CHAPTER X

THE JAP’S RETURN

Several people had seen the Albatross before it reached the ground and, as on the former occasion, a crowd soon collected about them. This was very annoying to the boys as both were anxious to accompany Rogers and their new friend and see that justice was done him. But to leave the plane unguarded with that crowd about was out of the question.

“I’ll stay and watch it,” Gordon volunteered.

“Wait a minute,” Rogers told him. “Here comes a policeman. Perhaps we can make a dicker with him.”

In this they were successful and for five dollars the officer agreed to stay by the plane and guaranteed that it would be safe. However, to be on the safe side, Bill took the cells and stuck them in his pocket.

“No use in taking a chance,” he whispered to Gordon. “That fellow looks honest but you never can tell.”

“Better to be careful than sorry,” Gordon whispered back.

“Now, then,” Rogers told the Jap as soon as they were away from the crowd, “I think we’d better go straight to the police station and tell our story to the head man. What do you say?”

“I agree with you,” the Jap told him.

“You know where it is?”

“Sure. We can get a car right here that’ll take us to within a block of it. There comes one now. Come on.”

They boarded the trolley and a half hour later were asking for the chief in one of the finest police stations the boys had ever seen. They were obliged to wait a few minutes but soon they were ushered into an inner office where a tall man of middle age sat at a desk facing the door. His complexion was very dark and they at once took him for a native, although he spoke perfect English as he addressed them.

“And what can I do for you?” he asked pleasantly.

It had been agreed that Rogers should act as spokesman and he replied:

“My name is Rogers and I am a member of The United States Secret Service but, at the present time, I am on a vacation. These two boys are William and Gordon Hunniwell, also of the States and this man is a resident of your city.”

The boys noticed that when Rogers mentioned The United States Secret Service the officer became all attention and quickly arose and offered his hand to them in turn.

“Anything that I can do for you will be a great pleasure,” he declared motioning for them to sit down.

“Thanks,” Rogers said. “Chief,” he continued as soon as he was seated. “We have a strange story to tell and one not easily believed,” and went on to tell what the Jap had told them.

The officer listened without saying a word until he had finished. Then he said: “That doctor’s name is Horn if I understood you correctly.”

“That’s right,” Rogers told him.

“Well, I’ve heard of him although I do not know him, and he does not possess a very savory reputation. He’s been mixed up in more than one affair that I don’t believe would bear the full light of day, although he has never been arrested. One moment and I’ll see if I can get him on the wire.”

He hunted in a phone book for a moment and then, picking up the instrument, gave a number. There was a moment’s wait, then:

“Is this Doctor Horn? Good, lucky for me I caught you in. This is the Chief of Police speaking. I want you to run around to the station for a minute. What’s that? Well, that’s too bad, but I’m afraid it’ll have to wait. You’ll be right round? Good. Be sure you don’t forget.”

He hung up the receiver with a smile. “He’ll be here in a few minutes. His office is only three blocks away,” he told them.

“You aren’t afraid he’ll try to beat it?” Rogers asked.

“Not a bit,” the chief smiled. “He knows that a request to come here is an order and that if he didn’t come he’d be arrested within an hour. He’ll come. And I suggest that you wait in this other room,” he said getting up and opening a door directly back of his chair. “I’ll leave the door open a bit and you can hear what is said. Doctor Horn is, I suspect, a very smart man and a very slippery one, and if he saw you here he would undoubtedly deny any knowledge of the case, and I’m afraid that you would have pretty hard work proving that he did what you say he did. But I hope to be able to make him give himself away.”

They followed him into the little room which was hardly more than a closet but it contained four chairs and the chief hoped they would be comfortable, and returned to his office leaving the door open a few inches.

A few minutes later they heard the door open and the chief’s voice as he greeted his visitor.

“Ah, good afternoon, doctor. I trust I have not too greatly inconvenienced you.”

“It’s all right,” a deep bass voice replied.

“That’s good. Sit down and I’ll not keep you any longer than is necessary. What I want to ask you is whether or not you’ve had any experience with leprosy?”

“Why, yes, a little. We don’t have many cases as you probably know,” the man replied, in what seemed to the listeners, a relieved tone.

“That’s true, thanks to you doctors. Now then, you know the disease when you see it, I suppose?”

