The Wailing Octopus: A Rick Brant Science-Adventure Story Read online

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  THE WAILING OCTOPUS

  A RICK BRANT SCIENCE-ADVENTURE STORY

  BY JOHN BLAINE

  1956BY GROSSET & DUNLAP, INC.NEW YORK, N. Y.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  _Printed in the United States of America_

  [Transcriber Note: Extensive research was unable to find a U.S. copyrightrenewal.]

  _With his spear Scotty jerked off the enemy frogman'sface plate_]

  Contents

  I DESTINATION: CLIPPER CAY

  II THE SCUBA SLIP

  III THE SHADOW

  IV VISITORS BY NIGHT

  V THE WARNING

  VI THE DEADLY TANK

  VII THE DERELICT

  VIII THE FANCY FROGMEN

  IX WRECK OF THE "MAIDEN HAND"

  X THE WAILING OCTOPUS

  XI LIGHTS ON CLIPPER REEF

  XII CLOUDS OVER CLIPPER CAY

  XIII MESSAGE IN THE STORM

  XIV BELOW THE DARK CORAL

  XV HOW SINGS THE GAY SARDINE?

  XVI THE DEADLY SPRING GUN

  XVII TRAPPED IN TWENTY FATHOMS

  XVIII THE FIGHT ON THE "MAIDEN HAND"

  XIX JANIG TAKES TO THE WATER

  XX THE BURIED SECRET

  List of Illustrations

  _With his spear Scotty jerked off the enemy frogman's face plate_

  _Pretending to lose his balance, Rick fell squarely against the man_

  _The valve assembly, traveling with bullet speed, barely missed Scotty'shead_

  _Rick turned in time to see a six-foot shark speed past_

  _A third man lowered something that glistened like gold_

  _Rick nudged Scotty to back away_

  Spindrift Island]

  THE WAILING OCTOPUS

  CHAPTER I

  Destination: Clipper Cay

  The Sky Wagon droned through Caribbean skies, following a compass coursethat led to Charlotte Amalie, capital city of the Virgin Islands. Witheager interest, the four people in the small plane watched the bluewater below. In a few moments they should pass over the island that wastheir ultimate destination.

  Rick Brant, in the pilot's seat, turned to the husky, black-haired boynext to him. "See anything yet?" he asked.

  Don Scott had been surveying the far horizon through binoculars. He tookthem from his eyes and shook his head. "Nothing but water. You surethere is an island called Clipper Cay?"

  Rick let the plane fly itself for a moment while he stretchedluxuriously. He was a lean, long-legged boy with brown hair and eyes anda bone-deep tan. He grinned at his friend. "No faith. That's the troublewith you."

  "No logic, that's the trouble with you," Scotty countered. "If therewere such an island it would be called an island, not a cay. A cay issomething that follows an O, as in okay."

  The two scientists in the rear seat had been listening with amusement tothe boys. Since the start of the expedition Scotty had professed doubtand misgiving, more for the sake of conversation than anything else,Rick was sure.

  Dr. Anthony Briotti, archaeologist of the Spindrift staff, leanedforward. "At least pronounce it correctly, Scotty. 'Cay' is pronounced'key.'"

  "See?" Scotty exclaimed triumphantly. "The only place where they haveislands called keys is in Florida. We're on a wild-goose chase, I tellyou!"

  Big Hobart Zircon, a nuclear physicist and long-time friend of the boys,tapped Scotty on the shoulder. "Since you're so certain of that, may Iask why you came?"

  Scotty tried to look martyred. "Only because of the buddy system," hesaid solemnly. "The first rule of underwater safety--or above-watersafety, for that matter--is that you have to swim with a buddy. You andTony swim together, so I had to go along as a buddy for Rick. Somebodyhas to chase the mermaids away from him, and it might as well be me."

  "That's nice of you," Rick said soberly. "There'll probably be a wholehorde of mermaids guarding the treasure, not to mention half a dozen seamonsters."

  Tony Briotti said, "There's one mermaid I wish were with us, and that'sBarby. After all, she started this whole thing. Too bad she has to missout."

