"He can't escape. Jetta; he can't hide. Why, in a day or so all the patrols of the United States Lowland Service will be after us!" But if the patrol-ships assailed De Boer, if he found things going badly--he could so easily kill Jetta and me. He might be caught, but we would never come through it alive. My thoughts drifted along, arriving nowhere, just circling in the same futile rounds. I was aware of Jetta falling asleep beside me, her face against my shoulder, her fingers clutching mine. She looked like a half grown, slender, ragged boy. But her woman's hair lay thick on my arm, and one of the dark tresses fell to my hand. I turned my fingers in it. This strange little woman. Was my love for her foredoomed to end in tragedy? I swore then that I would not let it be so. CHAPTER XIV _Jetta Takes a Hand_ I came from my reverie to find De Boer before me. He was standing with legs planted wide, arms folded across his deep chest, and on his face an ironic smile. "So tired! My little captives, _di mi_! You look like babes lost in a wood." I disengaged myself from Jetta, resting her against a cushion, and she did not awaken. I stood up, fronting De Boer. "What are you going to do with me?" I demanded. He held his ironic smile. "Take you to my camp. You'll be well hidden, no one can follow me. My X-flyer's a very handy thing to have, isn't it?" "So you're the smuggler I was sent after?" That really amused him. "Er--yes. Those tricksters, Perona and Spawn--we were what you would call partners. He had--the perfumed Perona--what he thought was a clever scheme for us. I was to take all the risk, and he and Spawn get most of the money. Chah! They thought I was imbecile--pretending to attack a treasure and being such a fool that I would not seize it for myself! Not De Boer!" He chuckled. "Well, so very little did they know me. No treasure yet touched De Boer's fingers without lingering!" * * * * * He was in a talkative mood, and drew up his chair and slouched in it. I saw that he had been drinking some alcholite beverage, not enough to befuddle him, but enough to take the keen edge off his wits, and make him want to talk. "Sit down, Grant." "I'll stand." "As you like." "What are you going to do with me?" I demanded again. "Try to ransom me for a fat price from the United States?" He smiled sourly. "You need not be sarcastic, young lad. The better for you if I get a ransom." "Then I hope you get it." "Perona's idea," he added. "I will admit it looked possible: I did not know then you had Government protection." He went grim. "That was Perona and Spawn's trickery. Well, they paid for it. No one plays De Boer false and lives to tell it. Perona and Spawn wanted to get rid of you--because you annoyed them." "Did I?" "With the little Jetta, I fancy." His gaze went to the sleeping Jetta and back to me. "Perona was very sensitive where this little woman was concerned. Why not? An oldish fool like him--"