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Authors: Kenneth Robeson
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tracer. These burst with hot red blots directly behind the green coupe.
Slowly, inexorably, the gray cobwebs of tracer smoke climbed into the rear of the automobile.
With a wild swing, the green car suddenly left the pavement. It vaulted a ditch, miraculously remaining upright, and skewered to a stop amid tall bush that practically hid it.
Doc distinctly saw the passenger quit the car and take to the concealment of the timber.
A couple of times Doc dived and let the Browning guns spew their twelve hundred shots a minute into the timber. He did it more to give the masked man one last scare than from any hope of bagging the fellow. The timber offered perfect concealment.
Not a little disgusted, Doc landed and launched a hunt afoot for the masked man. But it was too late.
The airport attendant who had flown the autogyro here could give no worthwhile description of the masked man when Doc consulted him. The fellow had merely sprung out of the green car with a gun.
Doc telephoned the authorities and had a net spread for the masked man before he took off again for Washington. But he was pretty certain the fellow would evade the Jersey officers. The man was smart, as well as very dangerous.
Doc took the chagrined airport attendant with him in the army pursuit plane back to Washington.
HAM and the others were waiting when Doc arrived, after restoring the pursuit plane to the army field.
“Have any trouble getting our papers up?” Doc asked.
Ham tightened his mobile, orator’s mouth. “I did have a little trouble, Doc. It was strange, too. The Hidalgo consul seemed very reluctant to O.K. our papers. At first he wasn’t going to do it. In fact, I had to have our own secretary of state make some things very clear to Mr. Consul before he gave us the official high sign.”
“What’s your guess, Ham?” Doc asked. “Was the official directly interested in keeping us out of Hidalgo, or had some one paid him money to make it tough for us?”
“He was paid!” Ham smiled tightly. “He gave himself away when I accused him of accepting money to refuse his O.K. on our papers. But I was not able to learn who had put the cash on the line.”
“Somebody!” Renny rumbled, his puritanical face very long. “Somebody is taking a lot of trouble to keep us out of Hidalgo! Now, I wonder why?”
“I have a hunch!” Ham declared. “Doc’s mysterious heritage must be of fabulous value. Men are not killed and diplomatic agents bribed without good reasons. That concession of several hundred square miles of mountainous territory in Hidalgo is the explanation, of course. Some one is trying to keep us away from it!”
“Does anybody know what they raise down in that neck of the woods?” Monk inquired.
Long Tom hazarded a couple of guesses, “Bananas, chicle for making chewing gum—”
“No plantations in the region Doc seems to own,” Johnny, the geologist, put in sharply. “I soaked up all I could find on the precise region. And you’d be surprised how little it was!”
“You mean there was not much information available about it?” Ham prompted.
“You said it! To be exact, the whole region is unexplored!”
“Unexplored!”
“Oh, the district is filled with mountains on most maps,” Johnny explained. “But on the really accurate charts the truth comes out. There’s a considerable stretch of country no white men have penetrated. And Doc’s strange heritage is located slap-dab in the middle of it!”
“So we gotta play Columbus!” Monk snorted.
“You’ll think Columbus’s trip across the briny was a pipe when you see this Hidalgo country!” Johnny informed him. “That region is unexplored for only one reason—white men can’t get into it!”
Doc had been standing by during the exchange of words. But now his calm, powerful voice commanded quick attention.
“Is there any reason we can’t be on our way?” he asked dryly.
They took off at once in the monster, low-wing speed plane. But before
Slowly, inexorably, the gray cobwebs of tracer smoke climbed into the rear of the automobile.
With a wild swing, the green car suddenly left the pavement. It vaulted a ditch, miraculously remaining upright, and skewered to a stop amid tall bush that practically hid it.
Doc distinctly saw the passenger quit the car and take to the concealment of the timber.
A couple of times Doc dived and let the Browning guns spew their twelve hundred shots a minute into the timber. He did it more to give the masked man one last scare than from any hope of bagging the fellow. The timber offered perfect concealment.
Not a little disgusted, Doc landed and launched a hunt afoot for the masked man. But it was too late.
The airport attendant who had flown the autogyro here could give no worthwhile description of the masked man when Doc consulted him. The fellow had merely sprung out of the green car with a gun.
Doc telephoned the authorities and had a net spread for the masked man before he took off again for Washington. But he was pretty certain the fellow would evade the Jersey officers. The man was smart, as well as very dangerous.
Doc took the chagrined airport attendant with him in the army pursuit plane back to Washington.
HAM and the others were waiting when Doc arrived, after restoring the pursuit plane to the army field.
“Have any trouble getting our papers up?” Doc asked.
Ham tightened his mobile, orator’s mouth. “I did have a little trouble, Doc. It was strange, too. The Hidalgo consul seemed very reluctant to O.K. our papers. At first he wasn’t going to do it. In fact, I had to have our own secretary of state make some things very clear to Mr. Consul before he gave us the official high sign.”
“What’s your guess, Ham?” Doc asked. “Was the official directly interested in keeping us out of Hidalgo, or had some one paid him money to make it tough for us?”
“He was paid!” Ham smiled tightly. “He gave himself away when I accused him of accepting money to refuse his O.K. on our papers. But I was not able to learn who had put the cash on the line.”
“Somebody!” Renny rumbled, his puritanical face very long. “Somebody is taking a lot of trouble to keep us out of Hidalgo! Now, I wonder why?”
“I have a hunch!” Ham declared. “Doc’s mysterious heritage must be of fabulous value. Men are not killed and diplomatic agents bribed without good reasons. That concession of several hundred square miles of mountainous territory in Hidalgo is the explanation, of course. Some one is trying to keep us away from it!”
“Does anybody know what they raise down in that neck of the woods?” Monk inquired.
Long Tom hazarded a couple of guesses, “Bananas, chicle for making chewing gum—”
“No plantations in the region Doc seems to own,” Johnny, the geologist, put in sharply. “I soaked up all I could find on the precise region. And you’d be surprised how little it was!”
“You mean there was not much information available about it?” Ham prompted.
“You said it! To be exact, the whole region is unexplored!”
“Unexplored!”
“Oh, the district is filled with mountains on most maps,” Johnny explained. “But on the really accurate charts the truth comes out. There’s a considerable stretch of country no white men have penetrated. And Doc’s strange heritage is located slap-dab in the middle of it!”
“So we gotta play Columbus!” Monk snorted.
“You’ll think Columbus’s trip across the briny was a pipe when you see this Hidalgo country!” Johnny informed him. “That region is unexplored for only one reason—white men can’t get into it!”
Doc had been standing by during the exchange of words. But now his calm, powerful voice commanded quick attention.
“Is there any reason we can’t be on our way?” he asked dryly.
They took off at once in the monster, low-wing speed plane. But before
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