Books › Blue Book v082 n01 [1945-11], 1945 › scan 5
Scan 5
Blue Book v082 n01 [1945-11], 1945
68 lines. Read by computer on 18 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1We rolled into the town and found the Grand Alassio where Gondy was to meet us. And there he was, sipping a drink on the terrace, springing up eagerly when he caught sight of us and darting out to the curb.
3"Hurray!" he exclaimed, pumping our hands. "All well? Hi! Don't get out here. We aren't staying."
5"What?" We stared at him. "Not staying?"
7He waved his hand at the plage. "No. We'll go right on to the next town, Laigueglia. They don't like Beppo here. I'll get my bag and Beppo, and be right out. Besides, Laigueglia is closer to our objective—a road goes right up from there. . . . Back in a minute!"
9He popped off into the hotel, and reappeared with a porter, who carried his bag and something covered with a cloth.
11"Beppo! What the devil is Beppo?" exclaimed Murchison. Then we saw that the covered object was a cage, and a voice came from it.
13"Beppo, damn your eyes! Schweinhund! Je m'en foute—zut, alors! Corpo di Bacco, give me a drink!"
15Even the porter winced, as the cage erupted a torrent of the most scandalous German, French and English ever heard on the open street. Some passing French soldiers grinned and added a few choice expressions. Gondy climbed in and took the cage.
17"Beppo is a parrot," he said unnecessarily. "And it belongs to the sorcerer's daughter, mes amis, so control yourselves. The thing was sick, and I brought it to town and got it doctored. It has no shame. Beppo! Be quiet!"
19"Go to hell, you bastard!" said the voice, followed by a scream of rage.
21"For God's sake, get going," pleaded Gondy, as a crowd began to form. I threw in the gears and we got away. Gondy was sweating, and Murchison cackling delightedly. "I've got a place engaged at Laigueglia, a cottage of our own, and a couple to take care of it. They won't mind the cussing—but no hotel would take us in."
23He jerked the cover off the cage, and there was Beppo cocking a wary eye at us. He was the most devilish and beautiful thing I ever saw—a solid, bright, iridescent green except for vivid scarlet markings about his eyes and crest.
25"He's fifty years old, from Brazil, and has spent all his fifty years learning filthy language," said Gondy. "And yet, my friends, he is also a saintly bird, actually! He knows a lot of Scripture and beautiful poetry and noble sentiments—and around Marina he never utters a bad word."
27"Who, if one may ask, is Marina?" demanded Murchison.
29"The sorcerer's daughter," said Gondy. "Since her father died, she has re-educated this beast of the devil."
31"Marina! Marina!" squawked out Beppo. "Gentle Marina loves poor Beppo! Marina is an angel, you damned fools!"
33A diabolic ingenuity was in the bird. No wonder Italians crossed themselves at the sight of him—and did it again in a hurry when he talked. Murchison was tickled pink, and I did not mind a bit, but poor Gondy had suffered and now he was fed up.
35We covered the five miles of open road along the wide plage, and Laigueglia opened before us—another crowded little town at the base of the steep hillside, with a white stucco church, narrow streets, and houses mostly in glaring bright colors. Gondy guided us and we came to rest before a pink house under high trees, where an old couple appeared, to welcome us and make us at home.
37This, said Gondy, was it. So it was: A pleasant house with a shady patio, and well stocked with everything; we liked it. For the next half-hour we unloaded and got unpacked, then settled down in the patio around a drink before luncheon. Explanations were needed, and Gondy gave them.
39Donna Marina Borno was the sorcerer's daughter, so-called. She lived in the valley up above, at Andora, or where Andora used to be. Plague and wars and earthquakes had gradually laid Andora waste; and in the great earthquake of 1887 that destroyed so much of this coast, Andora had finally perished.
41"That earthquake is important," Gondy said. "That is why we're here. The Borno family owned much of the valley; the old chap must have been quite a boy. He was a chemist and had a laboratory—hence the local name of sorcerer. Donna Marina is, I fancy, about thirty-five, and gifted in her own way. She has some country cousins who have made life hell for her and still do. They live in the hills somewhere nearby, fought in the Partisans against the Nazis, and are a tough lot. Beppo is one protection against them—a sort of watchdog. Last time they came to raid her house, she peppered them with a shotgun and has not been troubled since. Oh, Marina is strictly all right, I assure you!"
43"In spite of Beppo?" I asked. Gondy nodded, his high-boned features and bright eyes all excited. I could see that he liked Donna Marina.
45Murchison struck in quickly:
47"Well, what about treasure? That's what brought me here, my good vicomte."
49"Gold!" screamed Beppo. "Gold! Que le grand diable l'emporte! On your knees and pray, my friends. On your knees! Gold will steal your souls."
51"Shut up," snapped Gondy testily. "That brings us back to the 1887 earthquake, Murchison. A land boom was on; the government was building the railroad and tunnels that pierce the hill-shoulders above the shore. Borno—the grandfather of Marina—had a bank in Andora, a sort of country bank. A big shipment of government gold was sent up from Rome, to pay the contractors and workmen and soldiers; it was in Borno's bank, when the earthquake happened. The destruction was terrific."
53He paused to finish his drink, and proceeded:
55"All communications were cut off. Bandits came down from the hills. Borno took the gold home, took everything he had in the ruined bank with it, and buried it. Two of his servants did the work. All they could say, afterward, was that the gold was buried ten feet from a eucalyptus tree—they did it by night. Practically every tree in that place has been dug around a dozen times; no soap. Borno, I should explain, had a stroke the next day and never spoke again; he died without having revealed the secret. His son, the sorcerer, never found the treasure. The Marchese Grimani, at Genoa, gave me letters to Donna Marina, and consequently she's been most agreeable. We may search when we please; half of what is found, belongs to us."
57But why have our headquarters here in Laigueglia, we asked—and a dozen more queries.
59Gondy sketched a map on the table for us, patiently. Some miles along the shore, around Cape Mele, was the present railroad station and resort of Andora-on-the-Sea. The original Andora lay up the valley of the Merula River; the valley angled sharply back, so that to the old site from this place, Laigueglia, was only two or three miles—right over the hill, by muleback or shank's mare.
61"She has no place there for us," he went on. "Grandfather Borno, the banker, had his stroke because his grand house went to pieces after the earthquake. Now Marina lives in a small wooden house built on the grounds. You can see better than I can tell; mules will be here in the morning for us. It's a stiff climb, but we can come back afoot. And Carson needs exercise. He looks fat and puffy."
63"The hell with you!" I said. "What about this Dolls' House thing?"
65"That is where Donna Marina lives," Gondy said. "Wait. You'll understand when we get there, Bill. Now tell me about the detector—"
67We prattled about the Baby, Beppo cursed and prayed, and then our de-
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