The youth was so wrought up that he bounded to his feet and paced rapidly up and down the room. His caller coolly watched him and remained silent. The result of his revelation was what he wished it to be. The leaven was working. When Harvey became calmer, he resumed his seat, but his white face betrayed his tense emotion.
“Would you like to help to rescue the little girl and bring the scoundrels to justice?”
“I would give anything in the world for the chance.”
“You have it!”
“What do you mean?” demanded Harvey, bounding to his feet again.
“Just what I said; pull yourself together and listen.”
“Don’t keep me waiting.”
“You are making an excursion through the air with your aeroplane; this fact gives you an advantage which may prove a deciding one. I need not dwell on the grief of the parents of the little one, which is worse than death itself could cause. They will give any amount of money to recover their only child from the grip of those wretches. They have employed many detectives in searching for her; I have been doing nothing else for six weeks.”
“Why don’t they pay the ransom? That has been done in other cases, with the result of recovering the stolen one.”
“The father wished to pay the demand as soon as it came to him, but somebody or something has convinced him that it will prove only the first of other demands still more exorbitant, with the recovery of the child much in doubt.”