The midland journal., 1944-01-14
CHAPTER XIII

They turned INTO q long Snauy lane
OF mango trees running to the mill
yards and got out of the car. Except
for Graciela, who stayed where she
was with light shrug Of distaste
for the dirt and heat and dust.
They crossed the Uttered yard into
the rundown wooden building. It
was long and narrow, with high
pitched roof. The deafening roar OF
machinery made it impossible for
Anne to hear what they were say
ing to her. She followed the fore
man and Diego Gongaro across the
sticky dirty floor to the middle Of
the room, under the great vats built
almost to the rooftree. Mr.. Taussig
came behind them. Gongaro took
her arm. He pointed to the steep
narrow steps leading up to catwalk
at the top Of the progressive sue
cession of refining units. Anne
looked up at it dizzily.
do you mean we have to 60 up
there?" she shouted, trying to make
him hear her above the din and
roar of crushing wheels and rollers.
He nodded.
The dark flower opened inside her
again. It was like the dream.
II can't CO." she thought des-
perately. ''I can't"
She turned to look at Mr.. Taussig.
He was smiling at her. He knew
she was afraid. She could see it in
the cold blue eyes, unsmiling
through the concentric circles Of his
thick lenses.
She started toward the stairs.
Pete could not have said he
smelled rat when all he could
smell was the pleasant odor Of fresh
bread across the inner court from
the Army bakery under the Gen.
erals office. It was a combination
of a lot of things too intangible to
put his finger on.
Then he'd thought the heck with it
and gone back to his work. He got
up, went to the water cooler and
came back again half dozen times,
unable to settle down to anything.
He got up again, got the file on
Miguel Valera and the file on Diego
Gongaro and went through them
both. He took the Brooklyn saloon
keepers letter out of his desk and
read it for the fiftieth time.
'You let somebody like that man
over there come down here and show
him the works." he remembered
Anne saying. If she could say that
after her pointed question about
Taussig the day she came, it must
mean she was on to something. If
she was, and Gus was right, Taus-
sig probably knew it.
Finally it was too much. He
reached for the phone.
"Get me Senior Alvaro Valera" he
said. He hesitated, and added, cor
Senor Miguel Valera if his father
isn't there"
He waited impatiently.
"I'm sorry, Captain Wilcox" the
operator said at last. ''Both Don
Alvaro and Senior Miguel Valera
have gone to Ponce for the day.
Senor Diego Gongaro has taken some
Americans out to the plantation. He
has just left"
Pete put the phone down. It was
all perfectly open and above board,
on the face of it. Only one thing
bothered him. It was cockeyed too,
but it. stuck in his mind. Why,
hadn't Miguel taken her out to the
Central himself?
He got up abruptly and went into
Colonel Fletcher's Office.
He looked at his speedometer now.
Four kilometers and he'd be there.
He hadn't any clearer idea now what
was compelling him to risk his car
and his neck to get out there than
he had before he started. All he
knew was that some sixth sense he
had that had seldom let him down as
a reporter was in operation again,
and that get out there he must.
He groaned suddenly. A small
engine whistled and steamed across
the road in front of him. Behind it,
jangling and clanking, came a long
train of cars loaded with cane. He
jammed on the brake and came to q
stop. The train came to a stop too.
Heaven only knew how long it would
stand there before it moved foot
or two and stopped again while they
unloaded up ahead. What was time
h an industry that still used oxen?
He let his brake out and backed
into the path at the edge of the
road, got out and hurried along the
side of the track. It was the short
est way to the mill anyway. If the
train crew thought he was crazy it
would probably merely confirm an
idea they already had about North
American mainlanders. He quick
ened his pace. He could see shiny
black limousine in the millyard, q
girl sitting in it, her head bent for
ward a little. 1t wasn't Anne. The
golden thing that passed for head
on her never dropped forward that
way. 1t was the girl who'd been at
the dock with Don Alvaro.
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