a water system," Rick observed.

"Yes. There are miles of bamboo pipes, but no water is wasted. The water
is put into the upper terraces, then it runs by itself through openings
down to the lower terraces."

"Is the rice the same?"

"Nearly. There is another kind called highland rice that is planted like
wheat. We have a little wheat, too, but not enough to feed many people.
The highland rice is not very good. Paddy rice is better."

Rick was interested. He continued his questioning. "Are the paddies
flooded all the time?"

"Oh, no. They are flooded before the rice is planted. You know we do not
plant seed in the paddies? We plant baby rice plants which are grown in
special places. The little plants are pushed into the mud after the
paddy is flooded. Then the water is left for a while. But if we left it
all the time, the plants would rot. So after a while we let the water
out and only let in enough to keep the rice growing."

They were over the terraces now. Beyond them, Rick saw brown houses that
looked like beehives. It was an Igorot village.

"We'll reach Bontoc soon," Angel said.

"No truck and no sedan," Scotty added unhappily. "They couldn't have
reached Bontoc, could they?"

"The truck could have, easily, if Nangolat drove during the night."

"Then we'll have to keep hunting past Bontoc right into Banaue."

Angel tapped Rick on the shoulder and pointed ahead. "There is Bontoc."

Nestled in the mountains on the bank of a river was the town of Bontoc,
a small cluster of wooden and grass houses. Rick saw that the dirt road
had changed to a black top.

"I'm going to look for a place to land."

Scotty nodded. "Good idea."

Rick waited until the town was directly below, then he sized up the
terrain and began to lose altitude in a tight spiral. It was in
situations like this that the Sky Wagon's flaps came in handy. He pulled
the control down and the movable sections on the trailing edges of the
wings moved down in response. He began to lose speed.

When he was five hundred feet over the town he flew parallel with the
road, searching for wires and other hazards. There were wires, but they
entered the town from the south, then branched west, toward Banaue. To
the north there were no wires, nor any other hazards he could see. And
the road looked level. He picked a stretch at the edge of the little
town where the houses were far apart. They were primitive little
dwellings made of straw tied together in