Part 5 (1/2)

They walked through the conference room on their way into dinner and found Connel looking over the sketch Williams had made. He looked up as they entered and greeted them casually.

”h.e.l.lo, Rick, Scotty. I see we do have magma below us.”

”That's what Dr. Williams said,” Rick agreed. ”How do you feel, Mr.

Connel?”

The geologist shrugged. ”How can I feel? Ruiz was--is--a nice little guy. I still don't know what happened, why he should walk back to the charge. I was concentrating on getting the charge off on time, and there was no reason for him to go back.”

”You said he went to check the cap connection,” Scotty reminded.

”It's the only reason I can think of, and it isn't a very good one. He made the connection himself. Maybe he wanted another quick look.”

The geologist transferred his attention back to the sketch. ”The stuff is still pretty far down. Good thing, too. That will give time for evacuating the island. We've probably got several months yet.”

The subject wasn't brought up during dinner, but over coffee Esteben Balgos commented, ”We must keep the governor informed. Jeff, if you will lend me your sketch, I'll take it to the Executive Mansion first thing in the morning and bring it back before we begin shooting. I think the governor will want to start planning for evacuation, if he has not yet done so.”

Williams nodded. ”Help yourself, Esteben. I'll probably have the sketch in my room. Knock on the door in the morning if you want it.”

The talk turned to heat-transfer mechanisms in the earth, and from there to the whole problem of solar-energy input and outflow. The subject was not one in which Rick had any background, and it wasn't long before he lost interest. Besides, he was still tired from the trip, and the day's events had added their own burden of fatigue.

Scotty yawned, and Rick took the opportunity to suggest, ”Let's go to bed.”

”I'm with you.”

The boys excused themselves and in a short time were settled down for the night. Rick fell asleep almost instantly.

He awoke with Scotty shouting in his ear. ”Let's go, Rick! Trouble!”

Rick was on his feet, into trousers and shoes before he was fully awake.

Scotty had already dashed into the corridor. Rick joined him and the rest of the scientists, who were standing in a group in front of Jeffrey Williams' room. The white-haired scientist was holding a handkerchief to a b.l.o.o.d.y bruise on his head. Rick hurried up just in time to hear him tell the group:

”I don't know what happened. My door wasn't locked, so anyone could have come in. I didn't see a soul. I must have dozed off.”

”What's going on?” Rick demanded.

His father answered. ”Someone came into Jeff's room and slugged him, apparently while he was dozing over the tracings. Both the tracings and the sketch are gone!”

CHAPTER V

Dynamite Missing

”There's only one reason I can think of why anyone would want to steal the tracings,” Rick said. He held on for a moment as Zircon steered the jeep over a b.u.mp in the trail. ”If word has leaked out about why we're really here, maybe someone in the tourist business would steal the evidence to keep business from being ruined.”

Scotty spoke up from the rear seat. ”There's one big fat flaw in that argument, boy. Would anyone care so much about business that he'd want to stay and be blown up? Who thinks more of business than he does of his own skin?”

Zircon chuckled. ”There may be such people, but I suspect they're scarce.”

Rick had to agree. He stared through the winds.h.i.+eld at the tail of Brad Connel's jeep. The geologist was leading the way to the firing area, and he was alone. Hartson Brant had tried to a.s.sign one of the boys as a helper, but Connel had balked. He insisted that he did not need a helper, that he was used to handling charges alone, that he did not want to take the risk of an accident like that of yesterday.