Jetta of the Lowlands
Conclusion
_By Ray Cummings_
[Sidenote: Black-garbed figures move in ghastly greenness as theinvisible flyer speeds on its business of ransom.]
_Hans and I hauled out the heavy casket._]
CHAPTER XV
_In the Bandit Camp_
The dark cave, with its small spots of tube-light mounted upon movabletripods, was eery with grotesque swaying shadows. The bandit camp.Hidden down here in the depths of the Mid-Atlantic Lowlands. Aninaccessible retreat, this cave in what once was the ocean floor. Onlya few years ago water had been here, water black and cold andsoundless. Tremendous pressure, with three thousand or more fathoms ofthe ocean above it. Fishes had roamed these passages, no doubt.Strange monsters of the deeps: sightless, or with eyes likephosphorescent torches.
But the water was gone now. Blue ooze was caked upon the cave floor.Eroded walls; niches and tiny gullies; crevices and an arching domehigh overhead. A fantastic cave--no one, seeing it as I saw it thatmorning at dawn, could have believed it was upon this earth. Fromwhere De Boer had put me--on the flat top of a small, butte-like domenear the upper end of the sloping cave floor--all the area of thisstrange bandit camp was visible to me.
A little tent of parchment was set upon the dome-top.
"Yours," said De Boer, with a grin. "Make yourself comfortable.Gutierrez will be your willing servant, until we see about thisransom. It will have to be one very large, for you are a damn troubleto me, Grant. And a risk. Food will come shortly. Then you can sleep:I think you will want it."
He leaped from the little butte, leaving the taciturn ever-watchfulGutierrez sitting cross-legged on the ledge near me, with hisprojector across his knees.
* * * * *
The cave was irregularly circular, with perhaps, a hundred-feetdiameter and a ceiling fifty feet high. A drift of the fetid, Lowlandair went through it--into a rift at this upper end, and out throughthe lower passage entrance which sloped downward thirty feet anddebouched upon a rippled ramp of ooze outside. It was daylight outthere now. From my perch I could see the sullen heavy walls of aridge. Mist hung against them, but the early morning sunlight camedown in shafts penetrating the mist and striking the oily surface of aspread of water left here in the depths of a cauldron.
De Boer's flyer was outside. We had landed by the shore of the sea,and the bandits had pushed the vehicle into an arching recess whichseemed as though made to hide it. All this camp was hidden. Archingcrags of the ridge-wall jutted out over the cave entrance. From above,any passing flyer--even though well below the zero-height--would seenothing but this black breathing sea, lapping against its eroded,fantastic shore-line.
Within the cave, there was only a vague filtering daylight from thelower entrance, a thin shaft from the rift overhead, and the bluetube-light, throwing great shadows of the tents and the men againstthe black rock walls.
There seemed perhaps a hundred of the bandits here. A semi-permanentcamp, by its aspect. Grey parchment tents were set up about the floor,some small, others more elaborate. It seemed as though it were ahuddled little group of buildings in the open air, instead of in acave. One tent, just at the foot of my dome, seemed De Boer's personalroom. He went into it after leaving me, and came out to join the maingroup of his fellows near the center of the cave where a largeelectron stove, and piped water from a nearby subterranean freshet,and a long table set with glassware and silver, stood these men forkitchen and eating place.
* * * * *
The treasure had not yet been brought in from the flyer. But, fromwhat I overheard, it seemed that the radiumized ingots of theill-fated Spawn and Perona were to be stored for a year at least, herein this cave. I could see the strong-room cubby. It was hewn from therock of the cave wall, its sealed-grid door-oval set with metal bars.
I saw also what seemed a small but well-equipped machine shop, in arecess room at one side of the cave. Men were working in there underthe light of tubes. And there was a niche hollowed out in the wall tomake a room for De Boer's instruments--ether-wave receivers andtransmitters, the aerial receiving wires of which stretched in banksalong the low ceiling.
There was no activity in there now, except for one man who wasoperating what I imagined might be an aerial insulator, guarding theplace from any prying search-vibrations.
The main cave was a bustle of activity. The arriving bandits weregreeting their fellows and exchanging news. The men who had been lefthere were jubilant at the success of the Chief's latest enterprise.Bottles were unsealed and they began to prepare the morning meal.
My presence caused considerable comment. I was a complication at whichmost of the men were ill pleased, especially when the arriving banditstold who I was, and that the patrols of the United States weredoubtless even now trying to find me.
But De Boer silenced the grumbling with rough words.
"My business, not yours. But you will take your share of his ransom,won't you? Have done!"
And Jetta, she had caused comment also. But when the bottles were welldistributed the grumbling turned to ribald banter which made meshudder that it should fall upon Jetta's ears. De Boer had kept hismen away from her, shoving them aside when they crowded to see her.She was in a little tent now, not far from the base of my ledge.
My meal presently was brought from where most of the bandits now wereroistering at the long table in the center of the cave.
"Eat," said Gutierrez. "I eat with you, Americano. _Madre Mia_, whenyou are ransomed away from here it will please me! De Boer is fool,with taking such a chance."
