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.I'm sure you realize that that will beby no means an impossible feat.Good-by." There were three playfully lighttaps on the door, in farewell, and then there was silence.Sandy loosened his clenched jaws."I'd like to get my hands on him for aboutthree minutes.That's all-just three minutes!""He's clever," Ken said, half under his breath.Overhead, again, the circling plane droned faintly.Ken, standing near theconvertible, struck it lightly with a balled fist.The car was their onlyprotection against the men outside.And yet if the car itself were outside itcould serve as a signal to the planes above.They should have arranged things very differently, he thought.They shouldcertainly have arrived at the hospital in Gonzalez's black sedan instead of intheir own car.The sedan would form a sturdier blockade than the little redconvertible, and at the same time they could be using its radio apparatus to-Ken's crazily wandering thoughts stopped suddenly and he swung around to clampa tight grip on Sandy's arm."Sandy! What was that story you told me onceabout the time you and Bert were fooling with an old spark coil? Didn't yousay you messed up the radio reception for a couple of blocks around yourhouse?""Huh? What story?" Sandy stared at him, bewildered by the sudden question.SPARKS OF HOPE 179"You must remember!" Ken shook his arm."It happened before I knew you.Butyou told me you and Bert were trying to make some sort of a machine that wouldadminister electric shocks, and the sparks from the machine interfered-""Oh, sure.We got hold of an old Ford spark coil and-" Sandy's voice stoppedabruptly and then rose to a near shout."Ford spark coil!" He ripped himselffree from Ken's grasp and ran to the old car.He opened the hood with suchviolence that it fell to the floor with a noisy clatter.Page 74 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"Meesters," Roberto said faintly from his perch, "is trouble come now?"Sandy waved a rust-smeared hand at him."Don't you worry, Roberto," he said."Trouble is going away now."He was brushing at the thick layer of cobwebs that overlay the coil-box cover,and then opening the clasps and lifting the cover up.The beam from theflashlight in Ken's shaking hand illuminated the four wooden boxes inside thelarger box-the four wooden boxes that enclosed the spark coils."Trouble is going away now, we hope," Sandy breathed quietly.As if he werehandling a stick of dynamite, he drew one wooden box slowly out of its place."If only it still works," he whispered."If only it still works!"CHAPTER XVDESPERATE ERRORthey stood there for a moment staring at the small wooden box that might havethe magical power of summoning help.It didn't look like much, Ken thought.Certainly it bore no resemblance to the coil Sandy had pointed out to himunder the hood of their own convertible.Its size was about half the size ofan ordinary cigar box, and there was some sort of mechanism on top-a flatspringy piece of metal that moved up and down, like half a seesaw, when Sandygingerly touched the free end.Ken supposed that the dirt-encrusted nuts andscrews set into the box top controlled the movement of the springy piece ofmetal.But he couldn't even guess at the purpose of the several metal disks hesaw, set flush into the wooden sides of the box.To his unknowing eyes themost noticeable thing about the whole contraption was the fact that all themetal surfaces were dull and corroded, and that the wooden box itself appearedto be warped from long years of dampness."Is it any good at all?" Ken demanded finally."How do I know?" Sandy snapped back.Fear and uncertainty put a sharp rasp inhis voice."How can I tell until I've tried it out?""Well, try it out then." The strain was telh'ng on Ken too."Don't just standthere."180DESPERATE ERROR 181"Here." Sandy thrust the box at him."If you're in such a hurry do ityourself!"In the next instant they both realized what was happening to them.Sandy shookhis head."Sorry, Ken," he muttered.Ken shoved the box gently back toward hisfriend."I'm sorry," he said."I just wish I knew enough about things likethat to be able to help you.""Don't worry." Sandy was setting the box carefully on the floor.From hispocket he pulled a stub of a pencil and the small Spanish dictionary whichthey had had so little opportunity to use."We'll both have plenty to do whenI figure out where to start.Just give me a couple of minutes-and a lot ofluck." He bit the end of the pencil for a moment and then he began to draw adiagram on a blank page at the back of the dictionary.Ken watched briefly.The lines and squiggles on the paper were meaningless tohim.He forced himself to move away, to leave Sandy alone
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