Surprise Package
Colonel Felix Rojas fingered the eagle on one shoulder. "It took me
thirty years to become a colonel," he said. "If you are wrong, Colonel
Rojas will be Private Rojas by morning. You know that?"
"If Lazada is at home," Rick repeated, "it will mean that he hasn't
found the golden skull. If he is not at at home, and doesn't come home,
it will mean that he has it."
"You need not worry, Sahib Colonel. Rick has plenty bright idea. Lazada
will not find that skull, believe me," Chahda assured him.
Chahda and Scotty had beaten Rick to the hotel, and had found both Rojas
and Tony Briotti waiting as a result of the messages the boys had left.
Chahda had gotten away easily, and he had lingered in Paranaque, parked
in shadow, until he saw Scotty go by. Then he had picked him up. When
Rick did not appear, they went to the hotel to wait for word.
Scotty had ditched his pursuers easily by climbing a mango tree and
waiting until they passed. He was more at home in the woods at night
than any of them, including Chahda.
Tony Briotti asked, "Does your father know what kind of chances you
take, Rick?"
Rick grinned. "He's been along on a few expeditions, remember. He knows
we can take care of ourselves."
"So do I, now. Colonel, I have faith in the boys' theory. I think we had
better go to Lazada's."
Rojas nodded. "Even if it means being broken, the chance is worth it to
hang something on that man. Our republic is young. It cannot tolerate
men like him in public office. Without proof we cannot touch him, but if
the proof is there...."
"It will be," Rick said confidently.
Rojas picked up the phone and asked for a number. He got his connection,
gave his name, and asked for Captain Lichauco. To the captain he gave
orders. A platoon was to meet him at Lazada's in fifteen minutes. No
earlier and no later. Then he phoned Dr. Okola and requested that he,
also, be at Lazada's.
"Now," Colonel Rojas said to the Spindrift group, "let us go."
Ten minutes later they got out of the colonel's car in front of Lazada's
house. A Sikh guard started to open the door for them, but Chahda
stopped him and spoke rapidly in Hindi. The guard replied.
"He here, also car," Chahda said.
Colonel Rojas consulted his watch. "We'll wait here."
The minutes ticked by in silence until the headlights of a truck
appeared. The truck pulled up and a young captain got out of the front
seat. He saluted. Rojas gave his crisp orders in Tagolog, which the
captain relayed to the men on the truck. They climbed down with a
minimum of noise and went to surround the house.
"Now," Rojas said, "let us visit Mr. Lazada."
He pushed open the door and marched up the front stairs, the Spindrift
group close behind. At the top of the stairs the constabulary colonel
brushed aside a houseboy and strode into the living room where Lazada
sat with Nast. The two leaped to their feet.
Lazada turned red. "What is the meaning of this?" he demanded.
Colonel Rojas bowed. "I regret to inform you that you are under arrest
on charges of grand larceny, attempting to sell gold illegally, and
conspiracy to smuggle gold out of the country."
Lazada snarled. "I'll have you broken for this, you fool! I don't know
what you're talking about."
"I think you do. These American gentlemen have told me quite a story."
"I'm sure of it. And whose word do you take? That of your countryman and
senior official, or the word of these foreign adventurers?"
"Theirs," Rojas said. "I will accept from you the custody of a certain
golden skull, stolen by you from the Ifugaos."
Lazada had recovered his composure. He chuckled. "I have no golden
skull. You are free to search, even without a warrant, Colonel."
"Thank you. Please lead the way to your garage."
"Certainly, but you will find nothing there but my car."
Lazada led the way to the back of the house and down a flight of stairs
to a garage. If the sight of constabulary troopers with ready carbines
bothered him, he didn't show it. But Nast, obviously, was worried. He
kept casting glances at the boys.
"Better give the colonel that shoulder gun you missed me with earlier
tonight," Rick told him. "You might hurt yourself with it."
Colonel Rojas held out his hand. "Give."
Nast did.
