It had been Ed’s questions to the jeweler about the rubies which had caused the gang to have him shadowed. This was done by “Mr. Goldtooth.”
He had overheard Ed’s chat with Provard about Tom Swift. Goldtooth had also learned that Ed was taking the gems to a London jewel expert for mounting.
Later, in London, Ed was watched as he ransacked bookshops for old volumes on Kabulistan. When the spy reported his purchase of Travels in Remotest Araby, the gang became fearful that he, or Tom Swift, might pry out the secret of the mine-especially when Ed flew straight to Shopton. Since he had taken off before they had a chance to stop him, Goldtooth had caused the airport bomb scare to give him a chance to steal the book from Ed’s luggage.
176 TRIPHIBIAN ATOMICAR
“Yes, indeed, you put us to a lot of trouble, Longstreet,” Wayne said. “So you can imagine the laugh we got when you walked right into our clutches-practically the minute you landed in Teheran!”
Wayne slapped his thigh and roared with laughter. The three prisoners gave him cold looks of disgust. Wayne added to Tom and Bud, “You two gave me a laugh, the way you swallowed that yarn about the Assassins cultl”
Bud’s eyes blazed with fury. “I suppose those land mines, and the phony tip that we were spies had you in stitches, too!”
Wayne nodded, still chuckling. “Quite right, my boy. Those were two more of my little jokes.”
“Was Mirza Maruk one of your gang?” Tom questioned.
The boys’ captor guffawed. “That useless fanatic! No. He was strictly a lone wolf!”
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