The Caves of Fear: A Rick Brant Science-Adventure Story

by Harold L. Goodwin

  CHAPTER XIX

  Canton Charlie's

  "You've come a long way, lads," Keaton-Yeats said. "From golden mice toblue sheep and back to golden mice again. I must say, you should bethoroughly familiar with the animal kingdom by now."

  "They very familiar with animal world," Chahda agreed. "Also, sometimesbecome part of that world by making jackasses of their selves. Like whenshooting blue sheep."

  The boys had each bagged a blue sheep, but at considerable risk to lifeand limb. In the process, they had gotten themselves marooned on a rockledge high above Korse Lenken, from which Sing, with the help of thebearers, had managed to rescue them.

  "Never mind," Carl Bradley said. "They got their sheep, even if italmost took their necks to do it. Those heads will make nice trophies bythe time the taxidermist is through with them."

  The heads were in a Hong Kong shop, being mounted. Bradley had promisedto ship them back to Spindrift by sea.

  Canton Charlie made his way through the empty tables, followed by aChinese who carried a tray laden with glasses.

  "More dragon's blood, meaning coke," Zircon said with a smile. "Isuggest we drink a toast to success and then get down to business. Carl,you've kept us waiting long enough to hear your story."

  "It's the sort of tale that should be heard on a full stomach," theethnologist said. "That's why I've made you wait. Now that we've filledup on Charlie's excellent chow, we'll talk. We have a little whilebefore the mob gathers."

  Bradley had insisted that all of them, including Keaton-Yeats, dine withhim at the Golden Mouse before swapping experiences and completing thestory of the heavy water. They had eaten real Cantonese food, each usingchopsticks, and they were full to the ears.

  Scotty grinned at Canton Charlie. "We owe you an apology," he said.

  The proprietor of the Golden Mouse shook his head. "The other wayaround. Carl and Chahda told me you would come. If I'd kept a betterlookout while waiting for Carl to come after I sent him a message, thatPortuguese would never have had a chance to tip off Long Shadow, and theChinese who dropped the message would have been caught in the act."

  After talking it over, they had decided that the Portuguese seaman whohad been giving himself a manicure with a dagger probably had been theone who tipped off Long Shadow about three Americans who had asked forChahda. Of course Long Shadow knew of Chahda's connection with Bradleybecause of the incidents in Singapore.

  Canton Charlie grinned evilly. "That Portuguese won't do any more spyin'for Long Shadow."

  His meaning was clear. Rick's eyes met Scotty's.

  "Pull up a chair, Charlie," Carl Bradley said. "We'll drink a toast incoke to our former pals. Long Shadow and Worthington Ko."

  Zircon lifted his glass, then took a sip. "Long Shadow said he and Kowere finished," he recalled. "And you said as much in your note, orimplied it. But I'm hanged if I know why they're finished. They werehealthy enough when we left them at Korse Lenken."

  Bradley smiled without mirth. "To understand their punishment, you mustunderstand what has happened. Suppose I start at the beginning?"

  "Best place," Chahda said. "Better start at Singapore, boss. Plenty Idon't know, too."

  "All right, Chahda. To begin with, I first heard about heavy water inSingapore from an informant with whom I deal. I'm no physicist, ofcourse. I wouldn't know heavy water if I were served coffee made withthe stuff. But I saw the implications right away and I sent a cable toWashington. You know about that because Steve Ames contacted HartsonBrant, if I'm right."

  "You're right," Rick agreed.

  "At the time I knew nothing except that heavy water had appeared inSingapore. I continued investigations at top speed. I managed to locatethe house which was headquarters for the heavy-water dealers, again withthe aid of an informant. At first I thought the stuff was comingoverland, down the Malay Peninsula. Then I learned it was being shippedin by boat from Hong Kong."

  Customers were starting to come into the Golden Mouse. Bradley loweredhis voice so as not to be overheard. "At the same time, the dealersspotted Chahda and me. It wasn't hard to do for an expert such as wewere up against. I walked into our hotel room and was jumped byWorthington Ko and some Chinese thugs. We had it hot and heavy for awhile and some blood was shed." He grinned. "Not mine, I'm happy to say.I managed to get clear and decided I'd better drop out of sight. So Ibecame a Eurasian seaman. It's a disguise I've used before, and it'squite safe."