* * * * *
With the meal ended, another guard came to take Gutierrez' place and Iwas ordered into my tent. The routine of the camp, it seemed, was touse the daylight hours for the time of sleep. There were lookouts andguards at the entrance, and a little arsenal of ready weapons stockedin the passage. The men at the table were still at their meal. Itwould end, I did not doubt, by most of them falling into heavyalcoholic slumber.
I was tired, poisoned by the need of sleep. I lay on fabric cushionspiled in one corner of my tent. But sleep would not come; my thoughtsran like a tumbling mountain torrent, and as aimlessly. I hoped thatJetta was sleeping. De Boer was now at the center table with his men.Hans was guarding Jetta. He was a phlegmatic, heavy Dutchman, andseemed decent enough.
I wondered what Hanley might be doing to rescue me. But as I thoughtabout it, I could only hope that his patrols would not find us outhere. An attack and most certainly De Boer and his men in their angerwould kill me out of hand. And possibly Jetta also.
I had not had a word alone with Jetta since that scene in the controlroom. When we disembarked, she had stayed close by De Boer. But I knewthat Jetta had fathomed my purpose, that she was working to the sameend. We must find a way of arranging the ransom which would give us anopportunity to escape.
I pondered it. And at last an idea came to me, vague in all itsdetails, as yet. But it seemed feasible, and I thought it would soundplausible to De Boer. I would watch my chance and explain it to him.Then I realized how much aid Jetta would be. She would agree with myplan, and help me convince him. And when the crucial time came, thoughI would be a captive, watched by Gutierrez, bound and gagged,perhaps--Jetta would be at liberty. De Boer and Gutierrez would not beon their guard with her.
I drifted off to sleep, working out the details of my plan.
CHAPTER XVI
_Planning The Ransom_
I was awakened by the sound of low voices outside my tent. Jetta'svoice, and De Boer's, and, mingled with them, the babble of the stillhilarious bandits in the center of the cave. But there were only a fewleft now; most of them had fallen into heavy slumber. I had beenasleep for several hours, I figured. The daylight shadows outside thecave entrance showed that it was at least noon.
I lay listening to the voices which had awakened me. De Boer wassaying:
"But w
hy, Jetta, should I bother with your ideas? I know what is best.This ransom is too dangerous to arrange." His voice sounded calmlygood humored; I could hear in it now more than a trace of alcoholicinfluence. He added, "I think we had better kill him and have done. Mymen think so, too; already I have caused trouble with them, bybringing him."
It jolted me into full wakefulness.
Jetta's voice: "No! I tell you it can be arranged, Hendrick. I havebeen thinking of it, planning it--"
"Child! Well what? The least I can do is listen; I am no pig-headedAmerican. Say it out. What would you do to ransom him safely?"
* * * * *
They were just at the foot of my ledge, in front of De Boer's tent.Their voices rose so that I could hear them plainly. For all my startat being awakened to hear my death determined upon, I recall that Iwas almost equally startled by Jetta's voice. Her tone, her mannerwith De Boer. Whatever opportunities they had had for talkingtogether, the change in their relationship was remarkable. De Boer wasnow flushed with drink, but for all that he had obviously still a firmgrip upon his wits. And I heard Jetta now urging her ideas upon himwith calm confidence. An outward confidence; yet under it there was avibrant emotion suppressed within her even tone; a hint of tremulousfright; a careful calculation of the effect she might be making uponDe Boer. Had he not been intoxicated--with drink and with her--hemight have sensed it. But he did not.
"Hendrick, it can be done. A big price. Why not?"
"Because if we are trapped and caught, of what use is the price wemight have gotten? Tell me that, wise one?"
"We will not be trapped. And suppose you kill him--won't they trackyou just the same, Hendrick?"
"No. We would leave his body on some crag where it would be found. Thepatrols would more quickly tire of chasing a killer when the damage isdone. They want Grant alive."
"Then let them have him alive--for a big price. Hendrick, listen--"
"Well, what?" he demanded again. "What is your plan?"
"Why--well, Hendrick, like this--"
She stammered, and I realized that she had no plausible plan. She wasfumbling, groping, urging upon De Boer that I must be ransomed alive.But she had not good reason for it.
"Well?" he prompted impatiently.
"You--can you raise Great New York on the audiphone, Hendrick?"
"Yes," he said.
"Hanley's office?"
"Yes, no doubt. Chah--that would give him a start, wouldn't it? DeBoer calmly calling him!"
* * * * *
He was laughing. I heard what sounded as though he were gulpinganother drink. "By damn, Jetta, you are not the timid bird you look.Call Hanley, eh?"
"Yes. Can it be done and still bar his instruments from locating us?"
"Yes, and bar his television. Believe it, Jetta. I have every devicefor hiding. But--call Hanley!"
"Why not? ... Hendrick, stop!"
I started. It seemed that he was embracing her; forcing half drunkencaresses upon her.
I scrambled through my tent doorway, but Gutierrez, who had come backon guard, at once seized me.
"_Hui_--so haste! Back, you."
The Spaniard spoke softly, and he was grinning. "The chief plays withwoman's words, no? Charming senorita, though she dresses like a boy.But that is the more charming, eh? Listen to her, Grant."
