more Gales flew low to peer at outward-bound
“What
the
hell!”
he exclaimed under
ships, but neither of them was the Bangkok his breath.
Belle.
He bent a puzzled, quizzical glance on
It was off Obi Island that he sighted a
McGill, and McGill shrugged his own small vessel belching forth black clouds of puzzlement and spat disconsolately overside.
smoke from a single funnel and heading
Gales shook the controls, and McGill handled
northward on a heaving, foam-mottled sea. He
Air Stories
6
indicated it to his partner, who was at the
McGill on the head, motioning that he was
controls, and McGill swooped down and ready to make the drop.
roared by in the lee of the rakish yacht, while McGill nodded, took a look at the
Gales peered hard through his binoculars. yacht and then shot off to the eastward so that Then McGill zoomed for altitude and throttled Gales, when he jumped, would get the wind
down at five thousand feet to shoot Gales an
drift and be carried toward the lee of the
inquiring glance.
yacht.
“It’s it!” shouted Gales.
Gales climbed out of the cockpit and
“But, hell, Bill,” roared back McGill,
crawled out over the left wing. McGill was
“we can’t land in a sea like that!”
watching him out of the corner of his eye.
“Know we can’t. Say, Mike, search
Gales turned, the wind drumming in his ears
Smith’s pockets and see what you can find.”
and clattering his clothes. He waved a hand
McGill nodded, and Gales took over
and grinned recklessly. McGill waved back
the flying, circling high above the Bangkok and grinned too. These men had long ago
Belle. In a few minutes McGill thrust a learned to cover their inner emotions with a handful of odds and ends back to Gales and
brazen, hard-boiled grin.
indicated that he would handle the plane.
Then—suddenly—Gales was off,
Gales released the controls and examined dropping plummet-like. A small bit of white Smith’s belongings. For one thing he ballooned out and an instant later the big discovered that Smith’s real name was John T.
parachute sprang open with a boom.
Warren, a member of a Singapore club. Also
McGill was circling the yacht again
there was a packet of blank checks bearing the and watching the descent of his partner. He
crest of a Singapore bank. There were a few
grinned and spat sharply and climbed high up
personal letters from friends in Yokohama,
into the cloudy, windy sky.
and some baggage stubs, but nothing that
Gales swung pendulum-like as he
might reveal the man’s business or mission.
drifted down toward the creaming water. He
Gales leaned forward and McGill, kept up this motion, swinging his body back looking around, quieted the engine.
and forth so that when he landed the spread of
“Mike,” yelled Gales, “I’m going to
the parachute would not envelope him. He
jump with the parachute and have that yacht
struck well off the lee bow of the yacht and
pick me up. Meet me in Saigon.”
fought clear of the parachute, unfastening the
“What’s the idea, Bill?”
straps with one hand while he swam with the
“Can’t explain all now,” trumpeted other.
Gales.
Free, he began swimming in a world of
That was all the explanation necessary
flying sea-spray and vaguely was aware that
between these two birdmen.
the yacht had altered her course and was
Gales began stuffing Warren’s papers
bearing down to pick him up. Two seaman
into an oiled, waterproof pouch along with an were standing in the lee bow—Malays, they
automatic pistol, some money and the were, scantily clad. The yacht drew closer, photograph. His parachute, of course, was and one of the Malays braced himself to heave already strapped on, but he removed it a line. Then the line snaked out and Gales temporarily so that he might wriggle out of his grabbed at it, caught it in one hand and hung flying suit. Also, he removed his leather boots.
on grimly.
Then he replaced the parachute, fastened the
The first thing he did when he was
waterproof pouch to his belt and touched hauled on deck was to look up and wave
Flyers of Fortune
7
toward McGill who was still circling the craft.
The man’s lips tightened.
Then the plane spiraled downward, well astern
“I’ve heard of you, and your partner,
of the yacht, straightened out and roared by.
McGill. Well, Gales, I don’t like your story.
McGill flung up an arm as he passed and then
My name is Halsey, and this is my yacht, as
zoomed away, heading north.
you know. You will have to undergo a search.
A moment later Gales was confronted
Captain, please,” he said to the blowzy-faced by a short, stocky, blowzy-faced man who
man. “You know there are two gunboats
wore the braid of rank.
hunting this man.”
