Part 15 (2/2)
Scotty had placed the sapling with its winding of rope on the cabin top
He estiain ”Depends on how deep the mud is If it's more than three feet, the top of the stake will be under water”
”Three feet is a lot of mud,” Rick said ”It's likely a lot less than that”
He turned into the creekback It would be hard to anchor precisely where the houseboat had been anchored that first night, but he was sure they could find the spot within twenty feet Scotty went up on the bow and got the anchor ready
”Use about thirty feet of line,” Rick called He took the houseboat to the exact center of the cove, as closely as he could estimate, then put the motors in reverse to kill the speed When it fell to zero, he yelled to Scotty Scotty lowered the anchor and made it fast, then hurried back to join Rick, who backed off until he felt the anchor dig in
It was silent in the cove with the motors off ”I'll start,” Rick offered, and at Scotty's nod he picked up his Scuba and slipped into the harness His weight belt was next, then his fins Finally he slipped the mask strap over his head, and put the mouthpiece in place He took a couple of breaths to e of the cockpit and fell backward into the water, letting his tank take the shock of landing He slipped the mask off, took the , then he rinsed it, put it on, and replaced thefrom the cabin top He handed it to Rick, who dove with it, thrusting the sharpened end into thestayed in place
Rick surfaced again and swa the leg of oneprojected above the surface He held the boat in position while Scotty took the sledge and drove the sapling down until its top was only a few inches above the water Rick tested the pole It was fir water ”Looks okay I' to start”
”Good luck,” Scotty called
Rick subuide The rope, attached to the pole, was perhaps two feet above the bottom He freed the end of the rope, unwound a few feet, slipped the end through his belt, and secured it with a slip knot Then, hands extended, he began the sloork of covering the cove botto that had splashed
The boy swa fro of the line, which he kept taut, ensured that he would cover new ground each ti any He couldn't see, because his hands stirred up mud as he traveled Only his sense of touch told hi a crab or an eel All underwater creatures with any et out of the way as fast as possible He knew the co creatures
His groping hands identified various pieces of wood, all natural, and assorted other objects including an old tire There were cans, soe cans, recognizable because of their triangular openings Once he found a section of fishi+ng pole
It was a long, tedious job The world closed in on Rick and there was only the murk outside hisOnly his hands, constantly probing the mud, were in touch with reality He lost all sense of tiround he had covered, he pulled hi his distance He was about fifteen feet fro point He returned to the full extent of the line and started the round again, after looking at his watch He had to hold it close to see the dial through the h the tier
Tensmooth Instantly he turned in toward the pole, and swa the ground again by crawling along the bottoers touched it His first i cylindrical, but he hly, first His breathing was faster, and he knew his pulse had accelerated at the moment of discovery If this continued, he would use air too fast He willed hi, and for a few seconds he stopped altogether
In that instant, Rick heard a slap on the water, then another He waited, holding his breath There was a pause, then entle slaps
He counted theer!
He and Scotty had long ago agreed that four sounds underwater would be the danger signal He reacted instantly The fishi+ng line was in a pocket on his equipment belt He took it out and pulled line fro deeply with one hand, he pushed the line under the smooth object, reached across and doith the other hand When his hands met, he passed the line froh Noas around the object He tied the line quickly, then rolled over on his back and looked upward at the surface He could gauge the position of the sun, even though he could see no details Using the rays filtering through the uide, he oriented hier could only come from the mansion, and that was on the south bank He turned and swa out line froht line, he covered the bottom quickly, and in less than a minute he was in shalloater He stopped, afraid that his tank would show above the surface
It was clearer in the shallows He made out the line of a branch, or root of soh the surface It would serve Quickly he passed the spool around it and made a knot, then he pushed the spool itself into theslowly, he headed in the general direction, rising slightly as he swam Finally, he found the boat by its shadow and swa himself by the sun, he made sure that the boat would be between him and the south bank
He surfaced and pulled off histhe deck of the cockpit as casually as though trouble was the last thing on his nal, or had nal Then Scotty hailed him
”Where are all the cla Was the someone on the boat, or ashore?