artifacts dug up--or he didn't. Remember the legend? If they're dug up,
drought and earthquakes will follow. By killing me aboard ship, the
expedition would never take place. That must have been how he reasoned."

Rick was beginning to see light. "Angel, was Nangolat supposed to be a
Christian?"

Angel shook his head. "No. He was a pagan. Once he went to church with
me, but that was only to see how Christians worship. He worshiped the
Ifugao gods which were in the museum at the university."

Rick commented, "I imagine his studies with Okola, and especially the
work he did tracking down the legends of the golden skull, made him even
more religious. I won't say superstitious."

"You're right," Tony said approvingly. "This is not superstition.
Nangolat is as firmly convinced of the correctness of his religious
beliefs as any Christian martyr. I'm sure he considered the object of
our expedition as pure sacrilege."

"I'm with you up to a point," Scotty remarked. "But why didn't he kill
the lot of us as soon as we landed? He could have gotten Rick and me the
night we met you for dinner. We walked in a lot of dark places, and we
weren't particularly on guard."

"He tried," Tony reminded them. "We surprised him in my room at the
Manila Hotel. Probably he was examining my effects to see if I had maps
or charts. Then he waited in the walled city and tried to pick you two
off with rifle fire."

Chahda spoke up. "Not so easy to find chances to kill, even in city like
Manila. With gang, yes. Alone, no."

"He's right," Tony agreed. "Then, somewhere along the line, Nangolat had
a change of heart. I don't know why. Perhaps his research told him that
the drought and earthquakes would follow the digging up of the golden
skull only if it should be done by unbelievers like us. Perhaps if the
faithful do the uncovering, the Ifugao gods will smile. I don't know.
But Nangolat decided he wanted the expedition to help _him_ find the
artifacts."

"The old competitive spirit got him," Scotty murmured. "Wanted his side
to win."

"Maybe," Tony said with a grin. "Anyway, he got away with the earth
scanner; he had it when Nast turned me over to him. Of course he
couldn't use it. So he must have planned to capture one or all of us. He
could have waited until the expedition got here, but things would then
be complicated by our hiring diggers and camp helpers, which he knew we
intended to do. Also, we intended to contact the road commissio