Part 8 (1/2)
The Aht, with close cropped sandy hair He wore a yellow T shi+rt under a white linen coat
His trousers were gray rayon, and his footgear was openwork sandals He looked co Philippine sun Rick judged him to be about forty years old
”Mind if I look?” the man asked
”Not at all,” Rick answered politely He hesitated, then introduced himself and Scotty, who had come around from the other side of the plane
”My name is Nast James Nast You must be two of the scientific party I read about in the Manila _Bulletin_”
”I didn't know anything about us had been in the papers,” Rick replied
”This ,” Nast said He took a tabloid-size paper from his pocket, unfolded it to the item, and handed it to them
The item was brief It merely stated that a party headed by Dr Anthony Briotti, with Mr Richard Brant and Mr Donald Scott, had been entertained by the assistant Secretary of the Interior at dinner prior to their departure to Mountain Province to search for primitive artifacts Dr Okola, of the University of the Philippines, local adviser to the American party, also had attended the dinner
”Lazada iven that to the press,” Rick rereed ”Filipino politicos are like our own They live on publicity Please don't let me intrude I ca, but the plane is late, so I've been wandering around sightseeing”
”Are you in business?” Scotty asked
”Yes Import-export I import Chinese silver, both alloyed and pure, and have it fabricated by Filipinos Mostly into filigree work Then I export it to America I also import Siamese and Indo-Chinese silks which are s and then exported to A My agent in Hong Kong gets it from Sia?” Rick inquired
”Since the war I first came here when I was in the Navy Liked it so well I took ?”
”Just a few hours” Rick wiped sweat frouio”
”So auio like?”
”Plenty of local color And the weather is great It's high in the ht, and so will I” Nast wiped his face, too ”This shi+p with it” He wiped his face again
”Why don't you take your coat off?” Scotty asked
Nast grinned ”Because I've got a 38 automatic in a shoulder holster”
The boys stiffened Rick and Scotty exchanged glances
”The road to Baguio isn't the safest in the world,” Nast explained
”It's fairly peaceful now, but bandits still operate up through Pae interest in my shi+pments”
Now that he had e of the shoulder holster But it was a good job of tailoring and he realized that the linen jacket had beenKong won't be in for at least a half hour,” Nast said ”Mind if I stick around? It's a pleasure to talk to Americans I deal mostly with Filipinos out in the _barrios_, the s is done, and I don't see Americans very often”
”Glad to have you, if you don'tahead with our work,”