He gripped me, and prodded my side with the point of his knife blade."Lie down Americano: we will listen."
Jetta was insisting. "Hendrick, stop!"
"Why?"
* * * * *
I could see them now. They were seated before the opening of De Boer'stent. A little stove in front of them. Coffee for Jetta, who wasseated cross-legged, pouring it; a bowl of drink for De Boer. And somebaked breadstuff dainties on a platter.
"Hendrick--"
She pushed him away as he leaned to embrace her. Although she waslaughing with him, I could only guess at the chill of fear that mightbe in her heart.
"Foolish, Hendrick!"
"Foolish little bird, Jetta mine."
"You--it is you who are foolish, Hendrick." She slid from his embraceand held her brimming coffee cup balanced before her, to ward him off."You think I am really clever, so trust me, Hendrick. Oh there is agreat future for us: you say I inspire you; let me! Hendrick De Boer,Chieftain of the Lowlands! My father would have helped you becomethat. You can build a little empire. Hendrick--why not? Father wantedto make you President of Nareda. Why not build your own LowlandEmpire? We have a hundred men now? Why not gather a thousand? Tenthousand? An empire!"
"_Ave Maria_," from Gutierrez. "This _nina_ thinks big thoughts!"
De Boer raised his bowl. "An empire--De Boer of the Lowlands! Go on;you amuse me. We have a nice start, with this treasure."
"Yes. And the ransom money. But you will take me first to Cape Town,Hendrick? We can be married there: I am seventeen in a month."
"Of course, Jetta. Haven't I promised?" There was no convincingness tome in the way he said it. "Of course. To Cape Town for our marriage."
"Stop! Hendrick, be serious!" He had reached for her again. "Don't bea fool, Hendrick."
"Very well," he said. "I am all serious. What is your plan?"
* * * * *
She was more resourceful this time. She retorted, "This craven Grant,he fears for his life--but he is very smart, Hendrick. I think he isscheming every moment how he can be safely ransomed."
"Hah! No doubt of that!"
"And he has had experience with Chief Hanley. He knows Hanley'smethods, how Hanley will act. Let us see what Grant says of this."
She had no plan of her own, but she hoped that by now I had one! Andshe was making an opportunity for me to put it before De Boer.
He said, "There is sense to that, Jetta. If there is any way to foolHanley, that craven American has no doubt thought it out."
She held another drink before him. "Yes. Let us see what he says."
He drank; and again as they were near together he caressed her.
"What a schemer you are, little bird. You and I are well matched, eh?"
"Gutierrez may be watching us!" she warned.
They suddenly looked up and saw Gutierrez and me.
"Hah!" Fortunately it struck De Boer into further good humor. "Hah--wehave an audience! Bring down the prisoner, Gutierrez! Let us see ifhis wits can get him out of this plight. Come down, Grant!"
Gutierrez shoved me down the ladder ahead of him. De Boer stood up andseized me. His great fingers dug into my shoulders.
"Sit down, American! It seems you are not to die. _Perhaps_ not."
The strength of his fingers was hurting me: he hoped I would wince.Mine was now an ignominious role, indeed, yet I knew it was best.
I gasped. "Don't do that: you hurt!"
He chuckled and cast me loose. I added, with a show of spirit, "Youare a bullying giant. Just because you are bigger than I am--"
"Hear that, Jetta? The American finds courage with his coming ransom!"
* * * * *
He shoved me to the ground. Gutierrez grinned, and withdrew a trifle.Jetta avoided meeting my gaze.
"Have some coffee," De Boer offered. "Alcohol is not good for you. Nowsay: have you any suggestions on how I can safely ransom you?"
It seemed that Jetta was holding her breath with anxiety. But Ianswered with an appearance of ready eagerness. "Yes. I have. I canarrange it with complete safety to you, if you give me a chance."
"You've got your chance. Speak out."
"You promise you will return me alive? Not hurt me?"
"De duvel--yes! You have my promise. But your plan had better be verygood."
"It is."
I told it carefully. The details of it grew with my words. Jettajoined in it. But, most of all, it did indeed sound feasible. "But itmust be done at once," I urged. "The weather is right; to-night itwill be dark; overca
st; not much wind. Don't you think so?"
He sent Gutierrez to the cave's instrument room to read the weatherforecast instruments. My guess was right.
"To-night then," I said. "If we linger, it only gives Hanley more timeto plan trickery."
"Let us try and raise him now," Jetta suggested.
The Dutchman, Hans, had joined us. He too, seemed to think my ideaswere good.
Except for the guards at the cave entrance, all the other bandits werefar gone in drink. With Hans and Gutierrez, we went to the instrumentroom to call Hanley. As we crossed the cave, with Hans and De Boerwalking ahead together, De Boer spoke louder than he realized, and thewords came back to me.
"Not so bad, Hans? We will use him--but I am not a fool. I'll send himback dead, not alive! A little knife-thrust, just at the end! Safestfor us, eh, Hans?"
