As he spoke there came a knock on the door. It was Lieutenant Darnley with a queer piece of news. The prisoner Corba had been asking urgently for Commander Winslow and he refused to say why. Lieutenant Darnley thought that if the commander were well enough....
“I’ll be with you in two shakes, Lieutenant,” Don assured the Gatoon’s executive officer. “That lad Corba knows a lot more than he has told us yet. If he’s ready to spill something interesting, I’ll be glad to listen.”
There were only two roomy cells in the Gatoon’s brig. With the rescued crews of the Scorpion airplanes, they were crowded to capacity. Corba and Mink shared their cell with the pilot of the seaplane who had recovered consciousness.
Don, standing before the cell door with Red and the other two officers, noted the pilot’s makeshift head bandage.
“You’ll have to tend that man’s wound right away, Doctor!” the young commander said sharply. “He’s an enemy, in the service of a criminal chief, but he’s a human being all the same.... Master-at-arms! Bring that prisoner along with Corba, now!”
A moment later, both prisoners were led out, handcuffed. The doctor took the wounded man under guard to the sick bay while Don moved off out of earshot with the shifty-eyed Corba.
Red, glancing down the forecastle, caught the look of amazed interest on Don Winslow’s face.
“That guy Corba must be giving him some potent dope!” he remarked in an undertone. “I’d give a lot to know what he’s saying!”
“You’re right, Pennington,” Lieutenant Darnley agreed. “Commander Winslow isn’t excited easily, I’ve noticed, but he’s sure getting that way now. Looks as if Corba was shooting the works!”
Don Winslow’s air of mystery, as he returned with Corba, did nothing to allay Red’s curiosity. Even when the Scorpion agent had been returned to his cell, and Lieutenant Darnley had answered a call to the Gatoon’s bridge, the young commander refused to answer questions.