olonel Rojas' fund
of information about the area. It was a part of the world none of them
had ever seen, located only a few degrees above the Equator in the deep
tropics. To the west of Mindanao was the Sulu Sea, with the Celebes Sea
to the south. The widely scattered centers of civilization had famous,
imagination-stirring names, like Jolo, Tawi Tawi, Cotabato, and
Zamboanga.

Later, the Filipino officer dictated letters of introduction to Rick's
sister Barby, a pretty blond girl a year younger than her brother. Barby
took the dictation directly on the typewriter. Once the letters were
signed and turned over to Dr. Zircon, Hartson Brant escorted the colonel
to the mainland, where arrangements had been made for a local taxi
service to drive him back to New York. Rojas' parting statement was
"This affair worries me. I shall be most interested in developments, and
you may hear from me sooner than you think."

Later, Scotty and Rick gathered in the latter's room and talked while
loading the radio units with fresh batteries.

"Wonder how long it will take to hear from Chahda?" Rick asked.

"Depends on where he is and how fast Steve Ames can get a message to
him. He'll join us if he can. You can bet on it."

"I hope so," Rick said thoughtfully. "We'll be in Manila in a couple of
days, and we'll need him. We've got a job ahead of us, because Tony and
Shannon aren't lost. You can be sure of that. They're not the kind to
get lost. And if they had been in an accident of some kind we'd have
heard."

"Meaning what?"

Rick's eyes met Scotty's. "That leaves only one logical answer, doesn't
it? They've either been killed or captured!"

CHAPTER II

The Hindu Merchant

Thirty-six hours later, after a grueling transcontinental--trans-Pacific
flight with only the briefest of stops to change planes, Rick, Scotty,
and Zircon were in Manila. Their stay in Manila only three hours old,
they had already visited the American consulate and found that no new
information on the missing scientists had been received; they had
arranged a luncheon date with Dr. Okola, and had reserved space on
Philippine Airlines to Davao on the following morning.

Rick paced the floor, sipping a glass of fresh limeade, made with
_calamansi_, the tiny, pungent local limes. His time for the past three
days had been spent alternately dozing and thinking about the problem of
the missing scientists. The more he wondered about their strange
disappear