“Well,” droned the captain, “what’s
Gales stepped back, his hands
the bloomin’ idea of leavin’ a perfectly good knotting. The captain advanced toward him
plane an’ makin’ us pick you up?”
and two seamen closed in behind him.
“Just got tired of the air, captain,” Recklessness was ingrained in Gales. No grinned Gales, wringing out his wet shirt. conservative man would have dropped from a
“Sorry if I’ve taken you out of your way, but plane in order to be picked up by a yacht on
I’11 pay my passage to wherever you’re the supposition that he might find thereon going.”
some clue concerning the photograph of a
“This, mister,” replied the captain, “is
strange girl.
not a passenger ship. It’s a private yacht.”
Even now he made a reckless move.
At this point a tall, beady-eyed man
He dodged sidewise, leaped across the deck
dressed in spotless whites and smoking a long, and sped aft on the weather side, tearing open mellow cigar, strolled down the deck and the waterproof pouch as he ran. From it he joined the skipper.
yanked his pistol, spun sharply hard by the
“Hello,” he said without smiling. “You
saloon wall and faced the two Malay seamen
fellows will try stunts in the most unseemly
who had chased him from forward. The
places. What do you want?”
captain came lumbering after them, and
“Just passage to wherever you’re Halsey was close behind the captain. All of going,” replied Gales. “I’ll pay you.”
them brought up short when they saw the
“I’ve been intending to drop in at pistol in Gales’ hand.
Saigon.”
“You put away that damned gun!”
“Suits me,” nodded Gales. “I’d like to
snapped Halsey, dark with rage.
go into the engine room, if you don’t mind,
“You come forward!” flung back
and dry up.”
Gales. “Snappy, mister!”
T
he owner of the Bangkok Belle eyed
Halsey advanced, biting his lips.
him stonily. He said:
“Now,” clipped Gales, “move fast!
“You puzzle me. Really, now, why did
Lead to your room! My gun will be in your
you drop from that plane and have us pick you back. The first man makes a move I’ll riddle
up?”
you! Move, with your hands up!”
Gales
chuckled.
Halsey muttered an oath behind
“I just couldn’t get along with the clenched teeth and entered the saloon with pilot. He insisted on heading for the Gales close beside him. Quickly gales turned Philippines, and I wanted to hit the coast. I the lock in the saloon door. He prodded
took a chance and dropped, thinking you Halsey, and the latter led the way through a might be able to land me.”
carpeted corridor and paused before a door at
“What’s your name?”
the end. Here he half-turned, black anger in
“Gales.”
his eyes.
Air Stories
8
“You’ll regret this,” he choked.
and I were to fly him over the Gulf and put
“Open that door—fast!” clipped Gales
him aboard this yacht. That is all the
and jabbed the muzzle of his gun so sharply
information he gave us.” He paused, steeling
into Halsey’s ribs that the man grunted.
himself. “When we were two hours in the air
But he drew some keys from his your father died—possibly of heart failure.”
pocket, inserted one in the lock, turned it and A low moan escaped her lips and she
pushed open the door. Gales shoved him in
wilted, covering her face with her hands.
not too gently, pulled the keys from the lock,
“Brace up,” Gales told her. “It’s hard,
entered quickly and, kicking shut the door,
but you’ve got to brace up. Before he died
snapped the lock from the inside.
your father pressed a photograph of you in my Then he saw a girl crouching in one
partner’s hand. It was the only clue. I had a corner of the elaborately appointed room, and hunch that he and the yacht and you were
he was instantly aware that she was the somehow related. I carried on where he left original of the one on the photograph. To her off. Now what can I do?”
he said:
She uncovered her face and sat erect
“Draw the curtains on the ports—
with a brave effort.
quick!”
“I—I don’t see how you can do
For a moment she stood petrified, anything. I’ve been literally a prisoner aboard surprise and anguish storming in her eyes.
this yacht since it left Saigon. Just before
Then with a catch in her breath she hurried to sailing time I know my father was on board
draw the curtains on the ports of the three
and in his stateroom. That night he was
rooms that constituted the quarters.
drugged and put off on the Menam River in a
“Now,” went on Gales, “run through
sampan. Both of us had considered this
his pockets and see if there’s a gun.”
man”—she nodded toward Halsey—“a friend
She did this, nervously, but found no
and had accepted his offer of a passage to
weapon.
Saigon. But—“she broke off in a sob.
“All right,” nodded Gales; then to
“I see,” nodded Gales, a little bitterly.
