The Baker Street Boys - The Case of the Ranjipur Ruby by Anthony Read

dacoits.”
    He produced the key from round his neck, marched over to the picture on the wall and swung it out on its hinges to reveal the safe hidden behind it. Rosie and Annie, who had not seen it before, were amazed.
    “Well, I’m blowed,” exclaimed Annie. “I never knew about that, neither. And to think, I dust that picture every day!”
    “That’s real clever,” said Rosie. “Any more secrets in here?”
    “I wouldn’t be surprised,” Wiggins said. “But we ain’t got time to look. Come on, Ravi, get a move on. We gotta get out of here sharpish.”
    Ravi unlocked the safe, turned the handle and swung open the heavy door. Carefully, he lifted out the golden casket and placed it on the desk. When he raised the lid to reveal the ruby, glowing on its bed of velvet, everyone fell silent for a moment, gazing at it in wonder.
    “Cor,” Rosie sighed. “You was right, Wiggins.That’s the most beautiful thing I ever did see.”
    “Quite right, my dear!” The voice came from behind them. It was Captain Nicholson. Spinning round, they saw him standing in the open doorway, smiling in triumph. Behind him, in the corridor, stood Prince Sanjay. They had opened the door silently while the Boys and Annie were looking at the ruby.
    “Thank you for saving me the trouble,” the captain purred. “I’ll take that.”
    “Oh no you won’t!” yelled Annie. She hurled herself across the room and slammed the door in the captain’s face. Putting her shoulder to the door and leaning on it with all her weight, she turned her head and shouted to the Boys and Ravi, “Quick! Run for it! I’ll hold ’em off long as I can!”
    “Good girl!” Wiggins cried. “Come on!”
    He grabbed the ruby from the casket, picked up his lantern and headed for the secret tunnel, shepherding the others before him. Once they were through the door, he pulled it shut behind them.
    “They must have seen this door,” he said, “butit’ll take ’em a while to find how to open it. So we got a few minutes’ start.”
    Emerging from the tunnel into the storeroom back at the Bazaar, the Boys slammed the trapdoor shut and hurried into the gallery, heading for the front entrance. But as they approached it they saw two shapes outside, silhouetted against the glass. Two men, wearing turbans and loose, Indian clothes, were trying the door.
    “It’s the thugs!” Wiggins whispered. “Quick. Hide.”
    “Where?” asked Beaver.
    “Back in the storeroom,” said Rosie.
    “Right. There’s plenty of boxes and things in there.”
    They moved towards the hidden door, but they had only got as far as the tableau featuring Queen Victoria when they heard a noise from inside the storeroom. It was the sound of the trapdoor being opened. The captain and Uncle Sanjay had found their way through the tunnel!
    “Now what?” Beaver asked.
    Wiggins thought fast. He bent down and liftedthe hooped skirt of Queen Victoria’s dress.
    “There’s room under there for you, Rosie,” he said. “’Scuse me, Your Majesty.”
    Rosie dived under the skirt, and Wiggins dropped it over her. Then he turned to Ravi.
    “You stand there and keep still,” he said, pointing to a spot beside the waxwork prince in the tableau. “Beav, you and me over here!”
    He and Beaver only just managed to plant themselves among the opal diggers in the Australian scene before Captain Nicholson and Uncle Sanjay rushed out of the storeroom and the thugs entered the gallery through the front door.
    “Who’s there?” the captain demanded.
    “It is my men,” Uncle Sanjay told him. He called out in Hindi, and the men answered in the same language. “He says they have seen no one leaving this building. They’re in here somewhere.”
    “Then so is the ruby,” the captain said. “We’ll search the place from top to bottom until we find them.”
    Uncle Sanjay gave the thugs an order, and they all began hunting through the gallery. TheBoys stood still as statues – or as waxworks –