CHAPTER XVII
_Within the Black Sack_
We left the bandit stronghold just after nightfall that same day.There were five of us on the X-flyer. Jetta and De Boer, Hans andGutierrez and myself. The negotiations with Hanley had come throughsatisfactorily; to De Boer, certainly, for he was in a triumphant moodas they cast off the aero and we rose over the mist-hung depths.
It was part of my plan, this meager manning of the bandit ship. But itwas mechanically practical: there was only Hans needed at the controlsfor this short-time flight: with De Boer plotting his course, workingout his last details--and with Gutierrez to guard me.
De Boer had been quite willing to take no other men--and most of themwere too far gone in their cups to be of much use. I never havefathomed De Boer's final purpose. He promised Jetta now that when Iwas successfully ransomed he would proceed to Cape Town by comfortablenight flights and marry her. It pleased Gutierrez and Hans, for theywanted none of their comrades. The treasure was still on the flyer.The ransom gold would be added to it. I think that De Boer, Gutierrezand Hans planned never to return to their band. Why, when the treasuredivided so nicely among three, break it up to enrich a hundred?
I shall never forget Hanley's grim face as we saw it that afternoon onDe Boer's image-grid. My chief sat at his desk with all his locationdetectors impotent, listening to my disembodied voice explaining whatI wanted him to do. My humble, earnest, frightened desire to beransomed safely at all costs! My plea that he do nothing to try andtrap De Boer!
It hurt me to appear so craven. But with it all, I knew that Hanleyunderstood. He could imagine my leering captor standing at my elbow,prompting my words, dictating my very tone--prodding me with a knifein the ribs. I tried, by every shade of meaning, to convey to Hanleythat I hoped to escape and save the ransom money. And I think that heguessed it, though he was wary in the tone he used for De Boer tohear. He accepted, unhesitatingly, De Boer's proposition: assured ushe would do nothing to assail De Boer; and never once did his grimface convey a hint of anything but complete acquiescence.
* * * * *
We had President Markes on the circuit. De Boer, with nothing to lose,promised to return Jetta with me. In gold coin, sixty thousand U. S.dollar-standards for me; a third as much from Nareda, for Jetta.
The details were swiftly arranged. We cut the circuit. I had a lastlook at Hanley's face as the image of it faded. He seemed trying totell me to do the best I could; that he was powerless, and would donothing to jeopardize my life and Jetta's. Everything was ready forthe affair to be consummated at once. The weather was right; there wastime for Hanley and De Boer each comfortably to reach the assignedmeeting place.
We flew, for the first hour, nearly due west. The meeting place was at35 deg. N. by 59 deg. W., a few hundred miles east by north of thefairy-like mountaintop of the Bermudas. Our charts showed the Lowlandsthere to run down to what once was measured as nearly three thousandfathoms--called now eighteen thousand feet below the zero-height. Abroken region, a depth-ridge fairly level, and no Lowland sea, norany settlements in the neighborhood.
The time was set at an hour before midnight. No mail, passenger orfreight flyers were scheduled to pass near there at that hour, and,save for some chance private craft, we would be undisturbed. Theransom gold was available to Hanley. He had said he would bring it inhis personal Wasp.
* * * * *
The details of the exchange were simple. Hanley, with only onemechanic, would hover at the zero-height, his Wasp lighted so that wecould see it plainly. The wind drift, according to forecast, would besoutherly. At 11 P.M. Hanley would release from his Wasp a smallhelium-gas baloon-car--a ten-foot basket with the supporting gas bagabove it, weighted so that it would slowly descend into the depths,with a southern drift.
Our flyer, invisible and soundless, would pick up the baloon-car atsome point in its descent. The gold would be there, in a black casket.De Boer would take the gold, deposit Jetta and me in the car, andrelease it again. And when the balloon finally settled to the rocksbeneath, Hanley could pick it up. No men would be hidden by Hanley inthat basket. De Boer had stipulated that when casting loose theballoon, its car must be swept by Hanley with a visible electronicray. No hidden men could withstand that blast!
Such was the arrangement with Hanley. I was convinced that he intendedto carry it out to the letter. He would have his own invisible X-flyerin the neighborhood, no doubt. But it would not interfere with thesafe transfer of Jetta and me.
That De Boer would carry out his part, Hanley could only trust. He hadsaid so this afternoon bluntly. And De Boer had laughed and interposedhis voice in our circuit.
"Government money against these two lives, Hanley! Of course you haveto trust me!"
* * * * *
It was a flight, for us, of something less than four hours to themeeting place. Hans was piloting, seated alone in the little cubbyupon the forward wing-base, directly over the control room. De Boer,with Jetta at his side, worked over his course and watched hisinstrument banks. I was, at the start of the flight, lashed in a chairof the control room, my ankles and wrists tied and Gutierrez guardingme.
Jetta did not seem to notice me. She did not look at me, nor I at her.She pretended interest only in the success of the transfer; in herfather's treasure on board, the coming ransom money, and then a flightto Cape Town, dividing the treasure only with Hans and Gutierrez; andin her marriage with De Boer. She said she wanted me returned toHanley alive; craven coward that I was, still I did not deserve death.De Boer had agreed. But I knew that at last, as they tumbled me intothe basket, someone would slip a knife into me!
