Part 17 (2/2)
Scotty chuckled ”Haven't I read that octopuses have so He'd be a natural for television”
”You say that the sound was loud?” Tony asked
”Very loud My head hurt Did yours, Scotty?”
”I'll say! For a ether”
Zircon sighed ”I a Willie, either This whole affair bafflesthe presence of Steve's former tail on this island Hasn't it occurred to you that those fancy frogmen, as you call them, would have made some overt move by now if they were really interested in us?”
”Dropping the chicken was an overt move,” Rick pointed out
”Yes and no I'd prefer to call it a not-too-subtle warning Yet they haven't tried to interfere with your diving around the wreck”
”I've wondered about that,” Scotty offered, ”and it seems to me they've satisfied themselves that our interest is just in the wreck, and not in whatever they have hidden underwater If they have anything hidden, Ias we stick with the wreck, they have no reason for causing trouble”
Tony agreed ”That makes sense to me Perhaps you can answer this: Why do they wear cold-water suits? It's appreciably cooler at twenty fathoh for a suit”
”We only stay down fifteen et chilled The water isn't warht ”We're used to cold water, re off Spindrift would chill a polar bear, even in su in tropic waters? This water would seem cold to them, particularly down deep”
It was nearly dark now, only a gliht in the west The four sat on the front porch of the cottage
Zircon asked, ”Did you ht, Rick?”
”Yes, but there was no word froht like to know about the presence of his shadow on Clipper Cay?” Tony inquired
Rick pointed to the Sky Wagon resting on the beach ”Trouble is, that's our only communication I could contact the St Thoe, but that would be like broadcasting it to the world Steve ht not like it”
Zircon's deep voice cut into his coht work”
There were lights on the frog out As the Spindrifters watched, it slowly approached the reef, then stopped
Scotty got the glasses and exa's up!” he exclaio over the side!”
Hobart Zircon coughed self-consciously ”Do you know, I have taken a certain amount of pride in the fact that I ahly developed capacity forscientist was getting at
”The pursuit of truth has ledmany devious routes,” Zircon continued ”I have tried, with some success and many failures, to plumb the mysteries of Nature But while I have tried to make the business of our natural universe my own, I have never thrust hbors However, this admirable reticence has limits, since, as a scientist, I am also possessed of that inherent trait of curiosity without which no person can succeed in science”
Rick exploded into laughter ”And what you're leading up to is, you want to go see what those people are doing!”
”Precisely,” Zircon adhter
”Hobart,” Tony said with a chuckle, ”you never fail to astonish me And how do you propose to stick your not-inconsiderable nose into the business now going on over there?”