Rick pondered that bit of information while Lacson and Zircon worked with Dr. Gonzalez, a short, bald Filipino, on the translation of the wire recording. Certainly Briotti and Shannon wouldn't have walked back from the Bagobo village and taken the boat themselves. And if they had walked to Calinan and obtained a car, Lacson would have found out about it. There weren't so many people in the area that the rental, or borrowing of a car, by two Americans couldn't be discovered easily. Had they hitched a ride Lacson would surely have found that out, too. Few cars traveled the road to Calinan. Rick took Lacson aside and questioned him while Zircon played the wire over and over again for the Filipino language expert. The major confirmed that he had checked, and was satisfied that the scientists had not obtained a ride back from Calinan from any of the local people. There were no cars to rent, either. Rick dropped the subject abruptly as Zircon and Gonzalez finished making notes and switched off the recorder. "Dr. Gonzalez has it," Zircon said with quiet triumph. "The language is difficult, and the headman was far from the microphone, but the sense of what is on the tape is clear." The boys and Lacson listened closely as the language professor read. "'Say nothing, young fool! It is forbidden to speak of the white men. One word that they were here and the wrath of'--I don't know one word here--'will fall on the whole village. Do you want to die? Do you want us all to die? I forbid you to speak on pain of death!'" "They _were_ there!" Scotty exclaimed. "Now maybe we can find out what happened." "At once," Major Lacson added grimly. "Doctor, what does the missing word sound like?" The Filipino professor shook his head. "It is a word I've never heard, Major. It doesn't sound like a Bagobo word at all. It's 'shoon' or 'shawn.' Something like that. It's not clear." "Will you come with us to translate, Doctor? Juan speaks enough Bagobo to get by, but I'd rather have you for this trip. It may be difficult." "I'll be glad to. May I have a few moments to change clothing?" "Of course. I'll take these gentlemen to the hotel and they can change, too. We'll pick you up." Rick took advantage of the few moments in their hotel room to call Chahda. The Hindu boy answered at once. "The recording had the answer," Rick told him. "That was a good piece of work, Chahda. We're leaving for the village at once." "Good. Something I can do?" "Not right now. I'll call when we get back." Rick changed swiftly into khaki trail clothes. Their tropical suit trousers had been cleaned overnight and he didn't want to ruin his again. Outside, Lacson was waiting. Two other command cars had joined him, each one carrying six armed troopers. The three jumped in with the major and went past the university to pick up Dr. Gonzalez.