“Seems I’ve got to leave you in any case — unless you’ll come with me?”
“Oh, Simon — Simon —” She wrung her hands.
“’Ow can I? Russia is my country. I love ’er, even as I love you.”
Rex stood by the Duke watching Richard wheel above them to gain altitude. The little white ’plane banked sharply and then, straightening out, headed for the Rumanian frontier. It had hardly disappeared above the tree-tops to the south when his quick ear caught the note of another engine. “Look out!” he yelled. “’Plane over!”
Simon gripped Valeria Petrovna by the arm. “Quick! We must run for it — the farmhouse!”
The dull booming of the big bomber could be clearly heard now. They had hardly crowded into the doorway of the farm when Rex spotted her. “Look!” he cried. “There she is!”
“It is Leshkin,” exclaimed Valeria Petrovna.
Rex nodded. “If he spots Richard I guess our number’s up.”
At that moment Richard was flying low over patches of wood and growing crops on the Rumanian side. He noticed a broad meadow and ’planed down into it, making an easy landing.
“Jump out, Marie Lou,” he called. “I’ll be back in five minutes with one of the others.”