it. ”

“ I continued. “We may succeed—and we mayn’t. But we can try. Listen!—somewhere or other that Hindu chap must have a boat. Probably it’s at the west end of the island—he doubtless landed there, because I believe there’s a deepish channel runs past the spit of land at that end, and he’d most likely come along that channel. Now we know where he is just now!”
“But do we?” she asked, sceptically.
“Dead certain! He’s after Uncle Joseph, on the other side. Bet your boots he’ll not take his eyes off him, once he’s spotted him! ”

“ Then, if we’ve seen nobody and heard nothing, we must risk a drop down to the shore and see if we can discover the boat—there must be a boat! And if there is—as of course there is!—and Mandhu Khan’s anywhere about—well, I shall have to use this pistol! ”