Noel Sainsbury

“ Listen to me—just as soon as we can find Charlie for you, I’m through! You want those who are helping you to trust you and your judgment, yet you won’t trust them, and seem to have as little respect for human life as did the German High Command during the war!”
“Anything else?” inquired an angry voice at the other end of the wire.
“Yes,” said Bill, “there is. A slight error on my part, or what might be construed as an error. When I inferred that you willingly risked human life in order to obtain money, I naturally made an exception.”
“And that is?”
“Your own valuable life, Mr. Evans!” ”

“ Bill stared back at him and an angry devil rose within the lad. Bribery—so that was the object of his visit! And the man certainly played his cards well. He insinuated that Mr. Evans was a scoundrel, that Bill himself was being made a tool. That was bad enough, and the astuteness of his argument was apparent, but the bribery business stung young Bolton’s pride. He sprang to his feet, determined to lash out at the white, grinning face.
Sanders held up his hand, reading his purpose. “Bolton, I’m delighted. I can see you’re a good fellow. You refuse to give away your man. ”

“ Bill crouched at the rail, listening. The snatches of animated talk he had heard from the water must have come from this saloon, for he could see that one of the skylight windows was raised a couple of inches. Now he could distinguish through the opening the clear tones of two voices in particular.
With the utmost caution, Bill crawled a couple of yards forward and looked down into the saloon. There was a white damask-covered table, with shaded lights, at which sat two men, busy with supper and conversation. He recognized the men at once. ”

“ On the plane’s eighth trip, Sanders’ forces broke. Flesh and blood could no longer stand this death-dealing hail of lead from a plane impossible to hit. Dragging their wounded with them, the routed gangsters dashed pell mell down to the shore. They piled into two motorboats beached in a cove and in less than no time, these two crafts were racing toward the mainland with everything wide open.
Bill let them go. Defense of the old man and the girl in the house on the hill was one thing: the shooting down of cowed men huddled in a couple of boats quite another. ”

“ Bill blurted out, and a moment later would have done anything to withdraw his words.
“Ah!” Sanders cried, “I thought so! He has been clever enough to conceal that. Exactly. So that is part of his game! Well, my young friend, it’s part of mine, too. It is nobody’s business at present but Mr. Evans’ and my own. And I tell you, there is no sacrifice I wouldn’t make to meet that man face to face, alone, for ten minutes. Look here, Bolton, to come to brass tacks, how much do you want in hard cash to tell me where Evans is at this moment?” ”

“ I know that your father is a wealthy man—very wealthy—but millions of dollars are not to be despised by anyone. There are very big things at stake, Bolton, very big indeed.”
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He leaned forward, his eyes fixed on Bill’s, the smoke from his cigarette curling up between them like a banner. “Well? Don’t misunderstand me, Bolton. I don’t mean that you’re to leave Mr. Evans. Oh, not at all. No need for you to have a row with him or anything of the sort. No, no, you can go on exactly as you are doing. Carry out whatever he has sent you here to do. ”

“ You’re the one that’s to do the dirty work—you are the lad that’s to run the risks and take all the hard knocks. How do you like the job?”
“I’m not kicking,” said Bill.
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Sanders smiled again. “Well, how much are you getting out of it? That’s the point.... Oh, yes, it’s not my business. I know your type—stupid—loyal. I admire stupidity and loyalty because they are generally exerted in a good cause. But when they are wasted qualities—wasted on one of the worst scoundrels in America, it pains me. I’m a student of these things, Bolton—it’s part of a lawyer’s job to weigh motives.” ”

“ Slim Johnson’s languid gestures emphasized his words, as he directed them, between sips of coffee, to no less a person than Zenas Sanders himself.
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With a gasp, Bill realized that Sanders had come by plane, and that this yacht must be the leader’s present headquarters. To go back now was out of the question. He might be on the brink of a vital discovery. He glanced up and down the deck. Still it was deserted. Pulling himself close to the skylight, he lay listening, with every muscle taut. ”

“ I’ll go into details, Bill, after breakfast.”
“But, Dad, we slept all day!” Charlie expostulated.
“Never mind, son. You won’t be the worse for a few hours more. We’ll all need clear wits in the morning.”
Beckoning the lads to follow, he went to the door. Their feet echoed on the polished tiles of the hall, a vast place which looked like a black cavern above them, the dim shape of a wide staircase beyond. Following Mr. Evans’ lead, they mounted the stairs, his flashlight flickering on the thick carpet and heavy oak banisters. In the corridor above, he stopped and flung open a door. ”

