EM EM : monthly magazine - 01.09.1941, Blaðsíða 35

Bm Errt
35
••vve Diew tfle sare ana urought)
up two bars. They were nicely
sacked and all that, but they were
bars of lead.”
Colonel Baird did not say any-
thing for a while. Then he turned
abruptly to the telephone, called a
number in a brisk voice and held
a ' -ief conversation. He rose.
“Come, lieutenant. President
Sazardi wishes tn see us imme-
diately.” „
The president of Andegoya was
a little man '.vith thick white hair
and long white mustaches. Though
he was only 60, the care of the
state had rested heavily c- ' is
shoulders and he looked worn and
tired and old beyond his years.
I told my story, briefiy and to
the point, and President Sazardi
did not once interrupt me. Wheil
I had flnished, the president sat
motionless for a long time, drum-
ming nervously on the arms of hia
chair. Pinally he sighed and rosft
slowly to his feet.
“It is too bad,” he said regret-
fully. “I have always liked the
boy, always believed that he had!
a great future, a future of service
to our country. rAnd now—well—”
He shrugged expressively and
turned to a uniformed attendant
who stood near the door. He
spoke rapidly in Spanish. The
man saluted and dashed out of the
room. The president tumed back
to Baird and me.
“I personally am going to place
Francisco Carretos under arrest.
Do you gentlemen wish to accom-
pany me?” r)
“I do, sir,” I spoke up quickly.
“I’d like to see this thing through
to the finish.”
“Colonel Baird?”
“Yes, indeed, Your Excellency.
But now that you speak of it—
let me see. What was it Mildred
told me this evening? Oh yes,
Carretas was giving some sort of
a dinner party aboard his yacht.
It seems I recall that she was in-
vited. Yes, I remember very well(
now. They were to have dinner on
the yacht and then go for a short
cruise outside the harbor. It was
to be a very informal dinner, Mil-
dred said, just something to geb
their minds off the terrible ex-
perience they had been through.
Sazardi’s black piercing eyes
narrowed and his lips formed in a
mirthless grin. “Senor Carretos
wlll go through just one more ter-;
rible experience,” ht said grimly.;
“Come gentlemen.” _
Two automobiles loaded withj
soldiers preceded us as we drovej
at breakneck speed through thel
narrow streets to the waterfront.l
Thð tlvAai^Ani'a twiova
was awaitmg us witn enginsá
idling. We climbed in, a dozen
soldiers at our heels. The boat
swung away from the pier and
headed out into the harbor.
Then I swore shortly. “My lord,
sir!” I cried, “The Liberatad is
gone'.”
“Gone!” the president exclaimed.
“You are certain?”
I was certain. For two years
I had watched the harbor from my
window in the club and I knew the
anchorage of every ship in it.
“Of course!” I said bitterly.
“The Juarto came back and told
Carretos that the jig was up. The
gimboat must have got in just be-
fore we did. She left a couple of
hours ahead of us, but we came
back at 30 knots.”
Sazardi swore mildly in Spanish.
“You are a seafaring man, sir.
WÍiat do you suggest?”
“I suggest that we get aboard
the Whipple as fast as this boat
will take us there. The anchor
watch may have seen whic i way
the Liberated went after she got
outside the heads. Of course, she’ll
run without lights. It’s a hundred
to one we’H never be able to pick
her up, but it looks like our only
chance.”
Dick Hoffman, it developed, had
himself watched the Liberatad pull
her anchor and steam out of the
harbor. Not knowing that the
yacht belonged to Carretos, he had
paid her little heed. He had no-
ticed, however, that her running
lights and masthead light had
been switcheí off immediately she
had cleared *•' e heads.
“How long ago did she shove
off?” I asked quickly.
r ~Half an hour, I should say.”
, I looked hopelessly at the little
group of men in the wardroom.
Half an hour! A start of nearly
10 miles! I felt suddenly weak and
helpless, and my own feelings were
reflected in the faces of the men
around me. v /
Col. Baird looked dazed; he
seemed to know that his daughter,
whether willingly or otherwise,
was still aboard the Liberatad.
The president’s f a c e w a s
flushed; I knew the dynamic little
man was seethlng with important
anger. Hoffman stood shifting
from one foot to the other, anxious
to do something, but not knowing
what to do. Behind him stood the
other offlcers of the destroyer, si-
lent, eager, excited by the swift
drama that had entered their nor-
mally monotonous routine.
It was one of the junior offlcers
jong ao you ».öare tne' waR5" or a
ship remains visible on a calm
sea?”
Hoffman started. So did I.
“By the gods!” Dick cried. “On
a calm, oily sea a ship’s wake
might remain visible for a good
hour. If we can pick up that
yacht’s wake—”
He was out of the wardroom and
on his way to the bridge.
With her searchlights focussed
on the mirror-calm sea ahead, her
forced draft blowers roaring, the
Whipple shot out of the harbor
like a lean greyhound on the trail
of a rabbit. A quarter of a mile
beyond the heads we pieked up the
Liberatad’s wake, a streak of dull
water leading straight eastward
acror the shining expanse of oily
sea.
“Hard right!” Dick Hoffman or-
dered. “Rudder amidships . . .
Steady as you go."4,
The destroyer swung onto the
yacht’s track. For 20 minutes that
dull streak on the glassy ocean
bore due east. Then it swung
sharply to starboard. |
Hoffman chuckled. “They’ve
spotted us,” he remarked elatedly.
“They’re trying to zig-zag and
throw us off the track. They
haven’t a chance.”
Ten minutes later our search-
lights picked up the fleeing yacht.
Carretos must have realized then
the game was up, for he switehed
on his lights and hove to. Hoffman
skillfully brought the destroyeri
alongside the Liberatad and aj
group of us leaped onto the yacht’s!
deck. I caught sight of Carretosj
on the bridge.
The Andegoyan was standing)
quietly. There was a saturnine
smile on his lips as he watched mel
coming toward him. He spokel
calmly and not without a certain
grudging admiration.
"The Lieutenant Leslie again!
You have done well. Sir, I salute
you. Adios!”
As coolly as though he were div-
ing into a swimming tank, Car-
retos jumped to the rail, poised for
an instant and then dove cleanly
into the sea. A little trail of phos-
phorescence marked the path of
his body through the water. Down,
down, down—he never came up.
The president’s soldiers found a
group of white-faced frightened
men in the yacht’s cabin. Nine
men and a lone woman, Mildred
Baird. Some of the plotters were
high in their^country’s service.
Others. like Pedro Gonzales, one-
time servant in the Americaní
who offered possible solution to Club, held no offlcial position in
the problem. "Look here, cap-‘ :the renuhUc. ' * '
ittlnJi h& orlfiuí ðiwlílAnlu- “tínut