I had, as we came on board, just the chance for a few whisperedsentences with Jetta. But they were enough! We both knew what we hadto do. Desperate expedient, indeed! It seemed more desperate now asthe time approached than it had when I planned it.
The weather at 7 P.M. was heavily overcast. Sultry, breathless, withsolid, wide-flung cloud areas spread low over the zero-height. Nightsettled black in the Lowlands. The mists gathered.
We flew well down--under the minus two thousand-foot level--so thatout of the mists the highest dome peaks often passed close beneath us.
* * * * *
At 8 P.M. De Boer flung on the mechanism of invisibility. The interiorof the ship faded to its gruesome green darkness. My senses reeled asthe current surged through me. Lashed in my chair, I sat straining myadjusting eyes, straining my hearing to cope with this gruesomeunreality. And my heart was pounding. Would Jetta and I succeed? Orwas our love--unspoken love, born of a glance and the pressure of ourhands in that moonlit Nareda garden--was our love star-crossed,foredoomed to tragedy? A few hours, now, would tell us.
De Boer was taking no chances. He was using his greatest intensity ofpower, with every safeguard for complete invisibility and silence.From where I sat I could make out the black form of Hans through theceiling grid, at his pilot controls in the overhead cubby. A queerglow like an aura was around him. The same green radiance suffused thecontrol room. It could not penetrate the opened windows of th
e ship;could not pass beyond the electro-magnetic field enveloping us. Norcould the curious hum which permeated the ship's interior get past thebarrage barrier. From outside, I knew, we were invisible andinaudible.
Strange unreality, here in the control room! The black-garbed figuresof De Boer and Jetta at their table were unreal, spectral. At the dooroval, which I could barely see, Gutierrez lurked like a shadow. All ofthem, and Hans in the cubby above, were garbed in tight-fittingdead-black suits of silklene fabric. Thin, elastic as sheer silk web,opaque, lustreless. It covered their feet, legs and bodies; and theirarms and hands like black, silk gloves. Their heads were helmeted withit. And they had black masks which as yet were flapped up and fastenedto the helmet above their foreheads. Their faces only were exposed,tinted a ghastly, lurid green by this strange light. It glowed andglistened like phosphorescence on their eyeballs, making them the eyesof animals in a hunter's torchlight, at night.
* * * * *
De Boer moved upon an errand across the control room. He was a burlyblack spectre in the skin-tight suit. His footfalls faintly sounded onthe metal floor. They were toneless footfalls. Unreal. They mighthave been bells, or jangling thuds; they had lost their identity inthis soundless, vibrating hum.
And he spoke, "We are making good progress, Jetta. We will be ontime."
Ghastly voice! So devoid of every human timbre, every overtone shadeto give it meaning, that it might have been a man's voice, or awoman's, the voice of something living, or something dead. Sepulchral.A stripped shell of voice. Yet to me, inside here with it, it wasperfectly audible.
And Jetta said, "Yes, Hendrick, that is good."
A voice like his: no different.
Gruesome. Weird.
* * * * *
I try now to picture the scene in detail, for out of these strangeconditions Jetta and I were to make our opportunity.
9 P.M. De Boer was a methodical fellow. He checked his position on thechart. He signalled the routine orders to Hans. And he gestured toGutierrez. The movements and acts of everyone had been definitelyplanned. And this, too, Jetta and I had anticipated.
"Time to make him ready, Gutierrez. Bring the sack in here. I'llfasten him away."
I was not garbed like the others. They could move out on the wingrunway under Hanley's eyes at short range, or climb in and out of theballoon car, and not be visible.
Gutierrez brought the sack. A dead-black fabric.
"Shall I cut him loose now from his chair, Commander?"
"I'll do it."
De Boer drew a long knife blade, coated black, and thin and sharp as ahalf-length rapier. Gutierrez had one of similar fashion. Noelectronic weapons were in evidence, probably because the hiss of onefired would have been too loud for our barrage, and its flash toobright. But a knife thrust is dark and silent!
The Spaniard's eyes were gleaming as he approached me with the bag,as though he were thinking of that silent knife thrust he would giveme at the last.
Dr. Boer said, "Stand up, Grant." He cut the fastenings that held mein my chair. But my ankles and wrists remained tied.
"Stand up, can't you?"
"Yes."
* * * * *
I got unsteadily to my feet. In the blurred green darkness I could seethat Jetta was not looking at me. Gutierrez held the mouth of the sackopen. As though I were an upright log of wood, De Boer lifted me.
"Pull it up over his feet, Gutierrez."
The oblong sack was longer than my body. They drew it over me, andbunched its top over my head. And De Boer laid me none too gently onthe floor.
"Lie still. Do you get enough air?"
"Yes."
The black fabric was sufficiently porous for me to breathe comfortablyinside the sack.
"All right, Gutierrez, I have the gag."
I felt them carrying me from the control room, twenty feet or so alongthe corridor, where a door-porte opened to a small balcony runway hungbeneath the forward wing. Jutting from it was a little take-offplatform some six feet by twelve in size. It was here that theballoon-basket was to be boarded. The casket containing the ransomgold would be landed here, and the sack containing me placed in thecar and cast loose. It was all within the area of invisibility of ourflyer.
