Chapter 23

BALKIS

For a moment or two Eustace and the negress eyed one another. He was admiring her shapely form and stately bearing. Although black, she was comely, and in spite of the character given to her by Miss Cork, _alias_ Mrs. Burl, looked a good-natured creature in the main, although Jarman granted that she could be furious when aroused. On the evidence of the tartan ribbon, he wondered if she had been lurking in Mrs. Betts's kitchen on that fatal day, and whether she had killed the man she professed to love.

On her side Balkis was--as the Americans put it--sizing up her visitor. Her customers were for the most part Lascars, Malays, Chinamen, and sailors. But occasionally a gentleman from the West End would come to her respectable house to smoke a sly pipe of opium. Some even came to gamble, and Balkis was wondering if this well-looking man was a smoker or a gambler. She waited for him to speak, being shrewd and not caring to venture an opinion until she knew precisely what his business was.

"Do you know an old man called Tamaroo?" asked Eustace, suddenly.

Balkis looked at him serenely. "I never heard of him," she said.

Jarman noticed that she spoke almost as well as Tamaroo himself, and wondered that, within so short a space of time, he should come into contact with two educated members of the African race.

Evidently she was on her guard, so Eustace tried another shot.

"I was directed to this house by Mrs. Burl," he said.

This time Balkis showed emotion, and, to speak truly, became rather ferocious.

"She's a bad woman. An ungrateful woman! I saved her and her child from starving, and she--"

"She threatened to betray you," finished Jarman, serenely.

Balkis stared, and looked still more unpleasant. "There is nothing wrong that she could say. If you belong to the police you've wasted your time. I am quite respectable."

"Even to keeping those secret gambling-rooms?"

"What!" She glared at him like a tigress. "Burl told you that, did she, and after my telling her where to find Tilly?"

"After taking away Tilly from her for years," said Jarman, calmly.

"You know a great deal of what does not concern you," said Balkis, placing her hands on her hips, "and if you've come to threaten, I am quite able to defend myself. There's no gambling here, and no secret rooms. If you want a clean mat and a pipe you can have it. I have never been in trouble with the law yet."

Eustace produced the piece of ribbon. "Do you know where I found this?" he asked, dangling it between finger and thumb.

"You bought it, I suppose," she said quietly.

Eustace shook his head. "Observe, it is of the same pattern as your dress--as the ribbon you wear round your neck."

"What's that to do with me?"

"Simply this. It belongs to you, and was lost in a house in Sand Lane, Kensington, where a--"

Balkis made a step towards him, and her big eyes rolled savagely. "Why are you talking like this?" she asked hoarsely.

"If you know Tamaroo he will tell you."

"Tell me yourself, mister."

"There's no reason why I should not. I have come here for certain information, and I don't go away till I get it."

"Information about what?" she demanded unpleasantly.

"About certain people whom you know. Captain Berry, his niece, Tamaroo, and Lancaster."

"Lancaster--the wretch who murdered my Walter!" cried Balkis, with a tragic air. "See here, mister, I have men below--foreign men, who carry knives. At a word from me they'd cut your tongue out."

"At the risk of having a hole drilled through them," said Eustace.

Balkis seemed disconcerted, as she apparently did not expect that he would be armed. "Who are you--your name?"

"Eustace Jarman."

To his surprise Balkis made a clutch at his hand, and shook it warmly. "Why didn't you say so before? Where do you live?"

"In Essex--at Wargrove."

"Who had you for housekeeper?"

"Miss Cork, who now is Mrs. Burl."

Balkis clapped her huge hands. "You're the right man. I expected you would come and see me."

"You expected me?"

"Yes. Tamaroo told me you would come, sooner or later. And then I heard of you in 'Frisco. Mrs. Anchor! Eh?" said Balkis, archly.

"Oh, so you don't come from Zanzibar?"

"Who said I did?"

"Walter Starth told Lancaster."

The face of the negress grew sad. "Yes, I told Walter that, for--for reasons with which you have nothing to do. Well, what do you come to me for, Mr. Jarman?"

"To see if you are the friend or the enemy of Berry?"

"I am neither the one nor the other," she said frankly. "I knew him in San Francisco, and in Jamaica. He is a sailor, and found me out through following my Walter."

"Why did he follow him?"

"I can't tell you that yet," she said suspiciously. "Walter came here to smoke. He was fond of a pipe. He met Captain Berry up West, and Berry followed him here. Then we recognised one another, and good old Banjo often came here to smoke a pipe. But why do you ask these questions?"

Eustace reflected. She appeared to be frank, and certainly did not side with Berry to any great extent. He thought it best to trust her, for even if she made use of the information he gave her it would not benefit her in any way.

"You loved Walter Starth?" asked Eustace.

The big negress, who had been standing, dropped into a chair.

"With all my soul!" she said vehemently. "Ah, you think because I am black that I have no feelings. But I did love him. He was going to marry me--yes. I am rich, and I could have bought him."

"You certainly gave him your photograph," said Jarman; "but if you come from America, how did you write those Arabic words?"

"I did not. It was a Malay who wrote them for me. I wanted Walter to think that I came from Zanzibar. I did not want him to know anything about San Francisco."

"Why not?"

"I sha'n't tell you. I have my own secrets. Again I ask why you question me in this way?"

"Because I am a friend of Lancaster's, and I want to prove his innocence."

"He is not innocent!" cried Balkis, with a lowering brow. "He killed my Walter. Tamaroo says he did not, and I have not made up my mind to harm him yet."

"Harm who--Tamaroo?"

"No; the man Lancaster. I can get rid of him in my own way."

"I see. You have something to do with Obi."

Balkis shuddered, and her face turned grey. "Hush! Say not that dread name," she said, looking round fearfully. "Why do you, a white man, talk of Obi? You are not of us--you know nothing of the fetish."

