Part 17 (1/2)
Scotty hooted, and pointed Directly ahead was a small shelf Rickof a cave Next to the opening was a s to iainst which he rested
Rick reached out a hand and the ani into the mouth of the cave Apparently this was his hoe was littered with shells from a number of meals
Now Rick wished for his camera, then smiled inwardly To satisfy all his unexpected wishes he would need a sort of underwater trailer to tow his gear
Scotty moved close to the octopus and it retreated still further Both boys knew the creatures were harmless to divers, and some divers even handled the with octopuses, and they had learned long ago that unnecessary risks were foolish
Rick suddenly rocked back as his ears were smitten by sound A wail echoed in his head, so intense that it ale in his astonishment
The octopus peered out of the cave, and the wail ca uncoave out
He pulled the reserve lever and planed to the surface, Scotty close on his heels
On the _Water Witch_ they stared at each other
”Did you hear that?” Scotty demanded
”I'll say I did!”
”That octopus wailed,” Scotty insisted ”Twice!” He hesitated, then put Rick's thoughts into words ”Only--octopuses don't wail They don't make noise of any kind”
”This one did,” Rick said ”A wailing octopus! This is either a new scientific find, or ”
”Or we've found what the fancy frogmen didn't want us to find,” Scotty concluded
CHAPTER XI
Lights on Clipper Reef
”This,” Hobart Zircon booy to its very depths! We will exaenus and species, and ill 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 ”Heus to go catch him a fish”
Tony Briotti observed, ”This may not be an isolated pheno squid, or si 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 ere the lucky ones who heard the sound for the first tirinned ”We should have wailed back and tried to strike up a conversation”
Rick agreed ”I' octopus is a new kind of beast, but that's not entirely impossible, is it?”
”Perhaps not” Tony stared at the sunset ”I'aris_, as the garden variety of octopus is called, butIt isn't beyond reason After all, soht croakers myself that were pretty noisy But I've never heard of octopus sounds until now”