Rick relieved Chahda at the helm, and the Hindu boy hurried below, saying that he wanted a cold drink before the fight started. Rick watched for the vinta sail, but before the craft was visible from his lower vantage point, Scotty called out again. "Land! Behind the vinta. Looks like a coral atoll. I can see the tips of palms." Zircon checked the chart. "It should be the most westerly of the three islands," the physicist reported. "Scotty, any more vintas?" "Just the one." "Head for the island," Zircon instructed Rick. "We'll want a close look." Chahda emerged from the galley with cold cokes for all hands, and they drank while waiting for the boat to get within examination distance of the island. It was clearly visible within a short time. As Scotty had said, it was a coral atoll, the highest point not more than ten feet above sea level. They passed the vinta at a distance of a hundred yards. There were only three men aboard, and they were fishing. Then Rick cut closer to the island while Scotty kept a sharp lookout for shoal waters and coral heads. Details were clearly visible now. There were a dozen huts on the island, and only a handful of people were visible. Zircon took the long glass from Scotty and inspected carefully, "Apparently it's a small fishing community. I see nets, and another three vintas pulled up on shore. There seems to be ... Wait!" Rick watched as the scientist swung the long glass into the air, followed something for a moment, then lowered it, his face grim. "I caught a glimpse of a man releasing something into the air, and managed to pick it up with the glass. It was a pigeon. And you know what that means!" The boys did. "Which way did it go?" Rick asked. "Due east." Rick swung the MTB onto an easterly course without another word. He knew from the chart that the biggest island of the three in the Datu Amman Group lay that way. The third island was about ten miles to the north. Release of the carrier pigeon could mean only that the island they were now passing was a lookout position, from which the people on the biggest island had now been notified of their arrival. And that meant ... what? Rick had a good idea, which inspection should soon prove! "Land ho!" Scotty called down. "It's a peak of some sort." Rick saw it a few moments later, a golden glitter on the ocean as the fast-setting sun struck land. The four watched as the land mass slowly took shape. "It's a mountain, all right," Zircon said, excitement in his booming voice. "Looks like a volcanic cone. Can you see it clearly, Scotty?" "It's a cone, and not much land under it, either. Hey! Vintas ahead! Must be a hundred of them!" Rick felt excitement surge through him. That was too many vintas for a simple fishing community on an island of small size! "They're forming a line between us and the island!" Scotty called down a moment later.