The Veiled Lady (12 page)

"Careful," warned the Phantom in a low voice. "Someone's heading this way." With a swift silent motion of his right hand, he drew out one of his .45 automatics.

Jan crouched beside the masked man in a tangle of wild grass. They were fairly near the campsite.

"Another darn mantis?"

Up ahead the chest-high grass swayed and rattled. The Phantom shook his head. "Human."

The dry, thrashing sound rose in intensity. Then a voice called out, "Jan, where are you, Jan?"

"It's Karl," exclaimed the girl, starting to her feet.

The Phantom pushed her back down, cautioning, "They may be using him to decoy you out into the open. Wait right here; don't show yourself until I come for you." As he spoke, he upholstered his other black automatic and handed it to her. "I believe you know how to use one of these."

"Yes, I do."

Suddenly the Phantom was gone. He moved away through the high grass noiselessly.

The blonde girl knelt and waited, the .45 automatic resting on her palm. Overhead a swarm of gnats, the size of golf balls, were hovering.

"Jan, everything's okay," called Karl. "You can come on back. Jan?"

A moment later the Phantom returned. "It's all right," he said.

"Karl, over here!" shouted Janas she stood to wave at him.

The bearded biologist came running toward her. "You can come back. Gabe and I have taken care of them and-hey! You found the Phantom."

"He found me." Jan took Karl by the hand. "In the nick of time, too. I'll explain later. First tell us what happened back in camp."

"Well, the little diversion caused by your departure gave me the opportunity to jump Tinn,"

explained Karl. "Meantime Gabe was tangling with the other guy. He got shot again."

"Gabe?"

"No, Silvera," said Karl. "He's dead."

Jan asked, "Is Gabe okay?"

"The gash on his leg tore open again," answered Karl. "I treated it and bandaged it before coming to hunt for you. I think he'll make it."

"Are you certain," asked the Phantom, "you can trust Gabe now?"

Karl turned toward the masked man. "Yes, I am. I think Gabe realizes he made a mistake ever tying up with those boys. When the time came to make a decision, Gabe chose to side with us."

"Yes," Jan told the Phantom, "we can trust Gabe; I'm certain."

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"Very well," he said.

Karl asked, "Did you locate the River of Fire?"

"Yes. We can start for there shortly," said the Phantom. "First we'll gather up the rest of the party back at camp. And see what we can do about the dead man." He turned and began walking in the direction from which Karl had come.

"The river is boiling hot, isn't it?" asked Karl, following with Jan at his side. "Seems like a pretty wild idea to float out of here on a boiling river."

"It's worth a try," said Jan. "It's probably our only chance of getting out. But we'll need a raft."

"I have an idea about that," said the Phantom. Before they reached the fallen helicopter, another series of tremors began to shake the earth. They were the most severe shocks yet, causing the ground to bounce and rumble, shaking and thrashing the giant vegetation. The tremors didn't stop so soon this time. They continued for minutes, subsided, then began again.

"I don't like this," said Jan, holding tight to Karl's arm to maintain her balance.

"Do you think," asked the Phantom, "it may mean there's going to be a volcanic eruption?"

They reached, at last, the campsite clearing. "Well, I'm a biologist, not a geologist," said the girl.

"But I would say it doesn't look good."

"What's going to happen now?" Tinn wanted to know. He was on the ground on his hands and knees~

Gabe was standing near him. He had Tinn's automatic stuck in his waistband, his own pistol in his hand. "Think she's going to blow?"

"It's possible," replied Jan. "It's possible." The ground had ceased to shake.

"The Phantom has found a way out," announced Karl. "We'll be leaving soon."

"How?" asked Gabe. "By way of that river?"

"Yes," said the masked man.

"What the world needs now," said the black man, "is a boat."

"I think," said the Phantom, "we should be able to use the body of your helicopter as a raft. We won't have time to build a boat from scratch."

"The thing's too heavy," Gabe pointed out.

