EM EM : monthly magazine - 01.09.1941, Síða 31

Em Em
31
•vowea, waa uppermost anu easuy
accessible,
I tumed then and groped my
way aft along the side of the ves-
ísel. I came to the short well-
;deck amidships, just forward of
'which was the purser’s office, and
lowered myself cautiously over the
rail.
! It was darker here, but I made
|out the opening of a passageway
and pulled myseif into it. Grop-
ing around in the inky blackness,
my flngers at last came in contact
with what I sought, the brass grill-
work that formed the upper half
of a door.
The door itself was open, but I
didn’t try to enter the room. I
knew that the heavy wooden desk,
the tables and the chairs would
be floating around, and I was tak-
ing no chances of fouling my lines.
I had what I wanted to know, how-
ever—that with a light I could
enter the office in perfect safety.
Pulling myself out of the pass-
ageway, I gained the rail again,
saw that my Unes were clear, shut
oíf my air and called into the
telephone:
"On deck! How long have I
been down?”
"Eighteen minutes, sir,” came
the muffled voice of the man at the
phone.
“AU right; haul me up. No de-
compression.”
Five minutes later I was stand-
ing on the deek of the destroyer
and the “bears” were stripping off
my suit.
“Well, what did you flnd out,
Ray?” Dlck Hoffman asked.
“I called the tum,” I told him.
"She’s lying on her starboard side,
just like I told you she’d be. I
got as far as the door of the pur-
ser’s office without any trouble at
all. Give me a light and I’U take
a charge of powder down there and
blow the safe open."
Frowning, Hoffman looked over
at the rusty gunboat and did not
say anything.
“Well, how about it ?” I demand-
ed impatiently.
“I was just wondering,” Dick
said slowiy. “After all you know,
that bullion belongs to Andegoya
and not to the United States. It
is their job, not ours, to recover it
and deUver it intact. And if your
friend, Captain Huertas, doesn’t
want to salvage it, I don’t quite see
where we come in. Maybe you’d
better talk it over with him.”
“Just try and stop me from talk-
ing it over wlth him!” I came back.
CHAPTER Vn
I was rowed over to the Juarto,
and again Capt. Huertas received
me on the quarterdeck with much
ceremony and hand-shaking.
“Ah, lieutenant,” said Huertas,
"you have been down?”
“I have been down,” I said
shortly.
“And deed you not find eet as
my diver has said?”
“I certainly did not. The ship isj
on her starboard side.”
“The sheep—ees on—her star-i
board side!” Huertas’ simulation
of surprise was pretty poor.
“And the purser’s office is wide
open,” I added.
The captain frowned fiercely.
“But my diver ees tell me—”
“Yeah, I know what your diver
told you. I know the whole story,”
I broke in. “But I’d like to hear it
again—from the diver.”
The captain’s small eyes blinked
rapidly.
“How about calling him up
here?” I asked. “I’d like to have
a look at this diver who doesn’t
know port from starboard.”
Huertas waved his hands help-
lessly. “I am so sorree, lieutenant.
That diver ees ver’ seeck man. He
has—what you call heem—the
bends! Si, the bends. He ees mos’
ill.”
I almost laughed in his fat face.
The bends, after going down only
90 feet and being given a couple
of hour3 decompression on the
way up!
‘Tm very sorry to hear that,
captain,” I said. “I guess you didn’t
give him enough decompression.”
My sarcasm was a mile over his
head. “No, I theenk not. Eet ees
mos’ regrettable, too, for he ees the
only diver I have.”
“I am willing to offer my serv-
ices,” I promptly told him.
“No, no, no! I would not theenk
of ett. Have I no pr-ride that I
would call on American Navee for
help to perform my duty? No, no,
no! We shall wait, lieutenant. To-
morrow my diver maybe ees well
again.”
“But why wait until tomorrow,”
I asked very mildly, “when I am
perfectly willing to go down again
today?”
“No, no, No!” Huertas protest-
ed. “You do not onnerstan’. I—”
Then I let him have a broadside.
“You’re right, Huertas. I do not
understand. I do not understand a
lot of things about this affair.
And one of the things I do not
understand is why you lied to me
ahout th« nn«itinn nf thot ahír\ ”
Huertas drew himselt up to ali
his pudgy five feet four. “I?” he
bellowed. “I, Fernando Juna Lor-
enzo de Anza Huertas, lie to
you?”
“8kip it!” I jeered. “Look here,
half pint! Put your cards on the
table. Do you want that bullion
up, or don’t you?”
“But certainly I want eet up!”
he shrieked.
“Very well!” I snapped. 'TU get
it up for you.”
I tumed to the ladder. The
dumpy little captain leaped in
front of me, gesticulating wildly.
“No, no, no!” he bellowed. “I
weel not allow—”
“What won’t you allow?” I de-
manded.
Huertas swallowed, for the mo-
ment Inarticulate.
"See here, small one,” I said,
“you’d better remember that
you’re dealing with the United
States Navy now. I’m under or-
ders to supervise the saivage of
that bullion. And inasmuch as you
seem disinclined to do anything
about it, I’m going to bring it up
for you.”
“But lieutenant!” Huertas
moaned. “You do not onnerstan’.”
“You pointed that out before,”
I reminded him. “Do you want to
explain to me why you don’t want
that gold recovered?”
“But eet ees not that! I swear!”
Huertas cried, wiping the perspir-
ation from his flat face with a
flabby hand.
“Save your breath!” I retorted,
and elbowed past hlm to the lad-
der.
As I was being rowed back to.
the Whipple, I went over word for
word my conversation with Huer4
tas. I was convinced beyond all
doubt that, acting imder orders
from his superiors, the commander
of the gunboat intended to do
everything possible to prevent the
recovery of that bullion.
And the more convinced I be-
came of Huertas’ intentions, the
more determined I was to bring
the bullion to the surface, for I
felt positive that the clue to the
motives behind the scuttling of the
Alderbaron lay locked in the pur-
ser’s safe.
• • •
“Well, what did the old boy
have to say?” Dick Hoffman
asked when I climbed on deck.
"Plenty. He said his diver had
the bends, for one thing.”
The commander laughed. “Did
Íie tell you any more fairy stor-
es?”
“Yes. He told me he wanted tq
jrecover the bullion. And if that
tsn.’t-a íairy storv it’s a nlain lie.”'