reason for the kidnaping
could not be guessed. No requests for ransom had been made, and the
scientists had no known personal enemies.

Instead of clearing up the mystery, Rick thought, the little they had
found had only deepened it. His concern for his missing friends had
turned to a deep fear that they might not be found until too late. He
was very conscious of the passage of time. Nearly three weeks had
elapsed since the scientists had been forcefully taken from the Bagobo
village.

"Think they were taken away on the boat?" Scotty asked suddenly.

Rick turned quickly. Scotty hadn't been napping after all. "We can't be
sure, but doesn't it seem likely?"

"It does to me. Of course the kidnapers might have carried them into the
interior, but I can't imagine anyone carrying prisoners over those
jungle trails. Besides, the boat is missing."

"There are no roads where they could have been taken by car," Rick
agreed. "Lacson will try to find the cars that brought them into Davao,
but even if he succeeds, it won't tell us much." He changed the subject.
"Who could those men have been? They must have been pretty fierce to
frighten the Bagobos. That headman doesn't look like a man who scares
easily."

"I haven't the glimmer of an idea. Kidnaping two scientists makes no
sense at all."

"True. But it must have made sense to the kidnapers."

Scotty didn't comment further. After a while Rick reached under the seat
and drew out Shannon's quiver. He had wrapped it in a plastic bag in
which his trousers had been returned by the dry cleaner.

The quiver was of soft leather, and made to be slung on the back. It was
compartmented for three kinds of arrows. Rick drew one out and saw that
it was a blunt type for hunting small game. Next to the blunt ones were
razor-sharp broadhead arrows. The third variety was smaller broadheads.
There were a dozen of each.

On the back of the quiver were two zippered pouches. In the first Rick
found four new bowstrings and beeswax for waxing them, plus a small file
and a whetstone for keeping the broadheads sharp. In the other
compartment were two sets of finger cots, or protectors, and a stiff
leather arm guard. He slipped a protector, made like sections of glove
fingers, on the first three fingers of his right hand. A size too large,
but it would do. The arm guard would be all right when he adjusted it.

The bow was in its own special compartment. Rick checked and saw that it
was undamaged