Chapter 2 The Mystery of the Ivory Charm by Carolyn Keene
An Ivory Charm
The Drew girl, temporarily paralyzed with fear, uttered no sound as the huge snake, which had escaped from a nearby circus box to take refuge in the tree, wound itself about her body. Then, recovering slightly from the shock, she made a desperate though futile effort to free herself from its tightening coils.
George and Bess, horrified at the sight, looked frantically about for weapons with which to fight off the reptile, all the while pleading with Rai to go to the aid of their chum.
The Indian’s eyes bulged with superstitious fear. Instead of hurrying to Nancy’s assistance he dropped down upon his knees in a state of half-trance, and in a sing-song voice began an incantation in his native tongue.
“Stop that chanting and help us!” Bess cried in distress, striking as hard as she could at the snake with a sharp stick.
George looked desperately up and down the track, shouting for assistance. Little Coya, hearing her voice, came on a run to learn what was wrong. At one glance he took in the situation and darted away again.
George and Bess feared that the boy had been terrified at sight of the snake, but a moment later he returned with an older man. The latter, Harold Blunt, who handled the reptiles for the circus, knew exactly what to do. With Coya’s assistance he quickly freed Nancy and boxed up the dangerous reptile.
Nancy’s nerves were so shattered from the ordeal that with a little gasp she sank down on the grass. Her face was quite white, but she laughed shakily as Bess and George rushed to her side.
“Are you badly hurt?” Bess inquired anxiously.
“I’m not hurt at all. Only frightened. It really was nothing.”
“Nothing!” George cried. “Why, it’s a wonder you’re alive, and you call it nothing!”
“I only meant that I’m quite all right now. I know I owe my safety to Coya.”
She looked about for the Indian lad.
“He disappeared very quickly,” she said with regret. “I wanted to thank him.”
Harold Blunt, who had finished crating up the snake, came over to talk with Nancy and make certain that she had not been injured. Secretly he was alarmed for fear that she might intend to sue the circus for alleged damages, and was greatly relieved at the matter-of-fact way in which she regarded the incident.
“I can’t tell you how sorry I am that you were subjected to such an ordeal,” he said sincerely. “The snake is not fully grown and I doubt that he could have injured you seriously. Still, the shock must have been great.”
“I was a little startled when the reptile dropped down out of the tree,” Nancy smiled. “It seemed as if Rai’s dreadful prediction about my future might come true!”
At mention of the Indian’s name attention was directed toward his kneeling figure. Although the danger was past, he continued to mutter and chant and make strange motions with his arms.
“Snap out of it, Rai!” Harold Blunt called sharply. “The snake won’t get you now!”
Slowly the fortune teller arose and came toward the little group.
“A reptile will kill with a look of the eye,” he muttered. “So it has been written and so it is.”
“Nonsense!” Harold Blunt interrupted impatiently. “I’ve taken care of snakes all my life and such talk is sheer superstition.”
Rai did not appear to hear this remark. His dark eyes fastened upon Nancy with an expression of awe and worship.
“You have supernatural powers,” he said in a hoarse whisper. “It was that power which saved you from the reptile.”
“It was the snake’s owner who saved me,” the girl corrected.
She turned impatiently away from Rai, but he plucked at her sleeve.
“Wait! I shall bestow upon you a gift—a wonderful charm. By so doing my own fortune will improve. So it is written.”
The mention of a charm whetted Nancy’s curiosity, and although the entire scene had grown distasteful to her, she could not resist waiting to learn the nature of the promised gift.
From a black velvet cord about his neck Rai withdrew a small white object. He held it for a moment in his closed fist, muttering a few unintelligible words. Then solemnly he offered it to Nancy.
She stared down at the little token. A tiny carved elephant in pure ivory! She did not make the mistake of believing that it was a cheap, crudely made trinket. Rai, in the superstitious belief that she was endowed with remarkable powers, had given her one of his choice possessions. It was a very old piece, an odd charm which hinted of a mysterious past.
Nancy’s blue eyes sparkled with interest as she slowly turned the tiny elephant in her hand. How she loved mystery!
The girl had never considered herself as an amateur detective, yet in a way such a role had been forced upon her. Her first “case” had developed when her father, Carson Drew, a famous criminal lawyer, had been too busy to investigate the strange actions of the Topham family. Nancy took up the matter herself, and in the initial volume of this group of stories, entitled “The Secret of the Old Clock,” the reader learns of the clever girl’s first experience in the field of mystery.
