After they had fed the dirty dishes to Lummox, Betty lounged back and said to John Thomas, “Problem child, have you any idea what a storm you have stirred up?”
“Uh, I guess I’ve got Chief Dreiser’s goat.”
“No doubt and correct. But you might as well turn it loose; there won’t be room in the pen.”
“Mr. Perkins?”
“Right. Keep trying.”
“Mum, of course.”
“Of course. She alternates between weeping for her lost baby and announcing that you are no son of hers?’
“Yeah. I know Mum,” he admitted uneasily. “Well, I don’t care. . . I knew they’d all be sore at me. But I had to.”
“Of course you had to, Knothead darling, even though you did it with the eager grace of a hippopotamus. But I don’t mean them.”
“Huh?”
“Johnnie, there is a little town in Georgia named Adrian. It’s too small to have a regular safety force, just a constable. Do you happen to know that constable’s name?”
“Huh? Of course not.”
“Too bad. For as near as I was able to find out, that constable is the only cop who isn’t looking for you, which is why I rallied around-even though you, you dirty name, ran off without bothering to alert me.”
“I told you I was sorry!”
“And I forgave you. I’ll let you forget it in ten years or so.”
“What’s this nonsense about this constable? And why should everybody be out after me? Aside from Chief Dreiser, I mean?”
“Because he has put out a general alarm and offered a reward for Lummie, alive or dead. . . preferably dead. They are serious about it, Johnnie. . . terribly serious. So whatever plan you had we now junk and shift to a good one. What did you have in mind? Or did you?”
John Thomas turned pale and answered slowly, “Well. . . I meant to keep on like this for a night or two, until we reached a place to hide.”
She shook her head. “No good. In their stumbling official way they will have concluded by now that this is where you would head. . . since it is the only place near Westville where a creature the size of Lummox could possibly hide. And. . .”
“Oh, we’d get off the road!”
“Of course. And they will search this forest tree by tree. They really mean it, chum.”
“You didn’t let me finish. You know that old uranium mine? The Power and Glory? You go over Dead Wolf Pass and then take off north on a gravel road. That’s where we’re heading. I can put Lummox completely out of sight there; the main tunnel is big enough.”
“Flashes of sense in that. But not good enough for what you are up against”
She was silent. Johnnie stirred uneasily and said, “Well? If that’s no good, what do we do?”
“Pipe down. I’m thinking.” She lay still, staring up at the deep blue mountain sky. At last she said, “You didn’t solve anything by running away.”
“No. . . but I sure mixed it up.”
“Yes, and so far so good. Everything ought to be turned upside down occasionally; it lets in air and light. But now we’ve got to see that the pieces fall back where we want them. To do that we’ve got to gain time. Your notion of the Power and Glory Mine isn’t too bad; it will do until I can make better arrangements.”
“I don’t see why they would ever find him there. It’s about as lonely as you can get.”
“Which is why it is sure to be searched. Oh, it might fool Deacon Dreiser; I doubt he could find his own hat without a search warrant. But he’s dug up an air posse the size of a small army; they are certain to find you. You took your sleeping bag and food; therefore you are camping out. I found you, they will find you. I did it by knowing what makes you tick, whereas they have to work by logic, which is slower. But just as certain. They’ll find you. . . and that’s the end of Lummox. They won’t take chances. . . bomb him, probably.”
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