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De Boer's several other men were gathered there. I felt myself safe where I was, for the moment at least. I cut Hanley in. "Chief, they're closer! Spawn has come! They've missed me! I'll relay what they're saying, but you step it down; there's too much volume." "You're all right, Phil? Thank Heaven for that! Something blew my vacuums." "Chief, listen here they are " Perona: "But he will be back.
But he did not see me. He met the guard. "Hello, Gutierrez. The damned American " Perona and De Boer came hastening. Spawn joined them in the moonlight just beyond the archway, close enough for me to hear them plainly. Spawn was out of breath, panting from his swift walk. He greeted them with a roar. "The American he is gone!" "Dios! Gone where, Spawn?" "The hell how do I know, Perona?
I am very doubtful if we have smugglers here in Nareda." "Unless it is Spawn," the President interjected. Perona frowned slightly. But his suave manner remained. "Spawn? Why Spawn?" "You need not take offense, Perona," Markes retorted. "We are discussing this before an envoy of the United States, sent here to consult with us. We have nothing to hide." Markes turned to me.
"I must go to the Government House: President Markes wants a report on my recent production." So that was what Perona had told him over the audiphone just before our noonday meal? It was an inferno of shadows and glaring lights, this underground cavern. As modern mining activities go, it was small and primitive.
But my niche was still untouched. De Boer: "If he is around here " Perona: "He could not have followed me; I was too careful." I was murmuring: "Chief, they've got that girl." "Phil, you get away! Go to Markes. Stay with him." "But Chief, that Jetta, I " "Keep out of this! You're only one; you can't help any! I've sent for the Porto Rican patrol ship to handle this."
In the garden now, no doubt, with Jetta." De Boer: "Ah the little Jetta! So she is there, Spawn? Not in years have you spoken of your daughter. A young lady now, I suppose. Is it so?" Spawn cursed. "We leave her out of this. You follow the Señor's plan." "Come to your house? You think the bird will be there for me to seize?" "Yes," Perona put in. "You go there; in an hour. Then to the mine."
Nor would I have dared use one: Perona could too obviously have seen that someone was following him. There was half a mile of this, I think, though it seemed interminable. I could hear the sea, rising with the wind, pounding against the rocks to my left. Then, a distance ahead, I saw lights moving. Perona's and others. Three or four of them.
It was black under the arch; and out front it was so dim I could only see the faint blob of Gutierrez's standing figure, and the spot of his flashlight. Perona: "He is not around here, De Boer. That is foolish." Spawn: "He could have gone anywhere. Maybe a walk around the village." Perona: "Go back home, Spawn. De Boer will come " Their voices faded as I moved away.
So this was De Boer, the bandit! The big fellow pacing before Perona. I wanted infinitely more, now, to hear what was being said. I thought of Hanley. There might be a way of handling this. I had to murmur very softly. I was hidden in these shadows from the guard's sight, but he was close enough to hear my normal voice. I chanced it.
Questions rushed at me. Perona, planning with this bandit to abduct me. Hold me for ransom. Or kill me! But Perona knew that I was not a private citizen. He was lying to De Boer, to persuade him. Why this attack upon me? Was Spawn in on it? Why were they so anxious to get rid of me? Because of Jetta? Or because I was dangerous, prying into their smuggling activities. Or both?
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