Miss Shumway Waves A Wand

Myra said, “Let me,” and snatched the tie out of his hands. She cut it in half with a fruit knife and handed it back to him. “There you are, Sammy,” she said.

Bogle sat in a kind of stupor, staring at the tie. Then he dashed it to the ground.

“Miss Shumway!” Ansell exclaimed angrily. “Will you stop picking on Bogle?”

“Well, I was only trying to be helpful,” Myra said, her eyes wide in innocence. “He couldn’t manage to do it himself.”

“All right, all right,” I said hastily. “Why witchcraft? Who believes in witchcraft these days?”

Ansell looked at Bogle, satisfied himself that he was not going to have a fit and tried to collect his thoughts: “I don’t suppose you know much of the background of this country. I’ve lived here for over twenty years and I’ve seen some very odd things.”

“So have I,” Myra said, looking at Bogle.

“If you can’t stop this woman talking…” Ansell said to me furiously.

“Be good,” I said to Myra.

She lifted her shoulders.

“Go on,” I said. “Don’t worry about her.”

“If I’m to explain this at all,” Ansell said, rather hopelessly, “I wish you’d all listen. At one time there was a powerful secret society in this country who called themselves the Naguales. The members of this society were the witch doctors who bossed the Maya Indians. They are almost extinct now, but there’s a few of them who still practice in a little village not two hundred miles from here.”

“I’ve heard about ‘em,” I said. “Aren’t they supposed to produce rain at a moment’s notice and change themselves into animals? You don’t believe that junk, do you?”

Ansell shook his head, “No, I don’t. I believe they have certain supernatural powers such as mass hypnotism, and in some rare cases they practice levitation, but that really doesn’t concern us. What I’m interested in is their herbal medicines. Have you ever heard of teopatli?”

I shook my head. “What is it? A drink?”

“It’s a sure cure for snake bite.”

While we were talking, Bogle sat with his head in his hands, in a kind of stupefied daze. He wasn’t causing any trouble, so we ignored him.

“How do you mean… a sure cure?” I prompted.

“Listen, young man, I’ve seen men die of snake bite. It’s a pretty nasty business. I’ve seen men of this little village pick up a coral snake and let it strike at them, and then put this ointment on. They feel no effects at all.”

“Probably they’ve drawn the poison before demonstrating,” I said sceptically.

Ansell shook his head. “I’ve given them a pretty thorough test. Rattle snakes, scorpions and coral snakes. Teopatli fixes any of these bites like lightning.”

“All right, where do we go from there?”

“I want to get the recipe from this Indian fella and I think Miss Shumway can get it for me.”

Myra stared at him. “Someone’s been out in the sun without a nice, big, shady hat,” she said.

“Wouldn’t you like to put your feet up, poppa?”

“If you were a few years younger,” Ansell said, between his teeth, “I’d like to smack some manners into you!”

I knew just how he felt.

Myra giggled. “You’re not the only one who’s thought along those lines,” she said, shaking her head. “One of them did try it. They had to put four stitches in his face and give him a pension.”

“Take it easy,” I broke in. “What makes you think this baby could get the stuff and what would you do with it if you got it?”

Ansell calmed down. “People all over the world are getting bitten by snakes,” he explained.

“Teopatli really works. Properly marketed it’s worth a fortune. It would be an essential part of any traveller’s equipment. I could charge what I liked for it.”

I considered this. If the stuff was really a cure for any snake bite, then, of course, he had something. There was not only a fortune in it, but also a terrific news story.

“You’ve actually seen the stuff work?” I asked.

“Of course, I have.”

“What’s the difficulty? I mean why can’t you get hold of it.”

Ansell snorted. “Quinti won’t part. He’s this Indian fells I’m telling you about. For fifteen years I’ve been after him, but the old devil just grins at me.”

“Where do I come in on this?” Myra asked cautiously.

“I saw Quinti a couple of weeks ago,” Ansell said. “He tried to fox me as usual, but I put a lot of pressure on him and finally got him in a corner. He told me that soon he was going to die. But before he die, a Sun Virgin would come to him and take from him all his secrets. She would have great powers of magic, her hair would be like beaten gold and her skin like the frozen heights of lxtacchiuatl. It was just his way of putting me off, but now I’ve seen Miss Shumway, I guess we could frighten him into talking.”

Myra sat up. “You don’t want me to impersonate a Sun Virgin, do you?” she demanded.

“Why not?” Ansell asked, his eyes shining. “With your tricks, your looks and a little bluff, you could do it on your head.”

I leaned forward suddenly. “Where’s this village you’re talking about, Doc?” I asked.

“It’s ten miles from Pepoztlan.”