car coming the
other way."

"That is it. There are many gates. I forget exactly how many. Also, to
get from Bontoc to Banaue there is a road with gates."

Banaue was in the Ifugao country, in the heart of the rice terraces. It
was their destination.

"Let's go," Rick said.

He had worked out a plan. The plane could scout the road quickly and
easily. By air it was only a short distance to Bontoc, but by road it
was several hours of driving because of the twists and turns. If they
could spot the truck or a sedan with four men in it, they could return
to Baguio and phone, and the vehicles could be held up at one of the
many gates.

Scotty's thoughts were apparently the same, because Rick knew exactly
what he meant when he said, "The sedan will give us trouble. We'll just
have to hope that we can fly low when we see one, and try to catch a
look at the people in it."

"That won't be very satisfactory," Rick said. "When we get to the
airport, we'll have Angel pump those workmen some more. If they're still
there. Like a pair of real meatheads, we forgot to ask for details, such
as what color the sedan was."

They were fortunate. The workmen were still pecking away at the runway
shoulders. And they did recall the color of the sedan. It was dark
green. But they didn't know enough about cars to know the make, and they
had noticed no special details.

"Have you flown before?" Rick asked Angel.

"Yes. But not in such a little plane. Only the big PAL planes."

The air-lines office was open now. Rick got his keys, arranged for
gasoline, and they moved the Sky Wagon into position. There was plenty
of gas for a short trip, but he was taking no chances. He wanted a full
tank.

It took time to recheck the plane carefully, to make sure Nangolat had
not sabotaged it. Then, finally, they were on their way. Scotty had a
map spread across his knees and Angel had another. Scotty's map showed
topographical details like the height of mountains and their contours.
Angel had an excellent road map distributed by one of the American
gasoline companies that maintained service stations in many parts of the
islands.

Angel watched the roads and Scotty the mountains, and they got on the
Bontoc Road with no trouble. Rick climbed until they could see for
miles. It was the only way to follow the tortuous route of the road as
it wound between mountains, hugged the side of high peaks, and dipped
into forested valleys.

Now and then they co