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"Thanks, Spawn." I wondered if there were irony in his voice as he said good night. No one could have told. I did not go to bed. I sat listening to the silence of my room and the garden, and Spawn's retreating footsteps. He had said he was sleepy, but nevertheless I presently heard him across the patio. He was apparently in the kitchen, cleaning away our meal, to judge by the rattling of his pans.
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!" Spawn's voice! He was coming toward me! I lay prone, my little grids switched off. I held my breath. Spawn's figure went past within ten feet of me.
I was within sight of Spawn's house. The street was dim and deserted. I was running again. I panted. "I'm almost at Spawn's!" "Good! When it's over, whatever happens up there at the mine, then signal the patrol." "Yes." I reached Spawn's front gate. The house and front garden were dark. "Use your fuses, Phil. What colors?" "I have red and blue." "I'll talk to the patrol ship again.
I had a few minutes, perhaps, before my pursuers would arrive. I reached the inner, patio garden. The moon was well out from under the clouds now. The patio shimmered, a silent, deserted fairyland. "Jetta!" I called it softly. Then louder. "Jetta!" Spawn's house was fairly large and rambling. There were so many rooms. Jetta was gagged; how could she answer me? But I had no time to search for her.
And his next words were like a bomb exploding at my feet. "Perona is offended, Grant. But I promise you, his natural personal prejudice will not affect my investigation. Of course he is prejudiced, since he is to marry Spawn's daughter, the little Jetta." I started involuntarily. This pomaded old dotard! This perfumed, ancient dandy!
This brought a cry of rage from Harris, and we heard him enter the scuttle, while Captain Riggs begged him not to go down. "Stay up here, Mr. Harris, and let the murdering dogs stay there. We'll fix 'em fast enough when day comes." "Leggo me, cap'n! I say I'll break that spawn's neck! Let me down!" "I can't let you risk your life this way, Mr. Harris. I can't, I say.
And upon sudden impulse, I added: "President Markes said something about you having a treasure here. Radiumized quicksilver." It was evidently Spawn's desire to appear thoroughly frank with me. He laughed. "Well, then, if Markes has told you, then might I not as well admit it? The treasure is here, indeed yes. Will you like to see it?"
"Chief, I'm going back to Spawn's." "No " I cut off abruptly. In another moment I would have been discovered. The searchers were headed directly for me. I moved, crouching, back along the inner wall of the archway. The moon was momentarily behind a cloud.
Spawn's manner had again changed. He seemed even more friendly than before. More at his ease with me. We had supper, and smoked together in his living room for half an hour afterward. But my thoughts were more on Jetta than on her father. There was still no evidence of her about the premises. Ah, if I only had known what had taken place there at Spawn's that afternoon while I was at the mine!
Never can I tell what Spawn will choose to take offense at." We rambled upon other subjects. Later, he said, "We work not at night. But Spawn, he is here often at night, with his friend, the Señor Perona." That caught my attention. "I met Perona this morning," I said quickly. "Is he a partner of Spawn's?" "If he is so, I never was told it. But much he is here at night." "Why at night?"
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