"Not if we strip it!" The masked man leaped into the ship. "We'll have to dump the engine, all the equipment. Give me a hand, Karl."

"Soon as I take care of the remains of Silvera," answered Karl.

Gabe motioned to Jan. "You watch this guy Thin and I'll help out in the copter."

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"Youshouldn't, Gabe. Your leg...."

"I won't need either leg if we get buried in lava." He gave her his pistol and went hobbling to the ship.

"I still don't understand this place," complained Tinn. "It's full of giant bugs. It's likely to explode and cover us all with lava. And the rivers are full of boiling water. I don't understand this place."

"I'll explain while we're waiting," offered Jan.

Gradually at first, almost gently, the ground had begun to shake again. This time it didn't stop.

They were nearly to the River of Fire. Karl and Tinn were pushing the gutted copter. The Phantom, his powerful muscles barely straining, was pulling, using new vine ropes he'd fashioned before they departed the camp. Jan and Gabe, who was limping badly, walked alongside the makeshift raft.

"The big eruption must be corning," said Karl. "The ground is shaking like jello."

Jan glanced upward. "All the wildlife seems to sense it."

Monster bees roared overhead like a flight of bombers. Gigantic butterflies flapped by, all seeking escape and safety, none sure in which direction it lay.

"Maybe we ought to hitch a ride with one of those guys," suggested Gabe with a grin. "They're probably going to fly right up out of ."

"No," said Jan, shaking her head, "those poor creatures need the special atmosphere down here in order to survive. The ordinary air of our world's too thin for them. Which is why they've never flown outside before-why no one knows about them."

"Then they'll all die," said Gabe, "if this thing blows."

"Yes, I'm afraid so," Jan said.

"To hell with the big bugs," said Tinn. "We're the ones who're going to die in here."

The ground tremors were becoming more severe. All around giant plants and bushes were swaying, branches breaking off to come spinning down. Blossoms, leaves, seedpods, thorns showered on them. The land trembled and shook like a giant in agony.

"There's the River of Fire," said the Phantom.

In a few hard-working minutes, they got the copter-raft into the water. Resting on its side, it floated well. Even when the five of them carefully climbed aboard, the ship stayed afloat. Using the detached rotor blades as paddles, the Phantom and Karl got the rude raft moving downstream.

"Well, here we go," said Jan.

"And so we bid a fond farewell to the fabulous land of ," said Gabe.

"What's so funny?" asked Tinn. "You didn't get any treasure, not a bit. And we'll be damn lucky if we get out of this place alive. Don't you realize that?"

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No one answered him.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

A frightened dragonfly, looking like a World War I airship, flew over, almost touching their heads. A huge black spider came floating by, dead in the boiling hot current of the River of Fire. The giant growth along the shoreline was waving, whipping as though facing a hurricane. The rumbling of the quivering earth was louder.

"Hey!" said Karl. He left off paddling for a moment, pointing ahead with a blistered hand. "We're coming to a cavern."

"That should take us through the side of the mountain," said the Phantom. "Remember that the river shoots out a hundred feet above the ground outside. We have to keep the current from carrying us right over the falls."

"How are we going to do that?" asked Gabe.

Nodding at the coils of vine rope lying on the copter side next to him, the Phantom explained, "We're going to have to lasso some rocks and anchor our raft that way. Then we'll see about climbing down the mountainside without getting boiled."

"None of this," said the weary-looking Tinn, "is going to work."

The current grew stronger and Karl and the Phantom used their paddles only to control the course of the ship.

They left the last of the light, and floated into the darkness of the great rock cavern.

Stretching out fiat on his stomach, Gabe reached down into the cabin. "Here's a couple of big flashlights we can use." He kept one and handed the other over to Jan.

Tinn asked the girl, "Doctor Love, what if this volcano erupts? There'll be lava, won't there? It'll start flowing."

"Yes, it will."

"It'll flow this way, won't it? Downhill along the course of this lousy river."

Jan answered, "Yes, there's a good possibility the cave will fill with lava instead of water."

