CRIMSON MOUNTAIN (8 page)

“Oh, but surely you have friends you might want to take,” said Pilgrim, “and I couldn’t let you go sooner than you need to just for me.”

“I have no other friends who have saved my life,” laughed Laurel. “You have the first claim. And as for getting back, I suppose the sooner the better if I have to establish a residence there before I begin to teach. Although that is quite immaterial to me. And now, where are you going to stay tonight?”

“Oh, I have an old college buddy I’ll be staying with tonight if I can locate him. You know I went to college in this city for a couple of years, so I’m not without a little knowledge of the town, as well as a few friends. But in the morning, I’ll get in touch with you and tell you my plans if you insist on being so kind as to want my company back. Of course I’ll enjoy it immensely if it doesn’t change your plans any. If I phone you by eleven o’clock, would that be too late for your plans?”

“Oh no. That will be quite all right for me. But what about Mr. Banfield? He wanted your answer by ten. I’ll be ready to leave early if you say. If you call me even at eight o’clock, you’ll find me ready to start at a moment’s notice.”

He smiled. “You’re a good sport!” he said. “I wish I could have known you long ago.”

“Here, too!” said Laurel. “And now turn down Arden Road, three blocks, then turn right—”

They crept along from block to block, talking almost too eagerly to turn the right corners, and at last reached the cousins’ house where Laurel was staying.

“Now,” she said, her hand on the door beside her, “you take the car and go where you have to go, and in the morning I’ll be seeing you—or afternoon, or whenever. I’ll be ready to go with you when you and the car return.”

“Oh no,” said Pilgrim. “Nothing doing. I’m putting your car in your garage and taking the trolley over on the next block to my hideout in town. You know I know my way about here, and I don’t intend to borrow any car. Where is your garage? Shall we drive in and then I’ll give you the keys?”

They drove to the garage, Laurel insisting on going with him, and walked back together up the drive to the front door.

“If such a thing should happen as that I find I have to take an early train in the morning,” he said as he handed her her keys, “would it be possible to telephone you tonight?”

“Of course,” she said, “but you’re not taking any earlier
train
than I can take you in my car, so please be good. I’ll be ready
anytime.”

Then, with a warm handclasp, they parted. Pilgrim, with a lingering look back at the girl in the doorway, lifted his hat and walked quickly out into the moonlight, turning the next corner out of sight. Laurel stood for some minutes looking toward the distance where he had vanished, gave a deep sigh, then turned and hurried up to her room.

Like a small shadow, she slipped past the wide doorway that led into the living room where an absorbing game of bridge was being played, and up to her own room. She was presently wildly busy taking down garments from the closet hooks and folding them for packing. She meant to get her belongings into shape before morning if it took all night.

Swiftly she worked, folding garments precisely in ordered piles on her bed and on the chairs, arranging lingerie in other neat piles in the bureau drawers, and then she stole out into the hall to the trunk room where luggage was kept, returning with a couple of suitcases and some bags that belonged to her.

And all this time she was listening for a possible phone call. Would Pilgrim find his lawyer and be able to call her that night?

It was not until she finally turned out her light and slipped into bed a couple of hours after the bridge party had gone home and the house was quiet and dark that she remembered Adrian Faber and the party that was even now probably at its height. And her mind was too busy with the thought about tomorrow and its possibilities to dwell long on Adrian and his plans. Well, there was one thing pretty certain—she wasn’t going to have any time tomorrow to call up Adrian Faber and make her peace with him for not attending his party last night. That would have to wait.

U
p in the woods at the Hunt Club the dinner was over and the dancers were beginning the night of revelry.

Over in the far corner of the great ballroom, two young men were standing. They had just come, not having been able to start in time for the dinner.

“I don’t see Laurel anywhere, do you, Rainey? Have she and Faber had a falling out, or what?”

“
What
, I guess, is the answer, Winter. I’ve looked the ground over pretty thoroughly and haven’t seen a hint of her. And look at Faber, devoting himself to Genevieve. He hasn’t been seen with
her
for ages. I wonder what’s the idea? If he’s on the outs with Laurel, there might be a chance for a few other poor devils like ourselves.”

