The Flaming Mountain

by John Blaine

  “We’re stuck,” Scotty said. “I suppose we could keep on asking and try to get a line on where the governor’s car went, but that’s pretty hopeless. Honorario, can we possibly find someone who is loyal to the governor and who knows the island?”

  Honorario thought it over. “In such a case,” he replied, “there is only one way to be sure. It is, you understand, a matter of family. Among San Luzians , the family is first and all else is after. So, I think we should see the nephew of the governor. He is el capitdn Ricardo Montoya, who is deputy of police for the western part of the island.”

  Captain Ricardo Montoya was young, capable, and alert. Honorario found him in the police headquarters in central Calor and invited him to join the boys for coffee at a nearby cafe.

  Rick looked the officer over as he entered the restaurant, and he liked what he saw. Montoya was built like a middleweight fighter, and his white uniform was spotless. He was lighter in complexion than most San Luzians , but even the wisp of mustache on his upper lip couldn’t conceal the firmness of his face.

  He greeted them courteously, in good English.“A sus drdenes , senores. This Honorario says you wish to speak with me?”

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  “We place ourselves in your hands, Senor Capitdn ,” Rick said quietly. “Because you are the governor’s nephew and a police official, we must assume that you are completely loyal to him.”

  The officer’s brilliant dark eyes flashed. “It would be a grave insult to assume otherwise, senor. He is the brother of my father.”

  “Good,” Rick said. “No insult was intended. I think we had better tell you the entire story,then we can discuss what must be done.” He started at the beginning, with the arrival of Balgos at Spindrift, and ended with the day’s events.

  “You have cast much light on what has happened,” the captain stated. “I am grateful. Now, senores, you must not believe I have been idle. I had already discovered how my uncle was kidnaped. It was clear that some military element was involved, but I rejected the idea of revolution. The motive puzzled me. It is puzzling no longer, thanks to you. Also, while I suspected Guevara, there was no proof. My suspicion, you understand, was based on his character.”

  “Have you any idea where the governor was taken?” Scotty asked.

  “I have now,” Montoya said grimly. “The best possibility-and about the only place we have not looked-is Casa Guevara.”

  The boys exchanged glances. “Then we ought to make up a party of loyal people and invade the place,”

  Rick stated.

  “No. If I know this man Guevara, any such move would mean the death of my uncle, if he still lives. We must find some other way.”

  “Can you find loyal people?” Rick asked.

  “A few.You must understand most people do not feel as I do about Guevara. He is popular. Who knows where the loyalty of the people lies, between individuals? One cannot be certain. So, I must use only men loyal to me. There are such.”

  Montoya rose. “We will be allies, since we fight for the same thing, which is San Luz. Let me see what kind of plan can be made. Go back to your hotel, and I will come for you there. We will work this thing out together.” He shook hands with both boys, turned, and strode from the restaurant.

  Rick paid for their coffee and the boys joined Honorario, who was waiting outside in the jeep. “He’s a good, tough hombre,” Rick told the San Luzian. “You made a good choice.”

  “I am glad,” Honorario said. “Someday he will be governor, like his uncle.”

  While the boys were in Calor, the scientists had conducted another series of shots. The tracings were spread out on the table when they returned, and the group was engrossed in checking them over.

  Rick and Scotty waited, watching. They knew from the quiet voices and tense attitudes that something serious had been found. Then Williams began to mark in the data on his sketch.

  “This is where the explosion took place,” he said. “Probably the magma hit a quantity of water as it entered the new channel. Notice that the channel is one we marked on here earlier as a probable path.

  So far, we’re guessing right. Now, my estimate is that the magma will move fast, stopping only when it Page 47

  reaches this dike of solid basalt.”

  Hartson Brant wiped his face with his handkerchief. “It looks bad, Jeff. The magma will reach the solid layer before we could possibly get to it with a tunnel.”

  “What does that mean?” Rick asked.

