Part 10 (2/2)
”You should try it,” Scotty said ”Honestly, Tony, it's wonderful!”
”I'll try it a little later,” Tony pro you all the line we have, about three hundred feet each If you can't ether and use just one board”
Zircon caot these!”
He tossed in two fishi+ng floats and coils of line Those were in case they found the wreck Whoever spotted it was to drop off his board, secure the line to the wreck, and let the float rise to the surface In that way, they would have a guide
Each boy took one of the units and fastened it to his weight belt
”We're off!” Zircon called ”Ready?”
The boys yelled that they were Rick fitted his mouthpiece and checked the seal of his mask Scotty did the same, then both tilted their boards and slid under
On the northbound leg they had trouble keeping the boards down because of the tendency of the lead rope to pull the front of the boards up, but by crawling far forward, they one before, but Rick felt no sensation of fright or strangeness It was a green world, not dark but yet not bright The light was subdued, filtered by the fathoms of water
The bottorowth There did not seem to be many fish, or perhaps their eyes were not adjusted to the subdued light Scotty was close to the reef on the northbound leg, while Rick was about twenty feet farther out
For long h the water, the distant throb of the engines, and the sound of their own bubbles Then, ahead, Rick saw a rowth and tilted his board upward just in tiain Rick turned in tiht Sudden fear gripped hiht? Instantly he released his own board and saw it scoot for the surface He reversed his course and swam rapidly back
The obstruction he had cleared was dead ahead And there were fish!+ So gest was notThen he saw Scotty His friend was fastening the float line to a projection!
Rick's heart leaped What he thought was a rock formation on the sea floor was the wreck of a shi+p! Scotty had recognized it and dropped off
The _Maiden Hand_? He hooted and Scotty looked up The other boy shook his head
It wasn't the _Maiden Hand_, then But how did Scotty know? In a es of steel plate
This was a steel shi+p, then, and not a very large one at that He estith as not more than a hundred feet Still, it was a wreck--their first There, at twenty fathoms, he and Scotty shook hands solenats
Scotty finished tying his line and unwound it from the wooden spool The float rose upward and vanished far overhead They heard the throb of the returning boat, and Rick hooted twice, the signal to surface Scotty nodded, and they went up, slowly, careful to breathe naturally and not to overtake their small bubbles, as doctrine dictated In a mo, and knew that Zircon was holding position overhead
They broke water off the side of the _Water Witch_, and Rick waited until Scotty hailed the scientists ”We found a wreck, but it's a steel shi+p”
”Come aboard!” Tony called, and helped them up the ladder when they complied The tanks were cumbersome when out of the water
”It's a fish paradise!” Rick said excitedly ”I' and take soo down and look, both of you”
”How did you spot it?” Zircon asked
”Scotty did I thought it was a rock formation and went over it, but Scotty dropped off”
”I saw curled plate,” Scotty answered ”I kneasn't the _Maiden Hand_, with steel sides, but I didn't think ant to pass up a wreck”
”You were so right,” Rick agreed, grinning
A check of their tanks with the gauge showed that only about fivetiulators were transferred to spare tanks Tony and Zircon, already in trunks, donned diving gear and followed Scotty's line to the botto the helm to hold the boat in place