“ To hit an object on the ground with a rifle bullet from a speeding airplane is a difficult feat, but Bill knew that the odds were against the gangsters. For it is even more difficult to hit an airplane in flight, that is, if she is being driven by an experienced pilot.
Much to the disgust of Osceola, who did not understand the manœuver, Bill levelled off and headed out to sea. A quarter of a mile from the island, he turned in his seat, and having attracted Parker’s attention, mouthed the words—“Hold fast!”
The two who were squeezed in the small cockpit aft nodded their understanding. ”

“ I’ll just bet Dad’s in this house right now. Down cellar or upstairs, with his throat cut, like as not!” Charlie was in tears now.
“Here, here, now! Stop it! You certainly are a cheerful kid this morning—I don’t think!” Bill scoffed, and patted him on the back. “Detective thrillers and too much food are what ails you. Imagination plus indigestion will make anybody see or hear a lot of things. How do I get down to the cellar? If you’re afraid of meeting more spooks, you’d better stay here.” ”

“ As he circled, Bill saw the flashes from the gangster’s rifles and the answering flashes from the house. He noticed that there was method in the attack, and one that was likely to succeed in the capture of the bungalow. There would come a spurt of firing from one section of the attacking group on the hill, which naturally drew the two in the house to that side in order to repel a possible assault. Immediately the men on the farther side, out of range from the house, would dash ahead to take refuge behind boulders further up the knoll. ”

“ Bill followed Charlie into the bathroom. “You may be dry inside, but those clothes of yours are soaking wet. Get out of them and take a good rub down. And put on that bathrobe on the door. If I’m not in the bedroom when you’re through, wait for me there—I’ll be back as soon as possible.” ”

“ By the way, where’s Charlie—upstairs?”
“He is not—and that’s another thing that gets my goat. While his father flies on without a word—Sanders gets the boy!” Bill went on to tell Osceola of the day’s happenings. “You see,” he concluded, “I’m between two fires. It’s the dickens of a mess. If I go to Stamford, and pretend to play in with that gang, I can’t be watching them up here—and if I don’t go there’s no telling what Sanders may do with that kid. My plan before you came along was to meet Ezra Parker at the Harbor, and see what his advice would be.” ”

“ When at last they passed over the shore line once more, it was at a point thirty miles along the coast from Twin Heads and the Evans house. Bill steered his craft inland, turned right again and came in sight of their destination as the hands of his wristwatch marked ten o’clock.
“Clayton has a small airport,” said Charlie tentatively.
“Thanks for that! If you’d told me before, you’d have saved me some worry. The last thing we want to do is to advertise the Loening in this neck of the woods. If we’d had to come down in a farmer’s meadow, it would have been all over town in half an hour.” ”

“ It won’t take long and then we can come back to this job. If the big boss makes us let that lad go after we torture him in the morning—what he doesn’t know about the laundry won’t hurt anybody, eh?”
Bill heard Johnson giggle, and then the door slammed to the corridor. He straightened himself thoughtfully, stared at the bed and saw that a pair of silk pajamas, rose-hued, had been laid out on the coverlet. Slowly he walked into the bathroom again.
The next instant he had the lid of the hamper open, and disclosed to view a bundle of soiled shirts, crumpled pajamas, collars and handkerchiefs. ”

“ Osceola would be just the guy for a stunt like this. But how can we make it, Bill? Take one of your old man’s cars? Mine is a wreck, down by the flying field.”
“We’ll do better than a car,” pronounced his friend. “My Loening is stabled in the hangar.”
“Gee! The amphibian!”
“That’s right. Now we’ll hunt you up some clothes, get some chow, leave that note for Osceola—and take off.”
Charlie jumped up from his chair. “But how can we? How about that gang outside?”
“Ask me something easy,” Bill suggested, and started to dress. ”

“ Then as Bill made a threatening move toward him, an automatic whipped into sight from beneath Sanders’ armpit.
“Oh, no you don’t, sonny!” he barked. “It won’t pay you to get nasty with me. Sit down! It’s time you learned a few things, you young whelp!” ”

“ Slim Johnson was speaking, and at first Bill could not pick up the trend of his remarks. But when Sanders replied, he realized their talk had been bearing on himself and the interview at Gring’s Hotel.
“You’re right, Slim,” said Sanders. “Young Bolton has practically broken with Evans. All he cares about now is getting the kid back. He said so over the phone.”
“Well, that darned Indian is sure to find your hideaway, Sanders. He’s got plenty of guts and so has that Parker fellow by all reports. Between them, they’ll get the boy before this yacht has a chance to reach Twin Heads Harbor.” ”

“ Bill’s feeble flashlight seemed to accentuate the cavernous depths of the huge apartments.
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A back passage led them to the pantry and immense, stone-floored kitchen. On a table near the sink, an unwashed plate and cup told the story of eggs and coffee.
Bill turned to the boy. “There! On a bet, he ate and went out.”
“Hadn’t we better go over the rest of the house, though?” There was a slight tremor in Charlie’s voice. “This place is creepy. It was like that when I was here before. I never open a door but what I expect a dead man to walk out on me.” ”

