Part 10 (1/2)
The pilot grinned ”None to as
Just stake it down and lock the door It will be all right”
It had to be all right There was nothing else to do The Spindrifters took the earth scanner and their personal luggage, then locked the plane, leaving the alarht, Rick left a duplicate key with the Filipino field official Soht touch it casually and set the alarm off, and it would sound until the door was unlocked and relocked again with the key He explained hoorked and then joined the pilot and his friends in the official air-line car
The pilot dropped thehouse and old-fashi+oned inn They checked in, then cliuio
As far as the eye could see, there were es and deep clefts made a picturesque jue, was the Trinidad Valley, a farot etables and fruit On the other side of toas the Golden Bowl of Benguet, where fabulous gold orot miners clad only in breechcloths and hard-rock heluio itself was a e orots--was unusual The Filipinos wore typical Western dress, and actually dressed pretty warorot men wore the breechcloth, perhaps with a shi+rt or sweater, perhaps with nothing at all Most of the men had tiny pillbox caps of woven straw on the backs of their heads The little round boxes were decorated with such oddorot wo skirt of colorful wool, usually patterned in red or yellow They wore blouses of embroidered white cotton, or jackets of colored wool Their skirts had balls of yarn on the hips The women wore no hats Both sexes were usually barefoot
There were contrasts For exaorots or the uio famous and turned it into the summer capital of the Philippines--it was the cliuio, thousands of feet higher, had cool, fall-like weather There was hardly a night during the year when blankets were not coe was teuio had pine trees, a welcorant pine just outside theof the room shared by Rick and Scotty When the boys returned to their rooms to wash up for an early dinner, Rick leaned out and broke off a pine cone Then, by reaching only a bit further, he grabbed a cluster of purple-red blossoainvillea vine that had cliht
In the co roolad of the waruio While they waited to be served, Rick mentioned the pine tree to Tony and commented that it was odd that a tree should be left so close to a building
”The forest practices of the Igorots and Ifugaos could well be copied by us,” Tony told the boys ”Anyone who cuts down a tree for anything other than genuine use is severely punished In the old days the punishht have been loss of his head That's how much respect they have for their water supply, which is dependent directly on their forests”
”You talk as though these were civilized people,” Scotty corinned ”Depends on what you call civilization But they have a very highly developed and complex culture They have a history, too, which they know better than we know ours For instance, an Ifugao can recite his ancestry as far back as twenty-five generations Can you?”
”Not sure I'd want to,” Scotty retorted ”Might be a few horse thieves along the way Seriously, I see what you mean”
”Their priests must know all about fifteen hundred different Gods and all the legends and taboos connected with each No written books to consult, either All must be ood memories,” Rick said ”I'm not sure what else it proves”
”Wait until you see the rice terraces Now let's order dinner This cool air has whetted e”
After a delicious etables froe strawberries for which the valley is faered over coffee and Tony recited ao way of life, so different froel Manotok arrived
”Good trip?” Rick asked
”Yes No trouble The truck is a beauty What do you want me to do now?”
Rick handed him the keys to their rooo to the airport You'll find a spare bedroll in the crate you carried by yourself back at the Manila Hotel Keep an eye on the plane, and we'll join you at breakfast tih there was no reason to suspect that anyone would har it unguarded They were sure it would be safe during the daylight hours, but darkness afforded an opportunity for sabotage
Angel took the keys and went on his way In a short tiet supper at a Filipino place See you in the ly ”No waste words or reed ”Wonder how he and Nast got along?” Rick queried ”I forgot to ask him”