“Oh yes, try and do it,” said the other, letting his intense gray eyes rove restlessly about the room again. “It can’t be she’s coming out later, do you think?”

“Don’t ask me. I guess she and Faber would be the only ones who could answer that question. But say, I wouldn’t have wasted my time coming up here if I hadn’t thought she was coming. I’ve got work to do.”

“What work?” asked Winter, bringing amused eyes to bear for an instant on the other’s face. “You haven’t got orders yet, have you?”

“Well, not exactly orders, but I’ve been told to be ready, and that means checking over equipment. Got to establish contact as soon as we get there, you know. Has your appointment come through yet? I’d hate to think anything would go wrong with our plans; we’ve talked them over so thoroughly.”

“Yes,” said Winter. “Say, Rainey, any idea what place we’re headed for?”

“A little,” said the other, lifting shifty eyes and glancing nervously around to make sure no one was near enough to listen. “Yes, a little,” he added in a lower voice, “and I don’t like the layout. I tell you I
don’t
. Little dinky town called Carrollton. Know where that is? Neither do I. And it isn’t even in the town. It’s up in the wilds somewhere called Crimson Mountain! Gosh, I wish they’d put somebody with some sense at the head of this outfit. A fat chance we’ll have to play any sharp detail work in a place like that, in a town in the backwoods somewhere. When we get really started, how often can we get off to come up to town and see any life?”

“That isn’t what we joined this expedition for, is it? Seeing life?” said Winter coldly. “I guess our job is to attend to business and trust to luck for any good times that come along. Who did you find out the location from? Dexter? Did he say it was certain?”

“No, not exactly certain, dependent on some backcountry lad who owns the land they want. But it seemed fairly likely it would go through all right.”

“Yes? Well, what’s the idea? Airplanes, or gunpowder or steel? Funny place to select for making anything like that. Did Dexter say?”

“Well, I guess a little bit of all three perhaps. Dynamite, anyway. Isolated spot, you know. Safe from intruders and all that. But I gathered also that there is to be some secret invention made there that is important to the country, and the outside world won’t be allowed in on it.”

“Yeah?” The gray eyes made a flashing search of the other man’s face and circled the room again.

“Sounds good to me. But when is all this coming off? If the ground isn’t bought yet, they won’t want us for some while, will they?”

“Oh yes,” said Rainey. “He said it was important for us to be on hand at the start, old hands, you know, in the engineering business. If they give you charge of some department, they want you to be watching for fifth columnists right at the beginning. That will allay suspicion, you know.”

“Look out, Rainey. That girl overheard you then and gave you a quick look.”

“Oh, girls don’t count. They’re too dumb to get on to a thing like this.”

“I’m not so sure. Take Laurel now. She’s sharp as they make ’em. If she were to overhear the word
suspicion
used, as you did just now, she’d turn it over in her mind and maybe ask someone what it could have meant. It seems to me you ought to have been long enough in the old country, being put through your paces, to have learned that, even if you were only writing a censored column for the papers every day.”

“Oh yes, over
there!”
sneered Rainey. “One had to be careful. But this is America, and nobody thinks of such a thing as finding any disloyal ones over here.”

“Don’t you fool yourself,” said Winter. “Americans aren’t dumb, and if I don’t miss my guess, they’re waking up fast, more and more every day.”

“Well, perhaps. But I think we’re fairly safe from intruders into the project for another two or three years yet, if it lasts that long.”

Winter gave him a withering glance.

“If that’s your idea, I don’t think you’ll be much use in this outfit,” he said. “you’ll have to get used to suspecting everybody until they are proved safe.”

“What’s your idea, Winter? Got a grouch on? Who do you suspect? Nobody around here, surely? I wasn’t expecting to begin operations in a gathering like this.”

“No?” said the man with the gray eyes. “Well, you’ll have to unlearn that idea, too. Who, for instance, do you figure that colorless, stolid-looking guy over in the far corner is, and what’s he here for?”

“Who? That dumb cluck over there in the dark corner who looks like the devil in the deep sea watching for a submarine? I’m sure I wouldn’t know. Certainly doesn’t look important.”

“Would you expect him to? Do you think they’d send a man that had it advertised all over him what he was?’

