These will do the best job of stirring that
black cup of tea that you've ever seen."

"Capital!" Zircon exclaimed. "They'll do perfectly, Scotty." He looked
at the boys. "Who wants to go back?"

Sing spoke up. "I will go, and some of the lamas should, too. The
monastery should know all about these caves, in case something like this
ever happens again." He spoke to the lamas in Tibetan. They consulted
briefly, then nodded assent. Five of them stepped forward.

"And Scotty and I will go," Rick volunteered. "I want to see how this
spoon works." He looked at Long Shadow and Ko. "Maybe they ought to go
back and see the end of their racket, whatever it is."

"No need," Zircon said. "They know it's the end, and Bradley does too.
Which is more than we know, I must say. But we'll find out from Bradley
very soon."

Rick hefted his rifle. "Incidentally, there's one thing I want to do
before we go back."

"And that is?"

He grinned at the scientist. "I want to go hunting blue sheep."

"Me, too," Scotty chimed in.

Zircon chuckled. "Very well. One day for sheep before we hit the trail.
Since Bradley prohibits our taking revenge on the enemy, we'll take it
out on the local livestock. Now get going. And do a thorough job."

CHAPTER XIX

Canton Charlie's

"You've come a long way, lads," Keaton-Yeats said. "From golden mice to
blue sheep and back to golden mice again. I must say, you should be
thoroughly familiar with the animal kingdom by now."

"They very familiar with animal world," Chahda agreed. "Also, sometimes
become part of that world by making jackasses of their selves. Like when
shooting blue sheep."

The boys had each bagged a blue sheep, but at considerable risk to life
and limb. In the process, they had gotten themselves marooned on a rock
ledge high above Korse Lenken, from which Sing, with the help of the
bearers, had managed to rescue them.

"Never mind," Carl Bradley said. "They got their sheep, even if it
almost took their necks to do it. Those heads will make nice trophies by
the time the taxidermist is through with them."

The heads were in a Hong Kong shop, being mounted. Bradley had promised
to ship them back to Spindrift by sea.

Canton Charlie made his way through the empty tables, followed by a
Chinese who carried a tray laden with glasses.

"More dragon's blood, meaning coke," Zircon said with a smile. "I
suggest we drink a toast to success and then get down to business. Carl,
yo