Part 20 (1/2)

A hand found the end of the line and the smooth cylinder to which it was attached Orvil passed very close, and Rick looked upward He could see the white circle of water around the single propeller

Now to find out what he had His hands stroked it from one end to the other One end was rounded The other was a circle with an odd-shaped hole running into it Rick poked his finger in, but couldn't feel the end of the depression The only protuberance on the thing was a band near the rounded end The band felt likefrom it The rest of the cylinder didn't feel like metal The texture was that of a serly It was hard to estiht ten pounds would be about right The total length was less than three feet It would be easy to carry

This time he needed a reciprocal co out He oriented hi swi his bubbles He had seen no sign of bullets, but he hadn't been looking for them With Orvil's motor so near, it was likely he would not have heard the slap of a bullet on the water

Pressure told him he was out of the cove He breathed a little easier

Now to count leg strokes again He looked up, and saw that the surface of the water was shi+ning with light, the first rays of true daylight

Scotty would have no trouble finding hiht, he continued on for a distance beyond where Scotty had dropped hiood a shot

Finally, exhausted, he surfaced He lifted his mask and surveyed the scene

Orvil Harris was still crabbing Rick could see the boat, but the angle rong for him to see the crabber at work He turned slowly in the water, and saw Scotty The runabout was floating, lint of first sunrise turned the lenses of Scotty's binoculars into a crimson eye, and Scotty waved back

In a few seconds Rick heard thetoward hi

[Illustration: _Now to find out what he had_]

Scotty caside and reached down Rick handed him the cylinder

Scotty put it on the seat without even looking at it He gave Rick a hand and pulled hiht?”

”Done in,” Rick said wearily ”But otherwise okay”

”Let's get out of here” Scotty put the runabout in gear and headed back toward Martins Creek

Rick sat down and picked up the cylinder There was a gob of mud still on it He wiped it off with his hand and exalass set in resin, and it was designed so the rounded nose could be removed He didn't remove it, however Instead he looked at the other end, down into the hole with the puzzling shape It was like a cutout Star of David in shape, the hole gradually narrowing until its apex was alht dawned Rick's lips for ”What?”

”Grain,” Rick said again ”This thing is a small solid-propellant rocket!”

CHAPTER XV

The Empty Boat

The Swiss torsion clock on Steve Ames's fireplace mantle read 6:49 Rick and Scotty, in slacks, shi+rts, and moccasins, sat in armchairs and tried to stay awake The small rocket, cleaned and dried, rested on a newspaper on Steve's table

”Rockoon,” Rick said ”That explains the funny antenna, the presence of the electronics expert, and why the stingarees are launched”

”Not tocoffee

”What was that word you used? Grain?”

Rick nodded sleepily ”That's what solid rocket fuel is called It's poured into the casing around a form The forned to give rainy, it's called grain”