Lights on Clipper Reef
"This," Hobart Zircon boomed, "is a phenomenon that will rock the
science of zoology to its very depths! We will examine this creature and
determine his genus and species, and we will name him after you two.
_Octopus waili branti-scotti._ Or perhaps _Octopus screami_ would be
better."
"Of course we're not certain that it was a wail," Rick said soberly. "He
might have been singing. He might even have been telling us to go catch
him a fish."
Tony Briotti observed, "This may not be an isolated phenomenon. Who
knows? A search may disclose screaming squid, or simpering sharks, or
burbling barracuda."
"Seriously," Zircon asked, "have either of you a theory to account for
this? Or do you really believe that the octopus wailed?"
"We'd be in a better position to answer that if we'd had a chance to
explore the cave," Scotty replied. "How can we tell? Maybe the octopus
really did wail, and we were the lucky ones who heard the sound for the
first time." He grinned. "We should have wailed back and tried to strike
up a conversation."
Rick agreed. "I'm with Scotty. We just don't know. I agree that a
wailing octopus is a new kind of beast, but that's not entirely
impossible, is it?"
"Perhaps not." Tony stared at the sunset. "I'm trying to recall the
physiology of _Octopus vulgaris_, as the garden variety of octopus is
called, but my memory isn't working. It isn't beyond reason. After all,
some fish make sounds. I've caught croakers myself that were pretty
noisy. But I've never heard of octopus sounds until now."
Scotty chuckled. "Haven't I read that octopuses have some intelligence?
We might teach him to sing. He'd be a natural for television."
"You say that the sound was loud?" Tony asked.
"Very loud. My head hurt. Did yours, Scotty?"
"I'll say! For a minute I thought my brain cells were rubbing together."
Zircon sighed. "I am stumped. And not only by your Wailing Willie,
either. This whole affair baffles me, including the presence of Steve's
former tail on this island. Hasn't it occurred to you that those fancy
frogmen, as you call them, would have made some overt move by now if
they were really interested in us?"
"Dropping the chicken was an overt move," Rick pointed out.
"Yes and no. I'd prefer to call it a not-too-subtle warning. Yet they
haven't tried to interfere with your diving around the wreck."
"I've wondered about that," Scotty offered, "and it seems to me they've
satisfied themselves that our interest is just in the wreck, and not in
whatever they have hidden underwater. If they have anything hidden, I
mean. As long as we stick with the wreck, they have no reason for
causing trouble."
Tony agreed. "That makes sense to me. Perhaps you can answer this: Why
do they wear cold-water suits? It's appreciably cooler at twenty
fathoms, but it's certainly not cold enough for a suit."
"We only stay down fifteen minutes," Scotty said. "If we stayed down
longer we might get chilled. The water isn't warm by any means down by
the wreck."
Rick had a thought. "We're used to cold water, remember? Diving off
Spindrift would chill a polar bear, even in summer. Suppose these people
had done all their diving in tropic waters? This water would seem cold
to them, particularly down deep."
It was nearly dark now, only a glimmer of light in the west. The four
sat on the front porch of the cottage.
Zircon asked, "Did you monitor the radio tonight, Rick?"
"Yes, but there was no word from Steve."
"Don't you think he might like to know about the presence of his shadow
on Clipper Cay?" Tony inquired.
Rick pointed to the Sky Wagon resting on the beach. "Trouble is, that's
our only communication. I could contact the St. Thomas airport and
request that they pass a message, but that would be like broadcasting it
to the world. Steve might not like it."
Zircon's deep voice cut into his comment. "Look! Our friends are
apparently going to do some night work."
There were lights on the frogmen's boat, and it was putting out. As the
Spindrifters watched, it slowly approached the reef, then stopped.
Scotty got the glasses and examined the scene. "Something's up!" he
exclaimed. "I saw a diver go over the side!"
Hobart Zircon coughed self-consciously. "Do you know, I have taken a
certain amount of pride in the fact that I am by nature a conservative
individual with a highly developed capacity for minding my own
business."
Rick wondered what on earth the big scientist was getting at.
"The pursuit of truth has led me along many devious routes," Zircon
continued. "I have tried, with some success and many failures, to plumb
the mysteries of Nature. But while I have tried to make the business of
our natural universe my own, I have never thrust my not-inconsiderable
nose into the business of neighbors. However, this admirable reticence
has limits, since, as a scientist, I am also possessed of that inherent
trait of curiosity without which no person can succeed in science."
Rick exploded into laughter. "And what you're leading up to is, you want
to go see what those people are doing!"
"Precisely," Zircon admitted.
Tony and the boys roared with laughter.
