Evening star., 1941-10-19
WHISPERING
PASSENGERS
Continued from poge seven

one, Larry. They knocked out Cap
tain Haughan. The other man back
there has gun too
The man in brown tweeds shook his
head. mo" he said. There will not
be any robbery. You must be reason
able. please. The captain was not rea-
sonable."
His beady eyes we're flickering to
every corner of the cabin. A .38 revol-
yer was in holster beside Haughan's
seat and the man edged carefully for
ward. still shielding himself with the
girls body, until he could reach the
weapon with his left hand.
you have one too, yes?"
NO" said Larry Maitland truth
fully. Take look if you don't be-
lieve me-"
II want to believe you, and l do
not want there to be any trouble.
Listen to me. please. There is place
called La Plata and it is a few miles
east of Daggett in California. There
is field there, and you will please
land on that field and let me and my
friend get off. That is ALL
! HE whole setup was crazy, thought
the co-pilot, but the mans words gave
it some sort of pattern, the pattern
of a story which he and Dan Haughan
had agreed was tripe
And if say | WON'T" he retorted,
you'll tell me that you'll kill me and
land the ship yourself - is that it?"
NO" said Brown Tweeds. II do
not know how to fly an airplane. I
have ridden in them many times but
this is the first time l have seen the
- the - do you call it the pilot
house? If you do not land at La Plata
i cannot let you land anywhere. We
will just have to keep on flying, all
of us, until the gasoline is gone. We
will be far out over the ocean then,
yes?"
You mean ?" This was the
screwiest thing in the whole screwy
business.
Yes" said the man. II would be
very sorry, too. You see. there is one
of your passengers who carries brief
case. If you land at La Plata, my
friend and l will leave the plane and
take that brief case with us. That is
all. There will be no trouble if you
will only be reasonable"
The rat meant business! This was
one of those things which couldn't
happen but which did happen just
the same. This man wasn't a bandit
who could be frightened or bluffed.
There were papers or plans in that
brief case and he was going to get
them - or else.
Even if it meant a crash which
would kill him and everyone else, he'd
shoot if Larry attempted a landing
anywhere but at the field he'd named.
Strange how you could tell, just like
that, whether or not man was bluff
ing. If he should shoot - well, it
meant curtains for Sally Lou and for
wounded Dan Haughan and that cute
little stewardess and all the passen-
gers.
1t meant washing out a BT-4
transport which stood on the books
at quarter-million dollars and it
meant an ineradicable smirch on
G-BAT's unequalled record of pas
senger safety. One man with a $40
gun could do all that. He knew moth
ing of flying, but he could ruin the best
ship in the world. He knew nothing
of flying, but . He knew nothing.
Nothing. Larry Maitland suddenly
found his tongue and spoke quickly:
'I'll be reasonable, as you call it.
Since you've knocked out the cap
tain, I'm in command and I'll land
any place you say" He ignored the
accusing daggers that were Sally Louis
eyes and he pointed to the clock on
the panel. "It's three e-sixteen. I'm a
minute late now with a fight report,