  Hobart Zircon answered him. “It means.Rick, that we no longer have time to dig a vent. It means the people of this island will be lucky if they can get away intime !”

  CHAPTER XIII

  Armed Revolt

  David Riddle had fired the last series of shots from Connel’s stations. By unanimous consent, the last station at the volcanic pipe had been omitted. Two stations would have to do for now. All agreed it would be foolish to jeopardize a man by going near the guarded third station.

  Since Riddle had the longest distance to travel, he had not arrived when the boys returned to the hotel.

  Now, as Zircon finished his ominous statement, the government geologist strode into the room.

  “We’re in trouble,” he stated. “I’m only a few minutes ahead of soldiers. I came out of the trail onto the road and saw them just coming off the dirt road onto the pavement. They shouted for me to stop, but I wasn’t of a mind to tangle with troops. I came as fast as I could.”

  “Are they coming here?” Hartson Brant asked quickly.

  “They’re either coming here or marching into Calor. Those are the only two places the road leads. My guess is that they’re marching here.”

  Rick said swiftly, “Connel got to Guevara! And Guevara is going to make sure we don’t spread the word!”

  “Rick is probably right,” Zircon snapped. “I suggest we clear out. If we’re captured, we’ll be unable to operate at all.”

  “Grab the supplies and get into the jeeps,” Hartson Brant ordered.“Quickly!Rick, you and Scotty move fast. Get your stuff into the jeep, then take as much dynamite as you can. Go up the road to where you have a good view and act as lookouts. Give us as much warning as you can. We’ll take the rest of the dynamite and the equipment in the other jeeps!”

  Rick and Scotty dashed to their room. They threw clothes into their bags, slammed them shut without bothering to pack neatly, and hurried out into the parking lot. Rick backed the jeep up to the pump shed while Scotty ran to the door. To the policeman on duty he explained only that they were in a great hurry.

  The boys took time to load six cases, plus one of the detonators and a roll of wire,then they got into the Page 48

  jeep and roared off up the road toward the pumice works.

  “We’ve probably got ten minutes,” Scotty estimated. “If they’re marching at a normal pace, it would take them a little less than a half hour to walk from the pumice works.”

  Rick drove a half mile up the road to where he had a good view of several hundred yards and stopped the jeep. “We’ll be able to spot them from here.” He turned the jeep around, ready to run as soon as the troops came in sight. “Where do you suppose the soldiers came from?”

  “Probably from a camp near San Souci,” Scotty guessed. “Otherwise, they’d have come up the main road from Calor. There’s probably a camp on the western shore somewhere.”

  “Wish we had some way of slowing them down,” Rick mused. “We need a mortar or a few military rockets. But all we’ve got is some dynamite, and we can’t throw that very far.”

  “Why do we have to throw it?” Scotty asked excitedly. “Listen. We’ll put a charge by the side of the road and stringwire back a way. Then we can park the jeep off the road next to the detonator. When they get within range, we’ll push the plunger and run. We can time it so they won’t get blown up, but they may think they’re being shelled.”

  “That should do it,” Rick agreed. He shifted into gear and moved ahead slowly, searching for a likely s
pot. There was one a few yards ahead where a clump of wild banana plants would shield the jeep from view. He backed the jeep in next to the banana plants and made sure he could get out again easily, then he took the coil of wire and began unwinding it along the edge of the road. Scotty took out his scout knife and began to pry open a case of dynamite.

  Rick fed wire until he reached a spot a hundred yards up the road, then took out his knife and cut through the thin stuff. He started back to help Scotty and was just in time to see the dark-haired boy with a stick of dynamite in his mouth!

  Rick gasped. He started to run toward Scotty, but his pal waved him back. Then, as Rick watched, horrified, he saw Scotty take the stick out of his mouth and motion for him to come ahead.

  “What are you doing?” Rick demanded. “I thought for a minute you’d lost all your buttons and started eating dynamite.”

  “We didn’t have crimpers,” Scotty explained. “The only way I could get the cap on was to crimp it with my teeth.”

