Rick Brant - The Golden Skull Part 31

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 a.s.sured 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 pa.s.sed. 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 a.s.sistant 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 G.o.ds 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 att.i.tudes 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 circ.u.mstances, 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."