The Flaming Mountain: A Rick Brant Science-Adventure Story Page 2

  CHAPTER II

  San Luz

  Rick Brant awoke slowly. For a moment he lay with eyes closed while hetried to identify the strange odor that smote his nostrils. It was anoxious combination of medicine, burned matches, and ancient eggs. Thenhe remembered, and sat bolt upright in bed.

  San Luz! The smell of the hot springs burned his nose even through theair-conditioning system. It must be awful outside, he thought. It hadbeen bad enough last night.

  He looked over to the other bed in the luxurious room and saw Scotty,wrapped like a cocoon in sheet and blanket. For a moment he was temptedto heave a pillow at the ex-Marine, then reconsidered. Scotty neededsleep. Let him wake up naturally.

  Rick lay back on his pillow and closed his eyes. He could do with alittle more shut-eye himself. So much had happened in the past few daysthat he was still spinning from the speed of it.

  The arrival of Dr. Esteben Balgos had upset Spindrift more thoroughlythan anything else Rick could remember. He and Scotty had sat throughhours of argument and heated debate. Jan and Barby had given up when thescientific arguments got far beyond their ability to understand. Rickhadn't understood much either, but he had stuck it out to the end.

  The conclusion was that probably nothing could be done. There was simplyno way to check the eruption of a volcano. If El Viejo was going to blowits top, well . . . that was that. But the Spindrift ScientificFoundation was not known for its eagerness to drop seemingly insolubleproblems, so the staff had agreed that a study should be made, at thevery least.

  Hartson Brant had chosen Hobart Zircon and Julius Weiss to work withhim, then he had persuaded an old friend, Dr. Jeffrey Williams, to drophis work for a short time and join the party. Dr. Williams was a notedseismologist. From the U. S. Geological Survey, Hartson Brant hadborrowed Dr. David Riddle, a geologist with considerable experience involcanology.

  The scientific team departed at once for San Luz, leaving Rick andScotty to bring up the rear. The boys loaded scientific equipment intothe Sky Wagon and took off for San Luz. It took three days for thelittle plane to make the trip, the longest flight of Rick's flyingcareer. Only once before had he flown so far over water, and then onlyto the Virgin Islands. The plane had made it easily, but he and Scottyhad sweated it out.

  Ordinarily, Hartson Brant would have taken the boys by commercial air,but he wanted Rick's plane on hand. Since the senior scientist did notknow what difficulties the scientists might encounter, he wanted a wayof making aerial surveys and photographs, plus ready communication withthe mainland and nearby islands.

  The boys had arrived early the evening before, only to be whisked to theExecutive Mansion where the governor of San Luz, the Honorable LuisMontoya, was holding a reception for the visiting scientists.

  The governor, a charming little man who looked like Rick's idea of aSpanish grandee, knew why the scientists were there, of course. But thesecret was confined to the governor himself and to Balgos. Even JaimeGuevara, the lieutenant governor, did not know.

  The agreement was that the scientific group would seem to be interestedonly in the hot springs. The purpose of their visit, the governor hadannounced to the local press and radio, was to investigate the change inthe springs that had ruined a principal San Luz resort hotel.

  By ten o'clock, when the reception ended, the boys were exhausted. Butthe end was not yet. They were riding in Zircon's jeep--five jeeps hadbeen assigned to the party by the governor--and Zircon had to meet thelast member of the party, Bradley Connel, a geologist borrowed from anoil company in Caracas, Venezuela, by Dr. Balgos.

  It was nearly midnight before the boys got to sleep, after nearly threedays with minimum rest. So, both were tired. In the middle of thinkinghow tired he was, Rick dropped off to sleep again.

  He awoke with Scotty's voice in his ears. "Come on, old buddy. Dad'scalling a staff meeting in fifteen minutes."

  Rick sat up. "How do you know?"

  "Didn't you hear the phone ring? Boy, you must be tired! Let's go. Timefor a quick shower and coffee. I've had mine."

  Rick saw that a breakfast tray was on a bedside table. He had sleptthrough Scotty's arising, shower, and delivery of breakfast. He shookhis head, still groggy.

  A quick shower woke him up. He sipped coffee and ate toast while gettinginto his clothes, then the two hurried down the corridor of the luxuryhotel to the conference room Hartson Brant had taken over asheadquarters.

  The scientists were already there, taking seats around the room as theboys walked in.

  Rick looked at the new faces. It was the first time he had seen them indaylight. Dr. Jeffrey Williams was a plump, round-faced man with a shockof pure-white hair. Dr. David Riddle was tall, dark, lean, and heavilytanned. He looked like a mining engineer, or perhaps a forest ranger.Bradley Connel was short, heavy set, with straw-colored hair and thekind of complexion that is always sunburned and peeling so long as thedays are hot--which meant always, this close to the equator.

  "Let's get to work," Hartson Brant said. "It's obvious that visualinspection is not going to tell us much. We'll have to get tracingsbefore we have any real idea of what's going on under us. Dave, have youfound anything of importance?"

  David Riddle shook his head. "It's a typical formation. Nothing unusualabout it at all. El Viejo is simply a dead volcano, its cone filled in,and plenty of jungle on the slopes. The hot springs are just a seepagepoint, as Dr. Balgos knows. So far as I can tell, they're the weakestpoint, so if the mountain lets go, that is where the blowoff will come.Of course, this could be wrong and there may be weaker channels we don'tsuspect. We'll know when we start shooting."

  Hartson Brant looked at Dr. Williams. "Anything to add, Jeff?"

  "Not much. I've gone over the seismic data Esteben got from theseismologists in the area, and it's clear that the epicenter of mostrecent earthquakes in the area is right under us. Something is happeningdown in the earth under the mountain, but I can't say what it is. It maybe volcanism or it may be a fault shifting."

  Rick knew that a fault was like a great crack in the earth's structure,but he had thought the scientists had agreed that the earthquakes werecaused by volcanic action. He asked, "Sir, doesn't the change in thesprings mean something?"

  "Perhaps, Rick," Dr. Williams answered. "We don't really know. Dr.Balgos thinks they mean a great deal, and I have respect for hisopinions. But I'm only a seismologist. I have to depend on traces fromearthquakes, and the traces tell us nothing but the single fact thatsomething is going on far below."

  Hartson Brant nodded. "The answer will depend on more data, so todaywe'll start to collect it. Rick and Scotty brought apparatus, and thegovernor has supplied us with dynamite and two experienced helpers, Ruizand Honorario."

  "How do we split up?" Julius Weiss asked.

  "Into firing and recording teams. Since we have only two recorders, wecan have only two teams for data collection. But we can have threefiring parties. Dave Riddle will work with Honorario, Brad Connel withRuiz, and Hobart Zircon with Rick and Scotty. Julius, you and I willform one recording party, and Esteben and Jeff will form the other. Eachteam will have a jeep. Now, if you'll all gather around this model theboys made, we'll pick approximate locations for stations."

  The boys had brought the model with them. Now the group gathered aroundand discussed the best locations for both firing and recording parties.

  Dave Riddle was assigned a station on the slope of El Viejo near thetown of Redondo on the north end of the island. Brad Connel was given alocation on the northwestern slope, and Zircon and the boys were shown aposition on the west near the place where pumice, a foamy volcanic rock,was mined. Hartson Brant and Julius Weiss were to place one recordingstation on the eastern slope of the mountain, while Dr. Williams andDr. Balgos were assigned a station on the northern coast.

  Hartson Brant handed a wrist chronometer to each team leader. Each teamwas also to have a transit, with which to take bearings for the purposeof locating the stations with precision.

  "The hotel rest
aurant has packed lunches for us," Hartson Brant stated."If we get under way at once, we can start shooting at one o'clock.Let's try for three shots each this afternoon. Each firing team willmove one mile in a clockwise direction between shots, and we'll need tospace the shots fifteen minutes apart. Hobart, you'll start shooting at1:00, Brad at 1:15, Dave at 1:30. At 2:00, we'll start the cycle overagain. That should bring us all back to the hotel by suppertime."

