The Veiled Lady (7 page)

Down through the giant leaves and petals droned an enormous bee, heading straight for the Phantom.

Its body was larger than that of a horse, its great whirring wings were several feet in length, and they refracted the afternoon light like stained-glass windows. The bee's deadly stinger was the size of a bayonet. The angry buzzing grew louder as the creature flew toward the Phantom.

Beside the wreckage of Doctor Love's fallen helicopter, the masked man braced himself. "This has to be what she saw," he said. "A gigantic bee. Their ship must have been attacked by one as they were coming down." He kept his eyes on the bee, Guran's poison-tipped spear ready in his hands.

The bee dived right for him. The Phantom dodged to one side, thrusting his spear in and out of the bee's abdomen as it zoomed by.

The creature passed over him, banking and climbing. Its giant whirring wings scattered great flecks of pollen as it turned by the oversized flower stalks. The bee's buzzing took on an even angrier tone as it circled to attack again.

The Phantom readjusted his grip on the spear, awaiting the new charge.

The giant bee began a new dive toward him.

A dozen yards away, it began to wobble.

Suddenly it swerved, went jerking upward as though it had been caught by some powerful gust of wind. The creature corkscrewed through the air. All at once it was silent, like a mechanism which has been switched off.

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Leaves, flowers, nuggets of golden pollen came falling down in advance of the plummeting bee.

The Phantom dropped his spear to dive beneath the shelter of the wreck.

With an earth-shaking crash the gigantic bee hit the ground a few feet from the crouching masked man.

"Dead," said the Phantom. "Guran's poison worked." He eased out into the open, caught up the spear.

"I have a feeling I may have use for this again."

From out of the underbrush, giant ants came marching to swarm over the dead body of the giant bee.

From above, a flock of winged things flew in, alighting on the huge carcass.

"What kind of birds-hey, they're flies," said the Phantom. "Flies as big as swallows. I guess I still haven't adjusted my sense of proportion to fit this place."

He made one more careful circuit of the downed copter, then climbed inside the ship for a final look around.

"More blood here on the pilot's seat," the masked man observed. "Meaning he's probably the one who's hurt." He scanned the interior. "Looks like they took most of their weapons and supplies, which means they came out of the crash alive."

He jumped to the mossy ground, again followed the trail of blood spots. "The question is-are they still alive?"

As he moved by the body of the dead bee, a half dozen of the bird-size flies left their work to buzz round his head.

"Shoo," suggested the Phantom.

He snapped a shoot off a giant flower. The leaf at its tip was twice the size of a man's hand. It made an excellent fly swatter.

Gabe McClennan grinned at them, then caught at his stomach and fell forward onto the ground.

"Another woozy spell," he said in a faint voice. "Maybe you'd best leave me by the side of the road."

"That's enough of that kind of talk," said Karl Waagener, easing an arm around the injured pilot's shoulder. "Here, I'll help you up."

"I haven't seen the vultures in this part of the country yet," said Gabe. "But if they match the rest of the flora and fauna they'll probably think of me as just a quick snack." He got to his feet with the bearded biologist's help.

"That gash in your leg is bleeding again, Gabe," noticed Doctor Jan Love, who, armed with a .300

Weatherby Magnum big-game rifle, was bringing up the rear, Karl scanned the jungle of giant grass and ferns they were trekking through. "Looks like a cave over there, Jan, in that scatter of giant rocks. What say we rest there for a spell?"

"Resting isn't going to get us out of here," said Gabe.

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"We can afford to take a break," said Jan. "I'll have another look at your leg and change the dressing."

As he hobbled ahead, holding on to Karl's arm, the pilot said, 'Well, okay. I'm sorry to be keeping you folks from your work."

Jan brushed her long blonde hair back from her face. "Are you kidding? We've seen more fantastic specimens in the last twenty-four hours than we'd be likely to see in a lifetime on the outside."

"And they've seen us," added Karl. "I can't get over the odd sensation of having an insect look me in the eye.

Gabe was frowning. "I don't mean all these overgrown bugs," he said. "Aren't you people interested in..." His voice trailed off.

"In what, Gabe?" Karl asked him.

"Never mind," replied Gabe. "I guess I'm babbling. Forget it,"

"Here, watch your step." They were at the mouth of a large black-rock cave.

"I've lived in worse places," said Gabe as he stumbled across the threshold. With Karl's help he seated himself on the rocky ground with his back braced against the cave wall. "Okay, Doctor Love, your patient is ready." He looked around for the girl.

Karl stood away from him, glancing around, too. "Jan? Come on in," he said. "Jan?"

Outside the girl screamed.

CHAPTER TWELVE

The Phantom heard the scream.

It came from the direction in which the faint trail was leading him.

Must be Doctor Love, he thought, breaking into a trot.

This stretch of jungle was especially tough going. Giant wild berries grew all around, their thorny vines snaking along the ground. The thorns were knife-size, hundreds of them pronging upright.

Expertly the masked man made his way over the thorny obstacles.

Another scream came to him. Louder, more frightened, closer at hand.

After the gigantic wild berry patch came a field of grass. The blades rose up five feet. When the Phantom started into this sea of grass, a startled cricket leaped up out of his way. It was two feet long.

The Phantom ran swiftly through the chest-high grass. "Doctor Love," he called out, "Doctor Love."

