XVII
ORDERS FROM WASHINGTON
"You mean," asked Mercedes, as the little party sat sipping their afterdinner coffee on Splendor's wide veranda, "that you actually approve ofDon's risky plan? To me it seems like taking a hundred-to-one chance.There are so many traps he might walk into whichever way he turns!"
"Aye, there's no denyin' the dangers," Michael Splendor agreed solemnly."But there are ways of lessening them, I think. Take that treacherousradioman, for instance, he is only too anxious to talk, and he knows agreat deal that will be useful to Don Winslow. The other captives havenot been persuaded to loosen up."
"Then you've interviewed them all?" queried Red Pennington, in surprise."Gee, you must have been busy while Don and I were pounding our earsthis afternoon! But how're we gonna get hold of Corba again? I heardCaptain Riggs sayin' that he was shovin' off again in the morning."
"And so he is," said Splendor. "But tonight, some time durin' the wee,small hours, another closed car will be comin' out here fromPort-au-Prince. Inside of it will be Corba and our new friend, CountBorg, under guard, of course. We'll have a talk with them tomorrow,providin' Headquarters okays Commander Winslow's scheme. We should behearin' any minute from the phone call I put through to Washington."
As he spoke, there came the faint ringing of a telephone bell, somewherein the villa's spacious interior. A moment later a soft-footed nativeservant approached Michael Splendor's chair.
"_C'est pour, M'sieu'_ Don Winslow!" the man murmured in soft Haitianspeech.
"There's your call. Commander!" the young officer's host interpreted. "Iput it through to Captain Holding in your name. Tell him the wholescheme as ye worked it out, and add that I'm helpin' ye with thedetails. Here's hopin' ye persuade him!"
With a sober nod Don followed the servant through the wide doorway intothe house. When he had gone, Mercedes turned to Splendor with a troubledfrown.
"How do you know," she said, "that this telephone conversation won't beoverheard? There is such a thing as wire tapping, you know. And couldn'ta radiophone message be intercepted by anyone who turned in to the rightwave length? If the Scorpion's agents should get wind of Don's plan, itwould be worse than useless to go ahead!"
"Your reasoning is excellent, my dear," the man in the wheel chairanswered. "I believe, however, that the chance of our friend's wordsbeing overheard is less than if he and Captain Holding were sitting inthe same room. Commander Winslow is sitting this minute in asoundproofed booth. The wire is connected with me own private radioroom, where it is hooked up with a powerful radio beam transmitter. Ifan airplane with its radio tuned just right should blunder into thatbeam between here and Washington, the pilot might do a bit ofeavesdroppin'. But the chance is one in a billion, I fancy!"
Reassured, Mercedes sank back in her chair.
"I guess it's foolish for me to worry about such things," she admitted."You seem to have thought of every detail in advance, Mr. Splendor. Idon't see any armed guards patrolling about, but I suppose we're saferhere in your wild Haitian hills than we were on the high seas, aboardthe _Gatoon_!"
Enthusiastically Red Pennington took up the same theme. He had seenenough of Michael Splendor's shrewd planning to believe the veterancapable of handling any situation, on land or sea or in the air.
That private beam radio was the last word in preparedness, the chubbylieutenant stated. As for guards about the premises, what good wouldthey be, he asked, if they simply strutted back and forth in plain sightlike any cop on a beat?
Starting from there, he became really talkative. He praised his host'smagnificent grounds and living quarters, and especially his kitchenstaff. In the meal they had just eaten all Red's dreams of earthlyhappiness had come true, he declared. With a cook like that, he didn'tsee how Michael Splendor could bear to miss a single meal at home!
"Sure, I've other duties than stuffin' me face, Lieutenant!" retortedthe older man with a laugh. "I admit that I do meself well, though, backhere in the hills, and 'tis a grand place to rest up after a long trip.I hope ye and the Commander and Admiral Colby's daughter will enjoy yourstay with me; be it long or short!"
"I'm afraid," spoke Don Winslow from the doorway, "that it's going to beshort, so far as I am concerned, Mr. Splendor! I've just finishedtalking with Captain Holding at the Navy Intelligence Office. He'sordered me to leave at once, by plane, for San Francisco!"
"You--you mean, Don, he's approved your taking the place of Count Borg?"gasped Mercedes, starting up from her chair.
"Sure, Skipper, I knew he'd do that!" Red Pennington chimed in. "Butwhat did he say about me? If you're bound for 'Frisco, I'm going rightalong with you, y'know. You can't scuttle a shipmate in mid-voyage!"
There followed a lively argument, with Red and Mercedes trying to beatdown the protests of Don and the crippled Intelligence chief. The latterpointed out, quite logically, that two disguises would be more thantwice as dangerous as one. Besides there was no real need, they said,for Red to risk his life as a bodyguard for the pretended Count Borg. IfDon _should_ be discovered in that disguise, a whole platoon of fightingmen couldn't save his life.
In the end, however, Red won his point. It was agreed that he shouldaccompany the pseudo Count as his valet, at least as far as the EmpireHotel in San Francisco. After they registered there, of course, anythingmight happen.
At present, the main task for all four friends lay in getting the twoyoung officers started on their long flight to the West coast. CaptainHolding had urged haste, yet there were many things to be done.
Among these was the job of pumping the Scorpion radioman, Corba, forevery scrap of information about the real Count Borg. Michael Splendorvolunteered to do the pumping, so that Don and Red might rest up for thehard trip ahead.
Meanwhile, it was decided Panama would be overhauling Splendor's big,new cabin plane for a nonstop flight. The following night it would beready, in its hangar behind the villa, for the supposed Count Borg to"steal." When that was done and the "escaping prisoner" was well on hisway, the alarm would be spread. No mention, of course, would be made ofLieutenant Red Pennington's disappearance at the very same time!
With Don and Red taking turns at the cabin plane's controls, they shouldarrive at San Francisco fresh enough for whatever adventures lay instore for them. The plane would be abandoned outside the city. An houror two later, "Count Borg" would register at the Empire Hotel, with hisvalet, "Penny," and the dangerous game would begin.