De Boer knelt over me, and drew back the top of the sack to expose myface.
"A little gag for you, Grant, so you will not be tempted to call out."
"I won't do that."
"You might. Well, good-by, American."
"Good-by." And I breathed, "Good-by Jetta." Would I ever see heragain? Was this the end of everything for us?
* * * * *
He forced the gag into my mouth, tied it, and verified that my anklesand wrists were securely lashed. In the green radiance he andGutierrez were like ghouls prowling over me, and their muffledtoneless voices, tomblike.
The sack came up over my head.
"Good-by, Grant." I could not tell which one said it. And the otherchuckled.
I could feel them tying the mouth of the sack above my head. I laystiff. Then I heard their steps. Then silence.
I moved. I might have rolled, but I did not try it. I could raise myknees within the sack--double up like a folded pocket knife--but thatwas all.
A long, dark silence. It seemed interminable. Was Gutierrez guardingme here in the corridor? I could not tell; I heard nothing save thevague hum of the electronite current.
It had been 9 o'clock. Then I fancied that it must be 10. And then,perhaps, almost 11. I wondered what the weather outside was like. Soonwe would be nearing the meeting place. Would Hanley be there? WouldJetta soon, very soon now, be able to do her part? I listened,horribly tense, with every interval between the thumps of my heartseeming so long a gap of waiting.
* * * * *
I heard a sound! A toneless, unidentifiable sound. Another like it; alittle sequence of faint sounds. Growing louder. Approachingfootsteps? Jetta's? I prayed so.
Then a low voice. Two voices. Both the same in quality. But from thewords I could identify them.
"Hello, Gutierrez."
"_Nina_, hello."
Jetta! She had come!
"The captive is safe? No trouble?"
"No. He has not moved."
"Careful of him, Gutierrez. He is worth a lot of money to us."
"Well you say it. Senorita. In half an hour now, we will be away.Santa Maria, when this is over I shall breathe with more comfort!"
"We'll have no trouble, Gutierrez. We're almost there. In ten minutesnow, or a little more."
"So soon? What time is it?"
"Well, after half-past ten. When it's over, Gutierrez, we head forCape Town. Clever of me, don't you think, to persuade Hendrick to takeus to Cape Town? Just you three men to divide all this treasure. Itwould be foolish to let a hundred others have it."
"True, _Nina_; true enough."
"I insisted upon you and Hans--Gutierrez, what is that?"
A silence.
"I heard nothing."
"A voice, was it?"
"The Americano?"
"No! No--the commander calling? Was it? Calling you, Gutierrez?Perhaps we have sighted Hanley's Wasp. Go! I'll stand here, and comequickly back."
* * * * *
Footsteps. Now! Our chance, come at last! I twisted over on my side,and lay motionless. Ah, if only those were Gutierrez' fadingfootfalls! And Jetta, here alone with me in the green darkness! Justfor this one vital moment.
Fingers were fumbling at the top of my sack, unfastening the cord.Hands and arms came swiftly in. Fingers ran down my back as I lay onmy side to admit them quickly. Fingers went fumbling at the cords thatlashed my crossed wrists behind me. A knee pressed against me. Ahurried, panting, half sobbing breath close over me--
Just a hurried moment. The hands withdrew. The sack went back over myhead. The knees, the slight we
ight against me, was gone. A few secondsonly.
Footsteps. The voices again.
"Was it the commander, Gutierrez?"
"No. I do not know what it was. Nothing, probably."
"The Wasp in sight?"
"Not yet, _Nina_. You had best go back: De Boer, he might be jealousof us, no? He is busy with his instruments, but should he realize youare here, talking with me--"
"Senseless, Gutierrez!"
"Is it so, _Nina_? I have no attraction? Go back to him. Gold I want,not trouble over you!"
Faint laughter.
"When we sight the Wasp, I'll call and tell you, Gutierrez. Too badyou won't let me stay with you. I like you."
"Yes. But go now!"
Faint laughter. Footsteps. Then silence.
Our vital moment had come and passed. And Jetta had done her part; therole of action upon this dim lurid stage was now mine to play.
My hands were free.
CHAPTER XVIII
_The Combat in the Green Darkness_
Another interval. A dead, dark silence. I did not dare move. Gutierrezwas here, within a few feet of me, probably. I wondered if he couldsee the outlines of the black sack. Doubtless they were very vague.But if I exposed my flesh, my face, my hands, that would at onceattract his attention.
I worked the loosened cords from my wrists; moved my stiffened handsuntil, with returning blood, the strength came to them. I could notreach my bound ankles without doubling up my knees. I did not darechance such a movement of the sack. But, after a moment, I got myhands in front of me.
Then I took the gag from my mouth and, with a cautious hand, pried atthe top of the sack where it was bunched over my head. Its fasteningwas loose.
Another interval. A dim muffled voice; "The Wasp is in sight,Gutierrez!"
A movement--a sound like footsteps. Probably Gutierrez moving to thecorridor window to glance at Hanley's distant hovering flyer. I hopedit might be that: I had to take the chance.
