<h2 id="c14"><span class="small">CHAPTER XIV</span> <br/>The Circling Plane</h2>
<p>The next day, in a small village of only a few mud
and thatched houses, Chuba continued his inquiries.
This time, the second man he asked told of having
heard of a big bird “roar like the thunders of heaven.”
It had been seen coming down in the mountains.</p>
<p>In mid-afternoon of the second day after leaving the
market town, Chuba came up with more definite information.
He was told that a flying man had come
down in the foothills near a police outpost called
Jaraminka.</p>
<p>Chuba was elated by the news that now seemed to
be coming to them so easily.</p>
<p>“Too easily,” Biff said.</p>
<p>“How you mean, Biff?”</p>
<p>“I’m not sure, Chuba. But it seems strange to me
that everyone seems to be helping us along. It’s as if
we’re being guided to this certain place.”</p>
<p>“That is not good?”</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_113">113</div>
<p>Biff shook his head. “It’s too good. It could be a
trap. I’m pretty sure now that someone has spotted
me, or at least, knows I’m in this part of China.”</p>
<p>“How could they know that? You look like Chinese
boy, not like American Biff Brewster.”</p>
<p>Biff didn’t reply at once. He was thinking. He was
thinking that by asking questions about the House of
Kwang, about a downed flyer, someone’s curiosity had
been aroused. Someone was very interested in his
search for Charles Keene. Otherwise, how had it been
so easy to get the information Chuba had been given?</p>
<p>Biff also felt sure that the person, or persons, responsible
for feeding Chuba directional information
must know that it was he, Biff Brewster, who was in
China. He couldn’t drive from his mind the picture of
the Chinese with the drooping eyelid. Chuba’s description
of the man with one eye fitted too closely.</p>
<p>“Chuba, I think we’re definitely being led into a
trap. Someone is leading us to the place where my uncle
is. It may be friends. It may be members of the
House of Kwang. But, it also may be enemies of my
uncle. They may be holding my uncle prisoner, and
want to capture me, too. Don’t ask me why, I don’t
know all the answers. But I’ve got a hunch.”</p>
<p>“If we being led into trap like poor little goat into
dragon’s mouth, maybe we better stop. Maybe go different
way. Maybe better give Jaraminka the by-go,”
Chuba suggested.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_114">114</div>
<p>Biff smiled. “No, we won’t give Jaraminka the ‘go-by.’
We’ll let ourselves be led into—or up to the trap.
It’s our only chance of finding my uncle. We don’t
have any other leads. But maybe we can get right up
to the trap and avoid having it sprung on us.”</p>
<p>The boys climbed a narrowing mountain trail
higher into the foothills. Nightfall found them in a
wild, desolate spot. No lights could be seen in any
direction they looked. At the altitude they had
reached, a chill came with the night air.</p>
<p>Chuba hurried about searching for dried, dead
wood. He heaped up a large pile.</p>
<p>“Think it’s safe to build a fire?” Biff asked.</p>
<p>“Sure. Much safe. Better to have fire and be warm.
Better also to have fire to keep mountain bears and
wild pigs away. Anyway, who want to catch two
boys?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know, Chuba. I don’t know,” Biff replied.</p>
<p>The fire was soon blazing, sending out its friendly
warmth and brightening the wild spot where the boys
had decided to pitch their camp. Chuba had water
boiling in a small can, ready for the rice which had become
their nightly meal—rice, with some of the
strange foods Chuba had purchased stirred in it.</p>
<p>“Chow, Biff. We eat. I way out hungry, man.”</p>
<p>Chuba started ladling out the steaming dish.</p>
<p>“Hold it a minute, Chuba. Hear anything?”</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_115">115</div>
<p>Chuba raised his head. Both boys tensed. From far
away, to the south, there came a low hum, not much
louder than the buzz of a bee. As the boys listened,
the hum grew louder and more distinct. A minute
passed. There was no mistaking the sound now.</p>
<p>“It’s a plane, Chuba! A plane!”</p>
<p>“Maybe Sahib Charlie,” Chuba shouted.</p>
<p>“Look! Look!” Biff was on his feet, pointing. Now
the plane was in sight against the darkening sky. It
was coming low. Its green starboard wing light and
red port wing light were flashing alternately on and
off, on and off.</p>
<p>The plane seemed to be coming directly at them,
as if attracted moth-like to their bright fire. It
swooped over the boys, so low they both involuntarily
ducked. Then the plane circled, roared back
over them, and then disappeared over a low ridge to
the west. The sound of its twin engines died away.</p>
<p>“I’d bet you anything that was a Cessna. Like the
job that brought me to Unhao from Rangoon,” Biff
said, his voice filled with excitement.</p>
<p>“You mean like plane that Muscles fix for sahibs
back at camp?”</p>
<p>“That’s right, Chuba. Can’t be sure, though.”</p>
<p>“Maybe was scouting plane of army. Maybe was
spying on us,” Chuba said.</p>
<p>Biff’s spirits sank. Chuba could be right.</p>
<p>“Think we better get out of here then? Find another
place and hide?”</p>
<p>“Might be good idea, Biff. Hate to leave nice warm
fire, though.”</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_116">116</div>