Rainey gave him a quick startled look. “Meaning what?” he said. “You don’t think for a minute that there’d be any of those fellows here at a gathering like this? Why Faber isn’t the kind of man to invite important foreign spies to his parties.”

“Oh, think not?” said Winter. “You said he advised that we come on this expedition, didn’t you?”

“Yes, sure. He just wanted to give us a little change; we’ve been hanging around so long doing nothing. Wanted us to get acquainted and have a good time.”

“Think so? Well, I don’t! Not when it’s Dexter who ordered it in the first place. You can be pretty sure he had a reason for sending us, and you can be pretty darned sure you’ll meet up with some intense questioning the next time you see him, too. He sent us here for some reason, that’s certain, and it wasn’t for any nice little philanthropic idea of showing us a good time, either. Dexter knows Faber and likely had some inside information about the personnel of this outfit, or else he planted somebody here with a special view to our presence. I think perhaps it’s up to us to find out. He may be putting us to a test, you know.”

“Test?” said Rainey. “Oh, you’re dreaming, man. I talked to Dexter and I’m sure there wasn’t any such thing in mind. He just said very carelessly that he had wangled us an invite because he thought we would enjoy it before we got into service.”

“Oh yes?” said the man with gray eyes. “Well, think again, brother. Our service began the minute we enlisted, and it’s up to us to make every minute tell. I’m sure we’re here for a purpose tonight, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that fellow over there is the reason.”

“You’re crazy, Winter,” protested the other man, but he lifted his eyes more than once again to look across at the stolid young Austrian with the square features and the look of withdrawal in his face.

“Think it would be a good idea if I should go over and get acquainted with him? Find out what outfit he’s working with, or if he is only a dilettante?”

“Keep your shirt on, man. Don’t do anything so obvious. You aren’t a policeman with a badge. You won’t be much good if you go at things that way. When did Dexter say he’d be likely to know positively about when we’ll be moving?”

“He didn’t say,” said Rainey half sulkily. “And it’s my private opinion that it will be a long time before he knows. We’re just stuck here waiting. We might as well quit and get into something else. He doesn’t know what he’s about.”

“Rainey! It’s no good to talk that way. Besides, we’re under orders, and you
can’t
quit, you know. I think I’ll go and have a talk with Dexter in the morning and see if I can’t get some more intelligent answers than you got.”

“Say! What’s eating you? I didn’t suppose it was so important to try and find out something he didn’t want to tell. Anyhow, I should worry. I can always use my time in the city. And as for swell parties like this one, you don’t get so many of these in a little dinky backcountry town. And I’m tired of sitting here waiting for Laurel to turn up. Anyway, if she did, Faber would monopolize her in spite of all Genevieve could do. You know that. We’ve tried it before. I’m going to get a drink. Coming?”

“No!” said Winter. “I’m going to see if I can find out why we were sent here tonight. I take it that’s our first job.”

“Not me!” said Rainey. “If Dexter wants my services, he’ll have to state what he wants of me in plain language. So long! I’m going to get a drink and find a girl to dance with. Sit here and sulk if you want to, but I’m for a good time tonight whatever comes tomorrow. You’ve got a superconscience, and that’s about as bad as having none. If you go on this way, you won’t last half through the war, even if it’s short, and I’m not kidding!”

Tom Rainey sauntered over and got a drink, and when he looked again to the corner where he had been sitting with Winter, there wasn’t a sign of him anywhere. But later when he was dancing with a girl in blue and silver, he caught a glimpse of Winter going out the door with a strange young man. It couldn’t be the stolid-looking one who had sat in the opposite corner alone. This one was taller. What was it about him though that reminded of the sulky stranger in the corner? Well, let Winter fool away his time trying to find a mystery at this party. He was going to have a good time, and he gave a cheerful reply to the girl he held in his arms and tried to forget that there was war ahead and he was supposed to give his attention to weeding out spies. Or was he? For two cents he felt he might be willing to turn spy himself. It would be more exciting than hanging around waiting for things to happen in an orderly and military manner. Then he helped to place a gorgeous fur garment about Anice’s shoulders, and together they wandered out into the clear, cold moonlight.