"You might. Well, good-by, American."

"Good-by." And I breathed, "Good-by Jetta." Would I ever see her
again? Was this the end of everything for us?

* * * * *

He forced the gag into my mouth, tied it, and verified that my ankles
and wrists were securely lashed. In the green radiance he and
Gutierrez were like ghouls prowling over me, and their muffled
toneless voices, tomblike.

The sack came up over my head.

"Good-by, Grant." I could not tell which one said it. And the other
chuckled.

I could feel them tying the mouth of the sack above my head. I lay
stiff. Then I heard their steps. Then silence.

I moved. I might have rolled, but I did not try it. I could raise my
knees within the sack--double up like a folded pocket knife--but that
was all.

A long, dark silence. It seemed interminable. Was Gutierrez guarding
me here in the corridor? I could not tell; I heard nothing save the
vague hum of the electronite current.

It had been 9 o'clock. Then I fancied that it must be 10. And then,
perhaps, almost 11. I wondered what the weather outside was like. Soon
we would be nearing the meeting place. Would Hanley be there? Would
Jetta soon, very soon now, be able to do her part? I listened,
horribly tense, with every interval between the thumps of my heart
seeming so long a gap of waiting.

* * * * *

I heard a sound! A toneless, unidentifiable sound. Another like it; a
little sequence of faint sounds. Growing louder. Approaching
footsteps? Jetta's? I prayed so.

Then a low voice. Two voices. Both the same in quality. But from the
words I could identify them.

"Hello, Gutierrez."

"_Nina_, hello."

Jetta! She had come!

"The captive is safe? No trouble?"

"No. He has not moved."

"Careful of him, Gutierrez. He is worth a lot of money to us."

"Well you say it. Senorita. In half an hour now, we will be away.
Santa Maria, when this is over I shall breathe with more comfort!"

"We'll have no trouble, Gutierrez. We're almost there. In ten minutes
now, or a little more."

"So soon? What time is it?"

"Well, after half-past ten. When it's over, Gutierrez, we head for
Cape Town. Clever of me, don't you think, to persuade Hendrick to take
us to Cape Town? Just you three men to divide all this treasure. It
would be foolish to let a hundred others have it."

"True, _Nina_; true enough."

"I insisted upon you and Hans--Gutierrez, what is t