"Very well, Pons."
As soon as dinner was over I made my excuses to the company and begged a headache to avoid the gathering in the smoking room. I went straight to my own room and disinterred my pistol from my valise. I checked it carefully, but the cartridges were in the chambers and there was no sign that it had been tampered with. I had just put my case away when I heard a faint creaking outside in the corridor.
It was the work of a moment to cross the carpeting and throw the door open. The dark-faced servant Vickers was standing there. He still wore the green baize apron and the dark suit over the batwing collar and somber tie. Far from being nonplussed he smiled in what I thought a most impertinent manner.
"I just felt you might need something, Dr. Parker."
"There is nothing, thank you," I said stiffly, giving him a disapproving glance.
His smile widened even further. His manner was just this side of insolence.
"How long have you been there?" I asked.
He shrugged.
"Just long enough, Doctor."
And he was gliding away down the corridor before I could remonstrate. I was still fuming when Pons joined me in his room a few minutes later. He flung himself on the bed and chuckled.
"Ah, Parker," said he. "It does not always do to make mysteries where none exist"
"But there's something infernally suspicious about the fellow, Pons," I said bitterly. "He's always hanging about Surely it is plausible to suppose that he might have had something to do with the young nephew's death and the attempt against the colonel's life."
Solar Pons looked up at me with that maddeningly omniscient air he sometimes affected.
"Where does that leave our snake and insect man, Tolliver?" he said dryly. "You are an excellent doctor, Parker, and your diagnoses are invariably right But you have not yet learned to apply the same exacting standards to your observation of human nature in action. You will end by having a multiplicity of suspects. You must first draw the correct conclusions from the material before you."
"Mark my words, Pons…" I began heatedly when my companion arrested me with a sudden gesture of his hand. He sprang up from the bed, drawing his own pistol and putting it down on the counterpane within easy reach.
"The guests are retiring for the night, Parker. I fancy we shall soon hear something."
He glanced at his watch as the gruff voice of Colonel d'Arcy sounded in the corridor outside.
"But I predict it will be an hour or more before they settle. I suggest we make ourselves comfortable, and I have taken the precaution of abstracting a whiskey bottle and some glasses from the dining room so that we shall not find the period of waiting too tiresome."
So saying he reseated himself in a wing chair near the fireplace as the door of Colonel d'Arcy's room quietly closed and footsteps began to the away down the corridors of the great house.
8
More than an hour had passed and the lights had long been extinguished. I eased my position in the chair and waved my hand to dispel the heavy waves of blue smoke from Pons's pipe.
"Patience, Parker," he said softly. "I fancy the time is at hand. If he is to strike it must be done soon because he knows we are on the ground."
We had only a bedside lamp burning in the room and all the time we had been here Pons had been alert, listening for every footfall in the corridor. Half a dozen times he had darted to the room door, opening it a crack, surveying the corridor outside and then returning to his seat. There were two wall sconces still burning in the passage outside, leaving long stretches of shadow, and I understood from Pons that it was Colonel d'Arcy's habit to leave lights on all night whenever he had house guests.
Twice had the surly figure of Vickers been seen by Pons passing along the corridor during that time, but Pons had only smiled at my fulminations and had bidden me to be patient. Now there had been a deep silence for some while though my companion assured me that lights still shone beneath some doors, including that of Colonel d'Arcy.
I had risen from my chair and was taking a turn about the room when Pons jumped swiftly to his feet, holding his finger to his lips. At almost the same instant a terrible scream reechoed throughout the house. It was a woman's voice, hoarse and resonant with terror and it seemed to come from next door. Pons had already flung open the door, revolver in hand.
"As quickly as you can, Parker. It is life and death!"
I was swiftly at his heels, revolver drawn, as Pons flung himself at the door of Colonel d'Arcy's room. He hurled it open without ceremony. I shall never forget the sight that greeted us. The room was lit only be one solitary bedside lamp which threw a subdued glow across the apartment.
The bed coverlets had been thrown back but our attention was riveted on the end of the bed where the figure of a beautiful girl crouched, a look of absolute terror on her chalk-white face. The body of Miss Claire Mortimer was rigid with shock and horror. She was clad only in a dressing gown and her dark hair was awry and falling across her face.
"There, Parker, there!" said Solar Pons, his iron grip at my wrist.
