“Then talk sense!” demanded Phillips.
“How’s this for sense, then?” asked Mendosa. “Suppose we disappear in that flying machine as soon as it gets dark.”
“Can you run it?” asked Phillips, scornfully.
“Of course not!” was the answer. “I can run a faro lay-out, but I can’t run an aeroplane.”
“Then where is the sense in the suggestion?”
“The boy can run it!” declared Mendoza.
“Yes, but will he?”
“Will he?” repeated Mendoza. “Let me get a knife next to his ribs and he’ll do anything I tell him to do!”
“But will the machine carry us two and the boys?”
“The boys?” scorned Mendoza. “We don’t have to take both boys with us! We can cut the kid’s throat and leave him in the bushes!”