Part 13 (2/2)
”That's why I said ht panic under such circumstances and attract the sharks to theuess ”What if they just wanted to keep people fro it” Zircon said thoughtfully ”Are you suggesting that there are others after the _Maiden Hand_ treasure?”
Scotty spoke up ”How could anyone else find out about the treasure?”
”It's possible that there are other references besides the logbook we found,” Tony replied ”But it would be too farfetched to speculate that other treasure hunters had found the location and were diving right at this tiht be related to what happened on St Thomas,” Rick ventured
Zircon shook his massive head ”Extreers ”Who kneere co to Clipper Cay?
Ernst, Steve, and his Navy friend We did not ht supplies, nor did we discuss it in the presence of others We were not followed here No, Rick, I think that we cannot blame this incident on the ones in St Thoerous practical joke,” Tony concluded ”Unless there was so the chicken over that we don't know about”
Zircon steered the _Water Witch_ through the reef entrance, and the Spindrifters tied up at the dock Rick and Scotty inspected the compressor and then measured the amount of air in the tanks They hooked the tanks up, refilled the gas tank of the coine, and left the tanks to fill while they went to the cottage
Rick and Zircon prepared dinner while Tony and Scotty refilled the gasoline lanterns that provided light, and generally straightened up the cottage
Rick called, ”Tony, tell us more about this Indian stuff you found”
Scotty added, ”And what's a midden, anyway?”
Tony leaned on his broom ”A midden is a polite name for a refuse heap
Before the days of rubbish collection, people used to dump their trash in the yard The Indians did, and thereby provided archaeologists with an important source of information Apparently a tribe lived on this island, close to the southern tip It's likely that they simply dumped their rubbish into the water Well, the earthquake Hobart spoke of shi+fted the old coral forhtly and lifted a few square yards out of the water”
He went to the front porch and brought back a curved piece of material, encrusted with coral ”This used to be a pottery bowl, probably Taino in origin I'll probably find many like it”
It didn't look like much of a find to Rick, but he knew that Tony's trained eyes could see h, won't you?” he asked
”Of course But you and Scotty are the real enthusiasts, and the diving I do will use up air that you properly should be using I'll go doith you in the , because I want a look at the wreck But after that I think Hobart and I can amuse ourselves on the midden while you and Scotty hunt treasure Of course we'll be ready to help if you need us”
A few minutes before six, Rick turned on his portable all-wave radio to the channel Steve had given him, but the air was silent He waited for ten ain Apparently Steve had no e for them
Dinner consisted of fresh snapper and barracuda steaks served with coconut sauce for which Zircon had learned the recipe during his tours of the Pacific It was delicious, and Rick wondered about the fussiness of people who refuse to eat barracuda simply because the fish is a noted predator However, he knew that people are served barracuda every day under less offensive names
After dinner they sat over coffee on the porch and watched the sun sink beyond the reef It was like a Pacific sunset--colorful and so
The boys walked to the pier, checked their tanks, and found theestion, they locked tanks and compressor in the cabin of the _Water Witch_ Fresh-water rinses for the remainder of their equipment followed, and they carried the equiprossed in a book, while Tony was engaged in scraping the pottery shard he had found The boys watched hiested, ”How about a walk?”
”Okay” There was an idea stirring in the back of Rick's head As they walked down to the beach he said, ”We ought to take a look at the folks n that boat”
And Scotty said in the samen”