The Golden Skull: A Rick Brant Science-Adventure Story

There were yells from the men upstairs. Chahda swung again as running feet made the floor vibrate. Scotty gave a wild yell and charged like a knight attacking an enemy. The bamboo pole caught Nast in the stomach and drove him back into the hut.

The box containing the skull slid and caught.

Chahda swung again, in desperation, and the box dropped through! Rick caught it, and the weight would have driven him to the ground had not Chahda given a hand.

They rushed the box to its prearranged hiding place, then Rick gave a piercing whistle. They ran, all three of them, in three different directions.

Chahda headed for the jeep. He ran quietly. Scotty headed south, yelling as he went; Rick ran north, giving an occasional bellow. That was to draw the pursuit away from Chahda, so he could get to the jeep undisturbed.

The pursuit had organized, apparently, because both Nast and Lazada were barking orders. Rick kept yelling, but he was now in the brush. Scotty was yelling, too.

Rick pushed his way through the brush and emerged on the bank of a river or estuary of some kind. Beyond, on the opposite bank, were rows of wooden forms that marked the outline of salt pans. Water was let into the square pools in the early morning, and by nightfall it had evaporated, leaving its salt behind.

For a tense moment Rick waited. Perhaps he was not being followed. Perhaps they had followed Scotty. Then he heard the brush snapping and knew they were on his trail. He had to keep going. He stepped into the water and went right on until it was over his head. He spluttered, his eyes stinging from the salt. The water was brine, already partially evaporated and ready for the salt pans.

A few strokes took him to the opposite bank. He climbed out onto the salt pans, his clothes dripping and his shoes soggy. He ran.

He was almost across the field of salt pans when a shot whistled past. He bent low and ran faster, remembering that Nast carried a .38 in a shoulder holster.

The second shot was closer, but not close enough. He reached the field beyond the salt pans and headed for a coconut grove about three hundred feet ahead. The field was covered with a low-growing vine of some sort. He floundered and tripped, then got to his feet again, looking back over his shoulder. Apparently the pursuers were looking for a way across the water. He couldn't see them.

He reached the shadow of the coconut grove and stopped, glad of a chance to wring out his clothes. He did so, a garment at a time, watching his trail. In a few moments he saw two men emerge from a far corner of the salt pans and start across. For a moment he turned to run, then an idea struck him and he grinned.

There was pretty complete darkness. He could see and be seen in the open. But under the palms he would be invisible from a distance of twenty yards. He need not run; he could wait until the pursuit passed, then walk leisurely to the airport, get a cab, and go home. Chahda probably was already there. He thought he had heard the jeep engine start. Even if pursued, Chahda could get away all right. The jeep was faster than the limousine on rough roads.

Scotty's fate was less certain. If two men were after Rick, the other two probably were after Scotty. They had scattered just for the purpose of splitting the enemy forces, and to allow Chahda time to get the jeep underway.

As Rick watched, the two men reached the near edge of the salt pans. One produced a flashlight and they walked along the edge of the salt pans shining the light at the ground.

Rick wondered. Surely they weren't looking for foot-prints. Both the salt pans and the field were perfectly dry. He wasn't particularly afraid of the flashlight. He would wait until they were close to the palm grove, then move laterally away from them and lie flat on the ground. The light couldn't pick him out from any great distance.

The men walked slowly down the edge of the salt pans until they reached the place where Rick had left the pans and entered the field, then, as surely as blood-hounds, they followed the route he had taken.

He stared, amazed. How had they tracked him? Then, suddenly, he knew. Makahiya! The sensitive mimosa! The field was covered with it. And where he had walked, the mimosa's leaves were rolled up tightly!

Rick turned and ran through the grove, trying to be silent. He used a beacon from nearby Manila Airport as a guide, and in a moment he saw red lights on the other side of the grove. It was the field. They were boundary lights.

He saw instantly that he was in a bad spot. The only way to go was straight ahead, across the open airport. He would be seen instantly when his pursuers emerged from the grove, and from then on it would be a foot race. There was nothing else to do but go on. He climbed over the airport fence and started for the lights of the administration building a mile away.

To conserve his strength and wind he kept his pace to a dogtrot. He crossed one paved strip and cast a look behind in time to see the pursuers climb the fence. A yell told him he had been seen. He started to zigzag, anticipating a bullet. His spine tingled and there was a crawling sensation between his shoulder blades. But when the shot did come it was such a wide miss that he did not even give an instinctive duck.

