Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1932-06-09
Chapter 8
THEY'RE AFTER THE MONEY

IERRY'S eyes followed the line of
- Emory's pointing arm. There,
perhaps eight miles from shore, were
three child s-size d~estroyers, Stsaming
eastward in a ~fan-shaped formation.
-Four or five minutes later. off SOut-
hampton, another could be seen, idl-
ing along a mile or two off the beach.
Between East Hampton and Amagan-
sett they flew over a half dozen
coast guard boats.
The plane was flying at its ceiling,
sixteen thousand feet, when its crew
saw the lighthouse at Montauk point
slide beneath their lower wing. They
gazed down in establishment. Hidden
on the Gardeners bay side of the
point were four. more picket boats
and another destroyer. Between the
point and Block island could he seen
several more of the larger rum-chas-
ing patrol craft, which We're drifting
about, apparently in no designated
position, awaiting the call to action.
Jerry turned sharply over the light
house and headed on n "southeasterly
course bearing straight out to sea.
AS he had anticipated. he oon saw
an almost invisible white spek on the
water which represented, presumably,
the rowboat in which a fortune in
hundred dollar bills awaited the kid
napers.
From their lofty seats Jerry and
Emory could see that the authorities,
acting in cooperation with the coast
guard, had drawn a network of ships
about the boat from which it would
be almost impossible to escape. Yet
each of the guard ships was so far
away from the row!,Oat as to be in
visible at sea level. Jerry understood
the strategy that vas 80 evident from
above. The kidnapers' speedboat
would undoubtedly be permitted to
approach the rowboat unhindered.
Having grabbed the satchel contain
ing the money, the criminals would
turn TO race for safety. But the
Gordon of vigilant ships seemed, from
the air, to be slight indeed.
Jerry hoped that he was flying Suf-
ficiently high to be unobserved.
Emory studied he outlying ring of
ships, rejoicing in the tense excite
ment of the moment. What a hinge
this might turn out to be- He was
contented with life again for the first
time in months. Surfeited with the
dollhouse atmosphere of New Tor
night club life, he had turned the key
on his Gramercy park apartment. For
a while, he had enjoyed the quiet
calm of the VICTORIAN house on
Beacon street, Boston. But as usual,
six weeks of peace had whetted his
appetite for adventure.
He had picked up a two-day-old
newspaper with the vague idea of
reading the advertisements of round
the-world cruises when his eve had
fallen upon the f~irst-page story of the
spectacular k%idnapings in New York.
The affair had appealed to his inn
agination and he had read the article
with interest. Midway to the bottom
of the first column he had come upon
Jerrys name. F~orty-five minutes
4 - -. - - 800 II
the scene of action. Had the dis
patch told of Jerry's injury in a Paris
brawl he would have sailed on the
next steamer. Jerry, the gay-hearted
war BUDDY of the 199th Pui suit Wing,
the never-failing friend. was the one
man in the world whom Emory never
tired Of seeing.
men who had flown, fought and play
together lay too deep for speech.
1t was something that each too as
much for granted as the rising and
setting of the sun.
Emory stiffened in his seat, bent
far over the cockpit wall and thumb
the focusing wheel of his binocul-
ars. There, far to the southwest. was
another airplane, winging its way
straight towards the center of the en-
circled area. 1t was well below his
slowly-flying plane, forging along at
hltiluue OF ABOUT i've thousand |
feet. Emory stared at it, trying to
distinguish it's type and its markings.
With ten or twelve thousand feet |
space separating the two ships, /
1t was to be hoped that the other
pilot would not notice the plane
which was spying upon him.
At last Emory's practiced eyes dis
the curious hook-nosed under
body of an amphibian, a type of ship
equally at home on OF over land or
sea.
Jerry, obeying an instinct acquired
the war, worked the biplane
into a position between the sun and
the lower amphibian. While he was
able to keep that strategic place he
would be almost invisible to the fly
below.
The strange pilot betrayed no I'M
certainty of purpose. Straight as a
bullet he flew towards the little row.
boat anchored within the far-flung
circle Of waiting vessels. The amphib-
suddenly nosed and began q steep
dive toward the surface. Jerry closed
the throttle and put the biplane in a
thin glide.
They're after the money!" he
roared above the popping Of the mot