irates come, they dance, and soon
they have plenty."

Rick got it then. He sat down and laughed until Scotty had to stick his
head in to see what was going on.

Rick pointed at Chahda. "The Hindu wizard!" he roared. "You know what he
did? He sprinkled the deck with tacks! No wonder the pirates danced!"

CHAPTER XII

Search the Wide Seas

There was an atmosphere of rising excitement on the _Swift Arrow_. Rick
felt it, and knew the others did, too. Little by little they were
narrowing the search. With only a few island groups remaining, he felt
sure it would not be long before the pirate stronghold was located.

The _Swift Arrow_ had poked its sharp bow into nearly every port in the
vast Tawi Tawi Group, and had put into the port of Dungun on the main
island to refuel. Since the pirate attack of two nights before, the
Spindrifters had practically eliminated the Tawi Tawi islands as
possibilities for the pirate hideout.

Hobart Zircon, checking their progress on the chart, called the boys
together.

"There's only one island group remaining in this immediate area," Zircon
pointed out, "and I'm not even sure it's in Philippines waters."

Rick studied the place on the chart indicated by the big scientist.
There were only three tiny islands in the Datu Amman Group.

"They're pretty far to the southeast," Rick commented. "Just about on
the border of Indonesia and the Philippines. Do we head for them next?"

Zircon poked a big finger at the chart. "I think we'd better. Then, if
we find nothing, we can head southwest toward Sibutu Island."

"These Datu Amman islands aren't very big," Rick pointed out. "But
that's the general direction from which the pirates have been coming. We
have to eliminate every island in this area before going on to Sibutu
and Borneo."

"We've got full tanks," Scotty observed. "Might as well get started."

"I think this also," Chahda agreed. "We not miss any islands. Besides,
these far out of way, not on ship lanes. Could be good place for
pirates."

"My thoughts exactly," Zircon stated. "Who has the wheel?...
Chahda?... All right. Head southeast, and I'll plot a course."

"Why not use both engines?" Rick suggested. "Then we can get there
before dark. If nothing turns up, we can travel all night from there to
Sibutu. It's all open water."

"If we use both engines, someone had better keep watch from on top of
the pilothouse," Scotty added. "Then, if we see vintas, we can throttl