“You say that you are on a business trip; to Peru?”
“Yes. An important one.”
“No doubt someone, or group, is interested in seeing that you don’t get there,” Seaman suggested.
“That must be the solution, but it is very mystifying for we did not decide to fly down until two days before we started, and only a few close friends and the family knew how we were making the trip,” Mr. Austin told him.
“You are quite safe here, and we’ll do anything we can for you. I’ll make a report of your story, have it written this afternoon, and if you’ll sign it before you leave, it will be on record in case anything should come up later. If that dwarf is picked up by a boat he may claim that he was thrown out of the plane and make things unpleasant in that way. I’ll give you a copy of the papers with our signatures, and you can keep it on you to use if need be.”
“I have a part of the tube,” Jim explained.
“Leave a few drops of the stuff here and we’ll analyze it. See if our chemists can recognize the drug. There are hundreds of varieties picked up in the jungles every once in a while, but I never happened to hear of one acting as this did. You’re lucky to be here.”
“We certainly do appreciate your assistance,” Mr. Austin said warmly.
“I’ll have a guard posted by your plane while it is here so there will be no possible chance for a recurrence of what happened this morning, and when you are ready to refuel you can supervise the business yourselves. We have some good mechanics if you need any work done,” he offered further.
“We’ll give the bird an examination and be mighty glad to have your man’s help if anything has to be done,” Jim told him. Seaman touched a button and in a moment an orderly appeared. He stopped just inside the door, saluted briskly.