Boy's Cinema (1939-40)

1(5 He described to the commander ail that had taken place that day, and, finallj- mentioning Dick Norman's reference to the substance known as zanzoid, he pro- posed that inquiries should be immedi- ately set afoot with a view to discovering whether any consignment of that mineral was in transit to the United States It was a proposal which Commander Boyle approved, but, though widespread inquiries were made by telephone and cablegram, it was not until ten o'clock of the follov/ing morning that any news relat- ing to a cargo of zanzoid was obtained by the officer in charge of Portland's Coast Guard station. At three minutes past ten Terry Kent presented himself in Boyle's sanctum in response to a summons which the com- mander had sent to him by an orderly, and on the lieutenant reporting there, Boyle indicated a cablegram that was lying on his desk. "Here's a message from the authorities in Honolulu," he armounced. "It's in reply to an inquiry that was dispatched there, and it states that a firm called the Hono- lulu Exporting Company received a ship- ment of zanzoid a week or two ago. The day after the receipt of that shipment, a general cargo belonging to the Honolulu Exporting Company was loaded aboard the s.s. Adamic, a freighter belonging to the Union Steamship Corporation, but no zan- zoid was listed." "Perhaps the zanzoid was disguised as, some other commodity," Terry mused. "You checked up on that mineral yester- day, sir, and found out that its importation into this country was Government con- trolled, didn't you?" Commander Boyle frowned. "Yes, that's right," he rejoined. "But the Adamic isn't the kind of ship to be mixed up in any illegal trafficking. I don't know anything about the Honolulu Export- ing Conipany, but the Union Steamship Corporation is a reputable concern, and I'm positive it wouldn't be a party to smug- gling. What's more, the captain of the Adamic is an ex-Navy man of my acquaint- ance, and I'd go bail for him." "But if the shipment of zanzoid had been disguised before it was placed aboard the Adamic," Terry argued, "the skipper would be entirely ignorant that his craft was carrj'ing afr illicit substance, in her hold. Do you happen to know where the Adamic is nov.-, sir?" Commander Boyle nodded. "Yes," he answered. "Thelist of sailings gives her present position as New Bedford, Massachusetts. She came up through the Panama Canal, and her last port of call this trip is Sheepscott, north of here. According to her schedule, she leaves New Bedford early this afternoon." Terry leaned across his superior officer's desk. "If her cargo could be inspected," he began, "and if she hadn't already dumped that zanzoid •" Boyle interrupted him. " We can't hold a ship on mere suspicion, lieutenant," he pointed out. "I know, sir," the younger man con- ceded. " But if I took a plane down to New Bedford. I could be there before she sails, and if the captain's a friend of yours, he might waive his rights and let me examine the cargo on the way up to Sheepscott." Boyle consenting to this project after some consideration, Terry Kent caught a plane from the Portland civil aerodrome within the hour, and about noon he walked up the gangway of the Adamic as she was lying alongside the New Bedford water- front. He was the bearer of a message from Commander Boyle to the Adamic's cap- tain, whose name was Simpson, and who proved to be a wiry, clear-e.ved man of some fifty years of age, a man to whom Terr.\' took an instantaneous liking, and who pronounced himself ready to assist the lieutenant in every possible way when he learned the reason for his presence aboard the vessel. "I'll be glad to co-operate," he told the October lUli, I'.i'vj. BOY'S CINEMA revenue officer. "Just hang on a moment, will you?" Terry had located the skipper on the bridge of the freighter, and now Captain Simpson leaned over the rail of that struc- ture and called out to a heavily-built individual who was loitering on the Adamic's forcdeck. "Oh. Belden!" the skipper hailed. "Belden, come up to the bridge. I want you." The man on the fore-deck raised his glance, then hastened to comply with the captain's commands, and as he joined Simpson and Terry on the bridge, the skipper introduced him to the revenue officer. "Mr. Belden is my cargo clerk," he said. "He's been with me a long time. Belden, this is Lieutenant Kent, of the Coast Guard, and he'd like to examine the freight we're carrying. He thinks ma>'be there's something strange about that freight. He doesn't suspect us of being mixed up in anything contrary to the law, you understand, but he has an idea we may have been deceived as to the nature of part of our cargo, and he wants to make an investigation while we're on our way north." Belden knitted his brows in a perplexed fashion. " I don't quite follow your meaning, cap- tain," he mui'mured. Terry then took it upon himself to make the situation clearer to the cargo clerk, and when the lieutenant had finished speaking Belden turned to the skipper. "Don't forget we've unloaded freight at several ports of call since leaving Hono- lulu, captain," he remarked, "and if some of this stuff called zanzoid jvere planted on us by the Honolulu Exporting Company, it's possible that it's already been put ashore." "I don't think so," Terry put in. "You see, the gang the authorities are after are located somewhere in Maine, and if any zanzoid were placed aboard the Adamic. I