gap, Barney tapped him on the shoulder and opened
little act he had thought up by saying, with a laugh, 'Caught you, Mr. Ratnadatta!'
The Indian halted, swung round and asked nervously; 'Who are you? What do you mean by that??
'I'm Lord Larne,' said Barney in a friendly voice. 'You remember me. We met two or three times at Mrs. Wardeel's. I won't keep you a minute, but I want a word with you.'
'This ees not a good time. It ees not convenient.'
'It is for me.' Barney gave the guffaw of a fool. 'You might not think it, but I'm a bit of an amateur detective. Sorry to trouble you, and all that, but having traced you here I want to know
what goes on in the big house down at the end of this alley.'
'That ees not your business,' declared Ratnadatta angrily. 'You haf no right to ask. Leave me-----'
'No right at all,' Barney agreed cheerfully. 'But I'm itching with curiosity, so unless you tell, I'm going in with you.' He produced his pistol and showed it to Ratnadatta. 'See, I've got my rod, so no one's going to stop me. Stop me and buy one, eh?
Ha! Ha!'
The Indian took a quick step back, but Barney suddenly grabbed him by the arm, and went on, 'My car is just round the corner. Let's go and sit in it and have a quiet cigarette while you tell me. I won't keep you more than a few minutes. Come on.'
As Barney had hoped, Ratnadatta, supposing him to be no more than a nosey young idiot who, as a member of the privileged classes, perhaps enjoyed some degree of protection for such lawless frolics, decided that it would be better to humour him than to risk a scene on the doorstep of the mansion which would draw attention to it.
The avoidance of a scene had also been Barney's object in adopting his role of an inquisitive buffoon. While they walked along to his car, he could almost hear the Indian's brain ticking as it hastily endeavoured to formulate a plausible, non-criminal, but intriguingly mystic reason for the meeting he had been about to attend. But he was given no opportunity to produce it. No sooner were they both in the car than Barney, having achieved his object, switched on the ignition, let in the clutch and drove off.
'Hi!' exclaimed Ratnadatta. 'What do you do? Where are you taking me??
'For a ride,' replied Barney. 'To a place where we can talk without interruption. We'll be there in less than ten minutes.'
'Stop!' cried the Indian. 'I do not wish to go! Plees, you let me get out.'
'No, sweetheart. Alive or dead, you are coming with me.' 'You are mad!'
'Yes, I am. With you. So you had better shut up. I showed you my gun. I'd welcome an excuse to put a bullet into your guts.'
Completely bewildered by this unforeseen encounter, and now extremely frightened, Ratnadatta, breathing heavily, fell silent. The car had already reached the embankment and was heading towards Battersea Bridge. They crossed it and ran swiftly through the streets on the south side of the river to Barnes Common. Driving across it along a track that led past the cemetery, Barney pulled up in a deserted spot and said tersely, 'Get out.'
'You are mad,' Ratnadatta said again as, quaking with fear, he eased himself out on to the grass. 'Plees, Lord Larne, I do you no harm. Why haf you bring me to this place?'
Barney jumped from the car and came quickly round its bonnet. Grabbing Ratnadatta by the lapel of his coat, he cried in a harsh voice that no longer had the least suggestion of the detective-crazy idiot in it: 'I've brought you here because I mean to beat hell out of you. I know all about your Satanic Temple and the way you act as a tout for it.'
'No! No!' Ratnadatta gasped. 'It ees not true! White Magic! We practise White Magic only. Also I invite only those peoples weech ask to come.'
'You filthy, lecherous, lying swine! You lured Mrs. Mauriac there a week ago. Don't dare to deny it. What did you do to her, eh?'
'Nothing! Not me! I take oath.'
'You're lying!' Barney raised his fist. 'Tell me the truth or I'll smash your ugly face in.'
'Plees! No! No!' wheezed the Indian. 'My neck. I have been struck great blow. It rick my neck. You strike again and it ees too much. Perhaps you kill me, then you hang.'
'So that's why you are wearing that bandage. But don't think a ricked neck is going to protect you from me. I know plenty of ways to make you squirm without killing you.' As Barney spoke he struck the Indian a sharp blow on the muscle of the upper arm with the hard edge of his palm.
Ratnadatta let out a yelp, and Barney went on, 'Now, you are going to tell me the truth or I'll pulp every muscle in your body. Mrs. Mauriac has been absent from her flat for a week. She left it with you, and you took her to that hell-dive where you hold your orgies. I want to know whereabouts in it you are keeping her. You are going to describe the inside of the place to me, so that when I get into it I can go straight to her.'
'She go with me there on Saturday. Yes, I admit. But she haf left it again same night.'
'Stop lying!' Barney struck him a second blow on the muscle.
'I tell no lie!' the Indian gulped. 'This ees truth! I swear so! I take oath! She ees taken away by another member off the Brotherhood.'
'Why? Who was he? Tell me his name!'
'He ees an American. A Colonel off their Air Force.'
'I don't believe you!'
'It ees true. Listen plees, listen.' Ratnadatta began to ring his lands and burst into a spate of words. 'I giff you
