The Andre Norton Megapack - 15 Classic Novels and Short Stories

of her defiant attitude. He guessed that for all her boasted independence his sister was slightly afraid of Mr. Rupert Ralestone. “Val, he isn’t coming, too, is he?”
    “He is if he got my message.” Val stretched his leg cautiously. The cramp was slowly leaving the muscles and he felt as if he could stand the remaining ache without wincing. “I sent Sam Two back to tell Rupert where his family had eloped to. Frankly, Ricky, this wasn’t such a smart trick. You know what Charity said about the swamps. Even the little I’ve seen of them has given me ideas.”
    “But there was nothing to it at all,” she protested. “Jeems told me just how to get here and I only followed directions.”
    Val chose to ignore this, being hot, tired, and in no mood for one of those long arguments such as Ricky enjoyed. “By the way, where is Jeems?” He looked about him as if he expected the swamper to materialize out of thin air.
    Ricky sat down on the edge of the platform and dangled her booted feet. “Don’t know. But he’ll be here sooner or later. And I don’t feel like going back through the swamp just yet. The flies are awful. And did you see those dreadful vultures on that dead tree? What a place! But the flowers are wonderful and I saw a real live alligator, even if it was a small one.” She rubbed her scarf across her forehead. “Whew! It seems hotter here than it does at home.”
    “This outing was all your idea,” Val reminded her. “And we’d better be getting back before Rupert calls out the Marines or the State Troopers or something to track us down.”
    Ricky pouted. “Not going until I’m ready. And you can’t drag me if I dig my heels in.”
    “I have no desire to be embroiled in such an undignified struggle as you suggest,” he told her loftily. “But neither do I yearn to spend the day here. I’m hungry. I wonder if our absent host possesses a larder?”
    “If he does, you can’t raid it,” Ricky answered. “The door’s locked, and that lock,” she pointed to the bright disk of brass on the solid cabin door, “is a good one. I’ve already tried a hairpin on it,” she added shamelessly.
    They sat awhile in silence. A wandering breeze had found its way into the clearing, and with it came the fragrance of flowers blossoming under the sun. The chicken family were pursuing a worm with more energy than Val decided he would have cared to expend in that heat, and a heavily laden bee rested on the lip of a sunflower to brush its legs. Val’s eyelids drooped and he found himself thinking dreamily of a hammock under the trees, a pillow, and long hours of lazy dozing. At the same time a corner of his brain was sending forth nagging messages that they should be up and off, back to their own proper world. But he simply did not have the will power to get up and go.
    “Nice place,” he murmured, looking about with more approbation than he would have granted the clearing some ten minutes earlier.
    “Yes,” answered Ricky. “It would be nice to live here.”
    Val was beginning to say something about “no bathtubs” when a sound aroused them from their lethargy. Someone was coming down the path. Ricky’s hand fell upon her brother’s shoulder.
    “Quick! Up here and behind the house,” she urged him.
    Not knowing just why he obeyed, Val scrambled up on the tiny platform and scuttled around behind the cabin. Why they should hide thus from Jeems who had given Ricky directions for reaching the place and had asked her to come, was more than he could understand. But he had a faint, uneasy feeling of mistrust, as if they had been caught off guard at a critical moment.
    “This the place, Red?” The clipped words sounded clear above the murmurs of life from swamp and woods.
    “Yeah. Bum-lookin’ joint, ain’t it? These guys ain’t got no brains; they like to live like this.” The contempt of the second speaker was only surpassed by the stridency of his voice.
    “What about this boy?” asked the first.
    “Dumb kid. Don’t know yet who his friends is.” There was a satisfied grunt as the speaker sat down on the step Val had so lately vacated. Ricky pressed closer to her brother.
    “What about the cabin?”
    “He ain’t here. And it’s locked, see? Yuh’d think he kept the crown jewels there.” The tickling scent of a cigarette drifted back to the two in hiding. “Beats me how he slipped away this morning without Pitts catching on. For two cents I’d spring that lock of