The Tibetans were groping for their prisoners. Rick grinned. He aimed at the stone under their feet and fired. There was a chorus of yells. He levered another cartridge into the chamber and fired again.
The Tibetans fled, charging blindly toward the cave openings beyond the tents.
Long Shadow kept yelling orders, groping around in the blackness, but the Tibetans paid no attention. They reached the back wall of the cave.
Two of them went headlong into openings. Others crashed into the walls, fell, crawled sideways, scrambling until they found the openings they so frantically sought.
Long Shadow"s voice could be heard screaming in fury for his men to come back.
He couldn"t see, as Rick could, that they were all now in the caves behind their leader.
Finally, giving up, Long Shadow started for safety himself.
It would never do to allow the thin man to get away, Rick thought. He wanted Long Shadow. He and his companions had questions to ask him, and they needed him to get them out of the Caves of Fear. He sighted carefully at the long legs that were feeling their way toward the back wall. He fired.
Long Shadow stumbled headlong, then he started to crawl. Rick stood up and yelled. "Gang! Get Long Shadow!"
His words echoed eerily through the cave.
Zircon understood and bellowed. "Where is he?"
Rick thought quickly. The three were still standing in a line. He shouted orders.
"Right face. Forward march!"
Like a well-trained machine, his friends obeyed. They marched forward steadily. But they were slightly off. He remembered the correct command.
"Left oblique! March!"
Scotty swung a quarter left, b.u.mped into Zircon. Chahda stood still, not understanding. Neither had Zircon comprehended the command. Rick yelled, "Scotty! Turn right just a fraction."
Scotty did so. "Now," Rick called. "He"s about ten feet in front of you."
Scotty moved forward, feeling his way a step at a time. When he was almost on Long Shadow, Rick yelled, "You"re there!"
Long Shadow turned over on his back and clawed in his pockets.
"Watch out!" Rick screamed. "He"s got a gun!"
Scotty jumped, feet first. He missed Long Shadow by a fraction, landing next to his chest.
"Fall to the left!" Rick yelled.
Scotty crashed down across the man, calling to Zircon and Chahda. Guided by their friend"s voice, the two reached his side quickly. Rick couldn"t hear what Scotty said, but the big scientist suddenly sat down, his back to Long Shadow. A moment later he writhed away, and he had the pistol between his bound hands.
Rick sighed his relief. "Wait!" he yelled. "I"ll be right there!"
He didn"t dare take his eyes off the scene long enough to pick up his prisoner. Time enough for that later. He untied the boat and got in. He knelt, placing the rifle on the seat in front of him next to the infrared camera. Then, using the oar as a paddle once more, he started straight across to the camp.
It wasn"t a far journey. But as he reached the halfway mark, two of the Tibetans looked cautiously out of their hiding place. Rick put the oar across the gunwales, picked up his rifle, and sighted carefully.
Fortunately, there wasn"t so much as a ripple on the water. The boat was perfectly steady.
He squeezed the trigger, and the stalact.i.te directly over their heads shattered into a thousand pieces, showering them with limestone. They didn"t wait for a second shot. He could hear their yells even after they had ducked back into the caves. They weren"t used to sharpshooting in total darkness.
Rick smiled as he resumed paddling. He could understand how they felt.
He wasn"t used to it, either.
In a few moments he was at the barge. He tied the boat to one of the odd derrick affairs and scrambled out. Then, picking up the camera and rifle, he hurried to his friends.
Scotty and Chahda were using Long Shadow as a bench. Zircon sat a little distance apart, trying to peer toward Rick through the darkness.
"Dark in here, isn"t it?" Rick inquired pleasantly.
"Rick! You old muttonhead!" Scotty exclaimed.
"Thank G.o.d you"re safe," Zircon said.
Chahda grinned the widest grin ever and said, "Also giving much thanks that friend Rick has eyes like cat which see in dark!" The Hindu boy didn"t know about the infrared camera, unless the others had explained it to him. There hadn"t been time back at camp, and Rick hadn"t thought of it, anyway.
In a moment the three were untied, rubbing circulation back into their wrists.
"Let"s get a light!" Zircon said. "I think we had better see to the wounded. I a.s.sume there are wounded? I know Ko was. .h.i.t. And just as he was about to carve my head from my shoulders, too."
"He"s sitting over there," Rick said.
"Where"s there?" Scotty asked.
He kept forgetting that only he could see. "Where he dropped. Long Shadow is. .h.i.t, too. I don"t know how badly."
For the first time, they heard their enemy"s voice. It was rather high, but cultured and pleasant. "Not badly. Although I believe my ankle may be broken. I have felt, and I don"t believe I am bleeding much."
Rick knelt quickly and put the infrared light on the wound. Long Shadow was right. It hadn"t bled much, and Zircon, looking the wound over after borrowing the gla.s.ses, told him, "I doubt that the ankle is broken. The wound is clean."
"Stay where you are," Rick warned him. "We"ll bandage you after we look at Ko."
"I have no intention of going anywhere," Long Shadow said. "Not when some magic I don"t understand permits you to see in complete darkness."
Rick took the gla.s.ses from Zircon"s hand. In the interval during which the scientist was wearing them, he had understood how the others felt.
The darkness was absolute. He put the gla.s.ses on again and walked over to Ko, talking so his friends could follow the sound of his voice.
"Well, Mr. Ko," he said, "you got a little surprise, didn"t you?"
The Chinese with the gla.s.s eye groaned. "You have won," he complained weakly. "Now have the kindness to let me go to my ancestors in peace."
"Better let me take a look at him," Zircon said.
Rick walked to the scientist"s side and took one of his hands. Then he took off the gla.s.ses and pressed them into the hand he was holding. That done, he stood in the blackness and waited.
"Lie flat," presently Zircon said.