“Certainly, it’s unmistakable.”

“So I’ve been told. Now did you ever send a patient to Molokai?”

“Only once, about three years ago.”

“Not since then?”

“No.”

“You are sure?”

“Quite.”

“Please be very sure your memory doesn’t fail you,” the chief cautioned him, “because I have a very good reason to know that you sent a man there not much more than three months ago.”

“Who says I did?”

“Never mind that. The fact is that you did.”

“I did not.”

“Think carefully.”

“You don’t suppose I’d forget a thing like that, do you?”

“It hardly seems likely, and yet——”

“I tell you I did not. It’s been all of three years since I sent a patient there.”

“I tell you frankly, doctor, that you had better come clean. It’ll go much easier with you.”

“But, chief, I can’t say I did when I didn’t.”

Rogers and the boys had noticed that the Jap was having hard work to control himself as he listened to the conversation. Rogers, who sat close beside him, had laid his hand on his arm as if to reassure him, but the restraint was not enough for, as the doctor made the last denial, he leaped to his feet and, before they could restrain him, he had darted through the doorway.

“You lie,” he shouted as he sprang into the room and confronted the astonished doctor.

But the latter displayed nothing but a natural astonishment.

“You sent me to Molokai three months ago and you know it,” the Jap cried shaking his fist at the doctor who was now regarding him with an amused smile on his face.

“I’m afraid, my friend, you will have some trouble in proving that,” he declared.

“You deny it?” the Jap shouted.

“I most certainly do,” the doctor replied calmly. “To the best of my knowledge I never saw you before.”

Rogers and the boys had followed the Jap into the room and now Rogers whispered: “I’m afraid he can’t prove it.”

“Looks that way to me,” Bill whispered back.

“How about it?” the chief asked the Jap, “Can you prove what you say?”

“I——I——” the Jap hesitated and Horn interrupted.

“He can’t prove it and he knows he can’t for the very good reason that it’s not true. I believe blackmail is his game. If there’s nothing else, chief, I’d like to go now. As I told you I have a very important appointment.”

“All right, you can go, but before you leave, just let me give you a word of advice. From what I’ve heard of you you’ve been sailing pretty close to the wind on more than one occasion and my advice is that you be a bit more careful. I don’t mind telling you that in my opinion you’re guilty of what this man accuses you, but I’m afraid he can’t prove it.”

“Any time you can pin anything on me you’re welcome,” the doctor almost shouted but his face was very red and they all saw that he was frightened.

“All right,” the chief told him, “If I get the chance I’ll do it and don’t you forget it.”

“I won’t,” the doctor promised as he turned and left the room.

“I guess I wasn’t as smart as I thought I was,” the chief declared as the door slammed shut. “I thought I could pin it on him but I didn’t. He’s a slick one, he is. Of course I believe what you say and there’s no doubt in my mind that he did just what our friend says he did, but unfortunately he doesn’t seem to be in a position to prove it and that’s what counts in this business.”

“It seems to me,” Rogers said, “that his only chance now is with that partner of his, although I realize it’s a pretty slim one at that. All he has to do is to say that he knows nothing about it and that’s probably what he will do.”

“How about the men who took him there?” Bill asked.

“Do you know who they were?” the chief asked turning to the Jap.

“I——I’m afraid not. You see it was at night and I didn’t get a good look at them,” he stammered.

“But surely he can prove that he was received there,” Gordon suggested.

“I’m not so sure about that,” the chief told them. “According to what he says I doubt very much if the regular authorities ever knew he was on the island.”

“I’m pretty sure they did not,” the Jap agreed.

“Well, chief, what would you advise him to do?” Rogers asked.

“What kind of a man is this partner of yours?” the chief asked turning to the Jap.

“He’s an American and I always thought he was a good fellow and square until he did this to me.”

“But what’s his temperament? Is he quick tempered or hard to get along with?”

“I never thought he was.”

“Well, if you want my advice, I’d go and walk into the place without giving him any warning and see how he takes it. He’ll most likely want to know where you’ve been and say how he’s tried to find you and all that sort of thing. If he does I’d pretend that I didn’t suspect him at all. Then I’d take the first chance that offers to get rid of him, either buy him out or sell out to him. But the most important thing just at present is that you don’t want to lose your share of the business. How does it strike you?” he asked turning to Rogers.

