CHAPTER XXI

Under the Vault

The magician’s reply was startling, to say the least.

“They are no good here to the living,” he replied, “and I doubt if they will do Paul Riker much good after he’s dead. But he’s determined to keep what is his. He would rather burn or bury anything than share it. I know him. Yes, I was the one who had the contents of his house removed. I saw that the forest fire was burning in this direction, and so I hired men to remove his treasures and put them in storage. Call it robbery if you like, but no one knew where he was, and how else could I save them? I noticed the jade collection was not in the house, and decided he must have hidden it somewhere before he went away. And here it is. Do you see that little figure there with the elephant’s head?”

“I see it!” cried Paul, standing on tiptoe. “That’s my favorite next to Rama.”

“Do you know his name, son? That’s Ganesha, the Remover of Obstacles. We’re going to need that little fellow to remove some of the obstacles your uncle Paul is up against. But never forget this. He put those obstacles in his own way. His relatives were welcome here only when he could bend them to his will. It angered him when his nephews refused to follow the Riker tradition and deal in tombstones. They preferred to raise monuments to the living. You two children are a monument to your father, and to your old uncle, too, if only he had the eyes to see it. But no! Everything had to be quiet. He had no use for a business like mine that provides fun and entertainment. Finally he became suspicious of everyone. He’s become a bitter, cruel old man. And yet in a way I loved him. Poor Uncle Paul!”

They stood there under the vault as if Paul Riker were already dead, mourning for him. But suddenly Peter sprang into action. He vaulted up the stairs, taking them three at a time. He was just too late. Judy heard a crash of stone falling against stone. They were imprisoned under the vault!

A shot rang out. Then another and another!

“Peter!” cried Judy. “Are you all right?”

“All right,” he called back in a voice of confidence. “You can trust the forest rangers to get us out of here if we can’t find a way out by ourselves.”

“If the children’s mother had come with us she might have been able to help us,” Judy told the magician. “She says she used to play here with the Riker twins, Philip and Paul. Their uncle chased them out and took possession of the cave. I should have asked her if there’s more than one entrance.”

“There were two,” was the startling reply. “One was the cave of Ravana. Rama would stand at the other entrance calling, ‘O my Sita! Do not give up hope. I will send my faithful Hanumen, king of the monkeys, with a ring for thy finger.’ The ring,” the magician explained in his ordinary voice, “stands for the magic circle of love that never ends, like the love of Rama and Sita.”

“You know the story as well as Helen does,” Judy said quietly, smiling. “You called Mr. Riker Uncle Paul and you knew about the cave. You _must_ be—”

“For the time being, call me Rama,” he interrupted before she could say what she felt sure now must be his name. “I hope I may be the true Rama and that Sita will accept my ring.”

For a moment Judy really felt like Cupid, but she still hadn’t brought the two lovers together. Their predicament took her quickly back to reality. The other entrance to the cave proved to be effectively blocked by an iron door evidently bolted on the outside. After several useless attempts to open it, Peter fired a few more signal shots and then announced that there was nothing to do but wait.

“It’s a good thing we found the jade collection before the thieves did,” he said to the magician. “I doubt if your uncle could have stopped them.”

“He couldn’t have. I’d like to see the whole collection placed in a museum where it would be safe and other people could enjoy it and learn the legends about the different gods and goddesses.”

“I know a lot of them,” announced Paul. “Mom used to tell them to me before Penny began asking so many questions. Maybe Ganesha, the Remover of Obstacles, will remove the stone from over the door. I don’t like being shut down here. Is it all right if I ask him?”

Peter started to protest, but the magician said, “Let him pretend if he wants to. It will keep him from being frightened.”

“Lift me up!” Penny pleaded. “I can’t see anything.”

Judy smiled as she saw the magician lift her and hold her close. She was thinking what a good father he would make. Impulsively she asked, “You aren’t married, are you? I thought at first you were Mr. Dran. I know you live with them.”

“All four of them,” he said. “Mr. and Mrs. Dran and the two children. They keep my house in order and make it more like a home. Their boys are smart little fellows, but they can’t beat these two. Paul, here, knows the names of these pieces almost as well as I do.”

He was pointing them out, one after another, to the children. Not all of them were green. The monkey god was carved out of mottled gray jade, and Ravana, with his many heads, was almost black.

All the idols were small and delicately carved. The largest was the four-headed Brahma, the Creator, sitting on his throne in the center. The Preserver of Life, Vishnu, and the Destroyer, Shiva, were placed on his right and his left. The other jade pieces were variously grouped around them.

Peter pointed out the life god or the Preserver, and his wife, a tiny image. Penny said she looked almost like Sita.

“But where is Rama?” she asked.

“He’s in good hands, thanks to Judy and Peter,” the magician assured both children. “He’s waiting for Sita just as I am. When you see him I hope they will be together.”

“They will be,” Peter said with quiet confidence.

Now little Paul was curious.

“What did Rama look like?” he asked.

He was told that Rama was a green image and carried a sheaf of arrows at his belt. He had been carved in the act of bending a great bow in order to win the hand of Sita.

“What bow shall I bend?” asked the magician.

“I think you’re already bending it,” Judy told him, “in winning the hearts of the children. Do they know who you are?”

She asked this last question in almost a whisper. The children had moved away from them a little and were busy talking to each other about the contents of the case. Peter had let them take his flashlight.

“It’s hard to say what they know,” the magician said in answer to her whispered question. “I think Paul suspects more than he will admit.”

“What about Penny? Does she know?” Judy asked.

“I don’t believe she does,” he replied. “She keeps staring at me with those big blue eyes of hers as if she expects me to vanish any minute. She’s such a little pretender that it’s hard to guess what she’s thinking. Neither of them has called me Uncle Paul. You knew it, of course?”

“After a while,” Judy said, relieved that he had admitted it. “Naturally, it explains a lot.”

There was a lot it didn’t explain, though. Judy was about to question him further when, suddenly, a light fell across the cabinet, and she heard Peter calling her from above.

“The entrance must be clear,” she told the children. “Let’s follow the magician up the steps and see what’s happening above.”

Angry words came down to her. An old man’s voice was raised above the others.

“So you did come back, you thieving rascal! I knew you would! But that jade collection is mine, I tell you! And I mean to keep it!”