By nature Nancy was courageous and resourceful. Left motherless at an early age, she had developed an amazing ability to fight her own battles in the world. Hannah Gruen, the family housekeeper, declared that her young mistress’s love of mystery would surely prove her undoing in the end, but the girl had demonstrated more than once that she had a natural aptitude for detective work.
A queer bungalow, a rambling old ranch and a mysterious inn provided background for Nancy’s sleuthing abilities. Her most recent adventure, related in the volume “The Message in the Hollow Oak,” carried the girl to the Canadian woods. There, while trying to protect her property, she encountered several strange characters, persons determined to steal her land and bring misfortune upon her friends.
Bess and George, who were cousins, lived in the same neighborhood at River Heights. They were proud to have shared in their chum’s Canadian adventure. Now as they noticed Nancy’s excitement upon viewing the ivory charm, they suspected that she was deeply intrigued by its suggested mystery.
“The token is beautiful, Rai,” Nancy murmured in awe. “But I fear it is too expensive a piece for me to keep.”
“No, it is for you,” the man from India insisted. “It is my wish that you wear it.”
“Tell me, has the charm any particular story or significance, Rai?”
The man smiled mysteriously.
“It has a story which fades far back into the past—a strange tale of a little known, mystic province of India. This charm was once a prized possession of a great ruler—a Maharajah who is said to have been endowed with supernatural powers.”
“And if I wear the charm, will these powers pass to me?” Nancy asked jokingly.
The strange man replied soberly. “The charm will so endow you. And since I have bestowed the gift upon you, my own fortune should change for the better.”
“I scarcely know what to say——”
“I advise you to make up your mind quickly, Nancy!” George interrupted. “Our train is coming!”
“I’ll keep the charm,” the Drew girl decided instantly. “Thank you for it, Rai.”
Bess and George were running toward the railway station. With the carved elephant clutched tightly in her hand, Nancy darted after them. The girls gathered up their luggage and boarded a coach only a few seconds before it pulled out from the station.
“Imagine nearly losing our train after waiting for it all this time!” Bess gasped, as she dropped into the first available seat.
Nancy was peering from the window.
“I wish I could have talked with Coya before we left, girls. He disappeared so quickly that I didn’t have an opportunity to thank him for what he did.”
“He was an interesting little fellow—so bright and alert,” Bess added. “It seems a shame that he has such a cruel father.”
“I was amazed when Rai called Coya his son,” Nancy admitted, settling herself comfortably for the ride to River Heights. “Somehow Coya seems of much finer quality.”
“Well, at least Rai did you one good turn,” George laughed. “Even if he didn’t save you from the snake, he gave you an interesting gift.”
Nancy nodded and offered the ivory charm for her chums’ inspection. Now that the girls had ample time to look at the carved elephant, they were even more impressed with its workmanship.
“You’re the luckiest creature I’ve ever known, Nancy!” Bess sighed enviously.
“I earned the charm, I think. Having a snake drop down and give one a playful squeeze isn’t exactly my idea of hilarious fun!”
“Nor mine,” Bess agreed. “No, you’re welcome to the gift. I don’t crave it in the least.”
“It may bring you bad luck instead of good, Nancy,” George commented thoughtfully. “Do you really intend to wear it?”
“I haven’t thought much about it yet. Of course I don’t believe all that nonsense Rai was telling us.”
“Not even about the mystical ruler?” Bess inquired.
“That part might be true. I haven’t any faith that this charm will endow me with supernatural powers.”
“I hope not,” George chuckled. “You’re efficient enough now!”
The girls were still discussing the bit of ivory when the conductor came through the car to collect tickets. He chatted for a moment with Nancy and her friends as he noted their destination, then passed along the aisle.
Presently, hearing a commotion at the rear of the car, the girls looked back to see what was wrong. The conductor was engaged in dragging forth a protesting boy who had hidden beneath one of the seats at the very end of the coach.
“Someone seems to be trying to steal a ride!” George observed.
Then the three girls gasped in amazement for they recognized the culprit as Coya, the Indian lad.
“You can’t ride without a ticket!” the conductor told him angrily. “Either pay or off you go!”
“I can’t pay,” the boy answered in a frightened voice. “I have no money.”
“Then off you go!”
Nancy had arisen from her seat at the front of the car. Coya’s eyes fastened upon her and a hopeful light flashed over his worried face. Eluding the conductor’s grasp, he darted toward her.
“Please, Missee, save Coya!” he pleaded pathetically. “Don’t let them send me back to my cruel father!”