"Hobart," Tony said with a chuckle, "you never fail to astonish me. And
how do you propose to stick your not-inconsiderable nose into the
business now going on over there?"
Zircon waved his hand. "The method was developed by our young Mr. Brant,
who sometimes shows slight sparks of intelligence. He has a device which
projects infrared light, and glasses that allow the wearer to see
whatever that light illuminates."
Rick stared. Zircon was proposing that they take his underwater camera
and use it for illumination. That must mean ... "You want to swim over
with the lungs?" he asked incredulously.
"And why not?"
"But we've never done any night diving!"
"You tested the camera at night, did you not?"
"Yes," Rick admitted, "but that was in water that we knew, off Pirate's
Field at home. And we only stayed in long enough to expose a few feet of
film."
"We know enough about these waters to know that there are no dangerous
obstructions beyond the reef, at least between here and the _Maiden
Hand_."
Scotty laughed. "This is a day I never thought would come. It's usually
the other way around, with Rick trying to sell some idea that everyone
else opposes. Why not swim at night, Rick?"
"No reason," Rick admitted. "It was just that it hadn't occurred to me.
There's one difficulty, though. I have only two pairs of glasses with
infrared-sensitive lenses. So only two of us could go."
"Only two could dive with the camera," Tony corrected. "But all of us
could go. Two would remain on the surface, with the floats, in case of
trouble."
"Who would dive and who would stay on the surface?" Scotty demanded.
Rick produced a quarter. "Let coins decide. Except for the professor. He
thought of it, so he dives."
"Fair enough," Scotty agreed. "All right with you, Tony?"
"Of course. The three of us, then. Odd man goes with Hobart."
Tony and Scotty produced coins. With Rick, they walked into the living
room and lighted a kerosene lamp.
"Now," Rick said, and tossed his coin, catching it in the palm of his
hand and slapping it onto his other wrist. Tony and Scotty followed
suit. Rick uncovered first. He had heads. Tony uncovered and displayed a
tail.
Scotty groaned. "Shucks! I lose. It's one of you."
Rick held his breath as Scotty uncovered--another tail! He turned to
Zircon. "We dive, while Scotty and Tony stay topside."
"Good. Well, what are we waiting for?"
They changed quickly into trunks, then assembled their diving gear. Rick
took the front plate from his camera and put the infrared searchlight on
its mounting bracket. He changed to a fresh battery, then replaced the
film in the camera with the special infrared-sensitive film.
Whatever the infrared illuminated could be seen through special glass.
Rick had ordered lenses ground from the glass and had placed them in
frames made to fit into a face mask. These frames could be purchased at
any diving-equipment supply house. They had been designed for divers who
had to wear their own corrective glasses, and they suited Rick's purpose
to perfection. He handed a pair to Hobart Zircon, then inserted the
other pair in his own mask.
Zircon, Tony, and Scotty decided to take spear guns. Zircon chose Rick's
rubber-powered gun, while Tony selected the light spring gun. Scotty
chose the highest-powered gun they had, a new jet-type powered with
carbon dioxide.
Rick and Zircon connected their regulators to two freshly filled tanks,
then tested the equipment. Zircon tied a rope to his belt.
The big scientist drew them together for a brief conference.
"We'll swim out and cross the reef," he directed. "Then we'll swim along
the reef, staying as close as possible to the breakers. They will help
conceal us. When we approach the boat, Tony and Scotty will stop and
hold position. Scotty, are the binoculars waterproof?"
"Yes, they are."
"Then take them. Rick and I will go directly to the bottom at the base
of the reef. We will then proceed along the reef until we spot our
friends yonder."
Rick had an unhappy thought. "Suppose they see us?"
"We will try to prevent them from seeing us. However, if they do, I
suggest a retreat in as good order as we can manage. If they should
catch up with us, we will bluster and bluff our way on the basis that we
were only diving to see if they were trying to search our wreck."
Scotty laughed. "Turn their own table on them. That's very good,
Professor."
"I'm glad I'm not a physicist," Tony said piously. "We archaeologists
aren't half so devious."
"I am acting in my capacity as a former consultant to JANIG, and not as
a physicist," Zircon retorted with dignity. "You will refrain from
casting aspersions on my profession, Doctor Briotti."
"My apologies," Tony said, grinning. "In other words, the man is
devious, but the scientist is not."
"Exactly. Well, shall we go?"
Rick was glad to get into the water. The camera in its underwater case
was heavy in air, but weighed only a few ounces in water. He swam with
face mask under, breathing through his snorkel and letting the camera
hang.
They crossed the reef without difficulty, then turned to swim along it.
The trough just seaward of the breaking point of the waves was the most
comfortable swimming position and they went in single file, Zircon
leading.
