The Complete Adventures of Feluda: Volume I by Satyajit Ray Read Free Book Online Page A

Srivastava.’
    ‘When did he die?’
    ‘Last July,’ said Srivastava, ‘three months ago. He had his first heart attack in May, which nearly killed him. That was when he gave me the ring. Then the second attack came in July. I went to visit him. It was all over in no time. Look . . .’
    Srivastava brought out a blue velvet box from his pocket. It was slightly bigger than a matchbox. The evening sun fell on its content as he lifted the lid, and a bright, glittering rainbow dazzled our eyes.
    Dr Srivastava looked around briefly before pulling the ring out of the box.
    A huge white stone gleamed in the middle. It was surrounded by several smaller red, blue and green ones.
    I had never seen a ring so exquisitely beautiful.
    I gave Feluda a sidelong glance. He was scratching his ear with a dry leaf of eucalyptus, but his eyes were fixed on the ring.
    ‘It must be very old,’ said Baba. ‘Is there a history behind it?’
    Dr Srivastava replaced the ring in the box, put it back in his pocket and picked up his cup once more.
    ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘there is indeed. This ring is more than three hundred years old. It once belonged to the Emperor Aurangzeb.’
    Baba’s eyes widened.
    ‘You don’t say! You mean
the
Aurangzeb? Shah Jahan’s son?’
    ‘Yes. But the story I’ve heard goes back to when Aurangzeb was still only a prince. Shah Jahan was the Emperor, trying to conquer Samarkand. His forces kept getting defeated. Once he sent his men under Aurangzeb’s command. Aurangzeb was badly injured in the attack. He might have died, but an army officer saved him. Aurangzeb took this ring from his finger and gave it to his officer as his reward.’
    ‘Goodness, it’s incredible!’
    ‘Yes. Pyarelal bought this ring in Agra from a descendant of that army officer. I don’t know how much he paid for it. But I have had the stones examined. That big one is a diamond. So you can imagine its value.’
    ‘At least two hundred thousand,’ said Dhiru Kaka, ‘if it was Jahannan Khan’s instead of Aurangzeb’s, even then it would fetch about a hundred-and-fifty thousand rupees.’
    Dr Srivastava said, ‘Now you know why I am so upset afteryesterday’s incident. I live alone, you see, and I have to go out at all hours to see my patients. I could, of course, tell the police. But what if I did, and then someone attacked me? You never can tell, can you? I had, in fact, once thought of keeping the ring in a bank. But then I felt it would not be the same. I mean, I like showing it to my friends. So I kept it in my house.’
    Dhiru Kaka said, ‘Have you shown it to many people?’
    ‘No. I got it only a few months ago. And those who come to my house are all my friends, people I trust. I haven’t shown it to anyone else.’
    It was beginning to get dark. The top of the eucalyptus tree shone in the remaining sunlight, but that would fade away soon. I looked at Dr Srivastava. He seemed oddly restless.
    ‘Let’s go in,’ said Dhiru Kaka, ‘we need to think this over.’
    We left the garden and went into the living-room. Feluda didn’t appear to be interested at all. He pulled out a pack of cards as soon as we had all sat down, and began to practise a new trick he had learnt.
    Baba was not a great talker, but when he did speak, he chose his words carefully. ‘Why,’ he now asked, ‘are you assuming that the thief came simply to steal your ring? Wasn’t anything else stolen? After all, he—or they—might have been just petty thieves, interested in plain cash.’
    Srivastava said, ‘Well, let me explain. Thieves and burglars don’t often strike in our area chiefly because of Bonobihari Babu. Besides, Mr Jhunjhunwalla is my next-door neighbour, and Mr Billimoria lives next to him. Both are very rich. You can tell that just by looking at their houses. So why should a thief come to my humble abode?’
    ‘If your neighbours are rich,’ said Dhiru Kaka, ‘they must have made arrangements to guard their wealth. A petty thief