“And now it may be only hours till you see him again,” murmured the little maid. “Oh, I know how you feel, Mademoiselle! But now we must hurry, so you will not be late at the appointment downtown which Cho-San has made for you tonight. I heard him tell you it was important.”
While Lotus was worrying over the whereabouts of Count Borg, the Count’s double was speeding through the night sky less than a hundred miles east of San Francisco.
Already Don Winslow was training himself mentally for the part he was to play. In talking with Red Pennington who occupied the co-pilot’s place in the big cabin plane, he tried to imitate the very tone and accent of Count Borg’s speech.
Red, on the other hand, was training himself for the part of Penny, the Count’s valet-to-be. Only for brief periods during the trip had he dropped the pose of a manservant, for he knew that his part must be played to perfection from the moment they met the first Scorpion agent.
“Do you know the place we are supposed to land, sir?” he queried in his most respectful tone. “Even if one is acquainted with the city’s outskirts, it won’t be easy to find an unlighted field at night.”
“That will all be taken care of, Penny,” replied the pseudo Count Borg. “According to the last code message we got from Haiti at least one man will be there to meet us with a fast car. Undoubtedly he will light a couple of ground flares as soon as he hears our motor overhead. Anyhow, judging by the highway lights ahead, we’re almost over the spot which Splendor described.”
“But supposing, sir,” objected “Penny,” “that one of the Scorpion stations picked up Mr. Splendor’s broadcast and was able to decode it! In that case perhaps the man who is waiting for us will be a Scorpion agent backed by an armed gang. If they should suspect anything wrong they wouldn’t hesitate to rub us out and ask questions later—not that gang!”
The idea was startling enough as “Penny” expressed it. But “Count Borg” showed no trace of nervousness.
“Of course anything is possible with that gang, as you call them,” he agreed; “but Navy secret codes aren’t easily broken down, even by experts. Besides I’ve got a feeling our number isn’t up yet—look, Red! There are the ground flares being lighted now! Over to starboard, and about two miles north. We’ll come down just between them, and upwind!”