"Yes."
"Hah! That is the De Boer I have always admired!"
I could see them in the moonlight across the pit. Perona now standing up, the giant figure of the bandit towering over him.
Hanley"s microscopic voice cut in: "Getting it, Phil? To seize you for ransom!"
"Yes. I hear it."
"This girl. Who--?"
"Wait, Chief. Off--"
De Boer: "I will do it! Fifty thousand."
Perona: "An hour now. Sp.a.w.n will be at his home asleep."
"And you will go to the mine?"
"Yes. Now, from here. You seize this fellow Grant, and then attack the mine. Our regular plan, De Boer. This does not change it."
Attack Sp.a.w.n"s mine! Half a million of treasure was there to-night!
Perona was chuckling: "You give Sp.a.w.n"s guards the signal. They are all my men--in my pay. They will run away when you appear."
Hanley cut in again. "By the G.o.ds, they"re after that treasure! Phil, listen to me! you must...." His voice faded.
"Chief, I can"t hear you!"
Hanley came again: "... And I will notify Porto Rico. The local patrol will be about ready to leave."
"Or notify Nareda headquarters," I suggested. "If you can get President Markes, he can send some police to the mine--"
"And find all Nareda"s police bribed by Perona? I"ll get Porto Rico. We have an hour or two; the patrol can reach you in an hour."
The bandits were preparing to leave here. Two or three of them had gone to the flyer. Perona and De Boer were parting.
"... Well, that is all, De Boer."
"Right, Senor Perona. I will start shortly."
"On foot, by the street route to Sp.a.w.n"s--"
Hanley"s hurried voice came back: "I"ve sent the call to Porto Rico."
The guard had moved again. He was no more than forty feet away from me now--standing up gazing directly toward where I was crouching over my tiny instruments in the shadows of the rocky arch. A footstep sounded behind me, on the path outside the arch. Someone approaching!
A tiny light bobbing!
Then a voice calling, "Perona! De Boer!"
The guard took a step forward; stopped, with levelled weapon.
Then the voice again: it was so loud it went through my opened relay, flashed up to New York, and blew out half a dozen of Hanley"s attuned vacuums.
"Perona!"
Sp.a.w.n"s voice! He was coming toward me! I lay p.r.o.ne, my little grids switched off. I held my breath.
Sp.a.w.n"s figure went past within ten feet of me. But he did not see me.
He met the guard. "h.e.l.lo, Gutierrez. The d.a.m.ned American--"
Perona and De Boer came hastening. Sp.a.w.n joined them in the moonlight just beyond the archway, close enough for me to hear them plainly. Sp.a.w.n was out of breath, panting from his swift walk. He greeted them with a roar.
"The American--he is gone!"
"_Dios!_ Gone where, Sp.a.w.n?"
"The h.e.l.l--how do I know, Perona? He is gone from his room--from the house. Maybe he followed you here? Did he?"
CHAPTER VII
_Behind the Sealed Door_
There was a moment when I think I might have escaped unseen from that archway. But I was too amazed at Sp.a.w.n"s appearance to think of my own situation. I had believed that Perona was plotting against Sp.a.w.n, meeting these bandits in this secret place; I had just heard them planning to attack Sp.a.w.n"s mine--to rob it of the treasure doubtless, which I knew was stored there.
But I realized now it was not a plot against Sp.a.w.n. He had come here swiftly to join Perona and tell him that I, their intended victim, was missing. He had greeted the bandit guard by name. He seemed, indeed, as well known to these bandits as Perona himself.
They stood now in a group some thirty feet away from me. I could hear their excited voices perfectly clearly. My instruments were off; but I recall that as I listened to Sp.a.w.n I was also aware of the tingle of the electrode-band on my chest--Hanley, vigorously calling me back to find out why I had so summarily disconnected.
"I took him to his room," Sp.a.w.n was explaining excitedly. "De duvel, why should I have sealed him in? How could I? He is no child!"
De Boer laughed caustically. "And so he has walked away from you? I think I am a fool to mix myself with you two."
Perona retorted, "I have made you rich, De Boer. Think what you like; to-night is the end of our partnership. Only, you do what I have told you to-night."
"Hah! How can I? Your American has flown his trap."
This guard--this Gutierrez, as Sp.a.w.n had called him--was listening with interest. De Boer"s several other men were gathered there. I felt myself safe where I was, for the moment at least.