CHAPTER IX

SOLVING A MYSTERY

“You follow me and don’t make any noise if you can help it,” Rogers said as he started to push his way through the dense growth.

“I’m right behind you,” Bill told him.

It was hard work and they were obliged to literally force their way foot by foot so dense were the bushes. But, after what seemed a long time, Rogers gave a grunt of relief and, as Bill crept up, he saw that they had reached the hut.

“Regular Indian tepee,” he whispered with his lips close to Rogers’ ear.

“Guess we’re on the back side,” Rogers whispered back. “Listen.”

For several minutes they listened with their heads close to the poles.

“Hear anything?” Rogers whispered.

“There’s someone in there,” Bill told him. “I’ve heard him move twice.”

“I thought I did, but I wasn’t sure. Follow me now and keep your gun handy.”

Careful not to make the slightest noise they stole around the hut until they reached the path close to the doorway. Then they again stopped and listened. Yes, there was no doubt but that the hut was occupied.

“Keep your gun in your hand but hold it behind you,” Rogers whispered as he stepped into the path and advanced through the open doorway.

It was rather dark inside as there was no window and at first he did not see the figure sitting on a box near the side directly opposite the door.

“I’ve got you covered and shall shoot if you make the least move,” came a stern voice and as their eyes became accustomed to the faint light they saw the speaker and that what he said was true. “Drop your guns and raise your hands.”

Both obeyed.

“Now come over to the center of the room. That’s right.”

“What’s the idea?” Rogers asked, a slight smile on his lips.

“You’ll know in a minute. What’s your name?”

“Rogers.”

“You lie.”

“Perhaps in that case you’ll tell me what it is,” Rogers suggested.

“I will. Your name is Doctor Horn.”

“What makes you think that?”

“I know it. You live in Honolulu.”

“Pardon me, but you’ve made a mistake. I never was in Honolulu till the other day.”

“Of course you’d say that.”

“Because it’s the truth.”

“And you probably never heard of a Japanese named Ito Yoshihito.”

“You’re right, I never did. Who is he?”

“I am he.”

“Well, I can’t deny that.”

“Because you know it’s true. Now back out, both of you, outside where there is more light.”

They backed out keeping their hands well above their heads and thoroughly convinced that they were in the hands of a crazy man.

“Now stop,” the Jap ordered as soon as they were in the open where the sun struck down in the pathway. “Now look at that hand,” he shouted holding out his left hand while the right kept a firm grip on the gun. “Is there any sign of leprosy there? Tell me, is there?”

“Why, not that I can see,” Rogers assured him. “Of course I’m not a doctor as I told you but——”

“But less than three months ago you declared that I was a leper and ordered me deported to this island.”

“You’re crazy, man. I never——”

“Don’t lie to me,” the Jap interrupted. “I know what you did and why.”

“Now see here,” Rogers began, as a thought struck him. “Let’s get this straight.”

“Oh, it’s straight enough,” the Jap declared, but Rogers went on as though he had not spoken.

“You say that a doctor examined you and pronounced you a leper?”

“That is so.”

“I don’t dispute it,” Rogers told him. “But it was not I. Probably it was someone who happens to resemble me and you’ve taken me for him. Now take a good look at me. No two men are exactly alike.”

For a full minute the Jap looked fixedly at Rogers and Bill, watching with intense interest, fancied that a look of doubt followed by one of incredulity swept over his face. Then, suddenly, he dropped the gun and turned his back on them.

“Well?” Rogers asked after a moment had passed.

“You are right,” the Jap declared, turning his face toward them. “You are not the man.”

“You are sure of it?”

“I am sure of it. He has a slight scar on the side of his face. Except for that you look exactly like him.”

“Then it’s indeed fortunate for me that he has the scar,” Rogers smiled.

“It is,” the Jap agreed. “But I owe you the most humble apology.”

“No. It was a mistake and a natural one. But I do wish you would tell us all about it. But first, we are looking for the third member of our party. Have you seen him?”

“He is in there and safe.”

“But I didn’t——”

“No, you didn’t see him because he’s covered up. Gordon,” he called.

