“In here,” Kruger ordered. “This was one of the main shafts of the mine.”
They walked along the rail ties back about one hundred yards, where a rectangle of yellow light splashed into the corridor from a doorway in one wall of the tunnel. Kruger motioned them through the doorway into a big chamber that evidently had served as a locker room for the miners. Rotting wooden benches and tin lockers cluttered up the room, many of them overturned, all of them sagging. A large gasoline lantern burned on a long wooden table in the middle of the room. On either side of the table sat a strange man with a rifle across his knees. Across the table, seated all in a row on a bench, their hands and feet tied, were Dr. Steele, Professor Crowell, Lou Mayer and Tagish Charley.
“Dad!” Sandy burst out. “Am I glad to see you! Are you okay?”
Dr. Steele managed a strained smile. “I’m all right, Son. We all are. But I can’t say I’m glad to see you boys.” He turned to one of the men with the rifles. “Did you have to drag them into it, Strak? They’re only boys. They don’t even know what this is all about.”
The man he addressed, a short, intense fellow who moved with the quick, nervous motions of a squirrel, stood up and walked toward the new arrivals. He stopped in front of Sandy and stroked his prominent clean-shaven chin.
“So this is your son, Dr. Steele? A fine-looking lad.” He spoke careful, formal English. “I, too, regret that he and the other youth had to become involved. But we couldn’t take any chances. They would have notified the police that you were missing and....”
“Don’t be a fool!” Professor Crowell snapped. “The police will discover our absence soon enough.”
Strak smiled patiently. “I disagree. Secrecy has been the keynote of your project. Only a few people in both your governments—high officials—know your real purpose in coming to Alaska. By the time they discover you are missing, we will all be safely out of the country.”
“Of course, Dr. Steele, you could spare your son and his friend a lot of unnecessary hardship by co-operating with us,” Kruger said. “Just the answer to one simple question....”
“You’re wasting your time,” Dr. Steele said flatly.