Somewhere down the line a big plane was getting ready to take off, the pilot was checking his magnetos, revving up his engines. He searched for lights as he ran and saw them over a mile down the field. It was a Strato-cruiser, probably bound for America. Then he saw the runway ahead and realized that it would be a race to see whether or not he got across before the plane reached that point. The lights told him that the plane was already moving. He lengthened his stride.

He had a choice. He could stop and wait until the big plane passed, or he could run for it and hope to beat it. If he stopped, it would give his pursuers a chance to catch up.

He ran faster, still breathing easily. But there were signs that his wind was giving out. He cast anxious glances down the field. The big plane was rolling, its engines roaring. He tried to gauge the point where it would be air-borne, but it was too hard. It should be in the air by the time it reached him, but he couldn't be sure. The runway was only yards ahead now. He sprinted.

The plane roared down at him. Then he was on the runway, realizing that he would not be across in time. In sudden terror he threw himself flat, just as the big plane lifted. The wheels were only a few feet above him as it passed over.

Then he was on his feet, running again, weak from the certainty of a moment ago that he was done for. But the administration building was only a short distance away now, and he found the strength to keep going. He ran past astonished airport personnel, made his way through the crowd that had come to see the flight off, and leaped into a taxi just ahead of the Filipino gentleman who was about to enter.

"Get going!" he panted. "Hurry!" The driver responded with a burst of speed that snapped Rick back against the cushions. He turned and watched through the rear window, but he couldn't see his pursuers. He had made it!

CHAPTER XX

Surprise Package

Colonel Felix Rojas fingered the eagle on one shoulder. "It took me thirty years to become a colonel," he said. "If you are wrong, Colonel Rojas will be Private Rojas by morning. You know that?"

"If Lazada is at home," Rick repeated, "it will mean that he hasn't found the golden skull. If he is not at at home, and doesn't come home, it will mean that he has it."

"You need not worry, Sahib Colonel. Rick has plenty bright idea. Lazada will not find that skull, believe me," Chahda assured him.

Chahda and Scotty had beaten Rick to the hotel, and had found both Rojas and Tony Briotti waiting as a result of the messages the boys had left. Chahda had gotten away easily, and he had lingered in Parañaque, parked in shadow, until he saw Scotty go by. Then he had picked him up. When Rick did not appear, they went to the hotel to wait for word.

Scotty had ditched his pursuers easily by climbing a mango tree and waiting until they passed. He was more at home in the woods at night than any of them, including Chahda.

Tony Briotti asked, "Does your father know what kind of chances you take, Rick?"

Rick grinned. "He's been along on a few expeditions, remember. He knows we can take care of ourselves."

"So do I, now. Colonel, I have faith in the boys' theory. I think we had better go to Lazada's."

Rojas nodded. "Even if it means being broken, the chance is worth it to hang something on that man. Our republic is young. It cannot tolerate men like him in public office. Without proof we cannot touch him, but if the proof is there…"

"It will be," Rick said confidently.

Rojas picked up the phone and asked for a number. He got his connection, gave his name, and asked for Captain Lichauco. To the captain he gave orders. A platoon was to meet him at Lazada's in fifteen minutes. No earlier and no later. Then he phoned Dr. Okola and requested that he, also, be at Lazada's.

"Now," Colonel Rojas said to the Spindrift group, "let us go."

Ten minutes later they got out of the colonel's car in front of Lazada's house. A Sikh guard started to open the door for them, but Chahda stopped him and spoke rapidly in Hindi. The guard replied.

"He here, also car," Chahda said.

Colonel Rojas consulted his watch. "We'll wait here."

The minutes ticked by in silence until the headlights of a truck appeared. The truck pulled up and a young captain got out of the front seat. He saluted. Rojas gave his crisp orders in Tagolog, which the captain relayed to the men on the truck. They climbed down with a minimum of noise and went to surround the house.

"Now," Rojas said, "let us visit Mr. Lazada."

He pushed open the door and marched up the front stairs, the Spindrift group close behind. At the top of the stairs the constabulary colonel brushed aside a houseboy and strode into the living room where Lazada sat with Nast. The two leaped to their feet.

Lazada turned red. "What is the meaning of this?" he demanded.

Colonel Rojas bowed. "I regret to inform you that you are under arrest on charges of grand larceny, attempting to sell gold illegally, and conspiracy to smuggle gold out of the country."

Lazada snarled. "I'll have you broken for this, you fool! I don't know what you're talking about."