  Rick's pretty sister, Barbara Brant, had unwittingly launched the flightto the Virgin Islands by getting into an argument with Tony Briottiabout the authenticity of the legend that pirates had once usedSpindrift Island as a hangout. Tony had challenged the legend. Afterthat, of course, proof had to be found.

  Rick had recalled digging up the remains of a campfire in Pirate's Fieldduring the installation of equipment for the moon rocket, the firstgreat experiment that had put the Spindrift Island scientific group inbusiness as a research foundation headed by Rick's father, HartsonBrant. It was during this experiment that Scotty had joined the staffafter rescuing Rick from an unscrupulous gang. The two boys had been ona number of expeditions together since that time and were fast friends.Zircon was one of the original Spindrift group. Youthful Tony Briottiwas one of the new staff members, but he had already earned the loyaltyand friendship of the boys by his fine leadership of the expedition tothe Philippines, as related in _The Golden Skull_.

  Starting with the campfire site, Barby and the boys had excavatedPirate's Field under Tony's direction. They had unearthed positiveevidence that pirates had landed there. The most vital evidence was theremains of a logbook, once the log of the bark _Maiden Hand_, sunk bythe woman pirate Anne Bonney off the island of Clipper Cay in the VirginIslands.

  Scotty turned and looked at the two scientists. "I'm just kidding, ofcourse. You couldn't have kept me from coming without tossing me intoirons. But seriously, do you expect to find treasure, Tony?"

  The archaeologist grinned. "Depends on what you mean by treasure. As Irecall, one definition is 'something rare or precious.' Well, a chanceto go skin diving in the Virgin Islands is certainly that--a rare andprecious opportunity. At least I think so."

  Hobart Zircon grunted, "And so do I."

  "Amen," Rick echoed.

  "You're evading the issue," Scotty accused. "You know perfectly wellwhat I mean. Do you expect to find that golden statue mentioned in thelogbook?"

  "Expect? On a treasure hunt, one hopes; one doesn't expect," Zirconstated in his booming voice.

  Rick smiled to himself. Probably no Spindrift expedition ever hadstarted with such a flimsy excuse. According to the log of the _MaidenHand_, the ship had gone down before the pirates could locate a goldenstatue of St. Francis, hidden by the bark's captain, Thomas Campion.According to Captain Campion, the statue had weighed "anhundred-weight." Certainly a hundred pounds of gold was worth goingafter, but there were a few considerations that made finding it ratherunlikely.

  In Captain Campion's words: "_That we did prevent the boucaniers fromfynding the blessede statue was moste fortunate, yette the bark did goto her deathe in twentye fathomes, and so the statue is loste._"

  Rick and Scotty had become underwater enthusiasts on their return fromthe Philippines, and both had aqualung equipment that would take them totwenty fathoms without difficulty. However, working time at that depthwas sharply limited by the capacity of their tanks. This was assumingthat they were able to find the wreck of the _Maiden Hand_ in the firstplace.

  Still, there was enough of a chance to provide an excuse for a vacationexpedition. The real purpose, so far as Rick was concerned, was to getin some superb swimming in clear water. He also intended getting plentyof underwater movies of the colorful reefs and fish. Scotty planned todo some underwater hunting.


  Tony Briotti's interest grew out of his profession. The Virgin Islandshad been pretty well worked over by archaeologists, and most of theearly Indian middens and mounds explored. But on the west coast,archaeologists equipped with aqualungs had recently found primitiveartifacts a half mile offshore, and Tony wanted to do a littleunderwater artifact hunting of his own.

  Hobart Zircon was the only one without a specific objective. He hadreadily agreed to go along simply because he wanted a vacation. He hadsaid, "Tell you what, I'll go along and do some surface fishing. Rickand Scotty can catch fish underwater and put them on my hook, thensignal me to pull up. If the fish aren't heavy enough to ruin my rest,I'll haul them in."

  Mr. and Mrs. Brant had already made plans to take a vacation in Canada,and Barby was registered at a summer girl's camp. Weiss, Winston,Gordon, and Shannon, the other staff scientists, were away on variousprojects. So the four "treasure hunters" had welcomed an excuse to gooff on a venture of their own.

  They would have a wonderful time, Rick thought, and who knew? They mighteven find the treasure!

  Scotty had been looking through the binoculars again. He gave Rick agrin. "I take it all back," he said. "There's an island ahead."

