Teena and Eddie, with their fathers, had hamburgers and milk at a
roadside stand. As soon as it was dark, they drove toward the
lighthouse. They parked the car off the paved four-lane highway which
ran several hundred yards back from the rocky point upon which the
lighthouse stood. The twisting, twin-rutted road leading to the
lighthouse was much more suitable to a jeep than to a modern low-slung
car.
They had no more than climbed out of the car, when a uniformed man
stepped out of the darkness in front of them. Eddie gasped when he saw
the rifle cradled in the stranger’s arms, poised ready for instant
action.
“Halt and identify yourselves!” a voice challenged.
“I’m Steve Taylor from Oceanview College,” Eddie’s father spoke up
quickly. “With me is Mr. Tom Ross. Also our two children.”
“All right, sir,” the voice said, more pleasantly now. “Been expecting
you. Go ahead, sir.”
“Wowee,” Eddie whispered as they went down the dark road. “I wonder if
there are guards all around here.”
“Probably,” Mr. Ross said. “They certainly set things up fast, didn’t
they?”
Each time the lighthouse beacon swept around in its circle, it cast a
temporary glow upon the road, making walking easy. When they reached the
base of the lighthouse, they noticed several other shadowy forms moving
about.
“That you, mates?” Old Captain Daniels stepped out to meet them.
“Hello, Captain Daniels,” Eddie greeted. “It’s us, all right. Our
fathers are with us.”
Captain Daniels shook hands with the two men. “Quite a party they’re
planning out here, isn’t it?” he said, seeming to relish the excitement.
“Apparently,” Eddie’s father said. “Although we don’t know just what
they’re planning.”
“You will, you will,” said Captain Daniels. “But right now I’ve got to
check my light. Darker’n a ship’s hold with a cargo of tar paper
tonight, it is. Won’t be much to see—until things start poppin’. Might
be a good idea to sit there in front of my cottage and watch down the
coast. Just don’t light any matches, or make undue noise. If you spot
any strange lights, things may start happening. I probably won’t see you
for a while. Can’t stop the light unless I’m up top.” He turned and
started up the spiraling stairs.
“Stop the light?” Eddie said. “I wonder what Cap meant by that?”
“I don’t know,” his father said. “I suppose you can stop those lights
from turning in a circle if you want to. Don’t know why anyone would
want to, though. After all, the beam is aimed rather high so it can be
seen by ships far off the coast.”
They waited over an hour. Except for the gentle sound of waves lapping
the shore below, and a throbbing Coast Guard plane passing by on its
patrol, an eerie silence filled the night. Looking seaward, there was
nothing to see but solid blackness. Three times each minute the beacon
from the lighthouse swept a path of white through the sky. Since it was
aimed high, the beam didn’t touch the water in the bay.
“If anything is happening out there,” Eddie said, “how are we going to
know about it?”
“I’ve been wondering that myself,” his father replied.
“You’d think they would spot some search-lights along the beach or
something,” Mr. Ross said.
“They couldn’t very well do that, Tom,” Mr. Taylor said. “They would
risk tipping off the whole trap. That Evans fellow impressed me as
knowing what to do. His is a big responsibility, and there certainly
wasn’t much time to weigh and measure things, but—”
“Look!” Teena said suddenly. “Isn’t that a light down there?”
Eddie’s eyes followed the direction of her outstretched arm.
“It sure is!” he said, dropping his voice to a tense whisper. “It’s
flashing on and off!”
The light was only a pinpoint in the distance. It flicked off and on in
a pattern of dots and dashes which Eddie guessed was some kind of a
code. The beam was directed seaward.
“Eddie,” Teena said, “isn’t that light about where the old fisherman’s
shack is?”
“I think so,” Eddie said, trying to judge in the darkness about how far
down the coast the shack was from the lighthouse.
“I figure you’re right,” a voice spoke behind them. All four turned.
They couldn’t make out the stranger’s face in the darkness, but they
could see that he was in Navy uniform. As the lighthouse beacon swung
around, Eddie saw lieutenant’s bars on his shoulders, and the
crossed-anchor insigne of the U.S. Coast Guard on his cap. “Now we’ll
wait exactly twenty minutes.”
“Wait for what?” Eddie asked.
“We’re not sure,” the officer said. “But in twenty minutes we spring the
trap. Might catch some big game, might catch nothing. Please stay right
where you are. Keep your voices low. No lights of any kind.” He turned
and went toward the lighthouse tower.
The Coast Guard officer had just left when Teena grabbed Eddie’s arm.
“Look!” she whispered, pointing out across the dark bay.
Eddie sucked in his breath as a small light far out on the water flashed
three times quickly, then stopped.
“Something’s moving into the trap, all right,” his father whispered.
