Part 10 (1/2)

Rick put his face down in the water again while Scotty secured the catch to his float As he did so he saw a target and hooted for attention

Scotty joined him and they looked down to where a barracuda hovered motionless

The 'cuda was perhaps two and a half feet long, not big as such predators went, but big enough Scotty et him

Obviously the fish had been attracted by the blood or the struggles of the snapper Rick hoped that his big brothers wouldn't join hih While Scotty held both floats, Rick charged his gun, pulling back the strong rubbers a pair at a tis, and went under

The barracuda hovered, waiting Rick knew that his apparent disinterest could change to lightning flight Few fish were so fast He followed Scotty's exa slowly toward the quarry He was a dozen feet do, and in the lessened light the barracuda looht

The spear gun was extended, the spear point nearing firing range Rick planned to shoot froet closer Flippers propelling hiently, he closed Now he could see the pointed jaws that contained razor-edged teeth The fish atching him, but without apparent fear

The barracuda head was squarely in his sights Rick squeezed the trigger

For a ht he had missed, then the safety line ran out and the jerk al out of breath, too Quickly he planed for the surface, feeling the fury on the end of his line He broke water, gulped air, then dove again He pulled in the line until he saw the fish struggling He had nearly missed The harpoon had taken the barracuda near the tail, fortunately hitting the spine Rick pulled hiripped his spear by the extre, dangerous jaws Holding fast to the spear he shot to the surface again Scotty aiting, knife in hand As Rick extended the spear toward him the keen knife flashed across the 'cuda's spine just behind the gills Rick tossed his gun onto the float, then together they heaved the fish up beside it

”Spindrift was never like this,” Scotty said, grinning

Rick gulped air and grinned back

A hail from the shore reached the pan in a signal for breakfast Suddenly Rick realized that he was fao,” he said ”We'll trade these for bacon and eggs”

It was nearly noon before they got into the water again The first part of thesea sleds froh, but it took a little tith, then two of theed so that they could be towed, and spare weight belts and weights were used to counteract their bouyancy They were very much like the aqua-planes coned to go under rather than reed so that a sled could be towed on either side of the _Water Witch_ Once this was done, the boys rechecked their equipulators to the tanks, and carried the the 120-foot mark on the chart

Tony would act as tender at the stern, while Rick and Scotty would ride the sleds The first leg would take theh the reef channel, then south to the tip of the island, reverse course and north again, staying at the twenty-fathom mark Zircon was sure that he would be able to follow the prescribed course by judging his distance from the reef

When all was in readiness, they loaded their gear aboard the _Water Witch_, including the spare tanks Only the runaway tank was ht had not weakened it The valve and pressure gauge had been recovered after a considerable search, and the tank could be refilled with the others

Zircon took the _Water Witch_ through the reef, and the boys donned their equip the ladder outboard Rick checked his own straps, and then those of Scotty, while Scotty returned the favor

Then each checked the flow of air through his mouthpiece, and made sure the reserve rod was in the ”up” position This done, they entered the water Tony tossed the boards over and made sure the lines were secured

Rick and Scotty paddled the boards to the extreth of the lines, then separated as much as the lines allowed They were about thirty feet apart and a hundred feet behind the boat

They waved their readiness to Tony, who relayed the go-ahead to Zircon

The boat started slowly

Rick hted board tilted down It acted as a hydrofoil, its forwardit deeper into the water Rick waited until he was only ten feet froain Obediently the board tilted upward and raced for the surface Rick h the surface By adjusting his weight, he could keep the board level, or go up or down It wasn't easy and he had to fight the board level alulator between his shoulder blades as he breathed rhyth him as much air as he needed He felt the pressure on his ears as he steered the board toward bottom, and there was an instant of pain before his ears adjusted

The bottoht he saw the wall of the reef, and once a startled snook shot out of his way To his left he could see Scotty

Before he knew it the boat had throttled down, a signal that they were at the southern end of the reef He tilted upward and surfaced

Tony called, ”How is it?”

”Great!” Rick called back ”But we'll need lots o any deeper the angle of the line will make the boards come up”