  Rick studied Bradley's face. He had a bone-deep tan, and his face,although pleasant, had no really distinguishing features. It was easy tosee how he could become a Eurasian. Disguise, after all, was justputting yourself into a part. It wasn't a matter of make-up.

  "I hurried to Hong Kong," Bradley went on, "sure that Chahda would piecetogether the story enough to follow me. I stopped at Saigon on the wayand contacted our legation there. The minister had received the cablesent to all missions in the Far East giving your names, descriptions,and time of arrival in Hong Kong."

  "The timing must have been close," Scotty said.

  "It was. The legation had received the cable only hours before myarrival. It probably was the day you left New York."

  "Also I think it was day I left Singapore," Chahda said.

  "I got to Hong Kong and contacted Charlie," Bradley continued. "Tell uswhat you found out, Charlie."

  Charlie shrugged. "No trouble. I got in touch with a pal in the ChineseBeggar's Guild. He checked up and found out that a lot of cooliescarrying goatskin water bags were crossing from China to Kowloon andfrom Kowloon to the island. Of course a lot of that goes on, anyway. Butsome of the coolies weren't selling their water. I got my hands on oneof the coolies and we sort of told him he ought to sing us a song aboutwhere the water came from." Charlie grinned. "He sang all right. Heyodeled real good, about Korse Lenken. He also said Long Shadow had beenat the monastery."

  "Do you know Long Shadow?" Rick asked Bradley.

  "Yes. I'd never met him, but I knew him by reputation."

  Charlie stood up. "Got to take care of the customers. See you later."

  As he left, Bradley continued, "Next step was to get a line on thesource of the heavy water. We had the name of Korse Lenken, but that wasall. I assumed it was being produced industrially somewhere on theTibetan border. But that would take equipment, of course, so I put theconsulate commercial section to work finding out if Long Shadow had beendabbling in industrial equipment. That's routine for a consulate. Well,he hadn't. But what turned up but the fact that he had imported someNansen bottles."

  "I begin to see how it shaped up," Zircon said.

  "It wasn't difficult, really," Bradley admitted. "Just took plugging. Atthat time, Chahda arrived from Singapore, bringing Long Shadow with him,although he didn't know it."

  "Unhappy me," Chahda complained.

  Bradley smiled at the Hindu boy. "Don't be unhappy. Long Shadow is thebest in the business. Well, I told Chahda to go to Korse Lenken, thendropped my disguise. As I had hoped, Long Shadow started following me,dropping Chahda. Once Chahda was on his way, I ditched Long Shadow andbecame the Eurasian once more. We had given Charlie instructions aboutyou. He got in touch with me the moment you showed up, but I wasdelayed. Meanwhile, you had been spotted, probably when you asked forChahda. Long Shadow must have figured the odds were piling up. He'd lostme, so he probably decided to keep the odds down by removing all ofyou."

  He nodded at Keaton-Yeats. "Thanks to our young British friend, we foundyou before you'd been knocked in the head. Then I took off after LongShadow, as you know. Somewhere between times I'd gotten the consul toget a Nansen bottle, a rubber boat, and that other stuff for you. Ididn't know why you'd need the rubber boat, but I figured a Nansenbottle meant water and you'd better be prepared."

  "If we hadn't been trapped in the caverns, we could have used the rubberboat," Rick said. "But it was at camp with Sing when we needed it."

  "Fortunes of war," Bradley said. "Well, while you were sneaking aroundthrough the caves, I kept busy. You probab
ly know that the Far East isthe happiest spying ground in the world. There are so many spies theyhave to spy on each other." He turned suddenly to Keaton-Yeats. "Isn'tthat right, colleague?"

  The young Englishman's expression never changed. "And some are almightygood," he said calmly. "Like Bradley. Soon as I knew he was on the case,I reported to my superiors and we dropped the thing like a hot potato,just to avoid being at cross-purposes. We knew that the Americans wouldtip us off as soon as they had a definite answer."

  The boys stared at Keaton-Yeats. "But you're a bank clerk!" Rickexclaimed.

