Page:Treasure of the mosque.djvu/8

140 what his friends would think of his being compelled to bribe a monkey to return his suspenders.

“Say,” he coaxed. “You bring those suspenders here and I’ll buy you a whole rupee’s worth of that vile candy—you know—sweetmeats.”

But the monkey seemed to prefer holding on to the suspenders than taking the risk of a promise. So as there seemed no other course, Lambert proceeded to climb down on to the buttress.

“All right,” he muttered. “You wait till I get you.”

Meanwhile the monkeys watched Lambert’s actions with complete indifference. Perhaps they foresaw what was going to happen. Lambert had just set both feet on the narrow ledge of the buttress, when some of the crumbling bricks gave way, and he felt himself going earthward. He made a wild grab for the edge of the roof, missed it, and shot down into a bed of rose bushes, by no means a sentimental couch, as the thorns in his ﬂesh testiﬁed. When he picked himself up, his ﬁrst impulse was to shout his opinion of the monkeys. At which they chattered as if to say——What an irascible person.

Lambert, with his blood now hot for action, moved to climb the buttress, but on each assault the bricks gave way and he found himself back among the rose bushes. To add insult to injury the monkeys commenced pelting him with loose scraps of mortar. Pausing at last to take a cooler survey of his position, it was borne in upon Lambert that it might result in unpleasant consequences. To regain his room by way of the perpendicular wall was impossible, so there he was in the old mullah’s garden at an hour and in circumstances undoubtedly suspicious. It became clear that he must