The Veiled Lady

by Lee Falk

  "Maybe we ought to hitch a ride with one of those guys," suggested Gabe with a grin. "They're probably going to fly right up out of ."

  "No," said Jan, shaking her head, "those poor creatures need the special atmosphere down here in order to survive. The ordinary air of our world's too thin for them. Which is why they've never flown outside before-why no one knows about them."

  "Then they'll all die," said Gabe, "if this thing blows."

  "Yes, I'm afraid so," Jan said.

  "To hell with the big bugs," said Tinn. "We're the ones who're going to die in here."

  The ground tremors were becoming more severe. All around giant plants and bushes were swaying, branches breaking off to come spinning down. Blossoms, leaves, seedpods, thorns showered on them. The land trembled and shook like a giant in agony.

  "There's the River of Fire," said the Phantom.

  In a few hard-working minutes, they got the copter-raft into the water. Resting on its side, it floated well. Even when the five of them carefully climbed aboard, the ship stayed afloat. Using the detached rotor blades as paddles, the Phantom and Karl got the rude raft moving downstream.

  "Well, here we go," said Jan.

  "And so we bid a fond farewell to the fabulous land of ," said Gabe.

  "What's so funny?" asked Tinn. "You didn't get any treasure, not a bit. And we'll be damn lucky if we get out of this place alive. Don't you realize that?"

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  No one answered him.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  A frightened dragonfly, looking like a World War I airship, flew over, almost touching their heads. A huge black spider came floating by, dead in the boiling hot current of the River of Fire. The giant growth along the shoreline was waving, whipping as though facing a hurricane. The rumbling of the quivering earth was louder.

  "Hey!" said Karl. He left off paddling for a moment, pointing ahead with a blistered hand. "We're coming to a cavern."

  "That should take us through the side of the mountain," said the Phantom. "Remember that the river shoots out a hundred feet above the ground outside. We have to keep the current from carrying us right over the falls."

  "How are we going to do that?" asked Gabe.

  Nodding at the coils of vine rope lying on the copter side next to him, the Phantom explained, "We're going to have to lasso some rocks and anchor our raft that way. Then we'll see about climbing down the mountainside without getting boiled."

  "None of this," said the weary-looking Tinn, "is going to work."

  The current grew stronger and Karl and the Phantom used their paddles only to control the course of the ship.

  They left the last of the light, and floated into the darkness of the great rock cavern.

  Stretching out fiat on his stomach, Gabe reached down into the cabin. "Here's a couple of big flashlights we can use." He kept one and handed the other over to Jan.

  Tinn asked the girl, "Doctor Love, what if this volcano erupts? There'll be lava, won't there? It'll start flowing."

  "Yes, it will."

  "It'll flow this way, won't it? Downhill along the course of this lousy river."

  Jan answered, "Yes, there's a good possibility the cave will fill with lava instead of water."

  "I'm glad I didn't bet with anybody on my chances of getting out of here alive."

  Gabe clicked on his flashlight, played its beam on the walls of the great cavern. The rock sides were jagged, a blue-black metallic color. Enormous splotches of pale-orange fungus dotted the walls. "Not too cheerful," he said. "But at least nobody's written their names on the walls."

  The waters of the River of Fire sputtered and hissed as the copter-raft made its way through the rocky darkness.

  "I wonder why some of the giant insects don't come into this cave for safety," said Karl. "Haven't seen one.

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  "I wouldn't complain about that," muttered Tinn.

  Jan swung her flashlight up to study the ceiling of the cavern. "I don't know, Karl. Maybe they've got a reason for shying away."

  From behind them came a series of explosive booms. The cave walls quivered, boiling water splashed high up against the sides of the floating copter.

  "Wow!" said Gabe. "It's getting worse."

  "We're never going to make it," said Tinn. "This whole damn mountain is going to fall in on us."

  The Phantom and Karl kept up their use of the paddles. The raft was making good time along the hot river.

  The explosions back in the valley were coming closer together, echoing and bouncing off the jagged walls of the cavern.

  "Something up ahead," said Gabe. He aimed his light in the direction they were floating. "My god!"

  "What-what's that?" exclaimed Karl.

  Jan joined her flashlight beam with Gabe's. "It's an enormous lizard of some sort."

  Filling the cave twenty feet ahead of them was a gigantic scaly creature. It was a blotchy black and green in color with a short stubby head, wide-clawed feet. Its large mouth was filled with spiky teeth which seemed to be grinning at them. It had a huge forked tongue that was hissing out at them, almost touching the raft.

  The Phantom and Karl halted the progress of their craft,

  "It's like some sort of Gila monster," said Jan. The hand holding the flashlight on the monster was steady. "Big as an ancient dinosaur."

  "I wonder if it's poisonous like the Gila monster," said Karl.

