The dogs caught the scents at once and strained at their leashes as they nosed their way down a rutted path, for the road had come to an abrupt end. Inside a hundred yards, their path was blocked by water. It wasn't a true part of the swamp but a slow, meandering, mud-brown creek, perhaps twenty feet across, if that. There was a mooring post nearby, with a similar one at the far bank. Also by the far bank was a warped and aged craft which not even the charitable could have called a boat. It was built along the lines of an oversized coffin, with a squared-off end where the bow should have been. The ferry—probably the most kindly name for it— was attached to the two posts by an endless pulley line.
The two dog handlers hauled the boat across, got into it with understandable caution, and were joined by their dogs, who kept on • disolaying considerable signs of animation, an animation which rapidly diminished, then vanished shortly after they had landed on the far bank. After making a few fruitless circles, they lay down dejectedly on the ground.
«Well, ain't that a shame,» a voice said, 'Trail gone cold, I guess.»
The four men on the near bank turned to look at the source of the voice. He was a bizarre character, wearing a new panama hat with a tartan band, gleaming thigh-length leather boots (presumably as a protection against snakebites), and
clothes discarded by a scarecrow. «You folks chasin' someone?»
«We're looking for someone,» McGarrity said cautiously.
«Lawmen, yes?»
«Chief of Police McGarrity.»
«Honored, I'm sure. Well, Chief, you're wasting your time. Hot trail here, cold on the other side. So the party you're looking for got off halfway across.»
«You saw them?» McGarrity asked suspiciously.
«Hah! More than one, eh? No, sir. Just happened by right now. But if I was on the run from the law that's what I'd do, because it's been done hundreds of times. You can get out midway, walk half a mile, even a mile, upstream or downstream. Dozens of little rivulets come into this creek. You could turn up any of those, go a mile into the swamp without setting foot on dry land. Wouldn't find them this side of Christmas, Chief.»
«How deep is the creek?»
«Fifteen inches. If that.»
«Then, why the boat? I mean, with those boots you could walk across without getting your feet wet.»
The stranger looked almost shocked. «No sirree. Takes me an hour every morning to polish up them critters.» It was assumed that he was referring to his boots. «Besides, there're the water moccasins.» He seemed to have a rooted aversion to snakes. «The boat? Come the rains, the creek's up to here.» He touched his chest.
McGarrity called the dog handlers to return. Mitchell said to the stranger: «Anyplace in the swamp where a helicopter could land?»
«Sure. More firm land out there than there is swampland. Never seen any helicopters, though. Yes, lots of clearings.»
The dog handlers and dogs disembarked. Leaving the stranger to flick some invisible dust off his boots they made their way back to the station wagon. Mitchell said: «Wait a minute. I've got an idea.» He opened the two plastic bags containing the dressing gowns and presented them to the dogs again. He then walked back up the rutted lane, past the two cars and vans, beckoning the dog handlers to follow him, which they did, almost having to drag the reluctant dogs behind them.
After about twenty yards the reluctance vanished. The dogs yelped and strained at their leashes. For another twenty yards they towed their handlers along behind them, then abruptly stopped and circled a few times before sitting down dispiritedly. Mitchell crouched and examined the surface of the lane. The others caught up with him.
McGarritty said: «What gives, then?»
«This.» Mitchell pointed to the ground. 'There was another vehicle here. You can see where its back wheels spun when it started to reverse. The kidnapers guessed we'd be Using dogs—it wasn't all that hard a guess. So they carried the girls twenty yards or so, to break the scent, before setting them down again.»
«Right smart of you, Mr. Mitchell, right smart.» McGarrity didn't look as pleased as his words suggested. «So the birds have flown, eh? And now we haven't the faintest idea what the getaway vehicle looks like.»
Roomer said: «Somebody's flown, that's for sure. But maybe only one or two. Maybe they've gone to borrow a helicopter.»
«A helicopter?» The waters didn't have to be very deep for Chief McGarrity to start floundering.
With a trace of weary impatience Mitchell said: «It could be a double bluff. Maybe they reversed the procedure and took the girls back to the station wagon again. Maybe they're still in the swamp, waiting for a helicopter to come arid pick them up. You heard the old boy back there—he said there were plenty of places in the swamp where a helicopter could set down.»
McGarrity nodded sagely and appeared to ponder the matter deeply. The time had come, he felt, for him to make a positive contribution. «The swamp's out. Hopeless. So I'll have to concentrate on the helicopter angle.»
Mitchell said: «How do you propose to do that?»
«Just you leave that to me.» Roomer said: «That's hardly fair, Chief. We've given you our complete confidence. Don't you think we're entitled to some in return?»
«Well, now.» McGarrity appeared to ruminate, although he was secretly pleased to be asked the question, as Roomer had known he would be. «If the chopper doesn't get in there, it can't very well lift them out, can it?»
«That's a fact,» Roomer said solemnly. «So I station marksmen round this side of the swamp. It's no big deal to bring down a low-flyine chopper.»
Mitchell said: «I wouldn't do that if I were you.»
«No, indeed.» Roomer shook his head. «The law frowns on murder.»
«Murder?» McGarrity stared at them. «Who's talking about murder?»
'We are,» Mitchell said. «Rifle or machine-gun fire could kill someone inside the helicopter. If it brings down the helicopter they'd all probably die. Maybe there are criminals aboard, but they're entitled to a fair trial. And has it occurred to you that the pilot will almost certainly be an innocent party with a pistol pointed at his head?» McGarrity, clearly, had not thought of that. «Not going to make us very popular, is it?»
McGarrity winced. Even the thought of unpopularity and the forthcoming election made him feel weak inside.
«So what the devil do we do?»
Roomer was frank. «I'll be damned if I know. You can post observers. You can even have a grounded helicopter standing by to chase the other one when it takes off. // it ever comes in the first place. We're only guessing.»
«No more we can do here,» Mitchell said. «We've already missed too many appointments today. We'll be in touch.»
Back on the highway Roomer said: «How do you think he'd do as a dogcatcher?»
«Place would be overrun by stray dogs in a few months. How much faith have you got in this idea that they might use a helicopter?»
«A lot. If they just wanted to change cars they wouldn't have gone through this elaborate rigmarole. They could have parked their station wagon out of sight almost anyplace. By apparently going into hiding in the swamp they wanted to make it look as though they were preparing to hole up in there for some time. They hadn't figured on our backing—your backtracking—up the lane.»
«We're pretty sure their destination is the Seawitch. We're pretty sure they'll use a helicopter. Which helicopter and pilot would you use?»
«Lord Worth's. Not only are his pilots almost certainly the only ones who know the exact co-ordinates of the Seawitch, but those distinctly marked North Hudson helicopters are the only ones that could approach the Seawitch without raising suspicion.» Roomer reached for the phone, fiddled with the wave-band control and raised Lord Worth's house. «Jim?» «Go ahead, Mr. Roomer.» «We're coming back there. Look for Lord Worth's address book. Probably right by you in your radio room. Make us a list of the names and addresses of his helicopter pilots. Is the gatekeeper at the heliport on the radio-phone, too?»