Free The Deceivers by John Masters

men digging. The patel pushed away the mouthpiece. ‘That man with the twisted neck, sahib -- I think he is the key to this. I wish we knew more about him.’
    ‘Yes.’ William thought back. ‘All we know is that he’s a Mohammedan, if this Ali is his brother. Besides, the Sikh said he was, supposing your theory’s right, and he is the fellow who accompanied the Sikhs as far as the grove and then vanished. But’ -- he stopped and put his head in his hands -- ‘all the murderers were calling on Ali as their brother, and they were certainly all not Mohammedans. The fat man was a Hindu, a chaudhri.’
    ‘You know, sahib,’ the patel said quietly, ‘sometimes people use the word “brother” as a greeting to a friend.’
    ‘Yes, of course. Well, this lopsided man -- the Sikh suggested he was a jewel carrier.’
    ‘Ah, that’s very interesting.’
    In the preceding sixty years of anarchy, jewels, especially diamonds, had increasingly taken the place of other currency. As the gem market fluctuated in different parts of India, bankers and brokers sent jewels around the country. They employed professional jewel carriers for the purpose. Although scores had died or been robbed on the road, no one had ever heard of a jewel carrier betraying his craft.
    Chandra Sen continued, ‘Do you think he saw through your honour’s -- h’m -- disguise?’ He handled the words like delicate china.
    ‘I don’t know. He might have. He seemed to suspect I wasn’t Gopal.’
    ‘Men of that profession survive only by keeping their eyes open. But they usually also keep their mouths shut.’ The patel sighed lightly and called to the diggers, ‘Have you found anything yet? How deep are you?’
    ‘Three feet and more, patel-ji, and nothing yet. The earth hasn’t been turned here though, not for a long time.’
    William set his face and limped to the edge of the hole. As he watched, a man swung down with his hoe. The earth came away cleanly and showed white beneath. Men ran up and crowded round the hole. The earth flew; every few minutes fresh diggers jumped down to- replace the men in the pit.
    They handled the bones reverently as they uncovered them and placed them out in a row on the grass. William stared down at them with a sense of fright. These bones were dead and grey-white, picked clean by worms and ants. The diggers found vestiges of cheap leather shredded into the soil; and discoloured patches of cloth, already half earth, which crumbled at the touch; and five cold skulls; but no hair, no skin, no flesh.
    The sun beat down. Sweat ran down the diggers’ backs. Their faces were strained, for this was the desecration of an ancient grave, perhaps, that they were committing. In times of great calamity, or after battles, when the survivors had no leisure to cut the wood and no oil to make the wood burn, Hindus were sometimes buried in common graves like this.
    Chandra Sen’s face was solemn. ‘These died a long time ago.’
    Plague might have done it, or cholera, or smallpox, or famine, or war. William wiped his forehead. He had a splitting headache and sat down suddenly to ward off an attack of vertigo. He must go on and find out.
    He said, ‘Get all your men, Chandra Sen. Dig up everywhere. Dig up the whole grove, especially where there are the marks of old fires.’
    For a long moment the patel hesitated. The expressions of the men working set sullenly. At last the patel bowed his head. ‘It is an order.’ The digging began again.
    The eight mounted police from Madhya arrived in a loud clatter. They were all the police William had for the whole district, and they were in reality only semi-trained cavalrymen, with little knowledge of police duties. He sent them out at once to search the roads for the merchant and his companions and the lopsided man.
    An hour later Mary came. She slipped down from the saddle, gave the reins to her groom, and walked towards him. He got up quickly and hobbled over, holding out his hands.