He looked round to make sure he was
not observed or overheard.
"There's a little cabin on the foredeck of the Cormorant," he said.
"It isn't used nowadays. Nobody on board. Move fast."
He wheeled and was gone.
Payne and Higgins slipped swiftly through the jungle to the farther
side of the key where the Cormorant lay moored. A rush into the water
and they were on the starboard side of the boat and hidden from the
shore. In another moment they were over the low rail onto the deck and
crawling into the lower cabin and forward beneath the wheelhouse.
"Whew!" Higgins sniffed at the strange odor that greeted them. "What
is it--arsenic?"
"Shut the door. Good! Things are working fine."
"It's a darn funny way to go looking at land."
"But it's a way, and that's what we're after."
"Smells like a morgue in here."
"Ssh!"
With his eyes at a crack in the door Roger saw the crew coming aboard.
The engineer was in the lead; behind him came the captain, a tall man
of vicious appearance, and a half-naked mulatto deckhand.
"Hard eggs, those two; that engineer doesn't belong in their company."
"Nope; he doesn't belong here at all," whispered Higgins. "He tries to
look the part and doesn't quite make it. Wonder what his game is?"
"There goes the Swastika.
Pages:
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44