Chapter 14
Death Sentence!
When Priya had hid, she couldn’t unfortunately, hide her feet. And that betrayed her. The men were very delighted to find her and got hold of her feet. They dragged her out roughly and were going to make her stand on her feet when they saw the snake around her neck.
Both men sprang away, and the snake who hadn’t liked all this rough handling, uncoiled itself, off Priya neck and glided towards the men. They ran away in a most ridiculous fashion, and the snake came back to Priya.
“Phew!” said Sumit, in relief, coming out and dusting off some dust from his shoulder.
“That was a narrow escape,” said Katrina.
Priya looked at the snake and turned to the other three, “Can’t you put up with my snake now?”
The others looked at the snake doubtfully. They didn’t like to say no, when the snake had saved one of them. It wouldn’t be right.
“All right,” said Harshit, hesitatingly, “we’ll try,” he added.
Sumit and Katrina also said “we’ll try”. And Priya felt sure the three would get used to the snake.
“We’ll give a name to this snake,” said Priya.
“Snaky!” suggested Sumit.
“Hmm…that wouldn’t suit me,” said Priya.
“Slimy!” said Katrina.
“Mm…no,” said Priya.
“I say, it’s Priya’s pet, isn’t it?” ejaculated Harshit, “She ought to name the snake then.”
“All right!” said Sumit and Katrina together.
“So, what’ll you name him, Priya?” asked Harshit.
“What about ‘Striky’?” hesitated Priya.
“Oh!” said Katrina, alarmed, “Will he often strike?”
“Oh no,” said Priya grinning, “But his coat looks striking you know.”
So the snake became Striky.
Now let’s go back in time, and see what had happened to the two men.
After the two foreigners had run for some time, Pip stopped with an ashamed expression on his fierce face.
“Stop Bill!” he said, “we’re acting like cowards!”
Bill stopped and looked ashamed too.
“Good Gracious!” said Bill, “you’re right! Who would think we’re members of a gun-running gang?”
“And to think we’ve pistols, and still ran away when we saw a small snake! Ugh!”
“Come on, let’s go back and capture those four babies over there. Four idiots are not going to defeat our plans.” And Bill gave a determined shake of his head; pulling a pistol out of his pocket as he did so.
Pip also took out a pistol and turned back on his tracks and Bill followed. Soon they could hear the four talking, and Pip slid into the bushes to take the four unawares. Bill at once followed his example, and both crawled along till they could see the children themselves. The Four however, had never expected the two men to come back, and hadn’t noticed the men behind the bushes.
Pip and Bill scowled as Harshit laughed, remarking that the men were regular cowards. “I’ll pay you for that,” muttered Pip, under his breath. The two could stand it no longer, and the two came out of bushes and pointed their pistols at the four.
“Hands up!” growled Pip.
The Four were so astonished that they sat still like statues and forgot to raise their hands.
Bill thought the Four were disobeying his friend, Pip, purposely; so he fired his pistol as a warning, making sure not to hit the Four. The Four raised their hands promptly.
Pip gave a wicked grin, “I see, you’re a bit cheeky lot. You need some rough handling.”
The snake, or rather Striky, shot out from Priya’s neck, and made for the men. “And there’s the siree, which made us run away.”
But the men didn’t run away as before, instead, Pip and Bill aimed at Striky and fired away. Both bullets went wide, by half a centimeter.
Striky stopped for a moment, and then made for the men again. Pip and Bill pointed the pistol at the snake again, but before they could fire, Priya lowered her arms and took Striky, afraid that he might be harmed. She spoke in soothingly, and Striky settled around her neck again.
Bill grinned. “Oh, yes!” he said, “You had better protect that confounded reptile, or there would be a smashed brain of a snake, somewhere around here!”
The two men soon bound the four children, hand and foot. And deposited Striky in a safe sack, which they were going to press between two rocks, with Striky in-between when Priya pleaded, and the men spared the snake’s life. As for Snippet, he was nowhere to be found
The men made the Four march along in front of them and made the Four climb the mountain side with their feet tied. The children’s hands were loosened when the men saw that otherwise they would never reach their destination.
The destination was the top of one of the Andhar-ana-mana Mountains. There, the men and the Four got a good view over the entire valley, inside the “ring”. They saw sadly that due to the blocked entrance, the river had become very thin. The “thin river” had its source from many other streams other than the one which used to flow out of the secret entrance. That’s why the river still existed; only it wasn’t as wide as before.
