Chapter 2 Two shoe stalkers

Who will send the telegram?Hal was suspicious. Probably a guy from the Explorers Club, he wanted to play a little joke on us.Hunter said.His son could see, however, that he was not satisfied with his explanation. Do you see anything going on at home?Howl dared to ask. of course not.Your mother will call if something happens. Hal frowned, as he always did when he was thinking.It seems that this place is quite a mystery to us, he said, and who could be jealous of us?Who will try to stop us from going to the Amazon? I don't know, said his father, but I don't think we need to bother with such an anonymous telegram.If the guy who sent the telegram didn't have the guts to sign his name, he probably wouldn't have the guts to do us any harm.

Can't we track it down?The sender has to leave his name and address at the telegraph office, doesn't he? True, though, if he didn't want his identity to be known, he wouldn't have given his real name and address. Roger said nothing, his heart pounding and his eyes widening from the odd situation. The father noticed the nervousness of the child, and he said: It is likely that a strange person did it, and he did not have any malicious intentions.Well, I think we might as well leave it alone.Gotta get up early tomorrow, go to bed, we'll be off at dawn, if that stupid Irish pilot can get his plane right.

That's all right, I'll go over to him now, Hal suggested. good idea.I'll go too, Roger interrupted. No, said his father, you'd better go to sleep. Hal strolled to Independence Square.A wind concert is being held there.Music echoes in front of the cathedral and bishop's mansion.The square was packed with richly dressed Hispanic citizens and Indians in flat hats and blanket-like shawls. Hal thought, what a beautiful and mysterious city!It sits in a basin surrounded by mountains, whose snow-capped peaks glisten in the moonlight.No wonder Quito people love their city so much.Quito leads straight to heaven.They keep saying that.

Hal slowed down, a little out of breath, for the altitude here was nine thousand five hundred feet above sea level.If you think about it carefully, the capital of Ecuador is indeed next to the gate of heaven, and it is one of the highest cities in the world.The equator passes just outside the city, and the wind here is not too biting, but the air is so cold that it is hard to believe that the equator is so close.Hal buttoned up his coat, walked out of the brightly lit square, and walked into the narrow, dark streets of the old town. The cobbled road is full of potholes, so you have to be very careful when walking on it.There are old adobe brick houses on both sides of the street, and the moss-stained red tile roofs almost cover the whole street. Walking on the street is like walking in a tunnel.

Pedestrians, all wrapped up tightly and barefoot, slipped past quietly like ghosts. Hal could feel a pair of shod feet following him at a leisurely pace.At first, he didn't care.But after turning right from Venezuela Avenue into Sucre Street, he still heard the sound of shoes on, and he became alert.He turned left into Pichincha Street, the footsteps still following.Hal wanted to make a joke, so he walked around the area.The owner of the pair of shoes followed suit, getting closer to Hal.This is not so much fun.Hal quickened his pace. He walked as fast as he could, throwing the people behind him far away, and then stepped into Terry.In the dark shadows of the porch of O'Neill's house, he waited with a flashlight out of his pocket.

The stranger who had been following him approached.He faltered a little, pausing for a moment on the front porches of each house, until at last he came to the porch where Howl was hiding. Hal turned on the flashlight and shone it straight on the face of the shoe-wearing man. He is not Ecuadorian.He was a big, burly man, the Latins were smaller and slender, the Indians were rough but not big.The guy looked like a professional boxer or a Chicago street gangster.Under the strong light, his face was distorted and deformed, indescribably ferocious and sinister, and his eyes gleamed coldly like those of a frightened tiger.Those headhunters in the dense forest didn't look as savage and cruel as him.

Hal could hardly resist raising his hand to knock on his friend's door, but he suppressed the urge, saying: You're following me. The man blinked, what?You are crazy.I'm just walking. Ridiculous, why do you always walk the same way as I do when you walk? Why do you think so? You wear shoes, so I can recognize your footsteps. wearing shoes?You fool.In Quito, there are many people who wear shoes. Yes, but your shoes are a bit special, they follow me wherever I go, and even follow me around the street.The stranger pressed menacingly into the porch, but Hal was standing a step above him, which was a favorable terrain.Moreover, when there is a noise, the nearby residents will come out.

The man's face suddenly softened, and a gentle smile appeared on his face.You're right, man, I'm stalking you.But I mean no harm.I can see that you're a Yankee and can speak our language, and I, well, I just want to know how to get to the Church of Santo Domingo.Today is the day of worship, I thought, I might go and say my prayers and light some candles.He raised his bloodshot eyes to the sky. Follow this street until you come to the corner of Flores Street, Hal said. Thank you very much, said the stranger, that's kind of polite.But that last savage look in Hal's eye the moment he extinguished the flashlight sent a chill down Hal's spine.There will be a period later.

When Hal turned around and knocked on the door of Terry's house, he clearly felt that what the man said was, don't get complacent too early Into Terry.In the living room of O'Neill's house, Hal sat under the warm, comfortable, and bright lights, telling what had just happened, and also mentioned the anonymous telegram. Terry was a young pilot.He is flippant, undisciplined, broad-minded, and doesn't care about anything. He was adventurous, and when he heard that Hal had encountered such an exciting event, he congratulated him. It seems that you have made a lot of progress on this expedition, he said, do you see any connection between these two things?Do you have any enemies in New York that would send spies here to break you down?

We have no enemies, Hal said, of course we have a rival, a very strong one.He stopped suddenly and frowned.I think he said, Terry, maybe you reminded me. Well, are you still flying tomorrow morning? Of course fly.how about the planeAre those brakes fixed? Well, not quite fixed yet, Terry said in his plain Irish accent, but they'll handle it. Hal thought that Terry must have depended on the blessing of Goddess of Luck for the most part. Well, he said, see you at the tarmac at dawn.Said, stood up to go. Do you want a bodyguard to escort you back to the hotel? I can handle it, Hal laughed.Instead of going the same way, he took a long detour.He was walking in the middle of the street, his eyes and ears always paying attention to the movement around him.The journey was safe and sound.Back at the hotel, both father and Roger were asleep.He thought that he would be cranky and sleepless tonight, but he still went to bed.The activities of the day had exhausted him.Quito's terrain is high and the air is thin. To persist there, you must have enough rest.Five minutes later, Hal also fell asleep.