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

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  THE CAVES OF FEAR

  A RICK BRANT SCIENCE-ADVENTURE STORY

  BY JOHN BLAINE

  GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERSNEW YORK, N.Y.

  COPYRIGHT, 1951, BYGROSSET & DUNLAP, INC.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  _Printed in the United States of America_

  At the base of the Black Buddha, a section of the floorhad swung upward.]

  Contents

  I CHANGES AT SPINDRIFT

  II THE CIPHER MESSAGE

  III HEAVY WATER

  IV PROJECT X

  V HONG KONG

  VI THE GOLDEN MOUSE

  VII THE JUNK WITH PURPLE SAILS

  VIII LONG SHADOW

  IX THE TRAIL TO KORSE LENKEN

  X THE AMBUSH AT LLHAN HUANG

  XI THE GOATSKIN WATER BAG

  XII THE BUDDHIST MONK

  XIII THE BLACK BUDDHA

  XIV THE CAVES OF FEAR

  XV THE LABYRINTH

  XVI THE LAKE OF DARKNESS

  XVII THROUGH A PAIR OF DARK GLASSES

  XVIII THE HOSTAGES

  XIX CANTON CHARLIE'S

  XX HOME FLIGHT

  THE CAVES OF FEAR

  CHAPTER I

  Changes at Spindrift

  The sounds of hammer and saw had disturbed Spindrift Island for severaldays, and Rick Brant was having a hard time getting used to it. Thenoise didn't bother him. It was the idea behind the noise--the idea thatthe close fellowship of the famous island was about to be intruded uponby strangers.

  He sat in a comfortable chair on the front porch of the big Brant houseand stared morosely at the Atlantic. He was a tall, athletic boy withbrown hair and eyes and a face that was usually pleasant.

  "What's it going to be like with a mob of strangers galloping all overthe place?" he demanded.

  Don Scott grinned lazily from the depths of his armchair. He was a huskyyouth, perhaps an inch taller than Rick, with black hair and dark eyes."Since when do five people make a mob?" he inquired. "Besides, I thinkadding more scientists to the staff is a good thing. So does Dad."

  "I know it," Rick returned gloomily. "The others do, too. I'm adowntrodden minority. No one sympathizes with me."

  Scotty shook his head sadly. "Poor old Rick. Seriously, I don't get it.You should be cheering the loudest. Think of what it means, pal! Morefields of science to explore, including one I never heard of before.Maybe more expeditions, of different kinds than the ones we've been onup to now."

  "That's what I'm thinking about," Rick returned.

  "Then why the gloom?"

  "Because..." Rick stopped as the phone rang in the house.

  Scotty got to his feet quickly. "I'll get it. Mom and Dad are downwatching the builders."

  Rick smiled as Scotty went into the house. It pleased him to have Scottycall Mr. and Mrs. Brant "Mom and Dad." It was a symbol of Scotty'spermanence in the family. No one had ever questioned Scotty's membershipin the Spindrift tribe since the day when the scrappy ex-Marine hadrescued Rick from a gang of thugs bent on destroying the IslandFoundation's moon rocket, and it was pleasant to think of Scotty as apermanent brother. The two of them had been through some tight placestogether and they were closer friends than brothers usually are. LikeRick, Scotty was listed on the membership rolls of the SpindriftFoundation as a junior technician.

  Hartson W. Brant was listed as president, but it was Rick's pride thathe and Scotty had earned places because of their own worth, and notbecause of their relationship with the scientist. However, theirabilities were not the same. Because of Rick's interest in science,particularly electronics, he had become expert in intricate wiring andhe was rapidly learning about the design of equipment. Scotty's talentwas in the mechanical field. He could repair machinery and he was a whizwith engines.

  Thinking about work in the lab reminded Rick that he had an unfinishedproject of his own on his workbench upstairs. He was half out of hischair, determined to go upstairs and put the rest of the afternoon togood use, when Scotty called.

  "Rick! Hurry up."

  He ran into the library and found Scotty holding the phone. "Here's afunny one, Rick. The Whiteside telegraph office has a cable for you, butthey won't read it over the phone because it's all numbers. And it'sfrom Chahda."

  Chahda, the Hindu boy who had been like a member of the family since hejoined a Spindrift expedition in Bombay, was back home in India. He hadleft the boys in New Caledonia after a recent adventure in order tovisit his family.

