Frank V. Martinek

“ From time to time distant shouts and the clatter of a machine gun echoed through the rocky labyrinth. In quick whispers tossed over her shoulders Suzette urged greater speed. The noticeable dimming of Don’s flashlight gave added warning.
Despite aching muscles and tortured lungs, Red forced himself to a swifter pace. As a result, he tripped and fell. Before Don could help him, he was running again, ignoring a pair of gashed knees. Sheer fighting courage kept him up, defying the weight of a body built more for comfort than for speed. ”

“ And I am tired of hearing about your infernal memory, Borg! Open the cabinet, Lotus!”
Obediently the girl crossed to a huge cabinet of ebony wood, and twisted one of its curiously carved dragons’ heads. With scarcely a sound the door swung wide, leaving an opening the size of a full grown man. How far back the space extended Don could not see from where he stood.
“Step in, Lotus, and show your André the way!” sneered Cho-San. “You act, Count Borg, as if it were a trap. Don’t worry, I am following you both inside!” ”

“ To combat this secret menace the United States Government had needed an officer of rare courage and ability for its chief field operative, a man able to match wits with the world’s greatest spymaster—and win! He must be highly skilled in all forms of combat, an expert with every type of weapon. He must be tireless, self-reliant, and prepared to give his life in the line of duty, without warning and without regret. With these qualities in mind, the Navy Department’s final choice had fallen upon an already distinguished young officer—Commander Don Winslow. ”

“ I hear him say, 'Now I shall grind the truth out of that clown who calls himself Count Borg. But first, I’ll burn this dog with dyed hair until he howls all he knows!’”
“It’s Red!” Don groaned, his fists knotting at his sides. “You mean, Suzette, that they’ve got him in the torture room? Merciful heavens! I’d rather be there in his place—but, quick! Tell me what we can do to get him away?”
“There is nothing, Don!” wailed Lotus, wringing her hands in distress. “Once they have gotten your friend in the Lantern Room, there’s no way of rescuing him except by a trick. ”

“ As the converted yacht’s bower anchor splashed down at the cove’s mouth, her launch swung outboard from the davits, manned by a boatswain and two armed sailors. At the same time a two-seater flying boat roared in out of the dawn to land like a white gull in the offing.
“That was quick answer to your radio call, Don!” observed Red Pennington as the Gatoon’s launch drove swiftly shoreward. “I didn’t count on their raising this little jungle cove till noon. But, say! I sure hope Cap’n Riggs has got more than Java and sinkers for breakfast!” ”

“ Blood trickling from Red’s broken scalp had smeared the chalklike whiteness of his face. So deathly was his appearance that the two Chinese hatchet men standing guard above him looked like murderers gloating over their kill!
Biting hard on his tongue, Don Winslow held back his rage. Still keeping his outward pose of lazy boredom, he turned to the Scorpion leader.
“Oh, come now, Cho-San!” he protested. “What kind of a silly joke is this? The fellow’s dead as dust! No fun in tormenting a corpse, you know.” ”

“ If a man with no legs can risk his life to help Don Winslow, so can a girl. And you’re not going to stop me!”
Throwing off the borrowed topcoat, Mercedes stood there slim and defiant in her boyish flying togs. Her clear eyes glowed like battle lanterns in the light of Splendor’s torch beam. Before the veteran could frame a reply, a voice outside in the corridor drew everyone’s attention.
“Good for you, Mercedes!” cried Don Winslow, striding up the corridor with Red at his heels. “You’re not the only woman who’s risking her life tonight in the cause of humanity. ”

“ Don thought that over carefully. He read the meaning behind her words, and knew Lotus was in love with the dashing André. Besides she must be aware that Borg’s advertised escape was a mere blind. Why, then, did she not take revenge, for herself and her friends, by showing up the pseudo count without delay?
Puzzled, he put a question of his own.
“If I tell you that Count Borg is safe and well, except for a head wound like mine, how can you trust my word? A man in danger of his life is apt to say anything which will save it. How do you know I won’t lie to you, Miss Lotus?” ”

“ Don Winslow took a turn up and down the cabin’s narrow space, frowning as he chewed mentally on Red’s suggestion. Bringing up before his friend’s chair, he shook his head smilingly.
“It wouldn’t do, shipmate,” he stated. “In the first place, we’d have to capture some member of Scorpia who looked enough like me to make my disguise and substitution possible. Next, I’d have to find a way to open that man’s mind out flat, and memorize everything he knew. It’s all very well to dream about, but you know yourself such breaks only come once in a lifetime.”
“Unless you make ’em, Skipper!” ”

