CHAPTER 6 MATCHES AND STRING
After Celeste had gone, Lorinda went quickly to the library. Speaking soothingly to her mother, she urged her to go upstairs and lie down.
“That dreadful thing on the steps!” Mrs. Rhett exclaimed with a shudder. “Celeste jerked me back to keep me from walking past it, didn’t she? The charm has an evil significance—perhaps that I shall have a long lingering illness or die.”
“You know better than that, Mother. It’s all superstitious rot! What ever gave you such an idea?”
“Why, I don’t really know, Lorinda. I suppose Hamilton told me about the charm long ago. When I saw it on the step it gave me a deep shock and I seemed to realize that it had been put there for me alone to find. Lorinda, what if it should be a native death charm?”
“Mother, I won’t allow you to even think of such foolishness! You’re just upset because Father isn’t here.”
“Yes, that must be it,” Mrs. Rhett declared with a heavy sigh. “I have such a headache. I’ll go to my room now and try to sleep.”
Lorinda took her arm and helped her up the stairway. As they came to the step where the burnt matches had been, Mrs. Rhett glanced down and shivered. Then she laughed apologetically.
“It really is silly of me to let a little thing upset me so,” she declared. “I’ll be myself again as soon as I have slept.”
After helping her mother into bed, Lorinda returned to the living room where Penny had waited.
“I do hope you won’t put any of this in the paper,” she began earnestly. “People wouldn’t understand.”
“I’m afraid I don’t myself,” said Penny. “For instance, what did Celeste mean when she spoke of the Zudi drum? And who is she anyhow?”
“Oh, I forgot to tell you! Celeste and her husband Antón, are a couple my stepfather brought to this country after spending a year studying ancient cult practices. Celeste befriended him, I believe, and helped him gain information about the tribesmen. Anyway, Father took a fancy to her, and persuaded the couple to come with him.”
“That was before he married your mother?”
“Oh, yes. After the wedding, my stepfather was unwilling to let Celeste and Antón go, so Mother agreed that they might work here. Antón is a worthless servant. He allows the grounds to run down shamefully, and the only time he ever really works is when someone stands over him!”
“And Celeste?”
“Oh, she is a hard worker, but I confess I don’t understand her,” Lorinda replied. “We disliked each other on sight. In a way, I’m a little afraid of her.”
“Why?”
“I can’t explain.” Lorinda stirred restlessly. “She makes me feel uneasy whenever I am near her—almost as if I were in the presence of Black Magic.”
At Penny’s expression of astonishment, she amended hastily: “Oh, I don’t mean that exactly. Celeste is devoted to my stepfather and I’m sure only means to be helpful. But the truth is, she’s steeped in a mysterious and not too wholesome past. Superstition is the breath of life to her.”
“How did the match ends get on the stairway?”
“I wish I knew.” Lorinda’s forehead wrinkled with anxiety. “Celeste may have told the truth when she said neither she nor Antón had anything to do with it.”
“Then how was the charm brought into the house?”
“My stepfather had enemies. Something tells me all this may have a connection with the Zudi drum.”
“Didn’t Celeste suggest that idea to you? She hinted that the drum—whatever it is—should be removed from the house.”
“I can see myself getting rid of the Zudi drum! Why, it is my stepfather’s most prized trophy! He took it from a native tribe, and as you might imagine, there was plenty of trouble!”
“Your stepfather didn’t steal the drum?”
“Not exactly, though tribesmen may have regarded it that way. The drum was used in ceremonials and was highly treasured by natives. Father tried to buy it. When he couldn’t, he left money and trinkets and carried off the drum. Natives pursued him for more than a hundred miles, but he got away.”
“And your stepfather has the drum now?”
“Yes, we keep it in the library wall safe. Want to see it?”
“I’d love to, if it’s not too much trouble.”
“The truth is I want to check to be certain the drum is still here,” Lorinda replied, leading the way into the adjoining room. “What Celeste said made me uneasy.”
“You think your stepfather may have removed the drum from the wall safe?”
“I can’t imagine him doing that. However, his long absence is puzzling, and finding the burnt match charm gives the whole situation a sinister slant. It’s barely possible some of those tribesmen followed him here, hoping to recover the Zudi drum.”
“Why, that seems fantastic!”
“Not if you understand tribal customs. From all my stepfather told me of his experiences, I am sure members of the Zudi cult would stop at nothing in trying to recover their ceremonial drum.”
Penny inquired if Mr. Rhett ever had received threats against his life.
“Oh, dozens of them, but that was years ago. Since he married Mother, I’ve not heard of any. But then, my stepfather was self-contained and rather strange in many ways. If he had received threats, he might not have told her.”
Becoming more interested in the story minute by minute, Penny longed to ask if Mr. and Mrs. Rhett ever had had serious disagreements. However, the question was a difficult one, and she knew of no way to phrase it without risking offense to Lorinda.
“I’d never admit it to Celeste,” the Rhett girl went on, carefully drawing heavy draperies across the arched doorway of the library and closing another door which opened toward the stairs. “But seeing that match and string ouange gave me an unpleasant moment. I’m afraid my stepfather’s enemies may have picked up his trail. In that case—well, the charm really could become an omen of evil.”
“You’re becoming morbid,” laughed Penny. “What is there to fear in two burnt matches tied with a string?”
“Nothing perhaps,” replied Lorinda, though without firm conviction. “Let’s hope the Zudi drum is still here. I wish it had never been brought into the house.”
A large painting of a Dutch windmill hung low on the north library wall. To Penny’s surprise, Lorinda gave one of its long gold cords a jerk. The picture swung back to disclose a cleverly hidden safe.
“Now I hope I haven’t forgotten the combination,” Lorinda murmured.
Thinking a moment, she whirled the dials with an expert touch. The safe failed to open. With an exclamation of annoyance, she tried again. This time there was a sharp little click and as she turned the handle, the circular door swung back.
Lorinda thrust her arm deep into the opening. “It’s here all right!” she exclaimed.
From the safe she drew forth a bowl-shaped drum, perhaps eight inches in diameter at the opening. An animal skin was stretched over the framework and the sides were decorated with symbols.
“This probably is my stepfather’s most valuable trophy,” Lorinda declared. “He treasures it above all else, because there is no other exactly like it. But the drum never should have been taken from the native tribe.”
With her fingers, the girl tapped out a rhythm on the drum. The first three notes were slow and heavy, with a series of triplets coming as a light splutter at the end.
. . . ... . . . ...
. . . ... . . . ...
Penny, who had a keen sense of the ludicrous, began to sway to the jungle rhythm. Lorinda drummed with more energy, and they both burst into laughter.
But suddenly for no apparent reason, the mirth died from Lorinda’s lips and abruptly she ended the tapping.
Tossing the Zudi drum into the wall safe, she closed the heavy door and spun the dials. With another swift movement, she swung the picture into place.
Penny started to speak, but a significant glance from her companion served as a warning to remain silent.
Lorinda darted across the room, and jerked aside the heavy brocade curtains which framed the arching doorway. Crouching behind the protective folds was the same dark-skinned servant who had talked to Penny from the upstairs window!
