principal San Luz resort hotel.

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

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

He awoke with Scotty's voice in his ears. "Come on, old buddy. Dad's
calling 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. Time
for a quick shower and coffee. I've had mine."

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

A quick shower woke him up. He sipped coffee and ate toast while getting
into his clothes, then the two hurried down the corridor of the luxury
hotel to the conference room Hartson Brant had taken over as
headquarters.

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

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

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

David Riddle shook his head. "It's a typical formation. Nothing unusual
about 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 seepage
point, as Dr. Balgos knows. So far as I can tell, they're the weakest
point, so if the mountain lets go, that is where the blowoff will come.
Of course, this could be wrong and there may be weaker channel