“ Am I right, Skipper?”
“I hope so, Red!” replied Don Winslow soberly. “At least we’ll make the Americas and their two oceans an unlucky harbor for the enemies of peace. With the aid of all our loyal shipmates, not forgetting Suzette and Count Borg and Lotus, too, we’ll work, we’ll live, and if need be we’ll die to make this old world a better place!”
“Amen!” responded Michael Splendor from his sickbed. “Already ye have the Scorpion and his warmongers on the run, but perilous waters lie before ye. Commander. The enemy is desperate. ”

“ Slowly Lotus’ small chin lifted. Her shoulders lost their discouraged droop.
“Thank you, Don Winslow!” she whispered. “André was like that, too, saying things to give me courage when all seemed hopeless. You resemble each other in more things than voice and appearance. That is why I couldn’t ever betray you to Cho-San! But come! It is dangerous to talk here longer. We must return to the living room, in case Cho-San comes looking for us.”
Don realized that she was right. Without a word he followed back through the curtained archway, ready once more to play the part of Count Borg. ”

“ Expertly manned, the lifeboats touched the water with scarcely a sound. The boat falls were quickly released; strong arms pushed the little craft clear of the Gatoon’s looming side. Above, the dim blur of faces at the ship’s rail faded from sight.
“Out ... oars!”
The coxswain’s low spoken order came from the lifeboat’s stern sheets. It was answered by the soft thudding of oars into rowlocks. Don and Red, in their seamen’s uniforms, each gripped one of the long ash blades, “feathered” it by a drop of their wrists, and held it poised above the black water. ”

“ Seizing Red’s bound wrists, the Chinese jerked them toward a loop of wire which hung down from the arch’s apex.
“Great guns, Lotus!” whispered Don, his lips barely moving. “We’ve got to do something quick. They’re going to hang Red up by the thumbs—torture him before our eyes!”
The girl nodded silently. Her face was dead white, her lips a thin purple line. With Don at her side, she made for the leering Scorpion leader.
“Don’t, Cho-San!” she exclaimed in a low, tragic voice. “If you are such a fiend that you must torture somebody, take me! I could stand it better than watching....” ”

“ He’s too bright a man to be a common double-crosser like Corba. Mind ye, he has been one of the Scorpion’s most trusted agents. Considerin’ that, it strikes me he fell in with your impersonation scheme a bit too quickly. It’s not like him to play traitor to his chief.”
“Which is the very reason I believe he will be loyal to our cause now!” retorted Don, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully. “You see, Mr. Splendor, our man has been a victim of amnesia. The bullet wound he received this morning restored his memory of everything that happened until the night of April fourteenth, nineteen thirty-three. ”

“ We’re all bound for Davy Jones’ locker, now!”
Don Winslow’s laugh rang as hard as the slap of bullets on steel armor plate.
“We were, maybe, but we’re taking a new tack, sailor!” he barked. “Now we know what your murderous pals are up to, we can outthink and outfight them too. The only man aboard who’s bound for Davy Jones is——”
“Captain!” cried a breathless voice on deck. “The prisoner, Durkin—the man you put in the brig, sir—he’s dead! Hanged himself, with a loop of wire he’d made fast to a steampipe. ”

“ DON WINSLOW OF THE NAVY
I
BOMBED! On the white sand of a jungle bordered cove, two men and a girl stood gazing seaward, their eyes shielded against the rising sun’s first beams. To judge by their torn, mudstained clothing, they had been meeting hardship in large, tough chunks. Out here on the beach they would soon face more of it, when the sun grew hot enough to broil a white man’s skin. ”

“ As Red silently closed the cabin door behind him, he heard Michael Splendor’s voice within, taking up the mock discussion. The “show” as Don called it, would be quite convincing to any eavesdropper.
And if Don was right in his guess, the spy should be easy to surprise at his work. At that hour of night, no enlisted man would have any legitimate business hanging around the cabin ventilators.
Silent as a shadow, for all his bulk, Red Pennington emerged onto the starlit deck. Slipping aft, he rounded the cabin skylight and probed the shadows under the port rail. ”

“ The Gatoon’s launch and two whaleboats were pulled up at the edge of the water. Don guessed that they were getting ready to blow up the great steel cylinder buried at the jungle’s edge. In a few hours, at most, the gunboat would be weighing anchor, bound for the safety of civilized ports.
Which was all as it should be; and yet....
“If the truth has to be told, Red,” the young commander said softly, “I’ll never be satisfied until I nab the biggest prize of all—the Scorpion himself. Anything less than wiping out that menace to world peace, falls short of victory. ”

“ Tugging a blunt nosed pistol from his pocket, the Gatoon’s master would have fired at the man in the doorway, had not Michael Splendor driven his wheel chair between them.
“Stop it, Riggs!” bellowed the gray-haired cripple. “If ye value your own life, not to mention Commander Winslow’s, lower that weapon, sir! Miss Colby is right! The gentleman at the table is a stranger; but the man here beside me is Don Winslow himself, may heaven preserve him!” ”