ld be to
attract attention. He backed clumsily off the curbing as if making
way....

And Ribiera looked at his face.

* * * * *

Bell's hand drifted near his hidden weapon. But Ribiera looked neither
surprised nor alarmed. He halted and chuckled.

"Ah, the Senhor Bell!"

Bell said nothing, looking as stupid as possible, merely because there
was nothing else to do.

"Ah, do not deny my acquaintance!" said Ribiera. He laughed. "I advise
you to go and look at the view, over the harbor. Good day, Senhor
Bell."

Laughing, he went off along the street. And Bell felt a cold horror
creeping over him as he realized what Ribiera might mean. Ribiera had
entirely too much against him to greet him only, in a town where even
the dogs dared not bark without The Master's express command. He had
guards with him, men who would have shot Bell down at a nod from
Ribiera.

Bell burst into a mad run for the waterfront. When the bay spread out
before his eyes he saw what Ribiera meant, and something seemed to
snap in his brain.

The plane in which he and Jamison and Paula had escaped in was
floating out in the harbor. It was unmistakable. A larger, bulkier
seaplane floated beside it. The buzzing in the air the night
before.... The arrival of the plane had been telephoned from Cape
Virgins. Through a glass, perhaps, even its alighting had been
watched. And a big seaplane had gone out to bring it back. Footprints
in the sand would lead toward the lighthouse. There would be plenty of
men to storm that, if necessary, to take the three fugitives. But they
would have found only Paula. It was quite possible that the plane had
only been sent for after Bell and Jamison had been seen to land in
Punta Arenas. And Paula in The Master's hands would explain Ribiera's
amusement perfectly.

* * * * *

Bell found Jamison looking unhurriedly for him. And Jamison glanced at
his utterly white face and said softly:

"We want to get where we can't be seen, to talk. There's the devil to
pay."

"No use hiding," said Bell. His lips seemed stiff. "Paula--"

"Hide anyway," snapped Jamison. He fairly thrust Bell into an alleyway
between two houses and thrust two rounded objects beneath his loose
fitting coat. "Two grenades. I have two more. The boat we came in is
taken--"

"So is the plane," said Bell emotionlessly.

"And there is a sign, in English, posted where we tied it up. The sig