"I'm glad I didn't bet with anybody on my chances of getting out of here alive."

Gabe clicked on his flashlight, played its beam on the walls of the great cavern. The rock sides were jagged, a blue-black metallic color. Enormous splotches of pale-orange fungus dotted the walls. "Not too cheerful," he said. "But at least nobody's written their names on the walls."

The waters of the River of Fire sputtered and hissed as the copter-raft made its way through the rocky darkness.

"I wonder why some of the giant insects don't come into this cave for safety," said Karl. "Haven't seen one.

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"I wouldn't complain about that," muttered Tinn.

Jan swung her flashlight up to study the ceiling of the cavern. "I don't know, Karl. Maybe they've got a reason for shying away."

From behind them came a series of explosive booms. The cave walls quivered, boiling water splashed high up against the sides of the floating copter.

"Wow!" said Gabe. "It's getting worse."

"We're never going to make it," said Tinn. "This whole damn mountain is going to fall in on us."

The Phantom and Karl kept up their use of the paddles. The raft was making good time along the hot river.

The explosions back in the valley were coming closer together, echoing and bouncing off the jagged walls of the cavern.

"Something up ahead," said Gabe. He aimed his light in the direction they were floating. "My god!"

"What-what's that?" exclaimed Karl.

Jan joined her flashlight beam with Gabe's. "It's an enormous lizard of some sort."

Filling the cave twenty feet ahead of them was a gigantic scaly creature. It was a blotchy black and green in color with a short stubby head, wide-clawed feet. Its large mouth was filled with spiky teeth which seemed to be grinning at them. It had a huge forked tongue that was hissing out at them, almost touching the raft.

The Phantom and Karl halted the progress of their craft,

"It's like some sort of Gila monster," said Jan. The hand holding the flashlight on the monster was steady. "Big as an ancient dinosaur."

"I wonder if it's poisonous like the Gila monster," said Karl.

"Stop all this scientific stuff!" cried Tinn. "Let's get the hell out of here." He was standing upright, causing the copter body to sway.

"Sit down, you're rocking the boat," Gabe told him. "You're not going to feed me to that thing." Tinn scrambled toward the rear of the craft. "Come on, come on. Let's back up."

"This is the only way out of here," said Karl. "Now sit down."

"Look at that creature's eyes," said Jan, gesturing with the flashlight. "They're closed tight"

"He's probably blind," said the Phantom. Resting his paddle, he drew out one of his automatics. "I imagine he's got a keen sense of smell and hearing." Taking careful aim the Phantom fired at the monster lizard.

"Your bullets don't even phase him," said Jan. "Even when you hit his eye. They just bounce off."

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"There's no chance of stopping him," said Tinn. "He's going to get us all." He was standing at the back edge of the copter.

"Sit down," warned Gabe.

"I'm not waiting to get eaten!" said Tinn. The sad-faced Chinese leaped from the raft.

"Tinn, that water's boiling hot!" shouted Gabe, making a futile grab.

The Chinese screamed once before he sank beneath the bubbling surface of the River of Fire.

"Oh, my lord!" said Jan.

"He panicked," said Gabe. "I tried to catch him, but with this damn leg. . .

"It's not your fault," said Jan.

The Phantom kept his attention on the giant lizard. "Okay," he said, "let's see what the poison spear will do to this fellow."

"You've had good luck with it so far," said Karl. The great lizard was creeping closer, its huge tongue whipping at them.

"There!" The Phantom hurled the poison-tipped spear Guran had given him.

The tip hit the lizard between its blind eyes. Then bounced off, to sink into the boiling stream.

"Didn't even scratch him," said the Phantom.

"Maybe we will have to turn back," said Karl. "Take our chances with the volcano."

"No way," said Gabe. "Listen."

A new roaring, bubbling sound was starting behind them.

"it's lava," said Jan. "Red-hot lava flowing into the cave. We can't turn back now."

The lizard continued to creep closer.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE