Chapter 25 The Mystery of the Ivory Charm by Carolyn Keene
The Secret of the Charm
“Wait!” Nancy cried frantically. “Rai, you must be out of your mind even to think of such a horrible deed. Don’t you realize that if you harm Coya the authorities will punish you?”
The Hindu paused, his foot on the lower rung of the ladder.
“Rai is safe from all harm,” he returned gravely. “The wonderful Ivory Charm bestows absolute protection.”
“So it was you who stole the lucky piece from my bedroom! I suspected it.”
Rai laughed gloatingly as he significantly tapped his breast to indicate that he wore the charm hidden beneath his shirt.
“Never will I give it away again, for not only does my charm bring good luck to the wearer but it has the power of life and death!”
“What do you mean by that, Rai?”
Again the man laughed softly. “There are many mysteries which may never be revealed.”
“You are hopelessly superstitious if you believe the charm will protect you from the police,” Nancy said, sparring for time. “Miss Allison already has been arrested.”
She knew from Rai’s change of expression that he had not heard this piece of news before. However, he merely said suavely:
“My duty does not change. Coya must die.”
In vain did both Nancy and George plead with Rai, but he paid no heed to their words. He mounted the ladder and vanished into the loft.
“We must do something!” Nancy said desperately, tugging at her ropes. “We can’t let Rai commit this dreadful crime!”
Both girls worked at their bonds until their wrists were cut and bleeding. It was impossible to loosen the ropes.
Overhead, Nancy and George could hear Rai muttering in a sing-song voice, apparently saying a weird incantation over Coya. They could distinguish moans from the boy, and knew that he must be suffering intensely. Then all became quiet.
“Ah!” they heard Rai murmur in triumph, “Coya enters the eternal sleep from which there is no awakening. Only the Ivory Charm can save him now—and I have it.”
“Did you hear what he said?” Nancy whispered to George. “The Charm! If only we could get it, we still might save poor Coya!”
“How can anything save him now?” George asked hopelessly.
“The charm would bring him back to consciousness,” Nancy said, thinking aloud. “I am sure of it. For a long while I have suspected the truth—now I am certain of it. The Ivory Charm guards the secret of life and death!”
“Do you realize what you are saying?” George gasped.
“Yes! It all comes back to me now—what Doctor Stackpole told me about the life-giving fluid sometimes found in the hidden cavities of ancient Indian charms!”
“Nancy, I don’t know what you mean.”
“We must try to get that piece, George. It is our only hope of saving Coya.”
“We’ll never untie these knots. It’s useless to try.”
Nancy would not give up so easily. She strained and tugged until she was exhausted. Tears of disappointment came into her eyes. She tried not to think of poor Coya in the loft above.
“Listen!” George whispered tensely.
“A car in the lane! Perhaps Putnam has brought help!”
George commanded a view of the window, and a moment later whispered excitedly that she could see several men stealing toward the house.
“They look like detectives, Nancy. Let’s call for help.”
“Wait until they are at the door,” Nancy cautioned. “Then all escape will be cut off for Rai.”
A minute later when the plainclothesmen were near by, the girls raised their voices in unison. Alarmed by their cries, Rai came scrambling down from the loft just as the detectives flung open the door.
“Arrest that man!” Nancy cried, pointing to Rai.
The man made a dive for the nearest window but was caught roughly by the shoulder and hauled back. Other detectives hastened to set Nancy and George free.
“Coya is upstairs in the loft,” the Drew girl told the detectives as her ropes were being severed. “This fiend Rai tried to kill him. Even now it may be too late!”
Several of the men rushed to the ladder while Nancy remained for an instant to face Rai.
“Give me the Ivory Charm!” she commanded.
“It will do no good,” Rai whined. “It will not save Coya now.”
“Give it to me!” Nancy repeated, and jerked it from the cord about the man’s neck.
She mounted the ladder to find the group of dejected detectives standing in a semi-circle about Coya, who lay stretched out on a blanket. The lad’s face was colorless and he did not appear to be breathing.
“We found the boy smothered beneath several heavy blankets,” one of the men explained sadly. “I am afraid we have arrived too late. The boy is dead.”
“Dead?” Nancy gasped. “Oh, that can’t be!”
She dropped on one knee beside Coya and placed her ear against his thin chest. She could not hear the beating of his heart; yet it might be that the final spark of life had not been extinguished after all. The Ivory Charm offered the only hope.
Nancy still clutched the tiny elephant piece in her hand. She stared down at it in a puzzled way. If she should break off a tusk to explore the interior, she might lose the precious life-giving fluid should any be contained therein. But she felt that she must take the chance.
While the detectives watched in amazement, Nancy twisted off one of the elephant tusks. She uttered a little cry of triumph and relief. In the cavity of the elephant’s body lay a tiny vial of fluid, light amber in color. Opening it, Nancy forced some of the liquid between Coya’s lips. Then, with a prayer in her heart, she waited.
Minutes passed, and the color began to return to the boy’s face. Soon he stirred slightly, and Nancy knew that now was the time to start artificial respiration.
With a sureness of method that surprised even the detectives, she applied the emergency measures to the prostrate form. At the end of each exhalation she hoped that Coya would resume natural breathing. As the minutes elapsed and this did not occur, Nancy grew anxious. She feared that even with the aid of the magic potion the boy might not recover. Still she continued, never once varying the rhythm of the operation. At last, to her immense relief and joy, Coya began to breath naturally.
“The King will live!” she exclaimed exultingly. “Coya has been saved!”
As Nancy spoke these words the little brown boy opened his eyes and smiled at his benefactress for a fleeting moment. He was still too weak to speak.
“Coya owes his life and his future to you, Nancy,” George, who was standing near by said softly. “By discovering the life-giving fluid you have solved the mystery of the Ivory Charm.”
“Yes, but I am afraid I ruined the trinket by twisting off the elephant’s tusk.”
“The charm can be repaired,” George replied. “But even if that is impossible, it has served its purpose.”
In half an hour Coya had recovered sufficiently so that it was safe to move him to comfortable quarters. Nancy insisted that he be taken directly to her own home and established in the front bedroom.
“This chamber is scarcely elegant enough for a person of royal birth,” she remarked laughingly to Hannah Gruen, “but I know it will seem very comfortable to Coya after all that he has been through.”
“I blush with shame when I think that we allowed him to sleep in the garage room,” the housekeeper returned self-accusingly.
“Coya didn’t mind. It was far better than anything he had while he lived with Rai.”
“I declare, I can’t accustom myself to the idea that the boy is to inherit a throne,” Mrs. Gruen said, shaking her head in a baffled way. “You’re certain there’s no mistake, Nancy?”
“Absolutely none. The documents I recovered give him an iron-clad claim. The British government will aid in deposing Iama Togara.”
“It seems strange, having a rajah in the house,” Mrs. Gruen continued in a tone of awe. “Should I address him as ‘Your Highness?’ ”
“I imagine he would prefer to be called Coya, just as before,” Nancy smiled.
Mr. Drew and the local authorities made every effort to keep the boy’s identity a secret.
Rai and Miss Allison were given speedy trials, and after they both had confessed their guilt, were sentenced to long terms on an island prison. Jasper Batt, a willing tool of the pair, was confined to prison for a shorter period. Peter Putnam, although granted leniency by the court because he had aided in the capture of Rai, was so severely censured by his neighbors that he abandoned his barn-like home and vanished from the state. The treasure deposited at the bank in Miss Allison’s name was confiscated by the government and turned over to a guardian for Coya, from whose family it had been stolen.
Nancy received a pleasant surprise when she learned that she would win the reward posted for information leading to the recovery of the boy king. She was even more thrilled, however, to have Coya, through his Indian guardian, bestow upon her the Ivory Charm.
“The trinket belonged to the boy’s ancestors. I shouldn’t take it,” she protested.
“It is a mere trifle to give to one who has saved his life and his throne for him,” the man returned gravely.
Although the lad had fully recovered from his recent experience, he seemed older and more dignified than before. He remained at the Drew home for a month, during which time he continued to study English under Professor Stackpole. When it was time for him to leave he made a handsome gift to the scholarly tutor.
Meanwhile Carson Drew, through his friend Mr. George, had kept in touch with foreign authorities and was pleased when word came that the way had been paved for Coya’s return to his native land. Iama Togara had fled the country in fear of his life, signing a statement that the handsome little lad was the real heir to the throne. Yet strangely, when the boy learned that he was to sail for the coronation, he did not seem greatly overjoyed.
“I do not want to leave America and my good friends,” he said sadly. His gaze traveled from one to another—Nancy, Mr. Drew, Ned, George and Bess. “If I could take you all with me——”
“I fear that is impossible,” Mr. Drew declared.
“Why is it impossible?” interposed the lad’s guardian. “At least you and your brave daughter could make the trip across the water. Will you not come as our guests? Without you the coronation will have little meaning to Coya.”
“Nancy must decide,” Mr. Drew replied, his eyes twinkling. “Would you like to spend a vacation in India—the land of mystery?”
“She finds enough adventure in this country without sailing across an ocean to encounter one,” Ned cut in quickly. He hoped that Nancy would decline the generous invitation, yet he knew what her decision would be.
“I’m sure I’d love India,” the girl said musingly.
“But it’s so far away,” Ned protested.
“Perhaps,” Nancy agreed, smiling. “But I would go to the very ends of the earth to find another mystery.”
THE END