But Gordon had been able to catch most of the conversation and now appeared in the doorway. “I thought it would be all right to come out,” he smiled looking at his late captor.

“Certainly,” the Jap cried, as he sprang to untie his hands. “And anything I can do to atone for——”

“That’s all right, old man,” Gordon declared. “I heard most of what you said and I don’t believe that, under the circumstances, I would have been as patient as you have been. Shake.”

Five minutes later they were all inside the hut and Ito was telling his story.

“A little more than three months ago,” he began, “I was a happy man. I had worked my way through the University of California and was settled in a business which was paying good money. But I had a partner who proved to be a bad man. We had the agency of the Buick car and were selling many and making big money. But he was mad that he had to divide with me and wanted it all. But I never suspected him of treachery until one day I spattered some acid on my hand and it made a number of sores. I showed him and he seemed very sympathetic. But a few days later a man came into the store and said he was Doctor Horn from the health department. He looked at my hand and said I was a leper and——well——what could I do?

“I told him what had happened to my hand but he claimed that I was telling a lie and that it was a clear case of leprosy. I had no one to whom I could go and he didn’t give me time if I had. That very afternoon I was on a boat bound for Molokai.”

“But the authorities here,” Rogers said, “they must have known that it wasn’t leprosy.”

“Of course, but I suppose they were bribed. You see I was taken to one of the smaller houses in the colony and I don’t believe the real authority knew that I was there. I was closely guarded by a real leper and I believe the idea was to impart the disease to me as soon as possible.”

“What a fiendish scheme,” Bill declared.

“Worse than that,” Gordon added.

“But I managed to escape,” the Jap continued, “and for more than two months I have been hunted. But they never found me and, pray God, they never shall.”

“Amen,” Rogers said under his breath.

“Well, the other day, I saw your plane and then I saw you and you can, perhaps, imagine my feelings when I thought I recognized you as the man who had sent me here.”

“I don’t know whether I can or not,” Gordon told him.

“Only a few weeks ago I was a prosperous business man and now look at me,” and the Jap glanced down at the rags which covered his body.

“It does seem as though you had had rather more than your share of trouble lately,” Rogers sympathized. “But we’re going to help you.”

“You mean it?”

“Certainly.”

“After the way I acted?”

“But we don’t blame you a bit for that,” Bill assured him and they all saw the big tears as they gathered in his eyes.

“Now, it seems to me that the best plan is to take you back to Honolulu and report the affair to the proper authorities as soon as possible,” Rogers told them.

“But——”

“Will the plane carry all four of us?” Rogers interrupted, turning to Bill.

“We’ve never had four in her but he’s not very heavy and I think we can do it. The only trouble will be in getting into the air. You see, there’s no place smooth enough to get a running start and we’ll have to depend on the elevator and——well, we can try it. If it’ll lift us it will.”

“And if it won’t it won’t,” Gordon added.

“In which case one of us will have to stay behind,” Rogers told them.

“Let’s hope it won’t be necessary,” Gordon said.

“Well, the sooner we find out the better,” Rogers declared as he got up from his box. “We’ll get back to camp and get dinner and then start.”

“Perhaps and maybe,” Gordon added. “How about trying to make her lift us right now?”

“It’s too rough around here,” Bill told him.

“Then you and Steve take the plane back and we’ll walk and here’s betting we get there first,” Gordon proposed.

He and the Jap started off at a fast run but the plane passed them before they had covered half the distance, and Bill had a fire going by the time they arrived.

“Now for it,” Rogers said as they finished cleaning up after the meal.

“Just a minute till I put in some new cells,” Bill called. “I reckon we’ll need all the power we can get.”

It was a tight squeeze in the back seat for Rogers and the Jap but they managed it and Bill started the motor. Notch by notch he pushed over the lever and faster and faster the propeller whirled.

“I’ve only got one more notch,” he told Gordon who was watching the instrument board.

“And she hasn’t budged,” Gordon replied. “Well, give her the juice and let’s know the worst.”

Bill pushed the lever over to the last notch but, although the plane gave a lurch, it failed to rise. “Nothing doing,” he said as he slowed the motor and finally brought it to a stop. “There’s just a few pounds too many in her,” he told them.