* * * * *
I slid the bag from my face. I feared an abrupt alarm, or Gutierrezleaping upon me. But there was silence, and I saw his vague darkoutlines at the window oval, five feet from me.
I got my ankles loose and slid the bag off. I was unsteady on my feet,but desperation aided me.
Gutierrez half turned as I gripped him from behind. My hand on hismouth stifled his outcry. His black knife blade waved blindly. Then myclenched knuckle caught his temple, and dug with the twisting Santusblow. I was expert at it, and I found the vulnerable spot.
He crumpled in my grasp, and I slid his falling body across the narrowcorridor into the nearest cubby oval.
Almost soundless; and in the control room Jetta and De Boer weremurmuring and gazing at Hanley's ship, which hung ahead and above usat the zero-height.
I had planned all my movements. No motion was lost. Gutierrez wasabout my height and build. I stripped his black suit from him, donnedit, then tied his ankles and wrists, and gagged him against the timewhen he would recover consciousness. Then I stuffed his body in thesack and tied its top.
This black suit had a mask, rolled up and fastened to the helmet. Iloosed it, dropping it over my face. Knife in hand, I stood at thecorridor window.
* * * * *
It was all black outside. The clouds were black overhead; the highestLowland crags, several thousand feet beneath us, were all but blottedout in the murky darkness. Only one thing was to be seen: a quarter ofa mile ahead, now, and a thousand feet higher than our level, theshining, bird-like outlines of Hanley's hovering little Wasp. It stoodlike a painted image of an aero, alone on a dead-black background. Redand green signal-lights dotted it, and on its stern tip a small,spreading searchlight bathed the wings and the body with a revealingsilver radiance.
Our forward flight had been checked, and we, too, were hovering. Hansdoubtless would remain for a time in the pilot cubby; De Boer andJetta were in the control room. It was only twenty feet away, but Icould barely see its oval entrance.
"Gutierrez!"
One of them was calling. My hollow empty voice echoed back as I softlyresponded:
"Yes?"
"Be ready. We are arrived."
"Yes, Commander. All is well."
I continued to stand at the window. Hanley's little balloon-car wasvisible now. Then he cut it away. We had moved forward in theinterval. The tiny car floated out almost above us.
My gaze searched the void of darkness outside. Did Hanley have aninvisible flyer out there? Perhaps so. But it could accomplish nothingas yet. It would not even dare approach, for fear of collision withus.
* * * * *
The tiny car, with a white pilot light in it, swayed with a slowdescent. The basket beneath the supporting balloon oscillated in awide swing, then steadied. A sudden flash showed up there--a flashingelectronic stream, from Hanley's Wasp to the basket. The shot sweptthe basket interior. No one could be hidden there and survive.
It was Hanley's proof to us that he was following instructions.
"Hah! He obeys properly, Jetta!"
The voice floated back to me from the control room. Could I creep inthere, surprise De Boer now, and kill him? Doubtless. But it wouldalarm Hans. I must await my chance to get them together.
"Gutierrez! Hans, get us under it! Gutierrez!"
The vague outline of De Boer came toward me in the corridor, burlydark blob. His mask was down now. There were points of light, glowinglike faint distant stars, to mark his eyes.
"Gutierrez."
"Yes."
A small black figure followed after him. Jetta.
"Yes, De Boer." I stood over the sack. "I am ready."
De Boer's giant shape towered beside me. Now! My knife thrust now! ButHans was coming toward us. He would take alarm before I could reachhim.
"Open the side porte, Gutierrez. Hurry, the car is here. Hans, youshould have stayed up there!"
"The drift is calculated; the car is just here."
We were all swift-moving shadows; disembodied voices.
"Get that porte open."
"Yes." I opened it.
* * * * *
We went outside on the runway. I passed close to Jetta, and just foran instant pressed my gloved fingers on the black fabric of herarm--and she knew.
"Now, seize it."
"Here, Hans, climb up."
"I have it. Pull it, Gutierrez!"
The car drifted at us from the black void. We caught it.
"Hold it, Gutierrez."
"Hans, clip the balloon. Up with you."
In the blurred haste, I could not get them together. I did not want tokill one and have the other leap upon me.
We fastened the little balloon and dragged the car onto the take-offplatform. The shape of Hans leaped into the car.
"It is here! The ransom money!"
"Lift it to me. Heavy?"
"Yes."
"Gutierrez, help me. Hurry! If Hanley tries any trickery--"
Our aero was drifting downward and southward in the slight wind.Hanley's Wasp still hovered at the zero-height.
"In, Gutierrez."
* * * * *
Hans and I hauled out the heavy casket and placed it on the wingrunway. De Boer pried up its lid. The gold was there. I could not tellwhere Jetta was; I prayed she would keep away from this.
Then the shape of De Boer was missing! But in a moment he appeared,dragging the sack.
"Lift him, Gutierrez. Hans, unclip the balloon and shove off the car!"
We were all standing at the two-foot rail of the runway. Thecar-basket, floating now, was off side and level with us. My chance!
"In with him, Gutierrez."