  "Stop all this scientific stuff!" cried Tinn. "Let's get the hell out of here." He was standing upright, causing the copter body to sway.

  "Sit down, you're rocking the boat," Gabe told him. "You're not going to feed me to that thing." Tinn scrambled toward the rear of the craft. "Come on, come on. Let's back up."

  "This is the only way out of here," said Karl. "Now sit down."

  "Look at that creature's eyes," said Jan, gesturing with the flashlight. "They're closed tight"

  "He's probably blind," said the Phantom. Resting his paddle, he drew out one of his automatics. "I imagine he's got a keen sense of smell and hearing." Taking careful aim the Phantom fired at the monster lizard.

  "Your bullets don't even phase him," said Jan. "Even when you hit his eye. They just bounce off."

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  "There's no chance of stopping him," said Tinn. "He's going to get us all." He was standing at the back edge of the copter.

  "Sit down," warned Gabe.

  "I'm not waiting to get eaten!" said Tinn. The sad-faced Chinese leaped from the raft.

  "Tinn, that water's boiling hot!" shouted Gabe, making a futile grab.

  The Chinese screamed once before he sank beneath the bubbling surface of the River of Fire.

  "Oh, my lord!" said Jan.

  "He panicked," said Gabe. "I tried to catch him, but with this damn leg. . .

  "It's not your fault," said Jan.

  The Phantom kept his attention on the giant lizard. "Okay," he said, "let's see what the poison spear will do to this fellow."

  "You've had good luck with it so far," said Karl. The great lizard was creeping closer, its huge tongue whipping at them.

  "There!" The Phantom hurled the poison-tipped spear Guran had given him.

  The tip hit the lizard between its blind eyes. Then bounced off, to sink into the boiling stream.

  "Didn't even scratch him," said the Phantom.

  "Maybe we will have to turn back," said Karl. "Take our chances with the volcano."

  "No way," said Gabe. "Listen."

  A new roaring, bubbling sound was starting behind them.

  "it's lava," said Jan. "Red-hot lava flowing into the cave. We can't turn back now."

  The lizard continued to creep closer.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Barber, the fat owner of the Scarlet Cockatoo, pressed a concealed button in the shelving of the bookcases behind his desk. He was wearing a saffron-colored suit with a blood-red tie. A section of the bookcase swung out on a noiseless pivot, revealing a small air-conditioned radio room.

 
Squeezing his saffron-suited bulk around the case, Barber shuffled into the hidden room. He grunted, pushed another button, and was sealed up with the radio equipment.

  He seated himself before the radio set, rubbing his pudgy fingers around the circle of his beard.

  While he waited for the radio to warm up, he said to himself, "Communications have never gone well on this caper. First I get cut off from McClennan. Now I can't even get a rise out of Silvera or Tinn. We'll give it another try." He spread his huge legs wide, sighing. "Sometimes I wish fate had made me more mobile. Then I could undertake field work myself. If only-"

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  The fat man blinked his tiny eyes and gave a surprised snort. A red bulb over the radio set had started to flash on and off. "Trouble," said Barber.

  He cautiously shoved back his chair, turning toward the secret door. The red light could be set flashing by flicking various switches around the club. It was a danger signal, meaning somebody was bringing trouble into the Scarlet Cockatoo.

  Barber placed one little eye to the peephole in the secret wall. A loud knocking began on his office door.

  "Barber, open up! This is the police!' The knocking continued.

  "Open up, or we'll let ourselves in! We have a warrant!"

  As the fat Barber watched the door of his office, it was forced open. Lieutenant Kiwanda of the Mawitaan police jumped across the threshold, pistol drawn.

  Behind the lieutenant came Colonel Weeks of the Jungle Patrol, looking very angry. Then other police and JP men whom Barber didn't recognize.

  Barber stayed where he was. Breathing very carefully, watching them fan out around his office.

  "There's the bookcase Lemos told us about," said Colonel Weeks, pointing.

  Lemos, thought Barber. So it's Lemos who betrayed me. This whole caper is going sour.

  "If you're in there, come on out," called Lieutenant Kiwanda.

  The left eye of Colonel Weeks, who was directly in front of the bookcase wall, seemed to be looking into Barber's eye. "Let's find the control button," said the Colonel.

  A small wheeze was starting to rattle around in Barber's huge chest. He hesitated for half a moment, then punched at a button. The secret wall swung in. "Well, well, Lieutenant," he said as he stepped slowly into their range of vision. "You had better have all the right papers with you, and in perfect order. Otherwise-"

  "We'd like," interrupted Lieutenant Kiwanda, "to ask you some questions about ."

  Wheezing, the vast man made his way back to his desk. "You want a travel agency, Lieutenant, or a tourist guide. I am neither."

