advice?"

"Yes. Go to Philippine Air Lines. Talk to flight dispatcher. PAL flight
leaves here maybe two hours. Just right for you. Fly to rendezvous.
Pretty soon along comes PAL flight and you follow in."

The advice was good, Rick realized. He could not do better than follow a
regular air-line flight into the field. He did as directed, met the
pilot of the next Baguio flight, a former Filipino pilot in the United
States Air Force, and was told the approximate time the PAL flight would
pass the Kennon Road horseshoe curve for the Baguio approach.

"Follow the Kennon Road," the pilot advised. "Pick me up when I go over
the curve. You can't mistake the place. Nothing else like it."

While Rick made arrangements, Tony and Scotty loaded their personal
suitcases into the luggage compartment with the earth scanner. Scotty
started the engine and checked the plane, so that it was warm when Rick
arrived. They took off at once and headed north across the great central
plain of Luzon.

The landscape below was flat, cut up by creeks and estuaries. It was
perfect rice country. Later they passed Mount Arayat, once the hide-out
of the Hukbalahap--the lawless forces that had been such a threat to
Philippine stability. Ahead of them rose the mountains of northern
Luzon. Within those mountains they would find Baguio and Mountain
Province.

Rick picked up the Kennon Road without trouble as it wound its way
through the foothills. Staying high, he followed it until he reached a
great switchback curve. A car following that road would literally double
back on itself, he thought. He glanced at his watch. The PAL plane would
be along in about two minutes. The pilot had estimated Rick's flying
time perfectly. Rick climbed, then circled until Scotty saw the
twin-engine transport approaching.

The PAL pilot waggled his wings, and Rick followed as the air liner
throttled down, swung between mountain peaks, and threaded its way down
a wide valley. Rick gulped. A good thing he had had the experienced
pilot to follow. He would never have found the way alone. The peaks were
completely confusing to someone who had never seen them before.

The air liner turned suddenly and Rick's heart leaped into his throat.
He thought the PAL plane was flying right into the mountainside. But
such was not the case. The plane settled down on a landing strip that
had been hewn from a mountaintop. It was obvious what the PAL official
had meant when he joked about