Six Suspects by Vikas Swarup Read Free Book Online Page B

nautilus shells, bows and arrows
and pieces of multi-coloured cloth. There was a wooden pan on
the ground full of strips of dried boar and snake meat. A crackling
fire burnt in the far corner in another earthen vessel. Nokai sat in
the centre of the hut on a majestic tiger-skin rug, believed to have
been a gift from the King of Belgium, whom he had once cured of
the usually fatal black water fever. The earthen pot was lying in
front of him, licked clean.
    The medicine man peered at them with his hollow eyes. They
glinted like pools of water in the near-darkness of his hut. 'Why
have you come to bother me?' he demanded gruffly.
    'Our race is in trouble, Wise One,' Melame replied. 'Our wild
pigs have disappeared, turtles have become as scarce as the
dugong, and our tribe members are dying like flies. Talai was
the third one to go. Why are the spirits angry with us?'
    'All this is happening because you lost the ingetayi ,' Nokai said
sternly. 'The sea-rock was a gift from our greatest ancestor Tomiti.
It was engraved by Tawamoda, the first man. As long as we had the
sacred rock, we were protected. Even the deadly tsunami caused
no damage to our tribe. On the contrary, we were blessed by a girl
child. It is only since the ingetayi disappeared that our tribe has
fallen on hard times. How could you allow our most sacred relic
to be stolen?'
    'I really don't know, Wise One,' Melame replied sheepishly.
'We kept the sea-rock hidden deep inside the Black Cave at the
far edge of the creek. None of the inene ever ventures that far. It
is a mystery who could have taken it.'
    Nokai gave another burp, groped about amongst the bones,
rattles, charms and sea shells scattered across the tiger-skin rug,
and came up with a large pearl oyster shell. 'Look at this,' he said.
'Once this was a living body, but today it is just a dead, empty
shell. How? Because the spirit which resided in this shell has
gone. Puluga resided in the ingetayi . When the ingetayi left
Gaubolambe, Puluga left the island too. Now we are without his
protection. The friendly spirits are angry with us for letting our
God go. They are the ones causing all this havoc, these deaths. It
is the curse of the onkobowkwe . Naturally, the person who stole
the sacred rock will also be cursed. The spirits will not spare him,
but they will not spare us either, for allowing the ingetayi to be
stolen.'
    'So what do we do? How do we save ourselves?' Pemba asked.
    'There is only one way. Someone will have to go and recover
the sacred rock,' Nokai replied.
    'But for that we must first find out who has taken the ingetayi ,
and where it is residing now,' Melame said. 'Only you can help us
locate it.'
    'Yes, Nokai will help you locate it.' The medicine man nodded.
'But in return I want enough turtle meat to last me the rainy
season, a big pot of honey and at least five nice pig skulls.'
    'Granted, Wise One. Now just tell us who has the sacred
stone.'
    Nokai dragged the earthen vessel containing the fire closer to
him. He rummaged through the items on the rug again and
extracted a large lump of red clay and some brown seeds. He
threw the seeds into the fire, where they burst with a bang.
He smeared the red clay all over his face and body. He then went
to the sleeping platform, raised the thin mattress and brought out
four large bones from underneath it. 'These are my most prized
possession. The bones of the great Tomiti himself.'
    Melame and Pemba kneeled in deference to the great ancestor.
Nokai sat down on the rug once again, spreading the four bones
around him. Then he put his head between his knees and
appeared to go to sleep. Melame and Pemba settled down to wait.
They were familiar with the medicine man's routine. He was
preparing to visit the spirit world. The brown seeds and the red
clay would repel malevolent spirits, the bones of the ancestor
would attract benevolent spirits. They would enter the hut,
bringing a cold draft in their wake. Being blind, they would feel
the torale 's body