Part 16 (2/2)
”Yes How did you know?”
”Oh, the assistant Secretary of the Interior phoned personally He described all of you, and said to do everything possible toand successful”
”That was very good of hiain, perhaps tomorrow Will you be here?”
”I believe so If I a a road section Never aive instructions in the native language to one of his e of the few seconds to whisper to Scotty:
”I'll stall hiorot boys to keep an eye on the road I want another spy in Bontoc besides someone we know is Lazada's man You knohat's needed”
Scotty did He hurried off to do as necessary Rick waited for Santos, then asked the commissioner to point out the road to Banaue ”I plan to follow the road in ht?”
Santos did ”You may lose the road in the clouds as you cross the top of the aos, but you should then be able to see Banaue Will you come back here after you have seen the terraces?”
”Not today We probably will be back tomorrow in a jeep The plane is handy, but we can't land at Banaue, you say”
”You will see And I will see you tomorrow Then you can tell me how the terraces look from the air”
”Better still,” Rick promised ”Next time I have the plane here, I'll take you to see for yourself”
Scotty winked as Santos and Rick approached the plane, and Rick knew that Scotty and Angel had been able to orot boy, and his friend The party shook hands with Santos, then climbed into the plane The crowd of natives ine, then turned the plane and taxied down the road to the take-off point he had selected He was a little nervous, for fear a childspeed, but the croell-disciplined and held steady as the Sky Wagon roared past and cli for us,” Scotty said when they were air-borne
”They're sel added ”They'll be able to report on every car and every person passing through Bontoc froet back”
Rick nodded ”Good But I' we could think of, but there's no pay-off We still haven't found Tony We were sure whoever kidnaped hiao country, but there were no sedans on the road today Hoe know Tony isn't hidden souio? Hoe know he's still alive?”
Scotty put a hand on his shoulder ”Why wouldn't he be alive? Who would gain anything by his death? We have to reolden skull Nast wants it, Nangolat wants it, Lazada wants it, and ant it No one has it”
Rick gained altitude steadily, keeping an eye on the twisting road below ”All right I'll go along with your reasoning Whoever wants the golden skull has to go to Banaue to find it It can't be found--unless by a lucky accident--without the earth scanner And who has the scanner?”
”Nangolat”
”Can he use it?”
”No”
Rick shrugged ”Tony can use the scanner, though We suspect that Nast has Tony The question is what is the relationshi+p between Nangolat and Nast?”
Below the Sky Wagon the high green es froorot and Ifugao country Rick let the conversation lag as he searched below and ahead for a landmark There was a little cloud cover around him, as Santos had predicted
Then the cloud was past and the three looked down into the great valley of Banaue
Rick and Scotty gasped It was incredible! As far as they could see, the mountains on either side of the valley were sculptured into irregular green steps, or terraces The smallest terrace was perhaps only a few feet square, while the larger ones were the size of a football field
They rose in an irregular triangle right to the base of the clouds