Now the clouds hid them. By use of his instruments he could keep on a level keel, Larry knew, and with the engine throttled2 off, they could not be traced by its roar.
Presently they sailed out into a clear area and Larry sighed thankfully. He watched for a landing field beside a lake shaped like a half-moon. That would tell him he could set down on the landing spot the millionaire had built before going West.
Then he saw it. They began to drop swiftly, coming ever closer to the field. And then they set down, safe and unmolested.
271
Before the chums were clear of the runway, Tommy set down his ship, tumbled out and let the woman with him—the yacht stewardess4—get out as best she could. “What do you mean, double-crossing me?” screamed Tommy at detective Whiteside. “Why have you tried to get the emeralds after you promised me half of them?”
“The man has gone crazy,” said Whiteside.
“They are all in it together, Mr. Everdail,” Tommy shouted, turning toward the millionaire.
“What are you doing with that stewardess?” demanded Larry. “She joined you on the lawn when you came from behind the trees.”
“Be still,” cried Everdail. “We can thresh it out later. Right now let’s get those emeralds.”
Larry produced a knife, and Mr. Everdail slashed5 the life preserver to ribbons.
There was a gasp6. The life preserver was empty.
Then everyone began to talk at once, as accusations7 flew back and forth8.
“Boss, I want you to take a look at this-here stuff I brought from your house,” said Jeff, drawing a parcel from his pocket.
“Good night!” Sandy was amazed. “Jeff, that’s the family history of the Everdails, that I saw when I visited the farm boys and found out you and Mimi were married.”
272
“That-there is it,” agreed Jeff, taking several tintypes from an envelope. “Boss, read that history of your family and see if it makes it plain why anybody wanted to destroy your gems9.”
In the light of a flare10, Mr. Everdail perused11 the pages.
“As I live and breathe!” he exclaimed.
“Yeah,” grinned Jeff. “Thanks to Sandy for leaving the book there, and thanks to—a certain relative of yours for leaving a marker at the right place. Now, take a look at these pictures out of your family album. They are pictures of the man who originally got the emeralds in India, and his son. Whose face that you know is close to being the same?”
With the scream of a madman, Mr. Whiteside leaped to the side of the group.
“Yes!” he babbled12. “Yes! I am the son of the branch of your family that originally had the emeralds. My grandfather, for spite against my father, willed them to your family. Those emeralds ought to be mine—and my sister’s”—here he gestured toward the stewardess.
273
“Yes!” cried Whiteside Everdail—as they now learned his name was—“I grew up hating Atley Everdail’s family. I enlisted13 in the flying corps14, got into his esquadrille, made a buddy15 of him, won his trust!
“I worked into his confidence, and watched every chance to get the emeralds. My time came when his wife went to London. I had my sister—stewardess, she was—already on the yacht.
“I beat the yacht to London. With her help—forced by threats—I got into the hotel and destroyed the gems—I thought. But on the way back to my room I saw Captain Parks, and began to suspect. I compelled my sister to admit the truth. The real gems were safe.
“I came to America, made the hinged door to the hangar, rewired the switches to get light by day to prepare the amphibian17.
“I hired Tommy Larsen—he didn’t know the truth at first. Then I saw Jeff was getting suspicious, changed my plans and got a seaplane. I even went with Atley to see my own plan carried out,” he screeched18.
274
“But everything went wrong. The life preserver hid the gems. I knew that, and made my sister run off with the wrong preserver, that I took from Jeff’s airplane. I thought the right preserver was in the seaplane, but Tommy was ‘wise,’ and refused to do any more than watch me, and when my sister came to get the emeralds, he tried to prevent me from getting away with it. You can piece out the rest. You’ll never punish me! You’ll never—take me alive!”
Eluding19 them, he dashed straight down to where Jeff’s amphibian, its prop20 still turning, stood fifty feet from the end of the runway. Tumbling into the cockpit, he threw the throttle3 wide. Down the few feet the amphibian roared, gathering21 speed.
The rend22 and crash, the tear of metal, wood and fabric23 as the craft dashed against a tree, was followed by a shrill24 scream from the stewardess.
In one thing the fanatic25 prophesied26 truly. They did not take him alive. But still they did not know where the emeralds were!
Next morning the Sky Patrol, the millionaire and others took the train from camp to the harbor.
But although Mimi showed which she thought was the right belt—although they ripped apart every life preserver on the yacht—no jewels appeared.
275
“I’ve thought of every possible hiding place,” Sandy told his chums, “and the only thing I can see to do is—if they were in a life preserver at all—what do you say to trying this—”
He outlined a plan. So promising27 did it seem that both Dick and Larry agreed to it.
