The Mystery of Cloomber By Arthur Conan DoyleNear their residence,
Branksome, is Cloomber Hall, for many years untenanted. After a little
while it is settled in by John Berthier Heatherstone, late of the Indian
Army. General Heatherstone is nervous to the point of being paranoid. As
the story unfolds, it becomes evident that his fears are connected with
some people in India whom he has offended somehow. People hear a strange
sound, like the tolling of a bell, in his presence, which seems to cause
the general great discomfort. Every year his paranoia reaches its climax
around the fifth of October, after which date his fears subside for a
while. After some time there is a shipwreck in the bay and among the
survivors are three Buddhist priests who had boarded the ship from
Kurrachee.When John Fothergill West tells the general (to whose daughter
Gabriel he is engaged) about the priests, he resigns himself to his fate
and refuses any help from West. One night the three Buddhist priests
summon General Heatherstone and Colonel Rufus Smith (who had been
together with the general in India and apparently was under the same
threat that was faced by the general) out of Cloomber Hall. With their
psychic powers, they have a complete hold over the two erstwhile
soldiers. The priests take them through the marshes to the Hole of Cree,
a bottomless pit in the centre of the marsh and either throw the
soldiers in or order them to jump in. The General had given his son a
parcel and instructed him to hand it over to West in case of his death
or disappearance. When West opens the parcel he finds a letter and some
old papers. In the letter the general tells West to read the papers,
which are pages from a diary that the general had kept in his days in
the army of the English East India Company. As West reads the papers he
understands the mystery of Cloomber. When he was in the army forty years
ago, during the First Afghan War, the general was fighting against the
Afridis in the passes of the Hindu-Kush.After defeating the Afridis in a
battle, he chases them to a cul de sac to slaughter them. As the general
was closing in on the remnants of the enemy forces, an old man emerges
from a cave and stops him from killing them. The general, together with
Rufus Smith, kills the old man and proceeds with the massacre. As it
turns out, the old man was an arch-adept, who had reached the zenith of
Buddhist priesthood. His chelas (students) vow to avenge his death.