  Rick turned white. He gulped. No wonder Scotty looked a little pale!

  “It worked,” Scotty said, a little shakily. “But I don’t want to do it as a regular thing.”

  “I should hope not!” Rick exclaimed fervently. “Give me that stick. I’ll connect up. Will one be enough?”

  “Plenty,” Scotty said. “Get going. I’ll connect up the detonator.”

  By the time Rick had placed the dynamite and connected the wires, Scotty was ready, the detonator in the front seat of the jeep between his legs.

  “I wish we had some regular fuse,” he said. “Then we could put short fuses on a few sticks, light them, Page 49

  and throw them.”

  Rick stared at him. “And crimp all the caps with your teeth? Boy, I’m glad we haven’t any fuse!”

  Scotty’s estimate was two minutes off. It took twelve minutes for the troops to come into sight.

  Watching from behind the banana plants, the boys saw them hiking down the road like a bunch of tenderfeet on their first five-mile hike. It was obvious that discipline in the San Luzian army was slack.

  The men wore sloppy brown uniforms and a variety of hats. They carried rifles and there were bandoliers of cartridges across their chests and grenades at their belts.

  “Can you see?” Rick whispered.

  “Fine,” Scotty whispered back.

  They sat in the jeep, waiting. Rick kept the motor idling, knowing that the sound would be inaudible a short distance away.

  The troops reached the point the boys had selected. It was a big papaya about fifty feet beyond the dynamite. Scotty pushed the plunger. The dynamite exploded.

  Rick raced the motor,then shifted into gear. Scotty cut the wires loose with one flick of his knife and Rick lurched onto the road and fled toward the hotel as fast as he could accelerate.

  Through the rear-view mirror he could see the troops scatter and knew they had slowed things down for a few minutes at least. The last view he had was of one man, evidently an officer, trying to rally the troops again.

  Rick rounded the turn leading to the hotel grounds and saw that the scientists were waiting in the jeeps, ready to roll. He slowed long enough to yell, “Let’s go,” then led the way down the road to the front of the hotel and into Calor.

  The next problem was to find a place to stay. Honorario advised staying away from the big hotels on the beach and suggested a smaller but quite comfortable hostelry on the outskirts of town. Rick was pleased to see that it was located right on the water, at the point where the long San Luz beach began. But he doubted there would be time for swimming.

  The Hotel Internationale was comfortable, and more than adequate. The scientists congratulated each other on being able to get rooms. Fortunately, as the manager explained, it was not yet full turista time. If they were prepared to double up, two to a room, he could accommodate them.

  Rick and Scotty drew a room on the second floor. The bath was down the hall, but they didn’t mind that. Hartson Brant and Hobart Zircon shared the largest room, and there was a large porch that could be used as a meeting place.

  The hotel also had a basement room that the manager was glad to turn over for the equipment-at a slight fee, naturally. But he boggled when the boys appeared with cases of dynamite on their shoulder.

  “Leave it to me,” Honorario suggested. “I will find a place that will be safe.”

  Rick was glad to leave it to Honorario. He was anxious to get in touch with Montoya, to explain what had happened. The police station was not far away. He and Scotty hiked over and found the young Page 50

  captain alone in his office.

  Montoya listened to their story, and his face became stern. “There are two possibilities,” he said finally.

  “Either Guevara is mounting a big revolution, or he is interested only in the diamonds. If it is the diamonds, then he probably will keep the troops near the mountain, and the city may not be bothered at all.”

  “How can we find out?” Rick asked.“Except by waiting to see if troops show up here.”

  Montoya stared through the window at the tinyharborofCalor . The boys waited while he thought it over.

