gave them and their Moro a
house to sleep in. Then, after it was dark and we slept, men came. The
Americans and the Moro fought, but the men tied them up and carried them
away. Then the men said that if one person in my village spoke of this,
all would die. The two things we found were not taken because they were
in a corner of the hut and were not seen. All else was removed."

"Ask him who the men were and why he didn't fight for the Americans,"
Lacson directed.

The Filipino language expert posed the question, then translated the
reply. "He does not know the men, or their names. He did not fight
because it was useless. His people would have died and the Americans
would not have been saved."

"Ask him how he knows this."

The Bagobo's reply was terse. "He knows," Gonzalez said. "He will say no
more."

Lacson made a sound of disgust. "He means it, too. Look at him."

Rick saw what Lacson meant. The stern face and glittering eyes indicated
clearly that the headman would die before he said more about the
attackers.

"Does he know where the Americans were taken?" Zircon asked.

"He does not know. The men took them down the trail. Of course some
Bagobos followed. But at the road the men put the Americans and their
guide into a car and drove away. Apparently there were two or three
cars. The Bagobos could not follow."

"Then Shannon, Briotti, and their guide were probably on the boat when
it left Davao," Rick said thoughtfully. "But where did the boat go?"

Major Lacson answered. "We don't know. But it is possible we may find
out. I've sent out an all-points bulletin asking for information. We may
get a lead to its whereabouts."

"We'd better," Scotty said grimly. "Unless someone has seen it, we have
the whole Sulu Sea to search!"

CHAPTER V

Trail of the "Sampaguita"

The PAL plane droned westward, over the incredible swamps of the Pulangi
River, toward Cotabato. Rick watched the sweltering marshland unfold
below and caught glimpses of the winding brown river that turned the
countryside into a morass. From Colonel Rojas' briefing he knew that the
countryside was alive with crocodiles and less pleasant creatures.

In the seat next to Rick, Scotty catnapped. Zircon, across the aisle,
was apparently deep in thought.

Rick hoped fervently that they weren't on a wild-goose chase. At Davao
they had learned that Briotti, Shannon, and their guide had been
kidnaped by some group the Bagobos feared. The