Part 14 (1/2)

”Yes But not in such a little plane Only the big PAL planes”

The air-lines office was open now Rick got his keys, arranged for gasoline, and they as for a short trip, but he was taking no chances He wanted a full tank

It took tiolat had not sabotaged it Then, finally, they were on their way Scotty had a el had another Scotty's ht of el had an excellent road asoline companies that maintained service stations in el watched the roads and Scotty the ot on the Bontoc Road with no trouble Rick climbed until they could see for miles It was the only way to follow the tortuous route of the road as it wound between h peaks, and dipped into forested valleys

Now and then they could see an Igorot village far below, but this was mostly uninhabited country On Scotty's reat white patches le word: UNEXPLORED It seemed incredible that after nearly fifty years of American Government and a few years of independence, the island of Luzon, seat of the capital, had unexplored areas But it was true

Rick knew that he need not watch the road carefully for a little while, except to follow it If the truck and sedan were headed for Bontoc and Banaue they had a good start He doubted that they were traveling together

”You know,” he said, ”we're not so smart”

”I've always known it,” Scotty replied ”But what have we done that's especially stupid?”

”We could have phoned the first gate and asked if the truck and sedan had passed through”

Scotty groaned ”You are so right!”

Angel spoke from the rear seat ”True, true! It is my fault I am ashamed to you that I did not think of it”

Rick suspected that it hurt Angel to be so humble and admit that he was asha his head high

”We liked Nangolat,” he said ”We thought he was Angel Manotok He had all your papers We didn't doubt him because he looked like a fine el seemed to cheer up a little ”Yes? Then perhaps you understand hoas easy for him to catch ht he was my friend”

”That's easy to understand,” Scotty told the Filipino ”No one could blael replied He seemed relieved

Rick knew that they had

Before, Angel would have done his best because of Okola Now, he thought, Angel would do his best because he knew they were friendly and understood how a man's pride can be hurt even when it is not his fault

”We'd better start keeping an eye peeled,” Scotty advised

They flew in silence, inspecting the road below There was al Trinidad Valley they had seen only the Bontoc bus, a brilliant orange speck on the road below, and two jeeps They had identified the gates easily Once they passed a gate where a south-bound panel truck waited Rick knew that the truck driver couldn't knohat kind of vehicle he waited for, but from the air it could be seen that the Bontoc bus was the only on was just above the tops of a series ofto the sides of the peaks like a dusty brown ribbon Rick turned up the heater a little because it was cold at eight thousand feet

Then he lost the road So did Angel and Scotty Astonished, Rick circled He picked up the road again, followed it, lost it once o see,” Scotty suggested

Rick exaht be on the lost section of the road He had the choice of going down for a look, or finding where the road eo down

The Sky Wagon lost altitude in a long slip toward the valley floor Rick and the others kept an eye on the point where the road vanished, and in a few moments the mystery was solved The road reached a cliff approxih The road was about two thirds of the way up To get past the cliff it had been necessary to cut a shelf into the cliff itself

”Wow! Notching that cliff must have been some job!” Scotty exclaimed

”No wonder we couldn't see the road from the air”