That night an alarm of fire, red glow, yellow and red flames, and suffocating28 smoke, terrified everyone.
Tracing the smoke to the galley29, Mr. Everdail was astounded30 to find Dick and Larry struggling with a man in pajamas—he had rushed in, had seen—too late—the red flares31, colored fire powder and smoke pots that burned in buckets, and had been unable to disguise the fact that he had dragged two ice trays from the refrigerator. They contained—green ice!
“As I live and breathe!” cried Mr. Everdail, inspecting a tray.
Quickly overpowered, their captive confessed. The chef had taken the emeralds from the life preserver and frozen them in ice cubes of a deep emerald-green dye. These he easily preserved during the short times the trays were needed for other cubes, by putting them into one of the deep vegetable trays used in the refrigerating system.
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That was how the chums were misled the night of Sandy’s birthday party. The trays had been emptied when they looked, and because the trays had just been used for tinted32 ice and were logically empty, they were fooled.
“But I was a coward—my conscience bothered me,” the chef admitted. “I wanted to return ’em, I wanted to take ’em. So, now—I’m glad I only kept them for you!”
“Well, Sky Patrol,” said Jeff as the boys pocketed their reward checks, “the sole of that-there right foot of mine itches16. That means I’m to go into a new business and prosper—with the help of my Sky Patrol and Ground Crew. How about it?”
“drop a signal flare,” urged Sandy. “We’ll come a-flying!”
And that was settled!
The End
点击收听单词发音
1 maneuver | |
n.策略[pl.]演习;v.(巧妙)控制;用策略 | |
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2 throttled | |
v.扼杀( throttle的过去式和过去分词 );勒死;使窒息;压制 | |
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3 throttle | |
n.节流阀,节气阀,喉咙;v.扼喉咙,使窒息,压 | |
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4 stewardess | |
n.空中小姐,女乘务员 | |
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5 slashed | |
v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 );鞭打;割破;削减 | |
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6 gasp | |
n.喘息,气喘;v.喘息;气吁吁他说 | |
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7 accusations | |
n.指责( accusation的名词复数 );指控;控告;(被告发、控告的)罪名 | |
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8 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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9 gems | |
growth; economy; management; and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
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10 flare | |
v.闪耀,闪烁;n.潮红;突发 | |
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11 perused | |
v.读(某篇文字)( peruse的过去式和过去分词 );(尤指)细阅;审阅;匆匆读或心不在焉地浏览(某篇文字) | |
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12 babbled | |
v.喋喋不休( babble的过去式和过去分词 );作潺潺声(如流水);含糊不清地说话;泄漏秘密 | |
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13 enlisted | |
adj.应募入伍的v.(使)入伍, (使)参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 );获得(帮助或支持) | |
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14 corps | |
n.(通信等兵种的)部队;(同类作的)一组 | |
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15 buddy | |
n.(美口)密友,伙伴 | |
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16 itches | |
n.痒( itch的名词复数 );渴望,热望v.发痒( itch的第三人称单数 ) | |
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17 amphibian | |
n.两栖动物;水陆两用飞机和车辆 | |
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18 screeched | |
v.发出尖叫声( screech的过去式和过去分词 );发出粗而刺耳的声音;高叫 | |
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19 eluding | |
v.(尤指机敏地)避开( elude的现在分词 );逃避;躲避;使达不到 | |
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20 prop | |
vt.支撑;n.支柱,支撑物;支持者,靠山 | |
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21 gathering | |
n.集会,聚会,聚集 | |
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22 rend | |
vt.把…撕开,割裂;把…揪下来,强行夺取 | |
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23 fabric | |
n.织物,织品,布;构造,结构,组织 | |
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24 shrill | |
adj.尖声的;刺耳的;v尖叫 | |
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25 fanatic | |
n.狂热者,入迷者;adj.狂热入迷的 | |
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26 prophesied | |
v.预告,预言( prophesy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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27 promising | |
adj.有希望的,有前途的 | |
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28 suffocating | |
a.使人窒息的 | |
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29 galley | |
n.(飞机或船上的)厨房单层甲板大帆船;军舰舰长用的大划艇; | |
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30 astounded | |
v.使震惊(astound的过去式和过去分词);愕然;愕;惊讶 | |
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31 flares | |
n.喇叭裤v.(使)闪耀( flare的第三人称单数 );(使)(船舷)外倾;(使)鼻孔张大;(使)(衣裙、酒杯等)呈喇叭形展开 | |
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32 tinted | |
adj. 带色彩的 动词tint的过去式和过去分词 | |
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