<p>“And I’d hate to leave just in case that was a plane
from Unhao, looking for us. Or, as you said, it just
could be Uncle Charlie.”</p>
<p>The boys sat down by the fire. Biff ate his food
slowly. The minutes became an hour. Another hour
passed. Chuba had curled up in his long cloak, and was
sound asleep. Biff looked at the sleeping boy, and felt
a yawn stretching over his face.</p>
<p>He stirred the fire, pulled his long cloak firmly
about him, and curled up too. He didn’t think he
could sleep—his mind was too filled with thoughts
about the plane. But Biff’s resistance to sleep was
mostly in his mind, not in his body. Tired—he always
seemed tired these days—he dropped off to sleep in
seconds.</p>
<p>How long he slept, Biff didn’t know. But he did
know that something had awakened him. He opened
his eyes. He listened. He thought he heard a sound
just behind a nearby stunted tree.</p>
<p>“Chuba.” He poked his companion. “Chuba, wake
up.”</p>
<p>Chuba stirred, rolled over, and opened his eyes to
look into Biff’s face. “What is it, Biff?”</p>
<p>“I think somebody’s watching us. From just outside
the ring of the fire’s light.”</p>
<p>Both boys remained silent. Nothing happened. Then
the sound came again. Someone, or something, was
certainly watching them. Biff could hear his own heart
beat. He looked in the direction of the sound. A huge
figure stepped from behind the tree. As it walked toward
the fire, its dancing shadow became that of a giant.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_117">117</div>
<p>“Well, fancy meeting you here!” the giant said.</p>
<p>“Muscles!”</p>
<p>The boys jumped to their feet. The giant mechanic,
a big grin splitting his face, strode up to the fire. Biff
and Chuba leaped on him, pounding him on the back.</p>
<p>“Easy boys. Easy. I’m footsore and bone-tired from
walking over these here mountains. Never had anything
like them back in good old Kentucky.”</p>
<p>“How’d you get here? Was that your plane? Who
was flying it? Where’d you land? Is my uncle safe?”
Biff’s questions shot out in a rapid-fire burst.</p>
<p>“Easy, Biff. Easy. One at a time. Now I’ll try to
answer your quiz program. No word from your uncle.
Yep, that was me in that plane that flew over
here a coupla hours ago. Jack Hudson was flying her.
We touched down just long enough for me to hop
out. Jack’s almost back to Unhao by now. Now how
’bout a spot of China tea? I’m tired and hungry.”</p>
<p>“Me fix, Muscles. Right away. Chop. Chop.” Chuba
got busy. More wood went on the fire. Out came the
all-purpose can, this time to boil water for Muscles’
tea.</p>
<p>“Now what about you two? Give me a fill-in.”</p>
<p>Biff quickly sketched the happenings since he and
Chuba had slipped out of the camp at Unhao.</p>
<p>“So you think someone’s spotted you?” Muscles
asked.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_118">118</div>
<p>“I’m sure of it. Someone sure knows Uncle Charlie’s
being looked for. We’ve been getting more information
than they hand out at Grand Central
Station in New York.”</p>
<p>“And you’ve been told that a plane came down
near a place called Jaraminka.”</p>
<p>Biff nodded his head.</p>
<p>“How far is that place from here?”</p>
<p>“Not far,” Chuba replied. “Maybe a day’s walk. If
we start early in morning.... Here’s your tea.”</p>
<p>Muscles took the hot liquid. “Well then, Jaraminka,
here we come.”</p>
<p>As Muscles sipped his tea, he told the boys about
landing on a cleared, level plateau over a ridge of the
Thanglung foothills to the west.</p>
<p>“Not too far from here,” Muscles looked at his
watch. “Took me about two hours to walk back
to this fire we spotted from the air. We couldn’t be
sure, of course, but we hoped it would be you boys.
I guess I must have walked almost straight up and
down farther than I walked straight ahead to get
here.”</p>
<p>“And Jack went back?” Biff asked.</p>
<p>“Yep. But we’ve got it all fixed. When we find
Charlie, we’re to make our way back to that plateau.
I’ve got a portable transmitter with me. When we get
there, I make a signal. Jack flies in, and it’s back to Unhao
we go.”</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_119">119</div>
<p>Muscles made it sound so simple. Biff felt good as
he listened to the big man talk so confidently. But
there were lots of “ifs”—if they found Charles Keene,
if they got back to the plateau, if the signal was heard
on time, if Jack could come back in. Biff shook his
head. It was good to have big Muscles with them,
though. In any trouble, Muscles had a lot of weight to
throw around.</p>
<p>“Now suppose we catch some more of that stuff
called shut-eye—sleep to you, Chuba, and be up and
at ’em early in the ayem.”</p>
<p>“Chuba catch plenty eye-shut, Sahib Muscles. Tomorrow
going to be big days.”</p>
<p>Eye-shut! The two words reminded Biff of the Chinese
with the drooping eyelid.</p>
<p>The two boys and the man stretched out by the fire
and slept. At daybreak, Muscles stirred. He rubbed
the sleep from his eyes and sat up.</p>
<p>“Hey!” he exclaimed. “Looks like we’ve got visitors.”</p>
<p>Biff and Chuba sat up quickly. Standing silently,
forming a ring surrounding the three and the dying
embers of the fire, were eight of the fiercest looking
men Biff had ever seen.</p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_120">120</div>
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