Читать книгу The Valdmere Mystery or The Atomic Ray - Milo Milton Oblinger - Страница 7

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The Russian seemed to be in no hurry. He walked leisurely along, glancing up at the store signs, his face twisted in an ugly scowl. He paused just outside a gas station on the corner, seemed to deliberate for a moment, then strode over and accosted the attendant. Ted lounged forward, pretending to be interested in everything but this man he had been following. It took him a little while to jockey to a position close enough to hear what was being said. The man’s voice came clearly to his ears:

“Thees gentleman is tall, thin, very striking in appearance. He has a close moustache which has turned to gray. Sometimes he wear gold-rimmed spectacles. His hair stand straight up like a broom. Have you seen such a man, monsieur? Once you see him, you would never forget. No doubt, he would come in a party with other men—Japanese, I think—in a large green car.”

The Russian fixed the station attendant with a glassy, piercing stare and demanded fiercely:

“You tell me quick! Have you seen either thees man or the Japanese or the green car?”

“I didn’t notice particular,” replied the man at the oil station, shaking his head. “I don’t never pay much attention to cars that pass here anyways. Mebbe if such a party had stopped, I’d have got ’em more clear in my mind.”

Greatly disappointed, Ted slouched back toward the sidewalk, hands thrust deep in his pockets.

“Pshaw!” he muttered angrily. “That fellow’s on the same errand that we are. He’s looking for Professor Valdmere too. That description he gave to the attendant fitted the professor to a T. Gee whiz, I wonder what we’ll discover next?”

However, the Russian had imparted a bit of information that Ted considered might be of value to them in the search. It was that Professor Valdmere would be in a green car and accompanied by a party of Japanese. What reason had the man to think so? What was the fabric of the plot that had woven its threads of mystery and intrigue through the pattern of the Professor’s life? It was all very confusing and perplexing. Ted had now begun to realize that the trouble into which the famous scientist had been plunged was of no ordinary kind.

Still puzzling deeply, he retraced his way back along the street, his face very grave and solemn. He hated to rejoin Philo and Miss Valdmere and report that nothing had come of his efforts to shadow the suspicious-looking foreigner. He dreaded to think of the great disappointment that this admission would bring to the girl. Already nearly frantic with grief and worry, he feared that she might break down completely.

When he reached the car, to his astonishment, he found that it was unoccupied. Neither was there any trace of Philo and the girl. He glanced up along the street expectantly. They were in a store perhaps. No doubt they would return in a few minutes. They had agreed to meet him here. Then suddenly his eyes bobbed wide open, his heart quickening its beat.

Attached to one of the levers under the steering wheel, was a small piece of paper bearing a message of some sort. He snatched it up eagerly and read:

“Gone on a hot clue here in Langdon. Wait here until we return. Philo.”

Ted gasped as he crumpled the paper in his hand.

“Great Cæsar, what next. Wish I’d got back in time to join them.”

Scowling lightly, he climbed into the front seat and had barely taken up his position behind the wheel when he heard the voice of someone standing close beside the car. Involuntarily a sharp exclamation escaped him and he sat there staring straight into the sinister eyes of the man he had just been shadowing.

“What ess eet you do here, my young friend?”

“I’m no friend of yours,” Ted glared back at him.

“Pardon. So monsieur has joined the chase too. One of the young men who sleep in my room at ze hotel. Where ees eet the other?”

The anger and resentment that the fellow’s presence had inculcated began to sweep through Ted with such driving force that he felt like stepping out of the car and engaging his unwelcome visitor in a physical combat.

“I don’t think it is any of your business where my friend is. And if you don’t mind, you’ll leave here at once and attend to your own affairs. I have no wish to talk to you.”

At this the foreigner became slightly menacing. He strode closer, threw one arm over the side of the car and stood there, his countenance distorted in an ugly grimace.

“At least monsieur ees frank,” he purred. “But when you say eet ees not my business, you guess wrong. Also if monsieur know what ees healthy for him, he will keep out of thees. Do I make myself understood?”

“Perfectly,” faltered Ted. “I understand you,” his hands clenched, “but you’re wasting your breath. My advice to you is to trot along before I call the police.”

The Russian stepped back and bowed profoundly.

“You have make your decision quickly, my friend. Eet ees cross swords then. You are not afraid?”

“Not in the least,” lied Ted. “You can’t frighten me.” Then impertinently, “Good-bye.”

The other bowed again and stepped back to the curb. Without once looking back, he walked a short distance along the street and entered a store. Not until then did the young man’s muscles relax and his face resume an expression more becoming to it.

He slouched further down in the seat, mentally digesting this new phase to an already perplexing and seemingly unsolvable mystery. How long he sat there he did not know. For a long time the minutes dragged themselves along unnoticed. Presently, he aroused himself and looked at his watch. It was twenty minutes past nine, time that Philo and Miss Valdmere were returning. What was keeping them?

Beginning to be worried, he quit the car and commenced wandering nervously up and down the street in the hope of seeing them. A crowd of country folk gaped at him during his aimless journeying. Very slowly his patience had become exhausted. Fight as he would against it, he was annoyed with Philo for departing in this unceremonial manner, leaving behind him an unsatisfactory note that gave no hint as to their whereabouts.

“At least they might have told me where they were going,” grumbled Ted, his eyes squinting in the glare of the sunlight that now poured down the uninviting thoroughfare. “Now what do you suppose he meant by a hot clue?”

Still puzzling, he went into a drug and confectionery store and ordered an ice cream. There were, perhaps, not more than four or five persons sitting in the little booths that ran along one side of the room. He chose a table in front, facing the door. In this way he had a good view of the street. He wanted to be sure not to miss Philo and Miss Valdmere.

He had finished his ice cream and had risen to pay the cashier at the counter, when his attention was attracted by a green car that purred along the hot asphalt and became lost to view.

He was not quite sure, but in the fleeting glimpse that he had had of the occupants of the car he could have sworn that they were Japanese!