“Not this side of Haiti or Santo Domingo, but Smernoff said they were talking from a sub so that don’t count.”
“H-m-m,” muttered Mr. Henderson. “Rather like searching for a needle in a haystack. For all we know they may not be headed for their hiding place.”
“No, they may not,” admitted Mr. Pauling, “but I think Rawlins is right in that part of his surmise. If the submarine picked up the schooner’s crew as we assume, then they would naturally go direct to headquarters to report. If they continue to talk there is no reason why we should not trail them and eventually run them down.”
“Well I’m going to pump that Smernoff,” declared Rawlins. “I’ll bet he can tell us something. Not that I think he’s lying, but he’s just naturally thick as mud and he doesn’t get all we say to him. He must be able to tell something about the island if he lived there, and if he does I may be able to recognize it from his description.”
“Well, good luck, Rawlins,” laughed Mr. Henderson as the diver hurried aft. “Sorry you can’t talk Russian.”
But when, an hour later, Rawlins reappeared the others knew instantly by the expression on his face that he had learned something of value.
“I’ll say he knew something!” cried Rawlins gleefully. “Had the deuce of a job getting at it—couldn’t seem to make him understand, but got it little by little. He says the island was about a mile long and half a mile wide, that it was high and rocky in the middle, that one of the landmarks was a big turtle-shaped rock standing out of water just off a point and that the men lived in rooms or barracks which were cut in the solid rock.”
“That’s all very interesting—if true,” said Mr. Pauling, “but how does it help? There are probably a thousand islands of that size with similar high rocky centers and turtle-shaped, undercut rocks off their points. Why, the description might do just as well for New Providence.”
“Yes, except for one thing,” replied Rawlins, “and that of course was the last thing I got out of the old duck. Probably thought it wasn’t worth mentioning.”
“Well, out with it! What was it?” demanded Mr. Henderson.