Danger at Dahlkari Read Free Page A

teased.
    â€œI do,” she retorted, “I do indeed. They’re quite interesting, but seven days a week? I’m beginning to hate curry, Miss Lauren. I might as well confess it.”
    There was a mournful note in her voice, and I had to smile. Sally was a delightful creature, not quite as tall as I and exceedingly well endowed, a fact her gold and brown sprigged yellow cotton dress did nothing to hide. Her full, rounded bosom strained against the low-cut bodice, and the snug fit emphasized her slender waistline. The full skirt cascaded over flaring cotton petticoats. With her saucy brown eyes and long tarnished gold curls, Sally was indeed a fetching sight, a bit too bold, a bit too earthy to be a suitable companion for Miss Lauren Gray of the Hampton Academy for Select Young Ladies.
    â€œI suppose we’ll get proper English food at Dahlkari?” she said.
    â€œI should think so.”
    â€œNo more of those dreadful chapati, I hope, and I must admit I’ve had enough rice to last me a lifetime. Have you seen Ahmed around?” she inquired abruptly.
    â€œNot recently. Not since we stopped, in fact.”
    â€œI’ve been looking for him. Can’t find him anywhere.”
    â€œI wonder where he could have gone?”
    â€œI don’t know,” she replied wearily. “I wandered a bit behind the boulders, and—Miss Lauren, I saw the strangest thing. There was a gigantic hole, way over there, behind the largest group of rocks.”
    â€œA hole?”
    â€œIt—it looked freshly dug. I thought it most unusual.”
    â€œWhy would anyone want to dig a large hole?”
    â€œI don’t know. It wasn’t all that deep, really, not more than four or five feet, but it was very wide. An elephant could easily curl up in it. Strange—”
    Sally shook her head, a slight frown creasing her brow. All around us there were sounds of camp. Small fires crackled. Pots jangled as the evening meal was prepared, exotic odors wafting through the air. Two bearers were feeding the animals, and in front of his tent Yasmin Singh was giving orders to his servants. The five strangers wandered around the camp separately, more friendly than they had been before. I saw one of them chatting with the men who carried my palanquin, another talking to a servant cooking rice in a bubbling pot. The sky was an ashy gray now, and on the horizon streaks of dark crimson-orange glowed fiercely, gradually fading. Twilight was beginning to fall, a slight blue haze thickening in the air, and the intense heat was, thankfully, over.
    â€œWhy were you looking for Ahmed?” I asked.
    â€œI wanted him to show me those ruins in the jungle. There’s a crumbling old temple, he said, all covered with vines and adorned with the most unusual carvings. There used to be a city there, hundreds of years ago, but the temple’s all that’s left now.”
    â€œAhmed told me about it. It sounds fascinating.”
    â€œI had my heart set on seein’ it,” she said, peeved. “Now why would he disappear like that, the rascal? Truth to tell, Miss Lauren, Ahmed’s been acting a bit—well, cheeky of late. Like he can take liberties just because I’m friendly .”
    â€œI expect you’d best watch yourself,” I told her. “Ahmed isn’t like the others. He—he’s not English. The natives have very definite ideas about women, about—”
    â€œDon’t I know it,” Sally interrupted. “He’d like to ravish me and toss me into a harem or seraglio or whatever they call ’em in India. It’s quite exciting, of course, but, all the same, there’s something a bit frightening about it. He does look a dream with those glorious dark eyes and that enchanting grin, but—” She paused, searching for words.
    â€œAhmed isn’t quite the uncomplicated youth he appears to be,” I supplied.
    â€œYou got that impression,