napping, but that was no good, either. At
last, unable to remain idle a moment longer, he took a taxi to the
airport, topped off the Sky Wagon's tanks with gas, checked the plane
thoroughly, got a weather report and took off.

He climbed to fifteen thousand feet and scanned the terrain for
landmarks. He spotted Mount Panay to the west, verifying its name on the
map. Then he picked up the Bontoc Road and searched for the highest
point, where it emerged from the valleys and swung across a peak over
seven thousand feet above sea level.

If he had estimated Scotty's travel time correctly, the jeep should just
now be emerging into the brilliant sunlight of the peaks. He wished for
binoculars, but they had failed to bring any, one of those oversights
that happen on any expedition.

There was a little traffic on the road. A car of some kind was at the
peak, probably stopped to allow the occupants to see the magnificent
view. Then he saw that the car was being driven off the road into a
grove of trees just beyond the peak. That was odd.

He identified the jeep. In a moment or two it would be at the peak. He
would go down and wave. Then he would go back to the airport, have
lunch, and fly on to Bontoc. That way, he would get there only slightly
ahead of Scotty and Angel.

He lost altitude. Below, men were getting out of the car which had
driven into the scant cover of a scrub-pine grove. Rick watched as they
walked to the peak. Sunlight reflected from metal. Probably lunch boxes,
he thought. The men were going to have their picnic lunch while looking
over the wonderful mountains of northern Luzon. Good idea. Probably that
was why they had parked the car off the road.

Then he saw that they were not stopping at the peak, but were taking
positions along the road a short distance beyond it. Again, sunlight
glinted from metal as one of them sat down in a copse just off the road.

Sweat suddenly poured on Rick's forehead. He wasn't watching simple
picnickers! He was watching an ambush being set up--and it could only be
for one vehicle, because there was only one in sight along the miles of
twisting highway.

Scotty and Angel!

Rick spun the Sky Wagon up on a wing and let it slide. He held the slide
for long moments while the altimeter ticked off the lost altitude. Not
until it registered eight thousand feet did he level off, only a
thousand feet above the mountaintops. For a moment he couldn't see
Scotty and Angel, then h