I shoved the body, encased in its black sack, with Hans helping me.And suddenly De Boer's knife came down at the sack! A stab. But aninstinct to save the poor wretch within swept me. I struck at DeBoer's arm and deflec
ted the blow. The sack tumbled into the car.
I had neglected whatever chance had existed. Too late now!
"What in the hell!"
De Boer's shape seized me.
"What--"
It sent me into a sudden confusion. I flung him off. I stumbledagainst the shape of Hans.
The car was almost loose; drifting away.
Without thought--a frantic impulse--I pushed Hans over the brink. Hefell into the car. It swayed into an oscillation with the impact. Theballoon sank below our wing level and was gone, with only Hans,muffled shouts floating up.
* * * * *
And De Boer came leaping at me from behind. I whirled around. Mydanger was too much for the watching Jetta. She screamed.
"Philip, look out for him!"
"Hah! The American. By damn, what is this?"
It gave De Boer pause. He gripped a wing stay-wire for a second.
Then he came with a rush.
The corridor door was open behind me. I flung myself into it--andcollided with a shape.
"Philip!"
I shoved at her frantically.
"Jetta, get back! Away from us!"
I pulled at her, half falling. De Boer's shape came through thedoorway into the corridor. And was blotted out in the green darknessas he turned the other way, to avoid me if I struck.
A silence. The shadow of Jetta was behind me. I stood with poisedknife, listening, straining my eyes through the faint green darkness.De Boer was here, knife in hand, fallen now into craftly, motionlesssilence. He might have been close here down the corridor. Or in anyone of these nearby cubby doorways.
I slid forward along the wall. The corridor was solid black down itslength: the green radiance seemed brighter at the control room behindme. Had De Boer gone into this solid blackness, to lure me?
* * * * *
I stopped my advance. Stood again, trying to see or hear something.
And then I saw him! Two small glowing points of light. Distant stars.His eyes! Five feet ahead of me? Or ten? Or twenty?
A rustle. A sound.
His dark form materialized as he came--a huge, black blob overwhelmingme, his arm and knife blade striking.
I dropped to the floor-grid, and his blade went over me. And as Idropped, I struck with an upward thrust. My knife met solidity; sankinto flesh.
I twisted past him on the floor as he fell. My knife was gone: buriedin him.
Words were audible; choking gasps. I could see his form rising,staggering. The open porte was near him; he swayed through it.
Did he know he was mortally wounded? I think so. He swayed on the wingrunway, and I slid to the door and stood watching. And was aware ofthe shadow of Jetta creeping to join me.
"Is he--?"
"Quiet, Jetta."
He stood under the wing, swaying, gripping a stay. Then his voicesounded, and it seemed like a laugh.
"The craven American--wins." He moved a step. "Not to see--me die--"
He toppled at the rail. "Good-by, Jetta."
A great huddled shadow. A blob, toppling, falling....
Far down there now the crags and peaks of the Lowland depths werevisible. The darkness swallowed his whirling body. We could not hearthe impact.
CHAPTER XIX
_Episode of the Lowlands_
There is but little remaining for me to record. I could not operatethe mechanism of invisibility of De Boer's X-flyer. But its pilotcontrols were simple. With Jetta at my side, trembling now that ourgruesome task was over, we groped our way through the green darknessand mounted to the pilot cubby. And within ten minutes I had loweredthe ship into the depths, found a landing place upon the dark rocks,and brought us down.
Hanley's Wasp had landed: we saw its lights half a mile from us. Andthen the lights of another ship--an X-flyer convoying Hanley--slowlymaterializing nearby.
And then reunion. Jetta and I left De Boer's invisible vessel andclambered over the rocks. And presently Hanley, staring at ourgrotesque black forms, came rushing forward and greeted us.
We were an hour locating De Boer's flyer, for all that Jetta and I hadjust left it and thought we could find our way back. But we stumbledonto it at last. Hanley felt his way aboard and brought it tovisibility. It has since been returned to the Anti-War Department,with the compliments of Hanley's Office.
The ransom money was restored to its proper source. Spawn's treasureof radiumized quicksilver we shipped back to Nareda, where it waschecked and divided, and Jetta's share legally awarded to her.
De Boer was dead when Hanley found him that night on the rocks. Jettaand I did not go to look at him....
The balloon basket landed safely. Hanley and his men were down therein time to seize it. Hans was caught; and Gutierrez, within the sack,was found to be uninjured. They are incarcerated now in Nareda. Theywere willing to tell the location of the bandit stronghold. A raidthere the following day resulted in the capture of most of De Boer'smen.
All this is now public news. You have heard it, of course. Yet in mynarrative, setting down the events as I lived them, I have tried togive more vivid details than the bare facts as they were blaredthrough the public audiphones.
An episode of the strange, romantic, fantastic Lowlands. A veryunimportant series of incidents mingled with the news of a busyworld--just a few minutes of the newscasters' time to tell how a bandof depth smugglers was caught.
But it was a very important episode to me. It changed, for me, aclanking, thrumming machine-made world into a shining fairyland ofdreams come true. It gave me little Jetta.
(_The End_)