Rick gasped. He started to run toward Scotty, but his pal waved him back. Then, as Rick watched, horrified, he saw Scotty take the stick out of his mouth and motion for him to come ahead. "What are you doing?" Rick demanded. "I thought for a minute you'd lost all your buttons and started eating dynamite." "We didn't have crimpers," Scotty explained. "The only way I could get the cap on was to crimp it with my teeth." Rick turned white. He gulped. No wonder Scotty looked a little pale! "It worked," Scotty said, a little shakily. "But I don't want to do it as a regular thing." "I should hope not!" Rick exclaimed fervently. "Give me that stick. I'll connect up. Will one be enough?" "Plenty," Scotty said. "Get going. I'll connect up the detonator." By the time Rick had placed the dynamite and connected the wires, Scotty was ready, the detonator in the front seat of the jeep between his legs. "I wish we had some regular fuse," he said. "Then we could put short fuses on a few sticks, light them, and throw them." Rick stared at him. "And crimp all the caps with your teeth? Boy, I'm glad we haven't any fuse!" Scotty's estimate was two minutes off. It took twelve minutes for the troops to come into sight. Watching from behind the banana plants, the boys saw them hiking down the road like a bunch of tenderfeet on their first five-mile hike. It was obvious that discipline in the San Luzian army was slack. The men wore sloppy brown uniforms and a variety of hats. They carried rifles and there were bandoliers of cartridges across their chests and grenades at their belts. "Can you see?" Rick whispered. "Fine," Scotty whispered back. They sat in the jeep, waiting. Rick kept the motor idling, knowing that the sound would be inaudible a short distance away. The troops reached the point the boys had selected. It was a big papaya about fifty feet beyond the dynamite. Scotty pushed the plunger. The dynamite exploded. Rick raced the motor, then shifted into gear. Scotty cut the wires loose with one flick of his knife and Rick lurched onto the road and fled toward the hotel as fast as he could accelerate. Through the rear-view mirror he could see the troops scatter and knew they had slowed things down for a few minutes at least. The last view he had was of one man, evidently an officer, trying to rally the troops again. Rick rounded the turn leading to the hotel grounds and saw that the scientists were waiting in the jeeps, ready to roll. He slowed long enough to yell, "Let's go," then led the way down the road to the front of the hotel and into Calor. The next problem was to find a place to stay. Honorario advised staying away from the big hotels on the beach and suggested a smaller but quite comfortable hostelry on the outskirts of town. Rick was pleased to see that it was located right on the water, at the point where the long San Luz beach began. But he doubted there would be time for swimming.