Every now and then Rick looked up. They were getting near the boat, he
thought. Perilously near. The boat was anchored just inside the reef,
and he could see activity on its deck. Apparently the frogmen had
returned from their first dive and were changing tanks.
Zircon stopped swimming and lay motionless in the water. Rick drew
abreast of the big scientist, and Tony and Scotty stopped behind them.
As they watched, suited figures with belt lights and back tanks climbed
down a ladder into the water. A third man, on deck, lowered something to
them. It was hard to see, but Rick thought it had a golden glisten and
that it was round, about the size of a basketball. The frogmen took it
and went under.
[Illustration: _A third man lowered something that glistened like gold_]
Zircon's big hand took Rick by the shoulder, then he turned and motioned
to the others that they were going under. Rick shifted from snorkel to
aqualung mouthpiece. He took the end of rope that Zircon held out and
snapped it to his weight belt. He and Zircon were now connected by a
ten-foot length of rope, necessary to keep them from becoming separated
in the darkness.
He submerged and dove straight down into the blackness. His thumb
compressed the button on the side of the case and the camera started,
the infrared light turning on. A narrow cone of water extending out
about twenty feet was illuminated, but the illumination was visible only
through the special glasses he and Zircon wore.
Rick held the button until they reached bottom, then suddenly realized
he would use all his film before they had even found the frogmen. He
groaned silently. Why hadn't he used his head? The light as well as the
camera motor were operated by the same button. If he had only thought,
it would have been a few seconds' work to change the circuit so the
light would be on continuously. Or he might even be able to rig a
waterproof switch that would operate just the light.
Well, it was too late now. He jerked on the rope for Zircon to stop,
then took his belt slate and wrote, "Cam on whn lite is. Wll use nw &
thn." He held it in the beam of infrared light for Zircon to read. The
scientist scribbled "OK" under the message, then gave him a gentle push
as a signal to go ahead.
Rick held his wrist in the beam and read ninety-two feet on his depth
gauge. He calculated quickly. They would have enough air for about
twenty-five minutes at this depth.
He held the camera switch long enough to see that there was only smooth
bottom ahead, then released it. Almost total blackness flooded in. For
all practical purposes it was completely dark, no glimmer of light to
mark their way.
For an instant Rick felt panic, but reason reasserted itself. It was
instinctive to feel fear under such circumstances, he thought. Not only
was he out of his own medium, air, but in a high-pressure realm
inhabited by potentially dangerous creatures. He grinned inwardly at the
thought. The most dangerous creatures in this vicinity were human.
A twinkle of light stopped him, but Zircon continued on and the
connecting line tightened. Rick identified the twinkle as
phosphorescence from some marine creature on the reef. There were many
such in the ocean. He flashed the infrared light, saw that they were
still heading properly, and cut it off again.
The rope at his belt tugged four times for danger! He stopped instantly,
letting go of the camera with one hand while he reached for his belt
knife. Then he saw what Zircon had seen, a glow in the water ahead and
above them. Rick estimated quickly the distance they had traveled. There
was no doubt of it. The frogmen were at the octopus cave!
He followed Zircon's lead, cutting the light off and on as necessary, as
the big scientist moved ahead. The glow grew in intensity, but they were
still too far away to see its exact position, or whether there were men
around it.
Rick's heart beat faster, and his breathing speeded up appreciably. In
spite of Zircon's plan to claim they were only checking on the frogmen's
interest in the wreck, Rick knew that being discovered would mean
serious trouble. He recalled Steve's warning that they were up against a
ruthless enemy.
The question was, how close could they get without being seen? He could
take pictures at ten feet, but at any greater distance the camera would
be useless.
Zircon moved ahead, going slowly now. Rick followed, not bothering with
the dark-light unit because the glow in the water was enough for a
beacon. Then the glow faded for a moment as a figure crossed in front of
it. Still Zircon moved ahead until Rick could see two additional,
smaller glows that he identified as the belt lights the frogmen had been
wearing.
Zircon continued on, still hugging the bottom, and Rick divined his
intention. The big scientist was going to take them directly under the
frogmen! It was logical, since the frogmen would not expect danger
below.
Rick followed, staying just behind Zircon's flippers, feeling the wash
of water from his wake. The light was nearly overhead now, and Rick saw
dark figures moving. It was unreal, like a Hollywood motion picture,
except that the tense music of a movie production was replaced only by
the soft sighing of their regulators.
And with the thought, Rick almost lost his mouthpiece. Their bubbles!
Their bubbles would rise right past the frogmen, a dead giveaway! It
might already be too late, because Zircon was almost directly under the
cave!