but there was a chance. This was probably the biggest crime that had been committed in Sanara since it was founded; and when a great deal of money was exhibited under the conditions and in the manner that I had exhibited mine, it would naturally suggest connection of some kind with the criminals, for a man of my apparent walk of life would not have come suddenly upon great wealth honestly.
I had scarcely reached the door of the dive when I felt a hand on my arm. I turned to look into the cunning face of the man who had spoken to me last. 'Let us talk together, my friend,' he said.
'What about?' I asked.
'You have some money coming to you,' he commenced. 'What would you give me if I should show you where you could collect it?'
'If you can do that, I might give you half,' I said.
'Very well,' he said, 'for half I will do it. But this is a bad night to be about on work of this kind. Since they stole the jong's daughter the city is being searched and everyone being questioned. The boys got a lot of money for that. What you got for choking the old villain, Kurch, would be nothing beside what Muso paid to have the daughter of the jong brought to him.'
So I was off on a wrong trail! But how to get on the right one? The fellow was obviously drunk, which accounted for his loose tongue; and he knew something about the abduction of Nna, but how much? And how was I to switch him from one trail to another? I saw that I would have to take the bull by the horns.
'What made you think I had anything to do with murdering Kurch?' I demanded.
'Didn't you?' he asked.
'Of course not,' I assured him. 'I never said I did.'
'Then how did you come by so much money?' he demanded.
'Don't you suppose there were other jobs besides the Kurch job?' I demanded.
'There were only two big jobs in town tonight,' he said. 'If you were in on the other, you ought to know where to go.'
'Well, I don't,' I admitted. 'I think they're tryin' to beat me out of mine. They said they'd bring me the rest of mine down here, but they aren't here. They wouldn't tell me where they took the girl, either. I'd give anything to know. If I did, you can bet they'd come through, or—' I touched my sword significantly.
'How much would you give?' he asked.
'What difference does that make to you?' I demanded. 'You don't know where she is.'
'Oh, I don't, don't I? Just show me how high your money stacks. I know lots of things for a tall stack.'
Korvan money is all of the same metal, round pieces of different thicknesses, their centers punched out with different size circles, squares, ovals, and crosses; but all of the same outside diameter. Their value is determined by the weight of the metal each contains. They stack easily, and the thicker pieces of greatest value naturally stack higher, giving usage to the common expression 'a tall stack' meaning a considerable amount of money.
'Well, if you really showed me where she is,' I said, 'I might give you five hundred pandars.' A pandar has about the purchasing power in Korva that a dollar would have in America .
'You haven't got that much,' he said.
I shook my pocket pouch so that the money in it rattled. 'Doesn't that sound like it?' I asked.
'I like to feel money, not listen to it,' he said.
'Well, come outside where no one will see us; and I'll show it to you.'
I saw the cunning glint in his eyes as we passed out into the avenue. Finding a spot that was deserted and also dimly lighted by a lamp in a window, I counted out five hundred pandars into his cupped palms, definitely defeating for the moment any plan he had to murder me; then, before he could transfer the money to his pocket pouch, I drew my pistol and shoved it into his belly.
'If there's any shooting to be done, I'll do it,' I told him. 'Now take me to where the girl is, and no funny business. When you have done that, you may keep the money; but if you make a single break, or fail to show me the girl, I'll let you have it. Get going.'
He grinned a sickly grin, and turned away down the dark street. As he did so, I jerked his pistol from its holster; and shoved the muzzle of mine into the small of his back. I wasn't taking any chances.
'You're all right, fellow,' he said. 'When this job's over, I'd like to work with you. You work quick, and you know what you're doing. Nobody ain't going to fool you.'
'Thanks,' I said. 'Be at the same place tomorrow night, and we'll talk it over.' I thought this might keep him from trying to double-cross me, but I still kept my gun in his ribs.
He led me along the river wall to an old, abandoned building at one end of which was a huge incinerator within a firebox large enough to hold half a dozen men. He stopped here and listened, looking furtively in all directions.
'She's in here,' he whispered. 'This firebox opens into the inside of the building, too. Now give me back my pistol and let me go.'
'Not so fast,' I cautioned him. 'The agreement was that you were to show me the girl. Go on in!'
He hesitated, and I prodded him with my gun.
'They'll kill me,' he whimpered.
'If you don't show me the girl, they won't have to,' I threatened. 'Now don't talk any more—we may be overheard. If I have to go in alone, I'll leave you out here, dead.'
He said no more, but he was shaking as he crawled into the great incinerator. I laid his pistol on the ledge of the firebox and followed directly behind him. It was dark as a pocket in the firebox and not much better in the room into which we stepped—so dark that I had to hold onto my companion's trappings to keep him from eluding me entirely. We stood in silence, listening for a full minute. I thought I heard the murmur of voices. My guide moved forward cautiously, feeling his way step by step. It was evident that he had been here before. He crossed to the side of the room, where he found a bolted door.
'This is for our getaway,' he whispered, as he drew the bolt. I knew from the direction we had come that the door opened out onto the street.
He turned and moved diagonally across the room again to the opposite wall. Here he found another door which he opened with the utmost caution. When it was opened, the murmur of voices became more distinct. Ahead of us, I could see a tiny ray of dim light coming apparently from the floor of the room. My guide led me forward to it, and I saw that it came through a hole in the flooring—possibly a knothole.
'Look!' he whispered.
As I had to lie down on my stomach to look through the hole, I made him lie down, also. In the circumscribed range of my vision, I could not see much of the room below; but what I did see was almost enough. Two men were sitting at a table, talking—one of them was Muso. I could see no girl, but I knew that she might be there outside the little circle that was visible to me. I could hear the men talking.
'You don't really intend killing her, do you?' asked Muso's companion.
'If I don't get a favorable reply from Taman before the 2nd hour, I most certainly shall,' replied Muso. 'If she would write her father as I have asked her to, she would be free to go at once; for I know that Taman would not see his daughter die if she herself begged him to save her.'
'You'd better do it, Nna,' said the other man. 'The time is getting short.'
'Never!' said a girl's voice, and I knew that I had found Nna.
'You may go now,' I whispered to my companion. 'You will find your pistol on the ledge of the incinerator. But wait! How can I get into that room?'
'There is a trap door in the corner, to your right,' he replied. He moved away so silently that I did not hear him go, but I knew that he had. Only a fool would have remained with me.
Faintly into the darkness of the room came a suggestion of growing light. The sun was rising. The first hour had come. In forty minutes of Earth time the second hour would strike—strike the death knell of Nna, the daughter of Taman .
Chapter 18—A Tanjong
Forty minutes! What could I do in that time to ensure the safety of the princess? Had I found her only a little
