Part 26 (1/2)

”Say, Mr. Craig, you're an authority on South America, aren't you? I bought some beans in the market this morning which they told me were grown down there, and my chef don't seem to know what to make of 'em. I wonder whether you would mind stepping up and giving him your advice?”

Craig's much lower voice was inaudible but it was evident that he had consented, for the two men ascended to the third floor together. Quest watched them enter the kitchen. A moment or two later the steward was summoned by a messenger and descended alone. Quest ran quickly down the stairs and planted himself behind the kitchen door. He had hardly taken up his position before the handle was turned. He heard Craig's last words, spoken as he looked over his shoulder.

”You want to just soak them for two hours longer than any other beans in the world. That's all there is about it.”

Craig appeared and the door swung back behind him. Before he could utter a cry, Quest's left hand was over his mouth and the cold muzzle of an automatic pistol was pressed to his ribs.

”Turn round and mount those stairs, Craig,” Quest ordered.

The man shrunk away, trembling. The pistol pressed a little further into his side.

”Upstairs,” Quest repeated firmly. ”If you utter a cry I shall shoot you.”

Craig turned slowly round and obeyed. He mounted the stairs with reluctant footsteps, followed by Quest.

”Through the door to your right,” the latter directed. ”That's right! Now sit down in that chair facing me.”

Quest closed the door carefully. Craig sat where he had been ordered, his fingers gripping the arms of the chair. In his eyes shone the furtive, terrified light of the trapped criminal.

Quest looked him over a little scornfully. It was queer that a man with apparently so little nerve should have the art and the daring to plan such exploits.

”What do you want with me?” Craig asked doggedly.

”First of all,” Quest replied, ”I want to know what you have done with my a.s.sistant, the girl whom you carried off from the Professor's garage.”

Craig shook his head.

”I know nothing about her.”

”She locked you in the garage,” Quest continued, ”and sent for me. When I arrived, I found the garage door open, Lenora gone and you a fugitive.”

Bewilderment struggled for a moment with blank terror in Craig's expression.

”How do you know that she locked me in the garage?”

Quest smiled, stretched out his right arm and his long fingers played softly with the pocket wireless.

”In just the same way,” he explained, ”that I am sending her this message at the present moment--a message which she will receive and understand wherever she is hidden. Would you like to know what I am telling her?”

The man s.h.i.+vered. His eyes, as though fascinated, watched the little instrument.

”I am saying this, Craig,” Quest continued. ”Craig is here and in my power. He is sitting within a few feet of me and will not leave this room alive until he has told me your whereabouts. Keep up your courage, Lenora.

You shall be free in an hour.”

The trapped man looked away from the instrument into Quest's face. There was a momentary flicker of something that might have pa.s.sed for courage in his tone.

”Mr. Quest,” he said, ”you are a wonderful man, but there are limits to your power. You can tear my tongue from my mouth but you cannot force me to speak a word.”

Quest leaned a little further forward in his chair, his gaze became more concentrated.

”That is where you are wrong, Craig. That is where you make a mistake. In a very few minutes you will be telling me all the secrets of your heart.”