Part 1 (1/2)

DEVILS OF THE DEEP.

A Doc Savage Adventure.

By Kenneth Robeson.

Chapter I. A NEW FISH YARN.

DOC SAVAGE missed the start of it by only ten minutes. In fact, he was flying back from Central America at the time, and went right over the place where the ”sea serpent” first appeared. But he was too early by just those few ticks of the clock.

That was the first bad break.

Doc did notice a party of fishermen as he swept up over the Gulf of Mexico headed toward New Orleans on his fast flight northward. But there was nothing unusual about the fishermen-then, that is.

There was nothing to warn him of the drama about to occur.

Those on the fis.h.i.+ng boat craned their heads upward as Doc's golden-colored s.h.i.+p flashed overhead.

There were ten on the boat besides the captain and his helper. Most of them were visitors from the North.

The captain shot a stream of tobacco juice carefully to leeward before he leaned back his weather-beaten face. Then interest flickered in his wintry eyes.

”That's Doc Savage's s.h.i.+p,” he announced. ”Saw it when he come through here two weeks ago headed south.” Excited exclamations came from others on the boat. From all, rather, except one man. He was a tall man with a square face and ramrod back. He seldom spoke, but when he did his companions had noticed he seemed to have a faint accent, although he used perfect English.

The tall man had taken only one quick glance above him, then he had turned back to watch his line. At the sudden buzz of comment he looked up, puzzled.

”Who's Doc Savage?” he asked harshly.

The captain's jaw dropped. He didn't think there was anyone who hadn't heard of Doc Savage. He gave the tall man a hard glance.

”Doc Savage is one of the greatest men in the world,” the captain said flatly.

The tall man looked mildly amused. ”So?” he queried politely.

The captain opened his mouth to answer. He didn't get the chance. It seemed that every other man on the boat had the same idea. They all started to talk at once. They all talked about Doc Savage.

Doc Savage, it seemed, was a man who spent his life fighting evil. He had defeated many bands of desperate criminals and had had many thrilling adventures. In addition, he was a famous scientist and surgeon.

”He's been trained since he was a boy for the job he does,” one of the fishermen explained earnestly.

”Every day he goes through a series of physical and mental exercises to keep fit.”

”If I ever got into a jam, no matter how bad, and it seemed like no one in the world could help me, he's the guy I'd go see,” another added solemnly.

The tall man shrugged, his restless eyes straying constantly toward the water. He apparently had lost interest in the subject.

The captain regarded him narrowly. There was something about the tall man that didn't ring quite true.

He'd been going out with fis.h.i.+ng parties every day for the last two weeks, but he didn't seem particularly interested in fis.h.i.+ng. Most of the time he just stood by the rail and watched the water. Hahln, he called himself. A peculiar name and a peculiar man.

Anyone, the captain thought savagely, was peculiar who hadn't heard of Doc and wasn't interested in him.

That was when the sea erupted under them. The captain forgot all about Hahln. He even forgot about Doc Savage.

ACTUALLY, the fishermen decided later, the gigantic marine eruption that occurred wasn't directly under them. They wouldn't have survived if it had been. But it was far too close for comfort.

That was the only thing any of the twelve aboard the boat did agree upon.

A startled scream from the man at the helm gave the first warning. The fis.h.i.+ng boat shook violently as its engine was thrown suddenly into reverse.

Then the water ahead of them was whipped into foam. What seemed to be huge, long tentacles flashed up from the depths only to whip down again instantly.

Eleven of the twelve men were screaming, eyes popping in terror. Even the weather-beaten features ofthe captain were panic-stricken.

The twelfth man was Hahln. He alone was silent-but he was far from inactive.

Hahln had been standing almost at the stern of the fis.h.i.+ng boat. The attention of the others was centered on what was going on ahead of them. No one was looking at Hahln.

Thus it was that no one saw him whip the camera from his pocket, focus it on the strange, terrifying scene.

The camera was an expensive one. It took pictures almost as rapidly as if it had been designed for movies.

A surprised, almost incredulous look was on Hahln's square face. He pressed his finger on a b.u.t.ton and the camera went to work.

The sea was even more disturbed than before. There was a faint, rumbling sound also, barely discernible above the roar of the boat's engine. A huge object seemed almost to be jumping up and down not far below the surface of the water. It sent big waves cras.h.i.+ng against the fis.h.i.+ng boat.

The captain had stopped yelling long enough to grab the helm himself. He spun the boat around, and it was almost capsized when a wave caught it broadside. Then it righted itself, started racing toward sh.o.r.e.

Behind them, the water was quieting, but no one cared to suggest that they go back and investigate. All had the same idea. They wanted to get away from there, and they wanted to get away fast.

”It was a giant octopus battling a whale!” one of the fishermen yelled excitedly.

”That was no octopus,” shouted a red-faced lawyer from Philadelphia. ”That was a sea serpent! And it was headed right for us!”

The argument went on from there.

Opinion was divided almost equally between the sea serpent and the octopus theories. Those who favored the latter story cited the tentaclelike appendages that had threshed out of the water. The sea-serpent adherents insisted those had merely been arched loops of a big snake's back.

Hahln alone took no part in the arguments. His camera had disappeared, but his big hands worked nervously. His square features were taut, and his eyes bore a worried, anxious look.

When the fis.h.i.+ng boat reached its pier at New Orleans, he slipped over the side and hurried away.

HAHLN was the only one who did get away immediately. The captain saw to that. The captain had been doing a lot of thinking on the way back. He'd decided that this story, properly exploited, ought to get him a lot of business.

As soon as the boat was moored he herded his party of fishermen into a small office on the pier and called the newspapers.