  "He's also a British intelligence agent," Bradley said, grinning."That's why I insisted he come tonight. We've already informed theBritish, through channels, that the heavy-water menace no longer exists.Keaton-Yeats is here tonight to get the details."

  "You chaps would be simply amazed at how much valuable information onepicks up in a bank," Keaton-Yeats said. "Astounding. Although I must sayhaving lads ask for golden mice is a bit unusual."

  Scotty shook his head. "And you looked so innocent," he complained. "Webelieved everything you said."

  The young Englishman grinned. "I am innocent," he replied. "No woollylittle lamb could be more so. And I did tell you the blessed truth, youknow, even though I didn't mention I had a bit of a job to do as well ashaving an interest in your welfare. Our own chaps had discovered heavywater was coming into Hong Kong, too, so naturally we were interested.But since Bradley was already on the job, and we co-operate with youAmericans on matters atomic, we sat back and waited."

  "I'm astonished," Zircon admitted. "But get on with your story, Carl."

  "Right. As I said, spies spy on each other. I contacted a French agent Iknow, and in the course of having lunch with him I casually asked howmuch he had paid for the information about an atomic pile. I was justfishing, of course. Well, he took the bait. He leaped at it like astriking tuna. I knew I had something then. From there on, it wasn'thard to uncover the whole business, just by making contact with theespionage agents of various countries."

  The JANIG man wet his throat with another sip of coke. "And business isjust what it was. I can't say how long ago Long Shadow found out therewas heavy water in the Caves of Fear. I did find out that in his youngerdays he was something of a scientist and that he explored the KorseLenken region thoroughly. That was shortly before the discovery of heavywater in Lake Baikal. I think we can assume that he pieced the storytogether and realized that the lake in the caverns had the samepossibilities. It would have been only a matter of scientific curiositythen, but with recent developments in the atomic field, thepossibilities took on a new light."

  He paused as a Filipino brushed by, then resumed, lowering his voice soonly those at the table could hear. "He's a smart one. I've known abouthim for a long time, as one of the best free-lance agents in the FarEast. He has a good reputation for accuracy, and he sells--orsold--information to the highest bidder. He was riding on his reputationin this deal, because as soon as the facts became known, as they had tosooner or later, he was all washed up as a spy."

  "I don't get it," Rick complained.

  "I'll explain. He was selling a story to every country that wasinterested. He would contact the embassy, consulate, or chief espionageagent of, say, country X. He would report that country Y had a secretatomic pile--nuclear reactor, that is--in the mountains of West China.You can imagine the excitement. He would sell that information for areasonable price. Then, for a considerably higher price, he wouldundertake to collect a sample of the deuterium they were using. Once hecollected the sample, which of course came from Korse Lenken, he wouldcontract to give them the location of the reactor for a very high priceindeed. He made the rounds country by country, changing his story asneeded. Of course he collected in advance for the location, which was tobe delivered later, after he had risked his life getting it. That wasthe story he used--and some of the best agents in the Orient fell forit."

  The daring ingenuity of the thing made Rick shake his head. "But theywere certain to catch up with him!"

  "Of course. He knew it. But he intended to stall in giving them thefinal location until he had tapped every possible source. Then I believehe intended handing them some phony location in West China, after whichhe would disappear and live on the proceeds. He collected enough to makehim very wealthy. He hadn't reached us yet, but you can bet that if Ihadn't stumbled on the story, he would have made a sale to one of ourembassies or consulates."

  "Ours, too," Keaton-Yeats said. "He took advantage of all the interestin atomic weapons. And of his reputation, of course."

  "What about Ko?" Scotty asked.

  "Ko had a side line," Bradley explained. "He was selling heavy water tovarious institutions and schools all over Asia for normal experimentalpurposes. He claimed to be importing it from England. That was why theywere bringing so much out."

  "That is also how we got interested," Keaton-Yeats said. "We got queriesabout more heavy water at a lower price from one of the schools that hadbought Ko's product. Naturally, we knew no heavy water was coming fromEngland, so we got interested very quickly."

  "We sure dropped a monkey wrench in a gold mine," Rick said.

  "Evidently," Zircon agreed. "But you haven't explained why Long Shadowand Ko are finished."

  Keaton-Yeats laughed grimly.

