e
hole--a shaped charge, as it is called--which would drive the hole most
of the way to the magma. It would also crack the rock dike. The magma
would seek the weakest spots, of course. It is under enormous pressure.
And we would have the result we want."

"But what kind of explosive would be enough for such an undertaking?"
Montoya demanded. "Not enough dynamite could be packed into the tunnel
to do the work."

"We weren't thinking of dynamite," Hartson Brant said quietly. "We were
thinking of a nuclear explosion."

Rick gasped. He had no warning of this. The scientists had evidently
arrived at the conclusion while he was flying around over the diamond
seekers.

Montoya gasped, too. "But that would kill everyone on the island!"

"Not at all," Zircon boomed. "It would kill no one. Of course we would
clear the area with troops."

"But the radioactivity," the governor protested. "I have read it is
deadly!"

"Only if it can reach people," Hartson Brant explained. "This shot would
be far underground. There would be no fall-out, as it is called, at all.
Of course the earth around the explosion would be greatly radioactive.
Some of the activity would be trapped in the magma. But where would it
come to rest? On the bottom of the sea. There might be some danger to
bottom fish in the vicinity, but I think the water would get so hot from
the lava that fish would avoid it, anyway. And eventually the
radioactivity would decay of itself to low levels. Sir, I see no other
way."

The governor raised his hands in a gesture of resignation. "I know
nothing of these matters, and it is your business to know. I accept your
assurances without reservation. Now, what do we do?"

The scientists had not only conceived the solution, but had a detailed
plan of action. Within a half hour, the loud-speaker had been removed
from the plane, and Rick was flying Governor Montoya, Hartson Brant, and
Esteben Balgos to Trinidad.

Arrangements had been made by phone while they were en route. A car,
sent by the President of the West Indies Federation, picked them up at
the airport and whisked them to the Federation's headquarters.

The President listened to the story with intense interest, then
summoned the American ambassador and the representatives of Venezuela
and Colombia.

After a detailed discussion by Hartson Brant of the properties and
limitations of nuclear explosions, the conference agreed. Immediate
action was called for. The Venez