The first two buildings he inspected were empty. A third, smaller building, well removed from the main house, looked like the next likely place. As Biff approached it, he noticed that the windows of the building were barred.
[Illustration: _Biff noticed that the windows of the building were barred_]
Biff crept silently up to the building. He pressed close to the wall of the stone house and worked his way around to its rear. Cautiously he raised his head until his eyes were at the level of the window. He looked into the room.
Once more he was looking at himself in a mirror. This time Derek’s expression was even more startled than when the two boys had first met at the Miami airport.
Biff quickly pressed a forefinger against his lips. If Derek, startled as he was, made an outcry, any chance of freeing him would be gone.
Derek was seated on the edge of a small cot. The only other furniture in the room was a straight chair. Biff could see through a narrow opening into the second of the two rooms which made up the small stone house. The entrance to this house-prison must be in the other room, Biff figured.
Derek arose and came quietly to the window.
“Biff! You found me!” Derek sounded as if he couldn’t believe his eyes.
“And I’ve got to get you out of here. Fast,” Biff whispered.
“But tell me, Biff, what has happened? I’m all confused. I have to know—”
“No time now,” Biff replied. “If I can’t get you out of here right away, you’ll be in real trouble. Are you alone here, or are you being guarded?”
“There’s a guard right in the other room,” Derek whispered back.
Biff’s face fell. He had expected Derek to be under guard, but he’d hoped the guard wouldn’t be so close by.
“No way of slipping past him, I suppose?” Biff said.
“I would have little or no chance. The guard is a giant.”
“Have you been treated all right?” Biff asked.
“Oh, yes. The guard, while big enough to crush me with his bare hands, is really quite a simple soul. He’s friendly too, as long as I don’t try anything,” Derek went on.
“And he stays here all the time? Never leaves you alone?” Biff pressed his questions hurriedly. There wasn’t much time before he was to rejoin his uncle.
“No, Biff. He goes to the main house for my meals and his.” Derek looked at his watch. “He’ll be going any minute now. At six-thirty.”