Halsey: “You sit down and see if we can get
He turned to Halsey. “So that’s your game,
this straight.”
eh?”
Halsey dropped into a wicker easy Halsey
scowled.
chair, the girl sat down on a plush settee built
“What about it? What can you do?”
in against the starboard bulkhead, and Gales, Gales heard feet tramping about the
his clothes still dripping, stood in the center of deck, and excited voices, and hands knocking
the room. He bent his gaze on the girl and
at the ports. True, what could he do? The
asked:
outlook was, indeed, anything but cheerful.
“What relation are you to John T. Here he was playing a lone hand against Warren?”
overwhelming odds. His first move had been
She started forward, her eyes dilating.
successful, but luck had been with him. Still,
“I—I am his daughter,” she whispered
there was a chance ....
hoarsely.
He remembered that Halsey had said
Gales bit his lip. What he had to say
two gunboats were scouring the coast for him.
would hurt, but this was no time to beat about Probably French gunboats. Indeed, as McGill
the bush.
had said in Bangkok, the country was getting
“Miss Warren,” he went on, “your hot for them—too hot. If the French got their father hired my plane in Bangkok. My partner
hands on him, Gales realized that they would
Flyers of Fortune
9
frame up something and no doubt give him a
outside the door. But it suddenly calmed
taste of a colonial prison.
down, and a moment later Gales heard
He was in a tight predicament. Here
receding footsteps. They had no doubt found
was a girl in danger. She meant nothing to him the message.
in a personal way. He had no amorous designs
“You are doing this for me,” came the
on her, nor intended to have any. Yet she was girl’s voice, tenderly.
a woman in jeopardy, and the old protective
The old sparkle came back to Gales’
instinct was strong within the reckless, devil-eyes. His weather-bronzed face crinkled in a
may-care heart of Gales. He would try his best broad, boyish grin.
to save her. As for himself, he’d take a long
“It’s the only way,” he said lightly,
chance and face a prison sentence.
rocking on his feet.
“Halsey,” he said, “I’m in a pinch and
The girl fell to sobbing again, and half-
it isn’t going to take much for me to blow
reclined on the settee. Her own predicament,
your brains out if you don’t move the way I
the death of her father, was certainly enough tell you to. Get that! And listen. You write out to wilt anybody.
a message to your wireless operator and
Gales sat down facing Halsey.
explain that you wrote it by degrees while I
“We’ll both wait new till the French
wasn’t looking. All right. Now tell him to get navy arrives,” he chuckled. “Your men on
in communication with one or the other of
deck are probably having a great laugh over
these gunboats and tell him to make it plain in the fact that my doom is impending.”
the communication that you’ve got on board
“You damned meddler,” ground out
Bill Gales, the well-known cut-throat of the
Halsey, “I’ll try my best to see you stuffed in China coast. Watch how fast they’ll get here.”
the lousiest prison imaginable!”
Halsey frowned and shook his head.
“Pretty sore, aren’t you? We both lose,
“Get started,” warned Gales, and there
Halsey. We’ve both played games, though
was
an edge on his voice now. “Write that
you’ll have to admit that my game calls for
message or as sure I’m headed for jail I’ll kill guts, while yours ... Ho!” he ended derisively.
you!”
Thus they sat facing each other while
The girl shrank back in awe. Possibly
the hours dragged by. The sea grew calm in
she too had heard of Gales and McGill and
late afternoon, as they could determine by the was a little frightened.
even motion of the yacht, and needles of
Slowly Halsey rose and crossed to the
sunlight pierced the curtains over the ports. It bamboo table. He sat down, picked up a pen
was hot and stuffy in the rooms, but Gales
reluctantly wrote on a wireless blank as Gates refused to open a single port.
directed.
Presently the girl rose from the settee,
“And add,” pursued Gales, “that your
brushing a hand across her forehead, and
men aboard should quiet down and stop started for the water-cooler which stood in the breaking up the doors.”
opposite corner. She reeled, however, before
When the entire message was written
she reached it, and Gales instinctively started Gales picked it up, scanned it quickly, and slid to catch her.
it under the door leading into the corridor.
Halsey, every nerve tense, saw his
Then he helped himself to a cigarette from a
opportunity and catapulted from his chair. The humidor on the table and blew smoke streams
girl caught her balance but her position
Flyers of Fortune by Frederick Lewis Nebel Page 2