“Which means that I’m going to stay behind,” Rogers said as he started to climb out.

“Just a minute,” Gordon told him. Then, turning to Bill, he said: “If I get out and you get her off the ground and then start the other propeller, I believe I can jump on and she’ll go. What do you think?”

“I think there’d be about one chance in a million,” Bill told him.

“Make it two and let’s try it.”

“All right, I guess there’s no particular danger only you want to be quick when the time comes.”

“I’ll be quick,” Gordon promised as he climbed over the side of the cockpit.

The plane was resting on a slight elevation or knoll about thirty feet wide but the ground was very uneven especially right in front. As soon as Gordon was out Bill once more started the elevator and when he reached the next to the last notch the plane quivered and slowly left the ground.

“Hold her now,” Gordon cried when the wheels were about a foot from the ground. “Now start the other motor and I’ll hold her as long as I can and then I’ll jump.”

Bill did as ordered and the speed of the forward propeller increased until the plane began to move in spite of Gordon’s efforts to hold it.

“I’m coming,” he yelled as he gave a spring.

The plane gave a sudden side lurch and one of the wings brushed the ground, but the wheels did not touch the earth and the wing was not damaged. Another minute and Gordon had climbed over the side of the cockpit and the Albatross was twenty feet in the air.

“I told you,” Gordon exulted.

“But no one but you would have thought of it,” Rogers declared.

“And I don’t think anyone else but he would have tried it even if he had thought of it,” the Jap added.

“You’ll give him a swelled head,” Bill called back.

“He deserves it,” Rogers declared. “I thought sure I was doomed to stay behind and I didn’t want to a little bit and I don’t mean maybe.”

“She seems to be riding all right,” Gordon told than as the plane passed out over the ocean.

“Oh, she’d carry twice this load once she got going,” Bill declared. “And I imagine she’d have taken off all right if it had been smooth enough.”

“I’ll bet,” Gordon added.

“A wonderful machine and it seems so strange not to hear a racket,” the Jap said. “I’ve been up two or three times and I was nearly made deaf by the noise.”

“Yes, it’s some different,” Rogers told him.

They were now flying smoothly at an elevation of about two thousand feet but there was a haze in the air and they were unable to see but a short distance.

“Don’t get lost, Bill,” Rogers said.

“I don’t think I will,” Bill told him. “But it isn’t very clear up here.”

“Sure you’re going in the right direction?” Gordon asked. “Seems to me we’re heading too far to the south.”

“I think you’re right,” Bill agreed giving the wheel a slight turn. “I can’t use the compass as I don’t know the exact direction.”

“Oh, well, it’s only about thirty miles to the end of the island and I guess we can hit it all right,” Gordon told him.

“But the air is a mighty big place,” Rogers added.

“Seems to me we ought to be getting somewhere pretty soon,” Bill declared ten minutes later. “We’ve been in the air twenty-five minutes and we’ve been making about sixty most of the time.”

“I see it,” Gordon cried, pointing off to his right.

“That’s a bank of clouds,” Bill told him.

“Bank of clouds your eye. I tell you that’s land,” Gordon insisted.

Bill had turned the plane a bit to the right as soon as Gordon had announced land and a few minutes later they saw that he had been right.

“You win as usual,” Bill laughed.

“You mean I’ve got good eyes,” Gordon laughed back. “That’s one thing I am good at,” he chuckled.

“I could mention one other thing,” Rogers told him.

“And I can add a third,” the Jap declared.

“My, but I’m getting all puffed up,” Gordon laughed. “Pretty soon I’ll be thinking I’m some pumpkins.”

“It’s a good thing you made me change the direction when you did,” Bill told his brother. “If we had kept on the way we were going I believe we’d have missed it.”

“Maybe,” Gordon agreed.

By this time they were over the land and Bill slowed down the speed as they knew the city was only a short distance away.

“Going to land where we did the other time?” Gordon asked.

“Guess that’s as good a place as any if I can find it,” Bill answered.

“Then you want to go a bit more to the left.”

“Right again.”

They could now see the city only a few miles ahead and a few minutes later the plane settled to the ground in the same place they had picked before.