  Bradley stretched his legs out. "Easy. The story had already spreadabout heavy water at Korse Lenken. Ronnie and I got the good wordcirculating right after we received your cable from Chungking. By nowall the countries he sold his story to--and that is most countries--knowthey've been done in the eye, as our British friend would say. Do youknow the penalty for a double cross in the espionage racket?"

  "A bullet, a knife, or a blunt instrument," Keaton-Yeats said. "It's ascertain as tomorrow's dawn."

  Bradley nodded. "Also, the lamas won't permit the two of them to remainafter their wounds are healed. They are evil men, and the lamas know it.Sooner or later, they'll have to leave the mountains and entercivilization. I know their type. They might survive if they wanted tolive alone in the mountains like two wolves. But they won't."

  Rick shuddered. He knew from experience what it was like to be hunted.Ko and Long Shadow would be hunted by agents of a dozen countries ormore once they set foot in civilization. After that, it was only amatter of time. The two couldn't escape for long.

  "Now," Bradley said, "let's have the details of your trip."

  A burly English seaman brushed past.

  "I'll be quick," Zircon said. "You know...."

  Bradley let out a yelp as the seaman stepped squarely on his foot."Watch out where you're going, you big ox!" he exclaimed.

  The seaman stopped short. "Who you callin' a ruddy ox, you littleblighter?" He grabbed Bradley by the collar.

  The JANIG man's hands moved in a blur of speed. One struck the seaman'shand away. The second caught him just above the solar plexus. The seamanrocked backward, stumbled over a table occupied by three Portuguese, andcrashed to the floor, taking the table with him. One Portuguese clubbedthe seaman over the head with a bottle. The second threw a glass atBradley. The third picked up a chair.

  "Look out!" Scotty yelled. He flung his coke into the face of the chairwielder, then jumped to grab the chair. The Portuguese, who had swungthe bottle, threw it at Scotty, missed, and knocked the glass out of thehand of a Sikh seated at a near-by table. The Sikh rose with a battleyell and leaped.

  Rick lost track after that. For a moment he stood amazed, then jumped tohelp Chahda, who was being tackled from behind by one of the Portuguese.Canton Charlie's was in an uproar. The fight had spread like fire indead leaves. Rick hadn't been aware of the place filling up, but it wasdefinitely full. Bottles and glasses flew.

  He ducked a wild swing with a chair, then as he stood up he brought thetable with him, dumping it over on three Chinese who were strugglingwith Scotty. A fist caught him behind the ear. He kicked backward, thenwhirled, his elbow catching a Filipino sailor in the chest. The Filipinosprawle
d backward.

  A bottle whizzed past Rick's ear. He ducked, then rushed to Zircon. Thebig scientist was holding a British seaman in each hand, busily knockingtheir heads together. Scotty rose out of his path, swinging. A Eurasianwho had been about to swing with a bottle stopped short, swaying, asScotty's fist connected. The bottle dropped on Chahda, who was crawlingout from under a table.

  An American sailor rushed past, one arm catching Rick and sending himsprawling. Rick swung wildly, and pulled his punch just in time to keepfrom bashing Keaton-Yeats, who was busy with a swarthy man with goldrings in his ears. The place was a madhouse. Bradley went headlong atRick's feet, jumped up again like a rubber ball, and plunged into thefray. Rick saw with amazement that he was grinning from ear to ear.

  A Portuguese rose from nowhere and aimed a roundhouse swing at Rick'shead. He ducked, then put all his weight into an overhand chop, missed,and fell against the Portuguese. The man threw him off and caught himbehind the ear with a short hook. Rick shook his head, dazed. Anotherpunch caught him on the cheek. He lost his temper then and flailed out.One fist connected solidly. The Portuguese vanished, to be replaced bysomeone else. Rick swung until his arms were leaden. Then, in the midstof the turmoil, came a stentorian bellow.

  "Here! Listen!"

  He turned. Canton Charlie was standing on the bar, and a sawed-offshotgun roamed impartially over the crowd. "The first man who pulls aknife gets this!" he shouted.

