“Well, I’m licked!” Nickie said hopelessly.
But he wasn’t ... not yet....
CHAPTER XXV
A PASSING FACE
Distrustful though they were and full of nameless fears, they stepped into Devlin’s coupé early on Monday evening with a feeling of relief. To be out in the air again, a part of the moving, restless world—it gave them no small thrill and they tried to put out of their minds all that had troubled them since their strange imprisonment.
Devlin, adept at using either hand, dexterously managed the car with his left hand and kept his right hand significantly at his pocket. “I might as well warn you boys,” he said when they had left the clearing, “that I’ll stand for no nonsense. I got a silencer on this gun in my pocket and it won’t make any noise if either one of you try to beat it.”
Nickie seemed to have been silenced without the gun, but Skippy said, “Aw, don’t worry, mister. Why should we beat it when you’re gonna ship us out west an’ everything, huh?”
“I’m glad you feel that way,” the man said gravely, but watching the boys out of the corner of his eye. “Timmy got very restless waiting around and I had an idea he was putting notions in your heads.” He coughed.
“Aw, no,” Skippy said with a gulp. “I—er—he didn’t say nothin’.”
Devlin did not relax. “I might as well tell you my plans now,” he said slowly. “I’m taking you both to a country doctor not far from here for a physical examination. You are to act as if you didn’t know where you were born or much of anything else—understand? You may answer yes and no to any questions he asks you but that is all. I’ll do the rest of the talking. And you’re my sons—my sons! Don’t forget that for a moment. I’ll be watching every minute.”
They rode through the woods path, turning here and there so that Skippy could not keep track of the route. Dusk was rapidly approaching and when Devlin slowed down the car as they came abreast of a narrow path, he could just about make it out.