Chapter Eight: Black Dragons

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With a sigh "Not again..." they jumped quickly into their aeroplanes. Starting the engines they showered the guards with the propeller stream filled with sea water. Flying out of the harbor they passed the Japanese Cruiser and landed on Der Fliegender Holländer or The Flying Dutchman as the zeppelin was called.

The zeppelin flew over the ocean seemingly slowly and silently. The pleasure was lessened by the bad cuisine. It was the new chef that apparently didn't know how to cook. When they reached Surabaya Van Der Decken hired a new chef.

While the zeppelin was re-supplied for the trip they had a look at the town. They noted that they were being followed by goons. After attracting a police officers attention to the problem they got back to the airship without any problems. Rumors said it was the Black Dragons clan.

Arriving at the Islands they landed at the biggest one, called ???. There they talked to a missionary man. He warned then for head hunters. Trying to get to know the area they circled the four islands, watching them from the air. They spotted a possible submarine or other strange boat in sunset. Telling the zeppelin crew to keep good look out they hooked up to it and went to bed.

The next morning there were no signs of the boat so they decided to check out the volcano. It was filled with water, surrounded by sheer walls. Near the water there were a landing. Diana checked the water by taking a swim. It got dramatically deeper almost at once. When getting into the refreshing water she found a small golden hair pin in the edge of the water in the crater. Rex said it was a small mechanical crank shaft or something equally ridiculous. Diana swimed around some more. Rebel & Rex went diving. Deep! Rex (or was it Rebel) found a membrane in gold. He said it was hardened gold. But everyone knows that it can't be done...

After returning the zeppelin crew told them they had seen some aeroplanes. They thought it was biplanes. Devastators? They flew around about the islands looking for aeroplanes or the submarine. They found the submarine. It was heavily armed, with a mean looking anti aircraft gun. Van Der Decken recognized it as a french submarine and concluded that either it was there to get back at him or it was in the employ of pirates and then also a threat. The zeppelin moved in directly above it and dropped a big bomb.