A full stomach does much toward comforting the harassed human being, and Nickie was no exception to the rule. The keen look of defiance came back into his eyes and he settled back in his chair, quite forgetting for the time that the man who had so generously fed him, was the man whom he had expected would kill him. Skippy's full stomach, while giving him much comfort, did not disarm him completely. He sat back in his chair, noting Nickie's peaceful face beside him and Devlin's mask-like countenance across the table. Someone had to be ready and on guard--Devlin had a price for everything--even chicken fricassee. It came sooner than he expected. Devlin was finishing his pie and washing it down with great draughts of coffee. "Well, boys," he said, genially, "I suppose both of you swim, eh?" Skippy kicked Fallon under the table and said, "Nope, not a stroke--neither of us. Do we, Nick?" "Nah. Ain't it a shame, hah? We oughta." "Yes, yes. It's something every boy ought to know." Devlin got up and his bulk seemed greater than ever. His face had resumed its thoughtful expression and the glitter had returned to his eyes. "Well, I'll be going up now--a little business I got to attend to. If you boys wash up the dishes you can have a game of cards before bedtime, eh?" They listened as he walked through the hall and up the stairs. Skippy waited until he heard the man's step in his own room before he said, "Well, he's begun workin' on us all right, an' I trumped his ace right off the bat." "How, kid?" "He expected us to say we could swim." "How did...." "'cause I'm layin' for him all the time from now on. Whatever he expected to do if we'd said yes, I don't know. But I know, he's aimin' to try the car trick on us an' he wanted to make sure things wouldn't go wrong. He can't afford to have us not drown when he's countin' on it, can he?" Nickie put his elbows on the table and cupped his chin. "You mean we gotta go through with it an' take the chance that he can't kill us 'cause we can swim?" "If there ain't any other chance, we gotta." "Well, I'm licked!" Nickie said hopelessly. But he wasn't ... not yet.... CHAPTER XXV A PASSING FACE Distrustful though they were and full of nameless fears, they stepped into Devlin's coupé early on Monday evening with a feeling of relief. To be out in the air again, a part of the moving, restless world--it gave them no small thrill and they tried to put out of their minds all that had troubled them since their strange imprisonment. Devlin, adept at using either hand, dexterously managed the car with his left hand and kept his right hand significantly at his pocket. "I might as well warn you boys," he said when they had left the clearing, "that I'll stand for no nonsense. I got a silencer on this gun in my pocket and it won't make any noise if either one of you try to beat it."