It was unbelievable to Eddie that twenty minutes could be such a long
time. No one spoke. Nor were there any other flashes of light to
indicate any kind of activity going on. Occasionally, Teena’s father
consulted the luminous dial of his wrist watch. Eddie wondered if he,
too, found that twenty minutes was an awfully long time.
Then, as the tension inside of Eddie mounted to the point of bursting,
the darkness was shattered by a sudden rush of activity.
It began when the enormous beacon in the lighthouse tower stopped
rotating as the beam pointed out across the bay. Then, amazingly, the
great finger of light was lowered until it flooded the outer edge of the
bay in a brilliant blanket of white.
The sight revealed in the dazzling light caused all four of them to jump
to their feet. In the deep water beyond the bay, and approximately half
a mile offshore, the deck and superstructure of a submarine stood out
plainly on the surface of the calm water. Even at that distance, Eddie
could make out the frantic scramble of men pinned in the blinding grip
of light.
[Illustration: ... _he saw the small rubber boat moving in_.]
Then he saw the small rubber boat moving in toward the sand bar of the
bay. Three figures were plainly visible in it. Two had been paddling.
But the paddles were now frozen in the light. The third figure was
dressed in what looked like a skin-diving outfit. The light reflected on
the glass face plate pushed up onto his forehead. Suddenly the two men
with the paddles swung about and started pulling frantically back toward
the submarine.
“That sub will try to dive!” Eddie’s father said quickly.
“But the men in the rubber boat?” Teena said. “They can’t—”
“They’ll be left behind,” Mr. Ross said tensely.
But whatever method of escape was intended, it was quickly blocked. Out
of the night came the throbbing roar of aircraft. Then two dark shapes
circled into the glow of light from the lighthouse beacon.
“Coast Guard planes!” Mr. Taylor said.
Adding to the brilliance, the Coast Guard aircraft dropped magnesium
flares directly over the surfaced submarine, then continued their
circling.
A new pulsating sound was added to the night scene as two helicopters
swept past the lighthouse and slanted directly toward the submarine.
Each helicopter carried two large barrellike objects under it.
“Depth charges,” Teena’s father said. “If that submarine tries to dive
it’s a goner.”
Apparently the commander of the submarine realized the futility of
escape. A white flag caught the light, as someone on deck began waving
it wildly.
More flares blossomed out as the aircraft circled around for the second
time. Suddenly two Coast Guard patrol boats nosed into the lighted area.
One of them fired a warning shot over the bow of the undersea craft. The
white flag began to wave more urgently than ever.
The action had taken less than five minutes. Eddie’s mind whirled with
excitement. And then, almost as suddenly as it had started, it was over.
One of the Coast Guard boats swept into the bay and picked up the men in
the rubber raft. The larger boat swerved in and lay alongside the
submarine. Eddie could see the crew of the submarine being transferred
to the launch. A few remained, while several armed Coast Guardsmen
boarded the submarine.
Within a few minutes the patrolling aircraft buzzed low over the scene
for the last time, then disappeared into the darkness, returning to
their base. The helicopters swung back inland. The unused depth charges
were still racked securely beneath them.
“Boy, that was some timing,” Eddie’s father said, as the chop-chop-chop
of the helicopters faded into the distance. The submarine had started to
move up the coast in the direction of the U.S. Coast Guard depot.
The flares sputtered out, and all was quiet once more on the water.
Suddenly the beam from the lighthouse slanted up to its normal position,
then began to revolve slowly in its familiar fashion.
“Well, folks,” the Coast Guard lieutenant said, coming up behind them,
“show’s over for tonight.”
“And a real show it was,” Teena’s father said admiringly. “That was some
display of teamwork.”
“All part of our training,” the officer said, obviously pleased the way
things had turned out. “We keep the wheels greased. When they have to
turn, they turn smoothly.”
“Tonight’s proof positive of that,” Mr. Taylor complimented.
“My instructions,” the young officer said, “are to escort you to the
Coast Guard depot. Those taken into custody should be there by the time
we arrive. You may have a few questions to ask.”
Teena and Eddie rode with the lieutenant in the gray sedan with “U.S.
Coast Guard” printed on its doors. Their fathers followed in Mr.
Taylor’s car. Gates opened as they entered the Coast Guard depot a while
later. They were escorted into a large briefing room.
Within two hours the investigation was complete enough to draw some firm
conclusions. Mr. Evans, of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and a
Captain Foster, of the U.S. Coast Guard, stood before the group. There
were many strange faces in the room. Some of the men were in uniform;
some were not. Eddie supposed most of them were government or police
officials of some kind.
Under close guard over to one side of the room were two dozen or more
men. They were all strangers. Their uniforms, although of a seaman’s
variety, were completely unfamiliar to Eddie.
