THE CAVES OF FEAR

A RICK BRANT SCIENCE-ADVENTURE STORY

BY JOHN BLAINE

GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS
NEW YORK, N.Y.

COPYRIGHT, 1951, BY
GROSSET & DUNLAP, INC.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Printed in the United States of America

At the base of the Black Buddha, a section of the floor had swung upward.

Contents

CHAPTER I. Changes at Spindrift
CHAPTER II. The Cipher Message
CHAPTER III. Heavy Water
CHAPTER IV. Project X
CHAPTER V. Hong Kong
CHAPTER VI. The Golden Mouse
CHAPTER VII. The Junk with Purple Sails
CHAPTER VIII. Long Shadow
CHAPTER IX. The Trail to Korse Lenken
CHAPTER X. The Ambush at Llhan Huang
CHAPTER XI. The Goatskin Water Bag
CHAPTER XII. The Buddhist Monk
CHAPTER XIII. The Black Buddha
CHAPTER XIV. The Caves of Fear
CHAPTER XV. The Labyrinth
CHAPTER XVI. The Lake of Darkness
CHAPTER XVII. Through a Pair of Dark Glasses
CHAPTER XVIII. The Hostages
CHAPTER XIX. Canton Charlie's
CHAPTER XX. Home Flight

The Rick Brant Science-Adventure Stories

THE CAVES OF FEAR

CHAPTER I

Changes at Spindrift

The sounds of hammer and saw had disturbed Spindrift Island for several days, and Rick Brant was having a hard time getting used to it. The noise didn't bother him. It was the idea behind the noise—the idea that the close fellowship of the famous island was about to be intruded upon by strangers.

He sat in a comfortable chair on the front porch of the big Brant house and stared morosely at the Atlantic. He was a tall, athletic boy with brown hair and eyes and a face that was usually pleasant.

"What's it going to be like with a mob of strangers galloping all over the place?" he demanded.

Don Scott grinned lazily from the depths of his armchair. He was a husky youth, perhaps an inch taller than Rick, with black hair and dark eyes. "Since when do five people make a mob?" he inquired. "Besides, I think adding more scientists to the staff is a good thing. So does Dad."

"I know it," Rick returned gloomily. "The others do, too. I'm a downtrodden minority. No one sympathizes with me."

Scotty shook his head sadly. "Poor old Rick. Seriously, I don't get it. You should be cheering the loudest. Think of what it means, pal! More fields of science to explore, including one I never heard of before. Maybe more expeditions, of different kinds than the ones we've been on up to now."

"That's what I'm thinking about," Rick returned.

"Then why the gloom?"

"Because..." Rick stopped as the phone rang in the house.

Scotty got to his feet quickly. "I'll get it. Mom and Dad are down watching the builders."

Rick smiled as Scotty went into the house. It pleased him to have Scotty call Mr. and Mrs. Brant "Mom and Dad." It was a symbol of Scotty's permanence in the family. No one had ever questioned Scotty's membership in the Spindrift tribe since the day when the scrappy ex-Marine had rescued Rick from a gang of thugs bent on destroying the Island Foundation's moon rocket, and it was pleasant to think of Scotty as a permanent brother. The two of them had been through some tight places together and they were closer friends than brothers usually are. Like Rick, Scotty was listed on the membership rolls of the Spindrift Foundation as a junior technician.

Hartson W. Brant was listed as president, but it was Rick's pride that he and Scotty had earned places because of their own worth, and not because of their relationship with the scientist. However, their abilities were not the same. Because of Rick's interest in science,