lly with a
handful of twinkling lights. Puffy Adams was leaning over the berth,
his body clad in oversized pajamas, eyes wide with excitement.

"The orchestra!" Puffy was muttering. "They ain't! They're Lardner's
gunmen! Lardner's on board!" He babbled on.

"Wait a minute!" Drake was wide awake now. He helped Adams into the
berth, holding a warning finger over his lips. "Now," he said firmly,
"one thing at a time."

"Those punks that called themselves Harry's Rhythm Rascals. They got a
plane full of tommy guns. They can't play but _one_ tune on those."

Drake's eyes narrowed.

"How did you find out?"

"I couldn't sleep," Puffy said. "Went up front to get a glass of water
and find that pretty hostess to keep me company."

"So?"

Puffy gulped.

"So she isn't aboard the plane. We landed somewhere last night right
after we took off. I didn't think nothin' of it. Ain't used to these
airplanes. Well, when I was up front I heard two of these punks
talkin' in their berths."

He opened the curtain slightly and looked both ways along the narrow
aisle.

"This whole damned plane is full of Lardner's men. They were laughing
at the trick they pulled on the airlines. Seems they forced the pilot
to land, threw out both pilots and the hostess. Lardner was waiting at
the private field and he came aboard."

"You're sure Lardner's on this plane?" Drake asked. "You didn't dream
all this?"

"Listen, Cinderella." Puffy was himself again. "This sky bird is
headquarters for every ex-con in Chicago. I don't know why they didn't
throw us off with the hostess, but I sure wish they had."

A hard smile twisted Drake's lips.

"I think," he said, "that we're going to see Sylvia Fanton much sooner
than I had planned. Unless we do some fast thinking we may not see her
alive."

* * * * *

They sat quietly as Drake studied the country under the plane. He
tried to discover some landmark listed on the map. There was nothing
but scarred, snowcapped mountain peaks. A sprinkling of toothpick
pines relieved the monotony of blinding snow, here and there.
Gradually, as the plane droned on, even these were left behind.
Ahead--only the white wastes.

From somewhere forward in the plane came a hard chuckle of laughter.

"Our hosts are coming to life," Drake said. "It's now or never." He
pushed bare feet into the aisle and dropped, stretching his arms
overhead with a yawn.

"As soon as I'm out of sight," he