The Hindu Merchant
Thirty-six hours later, after a grueling transcontinental--trans-Pacific
flight with only the briefest of stops to change planes, Rick, Scotty,
and Zircon were in Manila. Their stay in Manila only three hours old,
they had already visited the American consulate and found that no new
information on the missing scientists had been received; they had
arranged a luncheon date with Dr. Okola, and had reserved space on
Philippine Airlines to Davao on the following morning.
Rick paced the floor, sipping a glass of fresh limeade, made with
_calamansi_, the tiny, pungent local limes. His time for the past three
days had been spent alternately dozing and thinking about the problem of
the missing scientists. The more he wondered about their strange
disappearance, the more worried he became.
"There's simply no reason for it," he said aloud.
Scotty looked up from the chair in which he was reading the Manila
_Times_. The husky ex-Marine didn't have to be told what his pal was
thinking. "No reason we can see," he agreed. "But there has to be a
reason."
Hobart Zircon spoke from the desk where he was writing a note to Hartson
Brant. "You might remember, Rick, that we've been on other expeditions
where the reason for certain events was just as puzzling."
Rick knew the kind of events the physicist meant. Only a few dozen yards
from this very room, in the ancient walled city across the street, he
and Scotty had been under rifle fire for a reason they couldn't have
guessed at the time.
"Listen to this," Scotty said suddenly. He read from the newspaper.
"'The American consulate reported today that three members of the
Spindrift Foundation staff have arrived in Manila to begin a search for
the American scientists reported missing a short time ago. The
scientists disappeared north of Davao.' End of item."
"That's short and to the point," Rick commented a little bitterly. "They
certainly don't make much fuss over two missing Americans, do they?"
"And it's on page seventeen," Scotty added. He folded the paper back to
the front page. "Look at this headline."
Across the top of the front page was emblazoned: WHERE IS ELPIDIO
TORRES?
"Who's he?" Rick asked.
"A Filipino kid. He ran away, got lost, or got kidnaped. No one knows
which. His father is a big sugar operator and politician. The kid has
been gone for weeks, but the paper is still playing it up at the top of
page one."
Rick snorted. "Headlines for one Filipino boy and page seventeen for two
American scientists. Some contrast!"
Hobart Zircon fixed a stamp to his letter and walked over to the boys.
"You're not thinking straight, Rick. Suppose two Filipino scientists
were lost in the Rocky Mountains, and the son of a leading American
citizen was missing. How would our own papers play it?"
Rick had to grin. "Emphasis on the local boy, I suppose. You're right,
Professor. I'm just upset. I'd hoped for more from the consul this
morning."
The vice-consul in charge of the case had nothing to add to what they
already knew, and had slim hope of obtaining more information. The
American ambassador had received assurances from the Philippines
government that all possible aid would be given to the Spindrift search
party, and that the constabulary would not give up the hunt. No more
could be done. The American consulate had no resources with which to
conduct a search.
"Come on," Zircon said. "It's time for lunch. Dr. Okola will be arriving
in a few minutes."
"All right. But I wish we could really get started on our search, or
find someone who could help us. Even Chahda hasn't shown up. We haven't
even had a reply to Dad's message."
As they went down to the dining room Scotty pointed out that Chahda
might be very hard to reach. "For all we know, he could be in the
interior of Malaya, or some unlikely place. He would come if he could,
Rick."
Rick knew Scotty was right. Chahda had proved his loyalty and friendship
more than once. Just the same, he had hoped Chahda would come. The Hindu
boy with his "Worrold Alm-in-ack" education, as he called it, could be a
great help. Chahda had not only memorized the entire _World Almanac_,
but he seemed to have a sixth sense about people and places that was
always a source of amazement to Rick and Scotty.
Lunch with Dr. Okola was pleasant, even though it did nothing to advance
the search. Rick and Scotty reminisced about _The Golden Skull_
expedition with the Filipino archaeologist and enjoyed the hour. They
parted with Dr. Okola's assurances that he was ready to help in any way
he could.
As Rick unlocked the door of their room after lunch, he said, "I guess
it's up to us to..." He stopped with a yell of delight as the door
swung open. Seated by the window, waiting for them, was a slim,
brown-skinned boy in a turban. Chahda!
The Hindu boy pounded them in glee, then shook hands with Zircon. "It is
good for old friends to meet," Chahda declared, "even in such unhappying
soaking-stances."
"Circumstances," Rick corrected automatically. "Why didn't you wire? We
thought JANIG hadn't been able to get our message to you."
"I was in Singapore with my boss, Carl Bradley," Chahda explained. "When
your message comes, he says go now, Chahda. By the time a message back
catches them, so will you. You know, he right? I get here before you,
already two days now."
"Two days!" Scotty exclaimed. "What have you been doing?"