“I believe the plan is the best one under the circumstances. If you can’t prove anything against that doctor I doubt if you can against him. I’d follow out that plan.”

“But won’t the doctor call him up and tell him that he’s come back?” Gordon asked.

“Not if he’s as smart as I think he is,” the chief told him. “You see, a call can be traced and if we could prove that he did that we’d have a strong point in our favor. Of course he may not think of that but I believe he’ll be sharp enough not to do it.”

“Maybe he’ll go around there himself,” Gordon suggested.

“Just a minute and we’ll be in a position to know if he does.”

The chief pushed a button on his desk and a man in plain clothes entered.

“Jerry, did you see that fellow that went out of here a few minutes ago?” the chief asked.

“You mean that fellow you sent for?”

“That’s the one.”

“Sure I saw him.”

“Just a minute. What’s the address of your place?” he asked the Jap and, on being told, turned again to the other. “Go around there and watch if he shows up. If he does try to find out what he says to the man in charge. You probably can’t do it but there’s just a chance.”

Then he called the chief operator of the telephone company and gave orders that he be notified at once if any one called 1538, which the Jap had told him was the number of their phone, and gave the information that someone was back.

“There, we’ve laid the trap but I doubt if he springs it,” he smiled.

“I agree with you,” Rogers said as he got up from his chair.

They left a few minutes later and stopped for a moment on the pavement outside the station.

“Would you like us to go with you?” Rogers asked.

“I think it would be better for me to go alone, don’t you?” the Jap replied.

“Frankly, yes,” Rogers told him. “But, of course, we’ll be very glad to go if you want us too.”

“No, I think I’d better go alone. I have no fear as I can take care of myself now that I shall be on my guard.”

“I’ll tell the world you can,” Gordon grinned.

“Boys, I think we’d better spend the night here. What do you say? We can put the plane in some garage and take in a movie to-night. Frankly, I’d like to know how he comes out before we go back.”

“No, no,” the Jap insisted. “You’ve done too much already. Don’t you bother any more.”

“Of course we’re going to stay,” Bill declared.

“A movie to-night suits me down to the ground,” Gordon added.

“Is there a hotel anywhere near where we left the plane?” Rogers asked.

“The Byscaine is only a couple of squares away,” the Jap told him.

“Good. Now you come there at ten o’clock to-night and we’ll have a little talk. And now, if I were you, I’d get over to the place and see the partner as soon as possible.”

“I can never repay you for what you have done for me,” the Jap told them as he shook their hands.

“Forget it,” Gordon told him.

“Hope he comes through all right,” Bill said as the Jap disappeared around a corner.

“He will,” Gordon assured him.

They caught a car a few minutes later and returned to the place where they had left the plane to find everything all right and a half hour later the plane was locked in the big garage of the Byscaine Hotel and they were enjoying the luxury of a hot bath. After supper they took in a movie and by half past nine were back at the hotel waiting for their friend.

The Jap came shortly before ten and they knew at once that things had gone well with him.

“He did just as the chief said he would,” he told them as soon as they were seated in one of the bedrooms. “Wanted to know where I’d been and told how worried he’d been and how hard he’d tried to find me. Of course he was very much astonished and very indignant when I told him what had happened to me, but I know he was lying all the time.”

“I called the chief a few minutes before you came,” Rogers told him, “and he reported that the doctor had neither phoned nor been around there. I guess that chief knows what he’s talking about most of the time.”

“I reckon he knows his callouses,” Gordon told them.

“And you think that doctor is one of them, eh?” Rogers laughed.

“Well, a callous is a hard spot and, believe me, that baby is a hard one.”

“And then some,” Bill added.

They chatted together for an hour and then the Jap left after repeating again and again his gratitude for what they had done and making them promise that they would see him again before they left for the States.

“Funny he never asked us what we were doing on that island,” Bill mused as they were getting ready for bed.

“He asked me before you fellows met him,” Gordon told them.

“Did you tell him?” Bill asked.

“Of course I didn’t,” Gordon replied, “He was an enemy then.”

“I suppose he thought we would tell him if we wanted him to know,” Rogers told them.

“Well, that’s that,” Gordon said as he jumped into bed.