He got no response.

But, after a moment, he heard the echoing crack of a pistol shot.

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The Phantom ran out of the giant grass and emerged into a clearing. About a hundred feet in front of him squatted a gigantic toad. The monstrous amphibian was nearly as large as a school bus, a rough earthy brown-green in color. Its warty skin looked as tough as armor plate.

The monster toad had its great long tongue extended to almost full length and was wrapping it around the struggling body of Doctor Jan Love.

Nearby Doctor Karl Waagener was circling the creature, "Let go, damn you! Drop her!" He fired another pistol shot into the air, hoping to frighten the toad into letting go.

"The rifle," cried Jan. "Use the rifle on him."

Karl holstered his .38 pistol in his belt, dashed forward to snatch up the big-game rifle Jan had dropped. He put the butt to his shoulder and fired into the giant toad's side.

There was a loud pinging sound. The toad's enormous globe of a left eye swung slightly in Karl's direction, but otherwise the creature did not respond.

Karl got off another shot at him with similar results, "The bullets just bounce off him. He's got a hide like iron." Angrily he turned the rifle into a club by gripping its barrel. Swinging it, he ran at the monster toad. "Let her go, damn you!"

"Get back," ordered the Phantom. One of his big .45 automatics was out of its belt holster.

The toad noticed the masked man and halted its efforts to reel in the struggling biologist.

The Phantom moved carefully toward the giant toad. He raised his automatic, aimed at one of the great globular eyes, and fired.

The toad's tongue went slack, causing Jan to lurch suddenly back into a stumbling fall.

The great amphibian toppled over, its giant knobby head slamming the ground. Almost at once enormous ants came trooping out of the foliage to attack the body.

The masked man holstered his gun as he ran to the sprawled girl "Doctor Love, I presume?"

She sat up with his help. "Yes, I..." The girl raised one hand toward her dusty face, then her eyes closed, and she started to fall over sideways.

The Phantom caught her. "Fainted," he said. "Not surprising, all things considered." He rubbed her slim wrists.

Karl was slowly approaching the masked man, his rifle held straight again. "Thanks," he said. "You saved her life and mine, too, probably. How'd you manage to drop him after my shots simply bounced off?"

"After seeing what happened when you tried to make a dent in him," explained the Phantom, "I realized the only way to kill him would be with a shot through an eye and into the brain."

"I should have thought of that," said Karl. "I'm Karl Waagener. Do you-I mean do you live here inside the volcano?"

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The Phantom smiled at him. "No, I'm a tourist like yourself. I came here to locate you people."

"Then you managed to get a copter in?"

Shaking his head, the Phantom answered, "No, Karl, I climbed down from the rim."

"Climbed? But we were told that was-"

"Boy," said Jan, blinking. "What did I do, faint?'

"Yes," said Karl, taking her hand.

"Kind of a stupid feminine thing to do, wasn't it?" said the girl.

"Under the circumstances," said Karl.

"Yes, it was an awful experience. That tongue of his. I imagine that's what it must feel like when a python gets hold of you." Leaning against the Phantom she got herself to a sitting position again. "I don't know who you are, but I'm most appreciative you came along before the toad converted me into one more insect tidbit. Who are you?"

"That's not important," the Phantom told her. "I've come here looking for you."

"In a copter?"

"No."

"He climbed down," said Karl.

"He did?" Jan rose, with their help, to her feet. "That's not possible."

"Same reaction I had," said Karl.

Jan did some practice walking, her eyes on the man in the costume. "Well, I guess this is the period in my life when I'm meant to encounter a lot of things I don't believe in. Monster bees, gigantic toads and now you." She glanced at her bearded associate. "Don't you realize who he must be, Karl?"

"Well, I was toying with the notion he might be-"

"Exactly," said the girl. "He's the Phantom. Aren't you?"

The Phantom made a slight acknowledging bow toward her. "What we have to do now is find a way to get out of this volcanic valley. How badly injured is your pilot?"

"How'd you-?" began Karl.

"He's the Phantom, remember," put in Jan. "He just knows."

"I found your helicopter before I found you. There were indications the pilot had been hurt."

"Yes," said Jan. "He got a pretty nasty gash when we hit the ground. After the giant bee made its suicide dive into us and fouled the rotor."

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"Can he walk?" the Phantom asked.

"Certainly," said the girl. "With a little help from his friends. What do you have in mind? Do you know of a way out of here?"

The Phantom replied, "I don't think we can go out the way I came in, especially with an injured man." He rubbed the knuckles of one hand across his chin. "However, I think I can find another way out."

"I have mixed feelings about leaving," said Jan. "As a biologist, I'm fascinated by this amazing place.

Yet half the time I'm too scared even to think about taking notes."

"Which reminds me," said the Phantom, "I believe you dropped this." From his belt he took the notebook.

Jan's pretty face brightened. "Oh, thanks. I figured it was gone forever. I dropped it while we were ducking a swarm of mammoth mosquitoes."

"I'd better go see if Gabe needs any help." Karl started toward the cave. "He's been pretty quiet through all this. Hey, Gabe. Come on out and meet our company."

There was no reply from the darkness in the rocks.

"Gabe," repeated the bearded Karl. "Hey, Gabe. Are you okay?"

Still no answer came.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN