"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 141 - The Crystal Buddha" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

Bela Singh reached for the statuette. It glistened as it lay upon his hand.
His darkish palm showed clearly through the crystal. Steadily, Bela Singh
studied the object for a full minute; then gave his verdict.
"If your friend should decide to sell this Buddha," spoke Bela Singh, "he
should ask a price of one thousand dollars. As a fine-cut crystal, it is worth
that amount; no more."
He returned the Buddha to Barbara. The girl smiled as she replaced it in her
hand bag.
"Thank you, Bela Singh," she said, gratefully. "If there is a charge for the
appraisal--"
"There is no charge."
Bowing, Bela Singh turned to the outer curtains. He lifted them for Barbara to
pass through. He watched the girl as she walked to the shop door. Just as she
turned the knob, Bela Singh let the curtain fall.


FROM that instant, Bela Singh's slow motion ceased. With hurried strides, the
Hindu crossed the room; whipping aside the far curtain, he sped through a
second room that was stocked with curios like the first.
He clapped his hands as he neared an obscure door. Two darkish faces popped
into view.
The men were Hindus, like Bela Singh, but of a lesser caste. Their faces were
ugly; their pose showed none of the dignity that marked their master. The pair
evidently understood little English, for Bela Singh babbled rapidly in their
native tongue, gesticulating as he spoke. His graphic expressions referred to
Barbara Brinby.
Bela Singh had spied the dim lights of the taxi waiting on the front street.
It was headed westward, the proper direction on the one-way street; and that
natural situation brought prompt nods from the two Hindus.
They scrambled toward a rear door; Bela Singh watched them take a passage that
led to the rear street.
Listening, Bela Singh heard a motor start from the street in back. A car was
being turned about, as Bela Singh had ordered. His followers were going to
buck traffic on the east-bound street, in order to reach the next avenue as
soon as Barbara's cab.
Calmly, the Hindu paced to the front room of his curio shop. His eyes gleamed
as they studied the curtains through which Barbara had gone. His gaze lowered
to his hand which closed, half-cupped. His hand moved up and down, as though
weighing an imaginary Buddha.
For the first time, Bela Singh's lips formed a smile. Though the price that
the Hindu had named might be the value of the curio that Barbara had shown
him, that Crystal Buddha meant much more than one thousand dollars, to Bela
Singh.


CHAPTER II.
IN CENTRAL PARK.

WHILE Bela Singh was ordering his Hindu servants upon a hurried chase, Barbara
Brinby was meeting with delay. The cab was waiting for her; but when she