  Finally the captain swiveled around and faced them. “We can find out, if you will take a chance. I do not think it is much of a chance, really, but it may be. Let us think of things from Guevara’s point of view. He knows that you know of these diamonds. He also knows, because he is intelligent, that you surely realize the danger of talking about them. So, what would he do with you if he caught you? Perhaps detain you for a while, but no more. He knows that harm to foreigners would bring down trouble he could not handle. We would haveVenezuela ,Colombia ,Great Britain , and theUnited States in here. The first three might bring in troops on the pretext of restoring order, but actually to back up their claims to the island.

  TheUnited States would bring great pressure on all three to do something.”

  “It makes sense,” Rick agreed. “So you don’t think we’re in any great danger from Guevara?”

  “No. If you had been at the hotel, he would have kept you there, I think. But you were not, so we must see if he is prepared to follow you. My own opinion is that he wants to be let alone to mine diamonds, while he has time. It does not take an invasion of Calor to do this.”

  “What do you want us to do?” Scotty asked.

  “Simply take a ride to thehotel, or as far as you can go. See what the situation really is. If I, or my men, should try this it would surely mean shooting. But you are extranjeros , -foreigners. You can get away with it.”

  “You hope,” Rick said.

  Montoya’s teeth flashed in the first smile they had seen on his face. “Indeed,” he agreed. “I hope.”

  CHAPTER XIV

  Night Patrol

  The jeep rolled out of Calor on the highway back to the Hot Springs Hotel. Scotty drove, while Rick relaxed in the seat beside him. They had taken time for a sandwich and coffee, because they were not sure when they might eat again.

  Hartson Brant and the scientists were at work on detailed analysis of the day’s shots. It would take some time. When Rick told his father about the conversation with Captain Montoya, the scientist had Page 51

  nodded agreement. “It sounds like good sense, especially since there has been no sign of an invasion of the city. The troops could have been here before this. Go ahead, but be cautious. Always leave your escape route open.”

  It was good advice, and the boys intended to take it.

  Scotty drove in silence for a few minutes,then said, “We’re nearly at the fork in the road. Keep an eye open.”

  “Will do,” Rick assured him. The left fork was the main, paved road to San Souci. The right fork led up to the hotel.

  Scotty reached the fork and slowed.

  “There !”Rick pointed.

  Twenty yards up the right fork there was a barricade fence, newly made of small logs. Lounging against the fence were a half dozen soldiers.

  “We could go left
to San Souci, but not to the hotel,” Rick said.“Now what?”

  “Hold on and be ready for a quick take-off,” Scotty muttered. He turned the jeep into the left fork, then shifted and backed around and up the right fork to where the soldiers waited.

  One soldier, with sergeant’s stripes on his sleeve, sauntered over to them. He carried a rifle, but Rick noted that he didn’t hold it at the ready. The boy called, “Do you speak English, sergeant?”

  “ Leetlebeet,” the soldier replied. He smiled cordially.“What you weesh , senores?”

  “Can we get to the hotel?” Scotty asked.

  “No can, senor.”

  “Why not?” Rick asked.

  “ Ees. . . how you say?. . .big talk at hotel. Ees el gobernador y . . . and . . . el comandante Guevara.

  Also more mens . No one goes to hotel long time. Maybe when talk feenish .”

  “The governor and lieutenant governor are having a big conference at the hotel?” Rick asked incredulously.

  “ Eesso, senor.”

  “How long will this conference last?” Scotty asked.

  The sergeant shrugged. “ Quien sdbe ? Maybe two day, maybe two semana . , . how you say? . . .

  “Weeks,” Rick supplied. “What are they talking about?”

  “ Ees. . . how you say?. . . seguridad national. Thees ees what el comandante speaks tous. ”

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  Rick glanced at Scotty.“National security conference. Those can last a long time.” He looked at the sergeant again. “We could go to SanSouci, and from there to the hotel, maybe.”

  “ Pero no, senor.That way also ees guard. Ees no way get to hotel.More good you not try, eh?

  Sol-dados at hotel, they maybeshoots .”

  “Now we know,” Scotty said.“Nothing more to be gained here.”

  “Did you see the governor?” Rick asked.