part0028

One of the Forest Guards had already deserted. That left the Forester and four others to be reckoned with. The Forester was a Tamilian. He was a comparatively old man, mild-natured and on the eye of retirement like

Neville Gardener himself, and seemed to wield little or no influence over his underlings. Of the four Guards, one was a Muslim, another an Indian Christian, and the remaining two were men from Kanara, of Konkan extraction.

The initial attack was to be directed on the sandalwood storeroom, a large godown-like structure about sixty feet square, with a roof of round tiles and a stone flooring to keep out the white-ants. The sandalwood felled in the surrounding jungles, was a great value to the Government, being used for the extraction of an essential oil that formed the base in many makes of toilet requisites. It was safe to say that the value of wood in storage just then approached one-hundred thousand rupees!

That was why the rebels wanted to burn it, their objective was to inflict loss upon the Government, and Neville Gardener and his daughter determined to prevent this destruction at any cost.

The Range Officer summoned the Forester and the four Guards to his verandah and bluntly asked if they were prepared to help him to protect the wood from being destroyed. There was no answer at first as the five men silently weighed the pros and cons of saving the sandalwood. In their minds, it all boiled down to this. Which party was going to emerge victorious from the struggle that was being wages throughout the country. Would it be the British Government or the Nationalist Party?

If they helped the arsonist and the Government gained the upper hand, they could expect dismissal or jail. At the very least, if they helped the Government but the Britishers eventually collapsed and left the country, they would be abandoned to the mercies of the revolutionists and would probably lose their jobs any-how, if not their lives.

Eventually the Muslim and the Indian Christian volunteered to help, but the Forester and the remaining two men, after some more hesitation, said it would be too dangerous.

Gardner ordered these three individuals to go to their quarters and lock themselves inside, with a warming that if he saw them assisting those who were coming to set fire to the sandalwood, he would see that they were severely punished.

With no comment, they walked to their respective houses. It was 10 o’clock, with yet another three-and-a-half hours to go before the rebels would arrive. Gardner brought his Paradox and June her Springfield rifle and they took up their positions along with the two loyal Forest Guards in front of the godown.

Exactly at 1:20 a. m. they heard the throbbing of a motor-car, it stopped at short distance away. That fact betrayed the identity of the occupants. Had it been the police, they would have driven right up to the chowki. The arsonists had arrived but did not want their presence to be discovered as they hoped to make the attack a complete surprise.

Doubtless by now, the traitorous guard, Kunji Nair had met the party and was leading them to their objective.

Ten minutes of utter silence passed.

Then three figures detached themselves from the wall of trees that bordered the clearing in which the storerooms had been constructed and commenced to advance furtively towards the little building.

"Halt! Or I'll shoot" Gardner barked in English, at the same tune pressing the button of the electric torch he carried.

The beam shone forth to clearly reveal the miscreants. The leader was the missing Forest Guard.

"What are you doing here, Kunji Nair?" the Ranger asked, now speaking in Malayalam, "the game is up and we know all about your plot. I shall see you get jail for this".

The Guard did not answer. He stood still while his two companions hesitated.

"Come here at once", Gardner ordered.

The terrified man began to approach. He halted when he was a few feet away.

"What do you mean by leading these people to this place?" the Ranger thundered. "Don't you know it's your duty to protect the Government's property?"

Kunji Nair did not answer.

At that moment, the old man's attention was diverted by a red glow that came from their own quarters.

Simultaneously, June saw it.

"Dad, someone has set fire to our house" she gasped, and started towards the glare.

But Neville Gardner stopped her. "Don't go", he called quickly, "it's only a ruse to draw us away from here. This godown is their real objective. "It may also be a move to separate us", he went on hurriedly. "If we are together when they attack, we can stop them. Doesn't matter about our house but we dare not move from here".

No doubt her father was right and had seen through the clever maneuver in time.

The glare grew brighter and spread into the open sky. The reflection danced eerily against the dense phalanx of encircling trees.

At that moment, from the darkness ahead a voice barked the command, "Fire"

They heard a ragged Volley of rifle-shots and then there was silence except for the crackling of the flames and the popping sounds that came as the sparks showered heavenwards.

The police had come to their rescue!

They had seen the glare of the flames from half-a - mile away. Ted had halted the jeep a furlong distant and advanced with his policemen. In the flickering firelight, he had observed the figures of the rebels as they moved to and fro, starting fresh conflagrations and on his own responsibility had opened fire on them.

June and the two Guards ran to the burning bungalow, while Gardner followed with his three prisoners. There they were joined by John Greystone, the D.S.P., and the policemen.

Between them they managed to throw out such of the Gardners' belongings as had not yet been consumed. There were no fire-extinguishers or other appliances to meet such an emergency. What water had been stored for the personal use of the Range Officer and June was now sloshed upon the flames, while three policemen feverishly drew more from the well nearby, a bucket at a time. As soon as this reached the top it was emptied into their zinc bathtub which had been retrieved from the bathroom, and thrown over the flames together with sand, scraped from the ground in handfuls.

By these primitive methods, the fire was eventually brought under control, but not before half of the Gardners' quarters had been gutted.

John went up to June and asked, "Are you alright, June?", and to her father, "and you, too, Mr. Gardner?"

With a little thrill of pleasure, she realised that he had addressed her for the first time by her Christian name. But perhaps he didn't mean anything by it. He was excited and just blurted out the first words that came to his mind.

With a smile the Range Officer replied, "We're okay. Thank you and Mr. Baker for coming to our-rescue".

Everyone had been too busy to worry about the arsonists and it was assumed they had fled when the police had fired on them. Apparently, nobody had been hit.

Kunji Nair made a clean breast of matters, and state that Chacko had sent a messenger three days; earlier to him, asking him to assist by leading the incendiaries to the sandalwood storeroom. He admitted that he had later been asked to help in murdering old Gardner and abducting his daughter. But this plan had apparently not come from the Party members themselves, Kunji Nair thought. From the manner in which Chacko had drawn him aside and told it to him, he gained the impression that it was the leader's own scheme.

He owned up to having been promised promotion when the British were ousted, but for his assistance in the murder of the Range Officer and the kidnapping of June,

Chacko had offered him a hundred rupees. The Inspector, who had accompanied the party of armed policemen in the van, meticulously recorded all Kunji Nair's statements. He was placed under arrest together with the two men who had accompanied him, and hustled inside the Maria to be taken to Nilambur for further questioning.