  "I'd better talk to them," Rick said. "Who's on the wire?"

  "Bill Martin."

  Rick took the phone. "Bill? This is Rick. What's up?"

  "Got a cable addressed to you," Bill answered. "I'd rather not try toread it over the phone because it's all numbers. Can you or Scotty pickit up?"

  "Where's it from?" Rick asked.

  "Singapore. And it's signed by your Indian friend."

  Singapore! What on earth was Chahda doing in Singapore? Rick couldn'tguess. "Bill, what kind of numbers are they?"

  "Groups. Seven figures in each group. If you ask me, it's some kind ofcode."

  Rick thought quickly. "Barby's in Whiteside, Bill. She went over to amovie right after lunch, and she should just about be getting out. Youcan get her next door at the Sugar Shop, because she always stops inthere for a fudge sundae after the show. If she's already gone, phonethe boat landing. You ought to catch her one place or the other."

  "I'll try," Bill promised. "If I don't catch her, I'll call you back."

  "Thanks a million." Rick restored the phone to its cradle and looked atScotty. "What do you make of that?"

  Scotty shrugged. "It beats me. I didn't know Chahda was planning toleave Bombay. If it comes to that, I didn't know he knew anything aboutcodes."

  "Neither did I," Rick agreed. "Remember he said something about a job inhis last letter? There was something secret about it he couldn't tellus. Maybe that's why he's in Singapore."

  "Could be. Anyway, we won't know for sure until we get the cable anddecipher it. If we _can_ decipher it, that is."

  "We'll be able to," Rick said confidently. "He wouldn't send us one wecouldn't break."

  Scotty nodded. "I hope you're right. Well, let's go back and get lazyagain."

  "Not me." Rick started for the stairs. "I'm going to stop loafing andget busy. The lenses for the camera arrived a week ago and I haven'teven looked at them."

  "I'll go with you. I got some questions about these new people maybe youcan answer."

  Upstairs in Rick's bedroom, Scotty sat down in the old leather armchairwhile Rick opened up the doors that concealed his workbench. On thebench was a camera with an odd-looking searchlight and telescopeattached. The searchlight gave off invisible infrared rays instead ofordinary light, and the telescope was equipped with special lenses inorder to pick up the infrared. When the camera was loaded with specialfilm, it could take pictures in total darkness, provided the subject waswithin range of the infrared light rays.

  The camera had played a major part in solving the mystery of _Smugglers'Reef_. With the evidence collected from Rick's pictures, the police hadbroken up a ring of gunrunners. But Rick still was not satisfied withthe camera. He was always striving to find the simplest way of doing athing.


  This time, he was planning to eliminate both the spring-driven dynamothat powered the searchlight, and the infrared telescope. A new-typebattery in a small metal case already had been mounted under the camera,far enough to one side so it wouldn't interfere with the tripod mount.The battery would give ten hours of service, and it could be replaced ina moment with a spare carried in the pocket.

  To take the place of the telescope, Rick had ordered lenses made of thespecial glass that could "see" infrared. He intended to put the lensesin ordinary sunglasses frames, restore the regular view finder to thecamera, and turn the telescope over to Scotty. By using the eyeglasseswith special lenses he could see whatever the infrared searchlight waslighting up without the need of looking through the special telescope.Using the glasses and searchlight on the camera together, he could seeperfectly in the darkness, and he could take movies, too, if he wantedto.

  He went to work removing the telescope.

  "I've checked," Scotty said. "That 'scope will fit the mount on my riflewith no changes."

  Scotty already had a telescopic sight on his rifle, and the telescopefrom the infrared unit could be put in its place with a simple turn of ascrew. The infrared 'scope and light originally had been designed for arifle to be used by soldiers at night. Rick had simply adapted the unitto his own needs.

  "We can get in some night skunk hunting," Scotty said. "You put theinfrared on 'em and take their pictures and I'll sight in through thespecial 'scope and shoot 'em."

  Rick slipped the telescope out of its mount and handed it to Scotty. "Ifthere's one thing I don't need," he said, "it's a dead skunk. Couldn'twe hunt prairie moose instead?"

  "What's a prairie moose?" Scotty demanded.

  "A field mouse with horns."

  Scotty groaned. "All right, scientist. Let's get serious and see if youcan answer this one. We have an archeologist, a naturalist, and acyberneticist coming. I think I know what the first two are, but what inthe name of a blue baboon is a cyberneticist?"