Chahda bowed. "Scotty, please to be speckfull. You now speak to Raman
Sunda, salesman of cloths."
"I'll show proper speck," Scotty said with a grin. "Do you mean
clothes?"
"Not clothes. Cloths. Tax-tills."
"Textiles," Zircon boomed. "Chahda, what on earth does a Hindu textile
salesman have to do with finding Briotti and Shannon?"
"Plenty do with, Professor. In this country is plenty Hindus like me.
Many sell tax-tills. So I travel, and listen. Yes?"
Rick still didn't get it. "But why, Chahda?"
"We face fact you like so much, Rick. Okay? This is country of
brown-skinned people, like me. People talk to me when they not talk to
you. So I go alone to Davao, on island of Mindanao. Is big city, says in
'Alm-in-ack.' Has 111,263 peoples. Some maybe know something, so my
friends here, they send me to friend in Davao. He helps me meet people
who can maybe help some more. Okay?"
"I should have known," Rick said with admiration. "Leave it to you to
dig up an angle."
Chahda winked. "Among Hindus is always ideas. Now, I go Davao tonight.
You coming too? Okay. You stay at Apo View Hotel. Is very good. I stay
there, too. We not knowing each other for little while, I think. That is
why I come into your room with special key my boss gives me to open many
doors. Better I work alone for now."
Scotty asked, "How much do you know about our friends' disappearance,
Chahda?"
The Hindu boy launched into a concise and rapid summary. Rick wasn't
surprised to find that Chahda knew everything they had found out.
"You never fail to amaze me," Zircon boomed.
Rick went to his suitcase and drew out the unit of the Megabuck network
he had made for Barby. He explained its operation to Chahda, who
promptly slid it under his turban where no one could see it.
"Sahib Brant plenty smart to make this," Chahda intoned. "Poor native
boy salutes mighty scientist!" He ducked Rick's return swing.
Dr. Zircon had gone to his own suitcase. He returned with his
pocket-size wire recorder and handed it to Chahda. "I brought this to
record conversations in other languages. I think you might stimulate
more interesting talk than we could, Chahda. It will record for an hour
on a single spool."
Chahda took the gadget and checked its operation. Rick was amused to see
that the "poor native boy" figured it out in something less than a
minute, and put it casually in his coat pocket.
"We meet in Davao," Chahda said. He shook hands all around, then paused
at the door. "Please, you good friends. I see you worry plenty. We find
Tony and Dr. Shannon. You see." He opened the door and was gone.
Rick breathed a sigh of relief. "I feel better," he stated. "Just seeing
him again makes me feel good."
"I agree," Zircon said, "and so does Scotty. Now, we will do a little
sight-seeing. I haven't been in downtown Manila for twenty years. We'll
only worry and fret if we stay in this hotel room, so let's go."
The three taxied through the old walled city, then across the Pasig
River and into Manila proper. They inspected the Escolta, principal
street in the shopping area, then headed for Quiapo Square to see the
great cathedral and the shops. Traffic was heavy, so they paid the taxi
driver and got out and walked.
As they crossed a pedestrian overpass by the cathedral, Scotty said
quietly, "In case you were feeling neglected, you can stop. We're being
tailed." Rick and Zircon were too experienced to pause or show interest.
Scotty added, "There's quite a mob on the sidewalk once we get down from
this bridge. Push right into it. I'll drop out and intercept him. If
we're being tailed, we want to know why."
The plan was executed smoothly. Rick was never sure when Scotty melted
into a convenient doorway. After a moment he stopped and looked around.
He was in time to see Scotty step from the doorway and confront a small,
poorly dressed man who wore a red fez.
Rick and Zircon were at Scotty's side in an instant.
The man in the red fez reached for a pocket, and Rick tensed to swing if
necessary. But the man only drew out a cardboard pillbox. "Plenty
bargain for Americans," he announced. "Me Moro from Sulu. My cousin best
pearl diver in Jolo. He get real pearl, I sell. You look."
He opened the pillbox. Rick saw a half dozen pearls of assorted sizes.
"We're not interested," Zircon said flatly. "Sorry. Come on, boys."
They walked away, leaving the Moro staring after them.
Zircon chuckled. "A common thing, as I recall it. I also seem to
remember that most of the pearl-selling Moros in Manila are not genuine.
They're Visayans from Cebu trying to sell phony pearls to tourists."
"But he was trailing us," Scotty insisted.
"I don't doubt it in the least," Zircon replied. "He was probably sizing
us up to see if we're tourists or local Americans. Is he trailing us
now?"
Scotty took advantage of a plate-glass window to survey the street
behind them. "Not that I can see," he admitted.
"All right. Let's not be jumpy, boys. Of course we want to know if, or
why, anyone is shadowing us, but I think we have the answer in this
case. Let's let it go at that."