Part 3 (1/2)

By the tiht had ended, darkness had set in, and it was only sensible to turn on the anchor light and reht In spite of his unsettling experience, Rick and Scotty had not been deeply disturbed Neither he nor Scotty believed in flying saucers--at least, not in saucers that kidnaped people, and the object Rick had seen had not been saucer-like It had been shaped like a stingaree

Stingarees don't fly

Rick s in the Virgin Islands, he and Scotty had proved that octopuses don't wail But if stingarees don't fly, he asked hiaree and _does_ fly?

He realized suddenly that the sound of thethe houseboat? He swung out of bed The cool air ofbag

Quickly he slipped into shorts and sweat shi+rt As he opened the cabin door, he heard the slap of bare feet on the deck behind hi froht with you”

”Okay” Rick stepped out into the cockpit and glanced around It was a lovelyThe ever-present birds of the Chesapeake area were already active A huge blue heron stepped daintily in the shallows like a stilt walker afraid of falling over The heron was looking for s that reat fish hawk of the bay region, swooped overhead on lazy wings, sharp eyes alert for small fish near the water's surface In the pine woods behind the shore e

The motor sound was distant now, and the shore upstrea, lohite ht

Its boas vertical, its sides low There was no cabin Ale man, clad in overalls and a denim shi+rt The -handled crab net made of chicken wire

Rick watched with interest On one side of the boat was a roller that extended out over the water A heavy cord came out of the water, crossed the roller, and dipped back into the water again Every few feet there was a chunk of so on the cord, apparently bait As Rick watched, a piece of bait ca to it The net swooped and the crab was caught, pulled inboard, and dumped into a bushel basket with one fluid motion The crabber never took his eyes froht line

Scotty came out on deck and joined Rick The boys watched in silence while the ht a dozen crabs, then picked one from the bait and flipped it into the water

”Too suess,” Rick coo?”

Rick pointed A gallon oilcan, painted blue and white, bobbed gently in the creek ”That's where he's heading”

The crabber approached the can, then flipped the line off the roller

Using a lever next to him, he turned the boat and headed toward another can some distance away A quick pull with a boat hook and the line attached to the can was placed over the roller Crabs appeared, holding onto the bait as the boat etting about one crab for every three baits

Scotty leaned over the cockpit rail ”There's the end of his line, over near shore He'll pass close to us”

”That's why the uessed ”He moves from one line to another Last time he came by the boat he woke me up”

”Same here” Scotty nodded

The crabberat a steady pace toward the houseboat As he came abreast, he called, ”Mornin'”

The boys returned the greeting

”Looks like a good catch,” Scotty called

”Fair Only fair” The crabber scooped up a huge blue crab from almost under their noses and went on his way

”If it's only fair nohat rin

”Two crabs on every hunk of bait,” Scotty said ”You count crabs and I'll ly