"No; but I have travelled in the West Indies. You know how to prepare the poisons that are used in connection with Obi"--again the negress shuddered--"so you propose to get rid of Lancaster by giving him poison. Well, that is better than being hanged. But how are you going to get Lancaster here? He has disappeared."

"I know how to get him when I want," said Balkis, sulkily. "Tamaroo is his friend, and Tamaroo also loves the fetish."

"Not to such an extent as to make Lancaster over to you for you to practise your devilish arts on him," said Eustace, indignantly. "Or do you intend to put him into your secret rooms, and get rid of him as you would rid yourself of the police did they raid the place?"

"Burl again!" said the woman, with a snarl, and showing a magnificent set of white teeth. "She told you a lot. If I get her here again she will have the chance of seeing how I can rid myself of those I do not like." She paused, then said abruptly: "There are no rooms."

"That means you don't trust me yet," said Jarman, feeling in his pocket. He determined as a last resource to make use of the letter written by Fairy Fan. For this moment had he procured it. "Did Starth love you?" he asked, looking at her.

"Yes. He was going to marry me. But he was killed, and I shall avenge his death. If Lancaster killed him Lancaster shall die."

Jarman spoke plainly. "Do you know Miss Berry? Well, she also loved Starth, and he promised to marry her."

Balkis gave a yell like that of an enraged lioness. "It is not true--not true," she said, in guttural tones. "A lie! A lie! A lie!" She danced and stamped as she reiterated the word. "He loved me, and me only! He said so! He was to marry me."

"He was to marry Miss Berry. Here is the proof," and Eustace handed her the letter, which she snatched from him eagerly.

To arouse the jealousy of Balkis had he got this letter written, and had put it to a use which Fairy Fan never expected, or she certainly would not have written it. Eustace guessed that a semi-civilised creature like Balkis would be insanely jealous, and that if she found the man she loved adored another woman would make short work of that woman. Had Balkis been on the side of the Berrys, Jarman hoped to detach her from their interests by means of this letter. But Balkis apparently cared neither one way nor the other. Still, to make her talk more freely, it was worth while trying the experiment. The ruse was successful, for the great black creature after reading the letter went fairly mad.

"She shall die--she shall die!" was her cry, and again she stamped, crushing up the letter in her strong fingers. If Fairy Fan now came within reach of those fingers Eustace thought she would have short shrift. But he was not sorry. The crimes of Mrs. Anchor needed some such punishment.

Suddenly Balkis thrust the letter into her pocket, and seizing Jarman's hand kissed it savagely. "You are my friend. I swear by you! I will do what you want," she said hoarsely.

"Then tell me who killed Starth."

"I cannot--unless it was Lancaster. Tamaroo says no; but, then, he is the friend of Lancaster."

"How did you meet Tamaroo?"

"I knew him in San Francisco. He also is Obi-worshipper. He knew I was here in London, and when he came he visited me. I told him all I knew about Captain Berry."

"Did Tamaroo come after Starth died?"

"No. A week before he died."

Eustace thought. Tamaroo said that he arrived after the death, and in that way explained his inability to find Frank. But it seemed that he was really in town beforehand. "Did Tamaroo know Starth?"

"No," said Balkis. She paused and looked questioningly. "You heard of the Scarlet Bat?" she asked.

"Yes. Tamaroo told me all about it."

"Ah!" Balkis drew a long breath. "Me also he told, and how Berry wished for the money. He learnt that Berry came here, and asked questions. I told him all. When he heard that Berry knew my Walter he said he would go to Walter to hear more of him. I told him the house, and sent that ribbon with Tamaroo so that Walter might know he came from me."

"Oh, then Tamaroo was in the house when the murder was committed?"

Balkis looked queerly at him. "Tamaroo did not kill my Walter," she said. "If he had, I should have killed him." And, although Jarman urged her to say more, she declined to do so.

Then he thought of the likeness remarked upon by Jenny between Mr. Darrel and Balkis. "Do you know a man called Darrel?"

"I do. He comes from Jamaica. Why should I tell you a lie. He is a cousin of mine."

"I thought so," said Jarman, drawing a deep breath.

"Yes. He has our blood in him. He comes here at times, but he never calls me cousin. He thinks himself white, but he has our blood."

"Well, Balkis, you know now how Miss Berry has treated you."

"I shall kill her!" said Balkis, gnashing her splendid teeth; "and I know how to kill her painfully."

Jarman shuddered, so ferociously did she make this speech. He thought he would not like to offend this creature. "And you will help me to save Lancaster," he said eagerly--"to save him and baffle the Berrys?"

"I do not know," she said sullenly, and heaved herself up from the chair. "If he is innocent he shall not die. If not, he shall die. Come!"

"Where will you take me?" asked Eustace, following her to the door, but feeling in his hip pocket that his revolver was loose.

"To my secret rooms," said Balkis, looking back with a grin.

"Ah, then Mrs. Burl is right. You have secret rooms."

Balkis nodded, and led him down a long passage.

"And I can kill in them," she said in a matter-of-fact tone. "But not you. You are my friend." She grinned again. "I shall let you see that woman die if you like."

Jarman shuddered again at the venomous tone, and in spite of his courage felt a trifle nervous. However, he had his revolver, and, if it came to the worst, resolved to fight. Now that he had launched himself into the adventure he was resolved to carry it through. He had promised Mildred to save Frank, and this was the only way to do it. Balkis could tell the truth, and he wished her to do so.

The negress led him to a trap door, and they descended to find themselves in a long stone passage. At the end of it was an iron door, which she opened. Eustace was conscious of a blaze of light, and in the glare saw--of all people--Tamaroo and Frank Lancaster!