  Big Hobart Zircon clapped the boys on the shoulder. "Let's get going.Scotty, you pick up our lunches. Rick, we'll load equipment."

  The five jeeps were lined up outside. Rick carried out a transit, thetripod slung over his shoulder, and found the two local helpers waiting.Ruiz was a short, swarthy man with gleaming white teeth and aMexican-style sombrero. Honorario was only slightly taller, and so thina strong breeze would blow him away. The two San Luzians greeted himcourteously. "_Buenos dias, senor._"

  Rick knew enough Spanish to be equally polite. "_Buenos dias, senores.Como estan ustedes?_"

  The two switched to English. Rick hoped it wasn't a reflection on hisSpanish accent, acquired at Whiteside High School the year before. "Weare well, senor," Ruiz answered, and Honorario added, "We hope you willenjoy San Luz, senor."

  Rick said that he expected to enjoy it very much indeed. He wondered ifthe two knew that their mountain was getting ready to blow its top. Heasked, "Do you have the dynamite, _amigos_?"

  "In the shed, senor. Also the caps and the detonators. If you will come,I will show you." Ruiz gestured toward a concrete shed that stood somedistance away.

  "What was the shed used for?" Rick asked as they walked toward it.

  "It is a shed for a pump, senor. The pump is for the hotel's water,which must be brought up the hill from Calor."

  In a moment Rick saw for himself. The pump was operating noisily. Alongone wall were shelves, one of which contained two cases of dynamite andboxes of caps. On another shelf were three detonators. He selected one,then picked out six sticks of dynamite. He handled the stuff gingerly,even though he knew it was safe as so much soap. Dynamite, for all itsexplosive power, is stable stuff, and difficult to set off by accident.

  The dynamite caps were much less safe, however. Each was packedcarefully in its own protective wrapping, but Rick took no chances. Heput each one in a different pocket. Then, feeling like a keg ofgunpowder with a sputtering fuse, he walked back to the jeep.

  Hobart Zircon and Scotty came out of the hotel as he approached.

  "Stand back," Rick said grimly. "I may go off like the Black Tomexplosion if you touch me."

  Big Hobart Zircon chuckled. "Don't worry, Rick. If you do, we'll go offwith you. Would it make you happier if I carried the explosives?"

  Rick considered. "It doesn't matter," he said. "If the stuff goes off,we'll all go into orbit at the same time and the jeep will go with us.Let's go."

  Scotty looked at him curiously. "Where are the caps?"

  Rick patted his pockets one at a time. "One in each breast pocket andone in my watch pocket. Don't push me around, buddy. I'm loaded."

  Scotty grinned. "I'll keep my distance."

  The rest of the party was loading jeeps now, too. Scotty hoisted theequipment and lunches into the back of the jeep and got in with them.Rick climbed gingerly into the front passenger seat and Zircon got readyto drive. He handed Rick a map. "You navigate. Our first destination ismarked with a cross. We start out on the road leading west from thehotel. That will take us to the pumice works."

  "Okay," Rick began, but he never finished. The jeep began to rock underhim. For an insane instant he thought it must have a perfectly silentmotor, then he realized Zircon had not yet turned on the ignitionswitch. Sudden dizziness made him clutch at the seat, and instinctivelyhe clapped an arm across his chest to protect the dynamite caps.

  He was vaguely conscious of yells from around him, and he struggled tosit up straight. His stomach was churning and he felt nauseated. Zirconlet out a bellow like a wounded steer.

  From inside the hotel Rick heard the sudden crash of shattering glassand gripped the jeep seat tighter with his free hand.

  Then, as suddenly as it had come, it was over. He straightened up,dizzy. "Wh-what happened?" he asked shakily.

  He heard Dr. Balgos. "A warning, my friends. The most serious one yet."He pointed up to where the peak of El Viejo loomed. "The Old One must beworking faster than I thought."

  "But what was it?" Rick asked again and at the same time was afraid thathe knew.

  "Earthquake," Zircon boomed. He pointed.

  Rick stared. In a zigzag line across the hotel parking lot was afissure, one that hadn't been there a minute before. The concrete gapedin widths varying from a crack to a few inches.

  The earth had opened up!