In the garage was the limousine. Lazada waved at it. "As I told you,
nothing here but my car."
"And a golden skull," Rick said. He opened the trunk and reached in for
the box!
Lazada screamed with sudden fear and rage. He leaped for Rick. He met
Scotty's fist and sat down, hard.
Colonel Rojas had been sweating profusely. Now, at the sight of the
golden skull, he took out his handkerchief, wiped his face, and smiled
contentedly. "We'll need a new Assistant Secretary now," he said
happily. "And we'll ship Mr. Nast back to America as an undesirable
alien. The authorities there will take him into custody."
"Have you found it? Where is the skull?" someone called.
Dr. Okola came running up the driveway, and with him, in immaculate
white linens, was Nangolat!
* * * * *
The group sat in Dr. Okola's office at the museum. Outside, constabulary
troopers were on guard. Inside, a fabulous collection of golden and
silver artifacts, dominated by the golden skull, received the admiring
attention of the Spindrift group, Colonel Rojas, Angel Manotok, and Dr.
Okola, with Nangolat as lecturer.
When he had finished describing the various objects and their uses, the
Ifugao said, "And now, I must explain. I am here because I gave myself
up to Dr. Okola. He, in turn, will hand me to the police. I asked only
that I be permitted to examine the treasures."
Tony Briotti shook his head. "I don't understand. You're intelligent,
well-educated, and well on the road to becoming a scientist. Why did you
do it?"
Nangolat's broad face was sad but composed. "How can I explain? I almost
killed my good friend Angel. I attacked innocent American scientists who
had no evil intentions toward my people. I goaded the young men of
Banaue into war against the wishes of their elders. It is only because
my gods watched over me that I do not have your blood on my hands. But
how can I explain?"
His dark eyes pleaded for understanding. "You cannot know what it is to
an Ifugao or an Igorot. In America you respect your primitives--your
Indians. But here, we are just aborigines--primitive animals, eaters of
dog. We are sneered at and despised. To Americans we are curiosities. We
wear breechcloths and funny hats that we use for pockets."
"Nangolat!" Dr. Okola exclaimed. "I never suspected that you felt like
that. I thought we had always treated you as we did any other student."
"You were the ones who treated me as a man," Nangolat admitted. "You and
Angel. But when I worked with you in tracing down the golden skull and
what it meant to my people, something happened. The more we learned, the
more I resented the attitudes of the others, those who despise the
Ifugao as a dog-eating animal. I believed that in the golden skull we
had the proof that the Ifugaos were better than any of you, that our
civilization was older. I lost my civilization. I forgot my friends. I
could only think that here was proof of the greatness of the Ifugao, and
that the Americans were coming to take it away."
"But we said that the artifacts would remain here," Tony Briotti
reminded him. "We told Dr. Okola that we would not ask permission to
take them out of the country."
"Yes, but I was worried. I went to Lazada, to plead with him to forbid
you to take them under any circumstances, and he told me that he was
helpless, officially. He said that the American Government would insist
on getting the treasures of my people, and that our own government would
have to yield because we need American financial aid."
"Of all the rotten lies!" Rick exclaimed angrily.
"Yes. But he was an official of our government and I believed him. Then
he goaded me. He said that only an Ifugao would allow such a thing to
happen, because the Ifugaos were less than men. Men would protect their
treasures. I was emotionally upset already. His goading drove me
berserk. I was truly mad. So, I acted as I did."
"Tell them what happened at Banaue," Okola said gently.
"Dr. Briotti convinced me that he was not trying to steal our treasure.
That is, he almost convinced me, and he did convince our priests. But
Lazada came, and he said the American ambassador was already demanding
custody of the treasure as soon as it was found. You know what happened
then."
"We sure do," Scotty said.
"Then the jeep got away, and later the plane came. We did not keep
attacking, because many of our young men had lost heart. They couldn't
see the sense of rushing into the muzzles of your rifles over some
treasure they knew nothing about. I had worked them up to the point of
attacking once, but I could not do it again. Then the plane dropped the
sack. We did not know what was in it, except that it must be part of the
treasure. Lazada carried it to his car. I followed and demanded the bag.