The children saw the clearing; where the hut stood, without the door. It was the hut into which Priya had locked the men before. The helicopter had disappeared. For the men must’ve come out of the ring on the helicopter, of course; seeing that, the men couldn’t go through the secret entrance now.
The mountain, on the summit of which the children and the men were standing, was queerly shaped. The way they had climbed up, the side outside the “ring”, was very steep, and that “outside side” was filled with pine trees.
The side that was “inside” the “ring” was as steep as a wall. No one could climb down that, no, not even a goat or a monkey. It was as vertical as a wall.
But here and there on the “vertical side” were some trees projecting outward. They would be the only hope if anyone fell over the mountain into the “ring”. Sumit had peered down the “vertical wall” but had suddenly felt dizzy. The two men looked at the children with a wicked gleam in their eyes and said:
“You had better make the most of the few minutes that you’ve before your death.”
The Four gasped. Their hearts stood still as they gazed at the view over the “ring”. Were they really going to be killed? They wished they hadn’t run away. Pip, grinned wickedly and said in a grim voice, “There’s ten minutes before your end.”
Priya’s eyes flashed with anger. Harshit was white in his face but looked “as cool as a superhero” as Sumit afterwards expressed it. Sumit himself was feeling reckless and wanted to bolt with the others. But their feet where tied and their hands had been tightened again after they had reached this summit. Besides his knees were shaking like an electric drill; and he didn’t know if he would be shot down by the men before he escaped. As for Katrina, she was on the verge of bursting into tears.
Priya couldn’t keep still, so she burst out, “You are brutes; and nothing else! If you had a spot of manliness or humanness in you, you would never do this! Beasts!”
Pip said angrily, “Mind your tongue, you wild cat! Or you’ll feel very sorry soon!” and he slapped Priya heavily on her face.
“I’ll say what I please!” retorted Priya, her cheek turning amazingly red, “You’re nasty cowards to slap a helpless girl!” Pip slapped her again on the same cheek, and poor Priya right cheek became as red as a ripe tomato. “Oh!” she screamed, “if only my hands and feet were free! I’d give you some examples of a good fighter’s talents!”
Pip laughed scornfully, and Bill joined in; they pulled out their pistols and showed the two weapons to Priya, as if to say “You can’t fight against those who have pistols”. And Priya knew it was true.
Ten minutes passed by, and all the children had prayed to God hard, to forgive their sins, and to rescue them from these two men if that wasn’t against His will.
Pi
p said looking at his watch, “Time’s up! Now get ready for your doom. We’re going to hurl you down into the ring! Ha! Ha!”
Sumit and Katrina became pale in their faces, Harshit looked cool, and Priya looked a little angry and indignant.
The first to be hurled down was Priya. Priya struggled furiously, but the men threw her into the air, laughing wickedly. Priya unintentionally performed a somersault in the air before disappearing down the vertical side off the mountain. Next was Harshit. He also disappeared into the “ring”. Sumit came forward and fell on his knees before the men and pleaded:
“Oh please, don’t kill Katrina! You may kill me if you like, but don’t kill Katrina! Please!”
Katrina came forward and put a trembling hand on her brother’s shoulders, “Thank you, brother; but I shall die for you.”
The two men exchanged glances. They were almost touched with the love that the brother and sister, standing before them, displayed. But their hard wicked hearts wouldn’t allow it; actually they gave a little laugh!
“All right, boy,” said Pip, after a little whisper in Bill’s ear, “We’ll grant your request.”
Katrina burst into tears. And Sumit put a hand around her shoulders, “Don’t weep, Katrina, I shall be in heaven most likely, so don’t weep. After I’m dead you must go and find Mr. Sonu, he’ll adopt you I’m sure.” Sumit gave his sister a hug and turned to the men, who were grinning wickedly. Somehow Sumit now felt as cool as Harshit had been. The men took Sumit, who didn’t resist and soon only Katrina, Bill and Pip were on the summit on that mountain.
But to Katrina’s astonishment, the men took hold of her and threw her too, saying with a wicked laugh:
“You thought you’ll escape, didn’t you? Ha! Ha!”
And down went Katrina, and the men shouted and yelled in gee. But the Four hadn’t died; God, who sees everything, had rescued the Four. He even turned the misfortune of the Four, as the men considered it, into the Four’s advantage!