Toplinsky, startled with surprise, looked up at the panel. Epworth was gazing at him with blazing eyes over the blue barrel of a gun.
“Ah, ha, ho, ho.” The giant was not in the least disconcerted. “Our bantam fighter—our fast foot runner. Now I wonder how you got in there? But that is a matter of indifference. Long before we get to the moon you will be frozen into an Eskimo pie. It suits me well. I think that I shall move this young lady into another apartment, and seal this one. We can get along very well this trip without this room. Of course——.” He paused as if thinking deeply, and an ugly sneer appeared on his mouth. “Yes, I really believe that such an act would prevent any air from getting back into the store room.”
The cool, devilish ingenuity of the man was appalling.
“Y-y-you mean that you will let these men die in there for lack of breathing air?”
Joan’s face was deathly white as she asked this question.
“I didn’t tell them to go in there,” the giant apologized with asperity. “Probably they were trying to hitch-hike a ride with us, thinking that we were going to some other part of the world, and got caught in their own trap. Why should I trouble myself about them? If they die I assure you that decomposition will not commence during the trip to the moon. The frigid air will act like a refrigeration process, and preserve their bodies from offensive smells. We can dump them out when we get to the moon. Their carcasses will make good fertilizer.”
“Toplinsky, I confess that I do not get you.” Epworth spoke calmly. “I do not understand your actions concerning Joan. You gave me your word, and I thought that your word would stick.”
“I do stick to my word,” Toplinsky shrilled in intense anger. “The man who says that Herman Toplinsky is not a man of his word is a liar—a double-dyed liar by the town clock.”
“And yet my sister is here—kidnaped.”
“Just so.” The giant smiled broadly. “Still I have not broken my word. I did not promise you that I would not take her with me to the moon. I did not tell you that I would cut her off my visiting list. On the contrary I have seen to it that she was treated like a great lady. She has been given every comfort, and I intend to see that she is treated with distinguished courtesy on this trip.”