to make a
final check and set the charge off while the poor guy was taking a look
at the connections."

"It could have happened that way," Hartson Brant agreed. "But I hate to
think any human being could be so ruthless."

"Connel had to keep others away, too," Rick went on. "Also, he had to
slow things down so he could have time to set something up to exploit
his find. So, he stole the tracings and the dynamite. That bought him a
little time, didn't it? Then he tried to get Scotty and me, because we
were following him and he was afraid we might find out what was going
on."

"It seems reasonable," Hartson Brant agreed.

"Connel couldn't develop a diamond field in a foreign place without
help, could he? He had to let someone in on it, locally. He sized up
Guevara and figured the lieutenant governor could certainly help him
out, so he brought Guevara in on it."

"Pure speculation," Weiss said.

"Yes, sir. But it fits. Guevara certainly wouldn't want people running
around over there, so it's to his advantage to keep us from operating.
If he thinks there's a fortune in the pipe, it's even to his advantage
to kidnap the governor to make sure we can't follow our plans!"

David Riddle shook his head. "A man would have to be insane to hold up
an effort to save the island just to make himself rich."

"He would if he believed the island was in danger," Scotty agreed. "But
suppose he doesn't? I don't think Connel has the true picture. His time
estimate was much longer than yours, and he hasn't been in on many of
the discussions."

The three scientists looked at each other. "You know," Riddle said,
"Scotty is right. Connel has shown little interest in the magma flux. He
may not have a true understanding of the situation at all!"

"It's possible." Hartson Brant nodded. "Quite possible. After all, we
borrowed him only to have another experienced man to handle the shots.
His training certainly doesn't qualify him to understand the physics
involved. He has concentrated on locating oil deposits, using standard
data. This kind of thing is new to him."

"We didn't get him to handle data analysis," Weiss remarked. "There are
enough of us who can do that."

Rick picked up his argument again. "If Connel doesn't believe there are
only a couple of weeks, he would give the lieutenant governor his views,
and he'd be believed, just because Guevara is so greedy he would believe
anything that will make him rich. Of course I don't know