I wrenched my glance from the frozen figure of the girl up toward the pillow. At first I could see nothing, then, from the tumbled white sheets, flickered the greenish coils' of a snake. Its tongue darted from its mouth and a sibilant hissing noise filled the chamber. My throat was dry and my hand unsteady, but Pons's voice brought me to myself.
"A green mamba, Parker. The most deadly snake in all Africa! Your shot, I think."
I raised my revolver, hardly conscious of what I was doing. Yet I was myself again, my nerves calmed by Pons's reassuring presence. He moved closer to the girl, inch by inch, his derringer at the ready.
The crack of my pistol, the acrid sting of powder and the flash were followed by a rain of feathers from the bed, and the bullet cut a vicious gouge in the planking of the floor beyond. Splinters flew in the air as the snake writhed for an instant and then was still.
"Well done, Parker!" said Pons, supporting the fainting girl and dragging her from the bed. I ran to his side and helped him move her to a chair.
"See to that thing, Parker. Make sure it is dead."
Perspiration was running down my cheeks, but my nerves were steady now as I cautiously approached the bed.
"My aim was true, Pons," I said, unable to keep the pride from my voice. Footsteps were sounding in the corridor now, and the room seemed full of people. I was only vaguely aware of Bradshaw, Tolliver, Mrs. Mortimer, and the dark visage of Vickers.
Light flooded the room from a ceiling fixture, and at the same instant I managed to cover the remains of the snake with the bedding. Pons shot me a glance of approval. The bearded face of Colonel d'Arcy appeared. He elbowed his way through without ceremony.
"Good God, Mr. Pons! Claire! What on earth has happened?"
"The lady has had a nightmare," said Pons gently. "All is well now. But I think it would be best if she spent the remainder of the night with her mother. And I should keep this room locked if I were you."
The colonel instantly grasped the situation.
"It is nothing, ladies and gentlemen. Would you please return to your rooms. I very much regret the disturbance."
The sobbing girl, soothed by her mother, was led from the room, and the remaining guests, with curious glances, shortly followed. Our host hurried away, leaving Pons and me alone in that suddenly sinister room.
"I don't understand, Pons," I said.
Solar Pons ran a finger along his jaw, which was grimly set
"I am not entirely clear myself, Parker," he said. "But we shall no doubt learn more in a moment"
Indeed, our host returned almost at once and faced us somberly, locking the door behind him.
cannot thank you enough, gentlemen. If anything had happened to Claire… What was it?"
I pulled back the bedding. Colonel d'Arcy surveyed the mamba with sick loathing on his face. He clenched his fists and his features began to suffuse with blood.
"By God, Mr. Pons, we must discover the wicked mind behind this…"
"It is almost over, Colonel," said Pons quietly. "Though I do not know how Miss Mortimer came to be here."
"She complained of a draft in her room," said our host "Mine was the more comfortable so I gave it to her. The fireplace has more heat, for one thing."
Pons nodded.
"Evidently, he could not have known that," he murmured. "I am afraid Parker and I have made a mess of your floor.. "
Colonel d'Arcy stared at us in amazement. He came forward and wrung my hand, then turned to Pons.
"I am not an emotional man, gentlemen, but Miss Mortimer means more to me than anything in the world."
"I understand that, Colonel," said Pons, frowning down at the thing that still lay in bloody tatters on the bed. "But it will not stop here. Our man knows we are on him. The shot alone would have warned him. He will act quickly. We must act more quickly still."
Colonel d'Arcy looked bewildered. "I am in your hands, Mr. Pons. What do you want me to do?"
"I think this evil man will strike again before the night is out. This time at you, Colonel. I want you to go to my room or Parker's and spend the night there. No one but the three of us must know of this."
"Anything you say, Mr. Pons. What do you intend to do?"
Pons went to stand by the fireplace, holding out his thin hands to the glowing embers. His lean, feral face had seldom looked more grim.
"First, I would like the disposition of the guests this evening and the exact location of their rooms."
"That is easily done," said the colonel.
Pons listened attentively as he gave us the information. He nodded with satisfaction.
"Ironic is it not, Parker?"
"I do not understand, Pons."
"No matter. You will in due time."
He turned briskly to the colonel.
"We must spend the rest of the night in your room, Colonel. I fancy a revolver or a stick will be adequate protection against the menace of the Ipi idol." He looked at me, his eyes alight with excitement "Come, Parker. The game's afoot!"