  Colonel Weeks caught his shoulder as he was about to sit. "No, Barber, we want you. If you talk now, things may go easier for you."

  "Things?" The fat man broke away from the colonel and dropped into a wicker chair. His wheeze was growing worse. "What sort of things do you imagine I've done?"

  "It may turn out to be murder," said the colonel "Right now we've got enough to charge you with conspiracy to commit murder."

  "Oh, so?" The fat man rested his palms on his knees. "Who is it I murdered, or planned to murder?"

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  "Me, for one," supplied Sergeant Barnum, who was leaning in the doorway. "Lemos was all ready to do me in on your orders. And maybe, though I hope not, you had Doe Love and her associate killed."

  Barber fluttered his tiny eyelashes at the police lieutenant. "I'm afraid I simply don't understand any of this."

  Colonel Weeks dropped both his fists down on the edge of the fat man's desk. "Try to understand this, Barber. Lemos has told us you arranged to have Gabe McClennan take over Doctor Love's flight. There hasn't been one word heard from that girl since she went down into ."

  Barber said, "It seems to inc I've heard of this Doctor Love; I read an informative article about her inNational Geographic or some such publication. She's a biologist, isn't she? Why on earth should I be interested in her?"

  Sergeant Barnum walked across the office, straight up to Barber's desk. "Because you got it figured Doc Love was really going in after the treasure of ," he said."You stuck your man Gabe with them and as soon as the treasure showed up he was supposed to let you know by radio, Only something went wrong."

  "I really don't-"

  "It's no use, Barber," the colonel told him. "We know you're in this up to your ears. Lemos has given us enough to put you away for a while. Your only chance now is to cooperate with us."

  Barber sighed a wheezing sigh. He rested both hands on his broad chest. "Oh, very well, I'll be docile and helpful. What do you want to know?"

  The colonel demanded, "What happened to Doctor Love?"

  The fat man let out another sigh. "There you have me, Colonel. I know no more than you."

  "Have you heard from Gabe since their copter entered the volcano?"

  "Not a blessed word," said Barber. "He was supposed to contact me as soon as he could."

  "Wait now," put in the stocky Sergeant Barnum. "You've got a couple of other heavies working on this job. I heard Lemos talking about them."

  "He's been most valuable, hasn't he?" said the fat man. "Well, yes, as a matter of fact, I sent two more of my men to find out what had happened. Whether Gabe and the rest had died or whether that stupid spade. . . excuse me, Lieutenant,. . or whether Gabe had double-crossed me."

  "Where did you send them?" asked Colonel Weeks.

  "Eventually into the volcano."

  "Into ?"

  "Yes. When I have my mind set on something, I persist."

  "How did they go in?"

  "By the same method employed by your Doctor Love. They used a helicopter," answered Barber. "It 70

  cost me a good deal to hire the blasted thing."

  The colonel's head was very close to Barber's. "Have they communicated with you since they entered the volcano?"

  Barber inclined one fat hand toward his secret radio room. "Not one word," he said. "I was about to try them again."

  "Go ahead and do it," ordered the colonel.

  The café owner huffed up, made his way into the radio room. The colonel and Lieutenant Kiwanda were close behind him.

  Seated again at the radio, Barber made a fresh attempt to contact Silvera and Tinn. But no word came to him out of . With a tiny smile, the fat man switched to a new frequency. "Perhaps, Colonel, you'd like to hear what your troops are up to."

  From the radio speaker came the voice of a Jungle Patrol helicopter pilot. "This is Sandy, calling the Llongo station."

  "We read you, Sandy. What's up?"

  "The whole damn mountain it looks like. Better alert all emergency crews to be on standby. We may have to evacuate most of the Llongo country around the volcano."

  "Huh? Why?"

  "Because is starting to act up, buddy. It looks to me from up here like she's going to erupt."

  "Good lord," said Colonel Weeks. "We've got to get out there." He spun around and ran from the hidden radio room.

  Barber put his fat elbows on the table. "Well, there goes the treasure," he said as Lieutenant Kiwanda took hold of his arm.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  The Phantom said, "I think I see a way out." He looked from the gigantic lizard to the wall of the cave. "Doctor Love, shine your light over that way."

  Jan did as she was told. "What do you have in mind?"

  The great scaly monster was moving ever closer, its tongue lashing at the narrowing gap between them.

  "The cavern widens up ahead there, just beyond our lizard friend," said the Phantom.

  "Yes, I can see that," said Jan. "But how does-?"

  "And there's a ledge running along the wall," continued the masked man.

  Gabe was watching back over his shoulder, playing his light on the river behindthem. "I can see the

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  first wave of lava coming. We only got a few minutes between it and us."

  "As soon as the monster stops being. a cork in our bottleneck," said the Phantom," as soon as the river's clear, move! Jan, you take my
paddle."

  "But what are you going to-?"