  Rick put the camera view finder into place and began to adjust it. "Aspecialist in cybernetics," he said.

  Scotty waved his arms. "Now I know!" he exclaimed triumphantly. "Anyidiot knows what cybernetics is. Or what they are. Ten cents apiece atany hardware counter. No family should be without a handy-dandycybernetic!"

  Rick chuckled. "All right. Cybernetics is a combined study of machinesand the human nervous system. It's trying to figure out how machines andhumans are related. I don't know much about it myself, but I do knowthis: the big electronic calculators that do problems in a few hoursthat it would take humans hundreds of years to finish were the result ofcybernetics."

  "The big brains!" Scotty looked awed. "I've read about them. And tothink we're going to have that kind of expert here!"

  "With his wife and two kids," Rick added. "I wonder how Huggins willlike a crowd of kids trampling through his garden!"

  Scotty laughed outright. "Here we go again! Listen, Rick, start makingsense. How can twins less than a year old trample anyone's garden?"

  Rick didn't try to answer. He finished the adjustment on the camera andput it back on the shelf, then started to work replacing the lenses inan old pair of sunglasses with the special ones he had ordered. After amoment, he asked, "Scotty, how would you like it if an expedition leftSpindrift and we weren't with it?"

  Scotty stared. "My sainted aunt! Is that's what's been bothering you?"

  Rick admitted it. He knew where he stood with the old gang, HartsonBrant, Hobart Zircon, Julius Weiss, and John Gordon. He was far fromsure of how the new staff members would look on him and Scotty. He hadlearned that some scientists had little patience with people who wereunfamiliar with their special fields, and he and Scotty were prettyignorant about the new sciences that would be represented. That was hisonly reason for objecting when his father had decided to enlarge thestaff.

  "I can see it now," he said. "The Foundation will be planning anexpedition, maybe to be headed by this new naturalist, and we'll be onthe outside looking in. And why? Because Dr. Howard Shannon prefers notto be bothered by a couple of kids who wouldn't know one bug fromanother."

  "You're crossing bridges before you come to 'em," Scotty pointed out."For all you know, all three of these new scientists might be perfectlyswell gents, like Zircon, Weiss, and Gordon. Why borrow trouble inadvance?"

  "I suppose you're right," Rick had to agree. "But I still can't helpthinking about it."

  "Think all you like," Scotty said generously. "Me, I'm going to put mylittle gray brain cells to work on Chahda's cable. Aren't you all firedup with curiosity?"

  Rick started to say he was, but no reply was necessary because just thenhe heard the sound of the motorboat engine for which his ears had beenattuned. He put down the sunglasses and ran for the door. Scotty hadheard the engine, too, and was halfway down the hall.

  It had to be Barby, Rick was sure. The other motorboat--the island hadtwo--was tied up at the pier, and they weren't expecting any visitors.The builders had their own boat, a powered barge, anchored off Pirate'sField.

  The boys ran out on the front porch and around the house, then down thelong flight of stairs that led to the cove where the motorboat landingwas located.

  It was Barby, sure enough, and she had the cable! She waved it wildly,then gunned the boat around neatly so that it slid into the dock. Scottygrabbed the bow line and made fast while Rick jumped for the stern lineand slipped it around a cleat on the landing.

  Barby cut the engine and jumped to the dock, a slim, pretty girl, herface flushed with excitement. "It's from Chahda," she said breathlessly,"and it's in code!"

  "We know," Scotty said. "Here, let's take a look at it."

  Barby handed it to him. He scanned it wordlessly, then handed it toRick. "Son, we'll be doing right well if we make any sense out of that!"

  "He wouldn't send us anything in a code we couldn't read," Rickobjected. "Let's see it. It can't be too hard."

  But in the next moment he changed his mind. His lips pursed in a lowwhistle. This was the cable:

  RICK BRANT SPINDRIFT ISLAND NEW JERSEY, U.S.A.

  5213039 6231581 1219456 2768612 2144644 9123299 3970731 6017747 1044914 3327116 6074193 4399693 0531612 1330552 3047171 3193986 8128912 7011716 0762878 3377335 3831075 5371011 3552684 3012963 3532456 8337373 9104476 1605588 2540551 2826677 9513148 3189710 4811223 5202998 5912492 3432174 3302710 7072010 1510108 4423007 3331954 7893623

  L. CHAHDA