“ When he was convinced that the rout was a permanent fact, he landed the plane on the water, taxied into the same sandy cove from which the gunmen had departed, and beached her.
Deborah was waiting on the sand for them. Osceola was the first overboard and a moment later the two were clasped in each other’s arms.
Bill grinned at Ezra. “So far,” he said, “as you and I are concerned, well, we might be a couple of other rocks for all they mind!”
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“That’s all right,” returned the older man as they went about making the plane secure. “They’re in love. We don’t exist for them just now. ”

“ Bill grinned and nodded and they hurried overside into the dinghy where a husky policeman was already at the oars.
“Beat it, Kelly,” Duffy flung after them, “and ’phone the chief to break out a bunch of his flat-feet and get ’em down to the wharf on the run. Now you men,” they heard him say as they drew away from the patrol boat, “rip them covers off the guns and git under way. The Katrina over yonder’s got a bunch o’ murderin’ kidnappers on her, and we’re the lads what will run ’em in the cells, sure as Saint Patrick run the snakes out o’ the old country!” ”

“ ON THE WAY
“We’re a pretty pair of fools!” cried Bill.
“I agree with you.” Osceola, usually stoical under trying conditions, was visibly upset. “While we’re scrapping and swapping stories, that girl of mine is being kidnapped by those ruffians!”
“But they haven’t got into the house yet,” Bill reminded him.
“But what can those two do against so many! After what Sanders said to you, we should have been prepared for this. For the love of Mike, Bill, hold that light steady! I can’t find the brick that manipulates the panel to the woodshed tunnel.—There—that’s better!” ”

“ Bill nosed up to six hundred feet. Above him, the clouds of swirling fog seemed less dense. His course led inland on a slant from the shore. New Canaan lies up in the Ridge Country, five or six miles back from Long Island Sound. With every mile he put between the plane and that body of water, the air, both below and above him became clearer and less bumpy. By the time the amphibian was flying over Hartford, three-quarters of an hour later, all signs of fog and storm had disappeared. Moonlight flooded the earth and the visibility was almost as good as on a clear day. ”

“ That guy has a Jehovah complex. He knows he’s a world beater and doesn’t hide his knowledge under any bushel, either. Why, he’s so sure he put cold, naked fear into me he’d bet on it!”
“You’re probably right,” agreed Ezra. “He’s been over to my dump a couple of times. He’s got one of those Buhl-Verville Airsters, with a man to chauffeur him ’round. Nice little job, too. A three-place biplane—he can fold the wings back. When they’re folded, the hangar space required is only 9 feet by 131⁄2 feet by 25!”
“That,” commented Bill, “is very likely the reason he picked on it—handy bus to hide. ”

“ Ezra’s tone was filled with concern. “Jump aboard, boys, while I run her out in the harbor. There’s no telling who may be sneakin’ ’round in these woods. No sense takin’ any more chances than we have to.”
The Chief swung himself on to the amphibian’s deck which ran from amidships forward to her nose below the two cockpits and inverted motor. Bill meanwhile quickly doffed his clothes, which together with Sanders’ automatic he flung to the Seminole. He waded into the water, pushed the plane out until she floated clear, and walked out until he could grasp a wing tip. ”

“ Bill remarked. “There’s nothing like making quite certain. If you hear anyone following, Charlie, it means we were noticed in the car, and we’re probably in for a rousing time.”
After an interval he got up and stretched himself, gave a curt order and plunged abruptly into the heart of the woods. Bill had no idea how far they penetrated, but they appeared to go forward for a good fifteen minutes before they struck upon a grassgrown avenue or drive among the trees, and at the end of it they saw a clearing. Both lads stopped. ”

“ Evans. “But you must understand that this is an extremely serious affair—in which an enormous sum of money is involved.”
“Oh, you make me tired,” snapped Bill. “Why, I’ve had a sweet chance to sell you out—lock, stock and barrel. Money, money, money—that’s all you so-called big business men think of—and at that, you’re the guys we have to thank for the depression. Is any amount of money worth Charlie’s life?” ”

“ With Osceola he piled into the rear cockpit. Then while, Parker taxied the plane out to mid-harbor, Bill got into his clothes. Parker snapped off the ignition and twisted around in his seat.
“Now let’s have the lowdown on this, Bill.”
Bill climbed down to the deck and gave him a short outline of the events of the day and evening. “Kind of between the devil and the deep sea, aren’t we?” he finished grimly. “Time’s more than money now. So hop in aft with the chief, and let me in the fore cockpit. I’m going to fly the bus. ”