EM EM : monthly magazine - 01.09.1941, Síða 29

Em Eui
29
íster explaintó briskly. “It was
the final payment of a loan made
to Andegova in the T&ft adminis-
traiion. That ís why our govern-
ment is vitally interested in the re-
covery of the goid. Thac is why
yeu have been ordered to super-
vlse the salvage, m the event that
salvage is found feasibl-i.”
I whistled softly, lit a cigaret
and walked over to the window.
In a pond itutside stood four coral
flainingoes, tall and ttacely and
motioniess. 1 watched tliem for a
moment or tvvo and then tumed
back to Coionel Eaird.
"I suppose you kricw, colonel,
that the Alderbaron was scuttíed.”
“X understand that i3 supposed
to bc the case.”
"Why?” I asked. “Have you
tried ío figure out why ?”
The colonel shrugged. "The word
ir.ust have got out abcut that ship-
uient of gold, although it was sup-
pjíSed to liave ba«n Xepi secret. 1
tonagine s. plot was íormed to sLnk
rhe ship and later scnd down a
Siver and steal the bullion. That
i3 why the spot where sha sank is
besiig patroúed right ncw by an
Andegoyan gunboat, just to pre-
vent anything líke that. The gun-
boat is also attempting to locate
the ohip with a view of reeovering
the bullion.”
I shook my head decisive'ty. “It’s
a good theory, colonel, bul it
doesn’t fit tlie facts.”
He blinked ac me Ojrough his
thick lenses. “Why not, Leslie?”
“Have you any idea how deep
the Caribbean is out there?” I
cour.tered, ,
. “No.”
“Weii, I haven’t looked at the
charts far some time, but 1 know
it is plenty deep. Probably sev-
eral hundred fathoms. Do you
know how decp a diver can worl:
in safety?” ‘
i “I do not.”
“Not more than 40 fathoms. I
have done a good deal of divlng
myself and I know from experi-
ence that little effective work can
be done at depths belovr 40, So
there you are.
“Of courge, there is the bare
chance that the Alderbaron landed
on a shoal. But, going íurther, the
man who kliled the carpenter and
openad the sea cocka had no way
of knowing the exact posltion of
the ship nor how far she would
run before she sank. Alno, h« had
no way of knowing in advance just
wnen he would be able to get lnto
the double bottoms.”
Colonel Baird slowly nodded.
“The ship, then, could not have
been deliberately scuttled over a
Bhoal.” ...............
•iNu. xne proDaouuy ís tnat sne
lies in five or six hundred fathoms
of water and the bullion will never
be recovered.”
"H-m. What theory about the
sinking have you evolved then,
lieutenant?”
I grinned. “I haven’t any, col-
onel. None whatever. Though I
can tell you this much, I knew she
was going to sink.”
“You knew—she was going—to
sink!” Baird gasped.
I told him, then, of the warning
Pedro Gonzales had sent me.
"And what,” he finally asked,
“has this man Gonzales to say
now?”
“He hasn’t reported for work at
the club for two days and I haven’t
been able to locate him.”
“H-m. A very strange affair.”
“Another thing, colonel,” I put
in quickly. “Francisco Carretos’
yacht was only a few miles from
the Alderbaron when she went
down, while he was aboard the
ship.”
Baird eyed me sharply. “Are
you suggesting that Carretos may
have had some part in this plot?”
“I am, sir,” I said decisively.
“But, man! If he had known of
it, would he have taken passage
on the ship?”
“That seems strange, I will ad-
mit, but it is even more strange
that his yacht should be so close.
And after all, there was little dan-
ger in that calm sea for a man
with a lifebelt. And Carretos, I
can testify, was one of the first
persons on the ship to don a belt.”
“But Francisco Carretos! Good
Lord, man! Do you realize his
position in the country ? Why
should a man of his standing be
mixed up in a dastardly plot of this
kind?”
“I can’t answer that question,
colonel,” I admitted.
“But consider, Leslie! That gold
bullion must have been responsible
for the sinking of the ship. Fran-
cisco Carretos is the rlchest man
in this country. He is worth mil-
lions. He has every possible lux-
ury that money can buy. Now
why should a man of his position
in the country, a man of his enor-
mous wealth, concem himself over
ithat four million? Why would he
risk his position, his very life it-
aelf, by engaging in the inhuman
plot of ccuitling the ship?”
I lit another clgaret and shook
my head. “I can’t answer those
questions, sir.”
The Whipple dropped her hook
in the harbcr at daybreak the fol-
iowing morniiig. I was waiting
íor thn mntor dorv when it nullftd
eitmgsare'niC uoeir antrwent rrooara
the destroyer immediately. There
I was happy to find Dick Hoffman,
an old friend, in command. Dick
is a tall, lanky, good-natured three-
striper, a good egg and a fellow
who can be counted on in any sort
of a pinch.
“Well, how’s the naval attache ?.”•
Hoffman grinned.
"We’U skip that,” I said.
”And what’s all this stuff I hear
about a lot of gold bulHon ? What’s
been going on in this comic opera
republic ?”
“Plenty. Come down to the
wardroom and I’ll tell you about
ít. And while we’re talking, you
can haul your lioolc and stand out
on a course of 98 true.”
“Say, guy, to whom are you giv-
ing orders — to whom?” Diek
laughed.
“To you, you big guy! Get go-
ing.”
During the tliree hours it took
the Whipple to run out to the
cccne of disaster, Dick Hoffman
and I sat in the wardroom. We
h&d a bottle of Scotch on the table
sn front of us—which is strictly
non-reg—and I told him all I
knew and all I surmised and con-
jecíured. i
! “That’s how things stand at the
present time,” I finished. "The
ÍAIdetbaron was scuttled, though
it ie a dead cinch she wasn’t sunk
with a view of stealing the bulUon
because it was only by the merest
chance that she went down ln
shaliow water. Personally, I think
this rnan Carretos is implicated,
though I’m completely in the dark
as to his motives and the motives
beliind the sinking.” >.
“Huh—a rotten business,” Hoff-
man growjed-___________________ -
i f .Ifel
i __L CHAPTER VI
"Oh, our job, I suppose, is to s&l-
vage that bullion,” Hoffman said.
“No, not according to my or-
ders. Our govemment is inter-
ested in its recovery, of course, be-
cause the gold was consigned to
the United States Treasury. But
the Andegoyans are responsible for
it and the actual salvage work, if
the ship is located, devolves upoh
them. We’re to act only in an ad-j
visory capactty.”
“By which is meant what?”<
Hoffman asked.
“You tell me.”
The commander poured himself,
a short drink. "Well, it’s a mightyj
strange business, anyway you looki
at it. There’s something fishy
somewhere, all right But try toj
fietire It oiit " '