The Bold Dare All by L. Ron Hubbard

Author:L. Ron Hubbard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Action & Adventure
Publisher: Galaxy Press
Published: 2014-03-18T20:08:08+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

To the Chatter of Machine Guns

WHEN Banjo had successfully picked the lock of every man’s irons, Briscoe signaled for silence.

The natives were hard to suppress. They grinned and capered and chuckled, but they finally understood that this was but the first step to their freedom.

Briscoe rubbed his chafed wrists and ankles, trying to exercise some of the stiffness from his body. Then, again motioning for silence, he moved toward the tunnel which led into the caverns below.

Quietly he made his way around the first bend. He knelt and peered around the second. He drew back hastily and crept to the top.

“There’s a Kanaka guard down there on the landing,” he whispered to Mike. “He’s got a machine gun pointed straight up the incline.”

“We’ll rush him,” said Mike.

“And run for a hundred feet in plain view of him?” said Briscoe. “It won’t work.”

Banjo grinned and waved the twisted hairpin. He slid to the door leading upward, thrust the metal into the big lock and then dejectedly shook his head.

“There’s a key turned in the other side,” said Banjo.

“And even if we made it,” muttered Tim, “Schwenk would be standing there waiting for us.”

“Can’t you think of something?” pleaded Briscoe.

Banjo stood up, shut his eyes tightly and pulled his nose. Mike scratched impatiently. Tim sat down and held his head in his hands. The natives expectantly watched Briscoe and Briscoe watched Banjo.

They were an unholy-looking crew in the greenish light which came up from the cavern below. Gaunt, red-eyed and ragged, one glimpse of them would have made a stone idol quake.

Banjo snapped his fingers, then shook his head, rejecting his thought. He looked brightly up again.

Banjo got down on his knees and sniffed along the bottom of the door. Quickly, he peeled off his shirt and thrust it through the wide crack so that it made a carpet on the other side.

Banjo reached into the keyhole with his hairpin and worked deftly at the key.

It dropped out and fell with a small, dull sound on Banjo’s shirt. Working with great care, he retrieved his garment and there solidly upon it was the large key.

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