The Volcanic Pipe
Hartson Brant and Julius Weiss were still at work in the conference room
when Rick and Scotty returned. David Riddle had gone, and the others had
evidently not finished placing the tiltometers.
The two listened to Rick's story in silence, then Hartson Brant sighed.
"I don't know how you do it, Rick. But if there's trouble around, you
and Scotty will find it. Are you sure the rifleman shot at you?"
"We've got a bullet hole in the windshield and one just under the rear
seat," Scotty said. "One might be an accident, but not two."
"I agree." Hartson Brant nodded. "Let's see the samples of earth you
brought back, Rick."
He took both the yellow and blue pieces from his pocket and put them on
the table. Hartson Brant and Weiss examined them with interest.
"Unusual," Weiss said. "I think you are right in assuming that the
yellow is simply an oxidized form of the blue, Rick. But I can't tell
you what the material is. I've never seen anything like it before."
"The grain is pretty fine," Hartson Brant added. "It could be igneous or
sedimentary in origin. I'm not enough of a rock hound to know. David
Riddle can tell us when he returns."
"Connel would know, too," Scotty reminded. "He's a geologist. Wouldn't
you think he would have mentioned an unusual formation like this when he
found it?"
"Perhaps it's not unusual to a geologist," Weiss pointed out.
"Where is Riddle?" Rick asked.
"He went to his room a few minutes ago. He should be back shortly. Rick,
I think you'd better tell us the whole story. Why do you suspect Connel?
Why was it important for you to look at his shot station?"
Rick started at the beginning. "It wasn't any one thing, it was a series
of little offbeat things. We thought it was funny he didn't even want
company after Ruiz was hurt. Then he reacted so violently when we
proposed swapping stations. It just seemed odd. The theft of the
tracings bothered us, too. No ordinary thief would steal papers and
leave Dr. Williams' wallet in his pocket, or leave his pocket transistor
radio and stuff like that."
"But you can't connect Connel with the theft of the papers," Weiss
objected.
"No, sir, we can't. But we almost got caught in the stolen dynamite, and
he could have set that off. It was while we were on the way to his third
station."
Scotty added, "Today, when we got to the station, I took a look along
the trail. There's only one bend in it. If he was keeping a watch at
the bend, he could have seen us arrive at the second station, hurried
down the trail, set off the charge, then returned through the jungle to
get his jeep."
"But the fact that he could have, does not mean that he did," Hartson
Brant stated.
"We can't prove it," Scotty agreed.
Rick continued. "Then we trailed him to Casa Guevara. He couldn't have
been paying a social call, because he wasn't there long enough. And what
business does he have with Guevara? I don't know, but I'll bet his
business is the reason we can't get Guevara to move."
"Possibly," Hartson Brant agreed. "I can see the reason for your
suspicions, but you lack proof of anything, Rick. What motive could
Connel have?"
"We hoped to find out at the shot station," Rick replied. "But we drew a
blank."
Dr. David Riddle came into the room and joined them. Before anyone could
speak, the geologist spotted the samples on the table and sucked in his
breath sharply.
"Where did these come from?" he demanded.
"Connel's third shot station," Rick replied. "Do you know what the stuff
is?"
Riddle sank into a chair and picked up one of the samples, testing it
between his fingers. "Yes," he said, "I do. I've seen it only once
before, in Africa. It occurs in what is known as a volcanic pipe,
actually an ancient channel that gets filled with the stuff for reasons
we do not know."
"A volcanic pipe," Hartson Brant said softly. "I'm beginning to see."
Rick wasn't. "But what is it?" he asked.
"The most valuable kind of ground in the world," Riddle said. "So far as
anyone knew up to now, such pipes have occurred only in Africa. The one
I saw was at Kimberley. The name came from there. This is kimberlite."
[Illustration]
Rick knew of only one kind of valuable that was associated with
Kimberley, and the thought was so staggering that he was almost afraid
to say it out loud. "You mean that this is the stuff diamonds are found
in?"
"Exactly," Riddle said.
Rick fished the handful of crystals from his pocket and stared at them
unbelievingly. "Then these," he said hoarsely, "must be diamonds!"