“Sounds as though someone has an unpleasant
20 TRIPHIBIAN ATOMICAR
sense of humor,” he remarked quietly. The distinguished scientist and his famous son bore a close resemblance.
Ed Longstreet reached inside his suit-coat pocket and brought out a leather case which he handed to Mrs. Swift. Her eyes danced in anticipation.
Inside lay a delicate silver necklace supporting a blood-red ruby pendant.
The jewel flashed with fiery brilliance as Mrs. Swift held the necklace up to the light.
“This is magnificent,” she said.
“Try it on,” Ed urged with a smile.
“You surely didn’t bring this for me?” Mrs. Swift’s voice trembled in genuine awe.
Ed nodded and produced a smaller box for Sandy. It contained a silver ring with a ruby that looked like a twin to the one in the necklace. Sandy bubbled with delight. “Oh, it’s beautiful-just beautiful!”
Both she and her mother smiled happily as they expressed their thanks and displayed the gifts to Tom Sr. and Tom Jr. Ed was pleased.
“Actually the stones were a bargain,” he explained. “I bought them unset at the bazaar in Teheran.”
“That’s the capital city of Iran, isn’t it?” asked Sandy, more fascinated than ever.
“Yes. Persia was its old name. By the way,”
AIRPORT ALARM 21
Ed went on, “there’s a mystery connected with those rubies.”
“A mystery!” Sandy was wide-eyed.
Ed’s eyes twinkled. “No doubt you’ve read in the newspapers recently about Kabulistan-a little country near Iran and Afghanistan which just gained its independence. Well, once a famous ruby mine was located there, called the Amir’s Mine. Today no one knows where it is-the mine’s been lost for two centuries.”