“Great stuff! How did you do it?”
“Stew’s got some kind of radio. Not very strong, but I got him. He told me in a sort of code that they were on this end of the biggest island.”
“That’s swell!” Ted exclaimed. “Going after them is my job. Jack’s from my home town.”
“Say! That’s keen!” said Kentucky. They flew on.
At the same time, on the island, with the aid of the girl, Jack was making a startling discovery. She walked with surprising speed over the jungle trail. Only now and then did she take his hand for an instant to whisper, “Over a log here” or “Up a low ledge now.”
“I didn’t want the natives to know,” she murmured low. “There might have been trouble if they saw what you are going to see. I didn’t want a fight—not now.”
“Know what?” Jack wanted to ask, but did not. What a queer girl this was! Her skin was dark, her nose was rather broad, and her lips seemed thick, yet she was surely not like the others.
“Been raised by some missionary,” he told himself. He knew well enough that there were such girls. He had seen some of them in the Solomons. Some were nurses. He thought again of the nurse’s uniform hidden at the foot of a huge palm. Had the girl been a native nurse?
“Up now,” she whispered, gripping his hand.
They climbed straight up a rocky ledge. At the crest she pushed him down to a place beside her.