head with admiration. "He's a wonder,"
he said. "I'll bet Bradley thinks so, too."

"Anyone would," Scotty agreed. "He gets things done. Wish I could say
the same for us. All we've done so far is travel while he did the work.
Why don't we get busy?"

"Busy how?" the scientist asked.

"Couldn't we look into this cave tonight? I don't see that waiting until
morning will help much. If it's a big cave, there won't be light in it,
anyway."

Rick thought Scotty had something there. He pointed out that plenty of
lights were in their packs, and that they had the dark-light camera
besides.

Hobart Zircon thought it over, then agreed. "There's another advantage,"
he added. "Starting out tonight, we'll attract less attention. We got
here about dark, so the people of the area don't know we're here.
They'll know in the morning, though, and we'll have a thousand
sight-seers hanging around, unless they're greatly different from the
other Eastern people I've met. And the less anyone knows about our
interests, the better."

Sing nodded agreement. "That is right. By morning many people will come
to see the strangers. I doubt if they have seen very many white men
before." The Chinese guide paused. "But I don't know if I like the idea
of going into strange caves while it's dark. As your little friend says,
anything is possible in this part of the world. Even hobgoblins."

"We wouldn't want you to come, anyway, Sing," Rick said. He looked at
Zircon for agreement. "It would be better if you took care of our
equipment and sort of acted as rear guard. We'll need someone to stand
by in case we don't come out of the cave again."

"Afraid the hobgoblins will kidnap us?" Scotty asked.

"Not hobgoblins. But if the heavy water is there, some of Long Shadow's
men will be, too. We probably can take care of ourselves. Only suppose
they catch us by surprise?"

Zircon agreed. "Rick is right. And even if there is no one in the cave,
there remains the possibility of accident. I think we'll do well to
leave Sing here. Then, if we're not out in twenty-four hours, he can
take steps to get us out."

"That's wise," Sing nodded.

They were debating what to take with them when Chahda returned. He
reported that some of the lamas had seen men with goatskin water bags
late in the day, men that they knew to come from outside the valley,
traveling from the general direction of the Cave of the Black Buddha. It
was such water-carrying groups that had ma