There were also several men in civilian clothing being held under guard.
Among them Eddie saw the two unlucky fishermen he had come to know as
Harvey Simms and Roy Benton. They scowled darkly at him. Eddie scowled
back.
Mr. Evans seemed to have caught the exchange of glances. “Remember,” he
said to Eddie, “I mentioned that we should have no trouble grabbing them
whenever we wanted to. Well, we got them. A few others, too. Simms and
Benton were sitting outside that old fisherman’s shack, still holding
the battery lantern they used to signal the submarine.”
“Boy, oh, boy!” Eddie exclaimed.
“Now, gentlemen,” Mr. Evans went on, turning to the main group, “please
regard all that is said here as confidential until it is officially
released through the proper channels. If you are wondering why these two
young people are sitting in on this hush-hush session, I take great
pride and pleasure in informing you that, without their alertness and
curiosity over certain suspicious actions, that submarine might now be
on its way seaward carrying two secrets very precious to this country’s
security.”
Eddie blushed but felt mighty good. Teena looked at her hands, trying to
hide the pleased smile on her lips.
“Mr. Taylor and Mr. Ross,” the FBI man said, “this should also please
you. We found two more of those sealed metal cylinders inside the
submarine.”
“Then they hadn’t delivered them!” Eddie’s father said with obvious
relief.
“That’s right. In fact, the submarine commander has admitted that they
have been lying about thirty miles off the coast during the week.
Tonight was their third trip to the bay. Incidentally, it was scheduled
to be their last. They had plenty of the secret radioisotope, and
today’s blueprint delivery completed the main set on the new
missile-guidance system they also were after. If we hadn’t set the trap
tonight, we would have been too late—another reason for appreciating the
alertness on the parts of your son, Eddie, and Mr. Ross’s daughter,
Teena.
“Now,” Mr. Evans continued, “we haven’t had time to solve who was behind
all of this, or why. We have our ideas, of course, but it’s going to
take considerable investigation to draw a full and clear picture. At the
moment, I’m not free to reveal to what country that submarine belongs. I
did think, though, that you two gentlemen deserved to know that the
isotope and the blueprints are safe.”
“It will be a long time, I imagine, before either Mr. Ross or I will
hear better news,” Eddie’s father said.
“In order not to delay nuclear research, nor to hold up production at
Acme Aircraft,” the FBI man said, “we’re sending the tubes with you
under armed guard to your laboratory, and you can take over from there.”
“With great pleasure,” Teena’s father said.
“And I believe, gentlemen,” Mr. Evans went on, “that’s probably your
main interest at the moment. The rest of it you will doubtless read
about in your newspapers within a day or two. I imagine the lights and
commotion out around the bay a while ago attracted plenty of attention.
Even with the naked eye, it would be simple to identify a submarine
lying on the surface. Newsmen are crowding the gates outside right now.
They’ll get their story as soon as we’ve filled in a few gaps and get a
release from Washington. All I ask is that you do no talking about it
until it has been cleared for the press. All right?”
“Of course,” Mr. Taylor said.
“We won’t say a word,” Eddie promised fervently.
“No, sir,” Teena backed him up.
“Well, then,” Mr. Ross said, rising, “I guess you won’t need us any
more.”
“We’ll call you if there’s anything else,” Mr. Evans said by way of
dismissing them. “Before you go, though, I do want to thank you all for
your fine co-operation. Particularly you two young people.” He smiled
again at Teena and Eddie. “This may sound awfully big—and it is—but
you’ve both done a great service for your country. As long as we have
alert young Americans like you two, this country’s future is in good
hands.”
A burst of applause went up. It seemed a strange place for it, there in
the briefing room. Eddie found it almost impossible to conceal the pride
that puffed up inside of him. Teena was grinning, too, as they got up to
follow their fathers outside.
Both of them took a last look around the room. They saw the group of
sullen men in strange uniforms. They saw the tall man and the fat man,
whose clumsy efforts at being fishermen had first aroused their
suspicions. They saw the pleased looks on the faces of the FBI agent,
the Coast Guardsmen, and the others in the “friendly” side of the room.
They saw their fathers walking toward the door, carefully carrying the
all-important metal tubes.
Neither Teena nor Eddie could find anything to say. Then they were
outside. The stars blinked overhead. Every few seconds the circling
beacon from the distant lighthouse swept its white finger across the
sky. The cool breeze from the nearby ocean gave added zest to their high
spirits.
“Isn’t it wonderful how everything worked out, Eddie?” Teena said
finally. “And to think that we were some help.”
“Yep,” Eddie said. “It all worked out great, didn’t it? Really great.”
Walking proudly, they followed their fathers toward the parking lot.