guess the destination of the mineral would be one of the ports you touch on the Maine seaboard. Therefore, it would still be in one of your holds." Belden inclined his head slowly. "H'm, I suppose you're right," he observed. " Anyhow, I'll be very nappy to check up the cargo with you en route for Maine, lieutenant. But, say, I wonder if you'd mind postponing the investigation for a little while. I want to go ashore and wire a relative of mine who lives in Sheep- scott. I won't be long, and we can start examining the freight as soon as I get back." Terry nodding in response, and Captain Simpson reminding the cargo clerk that the Adamic was due to sail in half an hour, Belden made his way on to the quay, and a few minutes afterwards might have been seen in a post office situated within a short distance of the New Bedford waterfront. There Belden pencilled a wire to a person by the name of Anderson, and if Terry Kent or Captain Simpson had been present, they would have been profoundly impressed by two remarkable factors con- nected .with that telegram. In the first place it was written in code, groups of numerals being substituted for words and, though code-messages were used extensively and legitimately by busi- ness men who did not wish all and sundry to know the details of their transactions, it was surely odd that Belden should com- municate with a relative in so secretive a manner. In the second place the address of the person named Anderson did not include any mention of Sheepscott, for it was an address that came within the municipal boundaries of a small Maine township called Pier Port. Had the truth been known, Belden pos- sessed no relative answering to the name of Anderson. Had the truth been known, the name of Anderson was the alias of Boroff, and, a ke.y-member of the latter's scoundrelly organisation. Belden had pen- cilled that wire to inform Boroff of Terry Every Tuesday Kent's presence and purpose aboard the Adamic—and to warn the alien scientist that he must act quickly if he were to frustrate the Coast Guard lieutenant. THE DANGER MARK WHEN the S.S. Adamic set sail from New Bedford her cargo clerk was back on board ship, and as the vessel steamed out into ihe "roads " and turned northward he conducted Terry Kent to the for'ard hold and commenced an in- vestigation of the freight in that com- partment. Belden knew full well that there was no zanzoid present in this particular hold. but with every appearance of earnestness he aided the revenue officer in the task of carrying out an intensive examination of the cargo there. It was an examination that took up a considerable amount of time, for there was a great deal of freight in the for'ard hold, and it was not until dusk was falling that Terry and Belden completed their inspection. "Well, everything's in order here," Terry declared then. "There's not a trace of anything resembling the mineral zanzoid. But we've still to check up on the contents of the after-hold. Come on, let's go aft." He and Belden ascended to the deck, and as they climbed out of the hatchway of the for'ard hold they saw how the sky had darkened in the east. They saw. too, that a mist was gathering over the sea —a mist which was not yet interfering with visibility to any perilous extent, though the coastline a mile or two on the port side of the Adamic was partially obscured. "Looks like we're in for a foggy night," Belden commented. "If that mist thickens, our speed " It was at that juncture that Terry interrupted him, gripping him bv the arm and pointing in a north-easterly direction. "Hey, look!" he ejaculated. "That craft seems to be in difficulties!" He was indicating a vessel that was lying at no great distance oft the course which the Adamic was following. It was a vessel which appeared to be a trawler, and clouds of smoke were rising from it at some point amidships. Into the bargain a group of men could be seen on its fore- deck—men who were in the process of hurriedly lowering a lifeboat. Terry swung round towards the wheel- house of the Adamic, and as he did so he clapped eyes on Captain Simpson stand- ing in that wheelhouse beside a sailor who was acting as helmsman. It was obvious that skipper and helms- man had discerned the vessel which Terry had espied, for they were peering to larboard intently. Then, catching sight of Belden and the revenue officer near the hatchway of the for'ard hold, Simpson called out to Terry in an in- quiring tone. "What do you make of that ship, lieutenant?" "It's some sort of small craft afire," Terry replied, " and her crew are abandon- ing her.' Captain Simpson turned to the helms- man of the Adamic and ordered him to alter the freighter's course and head for the vessel that was in distress. Mean- while the men who had been discernible on the foredeck of the trawler had dropped their lifeboat into the water and scrambled into it. and, rowing vigorously, they were a little way from their ship when the Adamic hove-to alongside them. By that time the Adamic's full comple- ment of deck-hands had assembled at the freighter's larboard rail, and the occu- pants of the row-boat were soon helped aboard, Terry and Belden and Captain Simpson looking on as the castaways were pulled up over the side. Half a dozen in number, the shii>- wrecked mariners were dressed in jerseys and slacks and looked like fishermen. Yet on seeing them at close quarters. Belden gave a start, for he identified them as /