  There was a roar from the mob, and the instant of silence dissolved intoa melee again. Rick turned back to see how his friends were doing andsaw a fist coming at him. He tried to bring his hands up, but he was tooslow. The fist got bigger and bigger and bigger and exploded into brightlights. His knees buckled. He drifted off into peace and quiet.

  CHAPTER XX

  Home Flight

  "The Golden Mouse," Keaton-Yeats said judiciously, "is rapidly becominga purple mouse." He tilted Rick's face to the light. "I also see othercolors. By the time you get home, a rainbow will be rather pale and dullby comparison."

  "I got a mouse hung on me all right," Rick said. "And I didn't even seewho did it."

  "I did," Scotty volunteered. "It was a British seaman. Chahda polishedhim off with a bottle before you even hit the floor."

  Zircon wrapped gauze around Bradley's knuckles. "For an ethnologist,which is a peaceful profession, you are mighty quick to take offense,"he stated.

  "My boss is a sudden man," Chahda said from the bed where he lay with awet cloth on his head.

  They were in their room at the Peninsular Hotel. Rick had recoveredunder the urging of a bucket of water in the hands of Canton Charlie. Hewas still wet. He stripped off his shirt and grinned as he looked aroundhim. All of them bore souvenirs. His own probably was the most colorful,consisting of a black eye that covered nearly half of his face. Scottyhad a welt across his forehead that would last several days. Bradley hadlost most of the skin off the knuckles of his right hand. Zircon movedgingerly, favoring his bruised ribs. Chahda and Keaton-Yeats borepainful egg-shaped lumps from swung bottles.

  "Happens at Charlie's every night," Bradley said. "Can't disappoint thecustomers. Only a question of who starts it. Tonight I happened to bethe one. You get so you rather enjoy it after a while."

  "As a sport, it will never replace checkers," Scotty said. He winced ashis fingers explored the welt on his forehead.

  Rick chuckled. He could see what Bradley meant. As long as CantonCharlie's shotgun ensured fair play, to the extent of no knives, it wasjust a free-for-all such as might happen anywhere--at least where seamengathered.

  "It's like swimming in cold water," he said. "Getting in is tough, butit's kind of fun once you've made the plunge."

  Bradley flexed his bandaged hand. "That's right. Now, it's getting lateand I still want to hear about your experiences. Hobart, want to pick upwhere we left off?"

  They found seats on the beds and in the wicker chairs while the bigscientist told of their adventures in Korse Lenken, with assists fromthe boys. When he had finished, Keaton-Yeats sighed. "I wish now I'dgone with you," he said. "Nothing dull where you Americans go. While youwere barging around caves, I was making change at the bank. Very dull."

  "I guess that ties up all the loose ends," Bradley said. "And it makesquite a package."

  "Even without a nuclear reactor or any potential atom bombs," Rickadded. "Anyway, we couldn't know until we investigated that there wasn'tsome kind of atomic menace in the offing."

  "Right," Zircon agreed. "I must say, however, that I have a fine storyfor one of the scientific journals. My analysis of the water samplesshows a layer almost a foot deep of nearly pure deuterium. It's anamazing phenomenon which will require more of a theory than just theheavy water settling. Settling wouldn't produce a fraction of theamount. I'm taking the samples home for further analysis, along withsome samples of limestone from the caves. Who knows? This may produce ascientific finding of some significance."

  "It may," Bradley agreed. "I hope it does, because then the trip willhave made some contribution to the sum total of our knowledge besidescontributing information to the JANIG files."

  "And the files of our office," Keaton-Yeats added.

  Rick looked at Chahda. "What now for you? Going to stay in the Far Eastfor a while?"

  The Hindu boy smiled. "Not so very long. I think now I go back toBombay, see my family for a while, then I will come to Spindrift."

  "Swell!" Scotty exclaimed. "We've missed you, half pint."

  Zircon and Rick echoed the sentiment.

  "No point in our staying on," the scientist said. "If we can get space,we'll take off on tomorrow's flight." He smiled. "It will be good to getback to our peaceful lab, eh, lads?"

  "Yes," Scotty agreed.

  "Definitely," Rick said.

  And even as they spoke, halfway across the world hammer strokescompleted a structure that would mean anything but peace, a story to betold in the next volume:

  STAIRWAY TO DANGER

  _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