He said he had no bag, although it was in plain sight. He was smiling.
He said the plane got all the bags; he didn't have any. I saw at once
what he was doing. He was going to take the bag and pretend that he had
never seen it, and it would be the word of a group of poor Ifugao
natives against the word of a great official. I saw red. I reached for
him, and Nast struck me with his gun."
Nangolat rubbed his head. "He knocked me out, and he knocked sense into
me. I walked to Bontoc and took the bus south. Now I am ready to be
punished."
Rick was deeply touched by Nangolat's recital. He remembered how
favorably impressed they had been that first day, when they thought he
was Angel. "Speaking for myself," he offered, "I am grateful to Nangolat
for a warm reception at Banaue, and for an interesting visit to the rice
terraces."
Scotty took the cue. "As for me, I haven't had so much fun in a fight
since that free-for-all at Canton Charlie's in Hong Kong."
Chahda bowed. "I also represent ancient Asia people. Very grateful to
Nangolat for fine demonstration of how Ifugaos fight. Very different
from Hindu method."
The three boys looked at Tony. He had suffered the most at Nangolat's
hands. Nangolat had tried to kill him, then had kidnaped him, and had
intended to take his head.
Tony smiled. "And I am grateful to Nangolat for personally conducting me
to Banaue and for putting on such an interesting series of rituals and
dances."
Angel Manotok went to Nangolat and took his hand. "Can a Filipino be
less of a friend than an American? It was too bad I fell on my head and
almost fractured my skull. How nice it was of you, Nangolat, to pretend
to be me so I would not lose face with the Americans by not appearing to
work for them."
There were tears in the Ifugao's eyes. "What a magnificent group of
storytellers you are!"
Colonel Rojas grinned. "Sounded like the truth to me, Nangolat. And if
anyone wants to know what kind of men the Ifugaos are, send them to me.
I led Mountain Province warriors against the Japanese. They attacked
tanks barehanded. They fought like fiends. They made me proud to be a
Filipino."
Tony Briotti picked up the golden skull. "We have a lot of work to do,
Nangolat. We'll need your help. And all of us will have to testify
against Lazada."
"Golly, that's right," Rick said. "What a nuisance that will be. We'll
have to wait around for weeks."
"Not that long," Colonel Rojas promised. "This is one case that will be
tried in a hurry. But you will have to stay a while. You will my guests.
There's a lot of the Philippines you haven't seen. We might even be able
to stir up a little excitement for you."
"No, thanks," Rick said.
"Sorry," Chahda said.
"Need peace and quiet," Scotty said.
Tony laughed. "Don't believe them. They may stay quiet until tomorrow,
but I doubt it. What do you have in mind?"
"I'd like to take them to Mindoro Island, south of here, to hunt
timarau. In case you don't know, those are water buffalo. They rate as
the most dangerous game animal in Asia."
"Too exciting for me," Rick said.
But in later years when the Ifugao expedition was mentioned, Rick,
Scotty, and Chahda always talked much more about the hunting on Mindoro
than they did about their encounter with the Ifugaos. And they were
prouder of the timarau heads in the study than of the Ifugao spears that
had been thrown at them and brought back by Angel as souvenirs.
_The_ RICK BRANT SCIENCE-ADVENTURE _Stories_
BY JOHN BLAINE
THE ROCKET'S SHADOW
THE LOST CITY
SEA GOLD
100 FATHOMS UNDER
THE WHISPERING BOX MYSTERY
THE PHANTOM SHARK
SMUGGLERS' REEF
THE CAVES OF FEAR
STAIRWAY TO DANGER
THE GOLDEN SKULL
THE WAILING OCTOPUS
THE ELECTRONIC MIND READER
THE SCARLET LAKE MYSTERY
THE PIRATES OF SHAN