  The scientists leaned forward eagerly, and Rick strained to see. Sureenough, in a few moments they began to make out the island on thehorizon ahead. Rick had enough confidence in his navigation to becertain that it was Clipper Cay.

  The group had spent the night in Puerto Rico, then departed early inorder to fly off the direct route for an advance look at Clipper Cay.Rick didn't intend to land. He would circle the island once or twice,then head again for Charlotte Amalie on the island of St. Thomas.

  Scotty asked, "Where does the word 'cay' come from, anyway?"

  Tony Briotti answered. "It's from the Spanish, Scotty. It means island,or islet. However, the Spanish got it from the Taino people, who werethe Indians of the Antilles."

  The island was close enough now so that they could discern its shape.Rick saw that it formed a rough crescent, running from north to south.It was about a mile long, perhaps a half mile wide at its greatestwidth, tapering to the horns of the crescent. He saw also that the colorof the water changed gradually from the fathomless blue of the ocean tothe green of shallow water.

  Inwardly excited, he put the nose of the plane down and let the smallcraft pick up speed. Scotty grinned his pleasure, and Rick knew that hispal was just as excited in spite of his joking skepticism.

  Rick leveled off at an altitude of four thousand feet and put the planein a wide circle. Zircon leaned over Tony to look out the window, andRick had to compensate in a hurry because the big scientist's weightthrew the plane out of trim. Then Scotty, just as eager, leaned over toRick's side and the trim had to be corrected again.

  The island was a travel agent's wildest dream. The blue water graduallyshifted to green, then lighter green, and finally the white of lovelybeaches on both sides of the island. Lines of surf marked the positionof reefs off both shores.

  Somewhere along the western reef was the wreck of the _Maiden Hand_.Rick wondered if they would have diver's luck and locate the ancientbark, and at the same moment he was sure they would.

  "Plenty of vegetation," Briotti remarked.

  "Probably palms, perhaps some mangrove," Zircon agreed. "Take us downfor a closer look, Rick."

  Rick obliged by standing the Sky Wagon up on a wing and sliding down asquickly as safe flying allowed. He, too, wanted a closer look. He cast aglance at his gas gauge. There was enough fuel, with a margin of safety,unless he got too enthusiastic about lingering around the island.

  He leveled off again at a thousand feet and flew up the east coast,between the outer reef and the beach. This was the Atlantic side of theisland, and the surf on the reef was heavy.

  "Cottages," Scotty called. "Look!"

  They counted seven on the eastern side of the island, most of them nearthe middle. It was hard to see details among the palms, but they seemedsmall and unpainted, like fishermen's shacks. Rick reversed course andflew down the western side and they counted five more. One fairlypretentious beach house was near the northern tip of the island. Ingeneral, the houses on the western side seemed better kept, and slightlylarger. A few houses had small docks. Off the southern tip of theisland, on the western side, a boat was trolling. The occupants waved asRick flew over.

  "Wonder which house is ours?" Scotty asked.

  They didn't know, of course. Arrangements for a beach house had beenmade for them by a friend of Zircon's, and not until they landed atCharlotte Amalie would they get the details. The same friend, Dr. PaulErnst, had also arranged for a boat, to be used as a diving tender.

  Rick was tempted to land in the smooth water off the western shore. TheSky Wagon had been equipped with pontoons for that very purpose. Theyhad realized that no landing place would be available on the cay for awheeled aircraft. But there was little to be gained by landing now whenthey didn't even know which house would be theirs.

  Besides, there were supplies and equipment to be picked up and charts tobe obtained, and the Sky Wagon needed to have the tank topped off, sincethey couldn't very well carry aviation gas to the island.

  Reluctantly, Rick asked, "Anyone want to see anything else?"

  "Not me," Hobart Zircon said flatly. "I want to get to Charlotte Amalieso we can get started back. That water looks clear enough to drink."

  "See any sign of wrecks on the bottom?" Tony inquired.

  No one had. No one had looked. They were too interested in getting anover-all view of Clipper Cay.

  Rick set his course for St. Thomas. Now that he thought about it, he wasrather pleased with himself. The flight from Spindrift was the longestsingle trip he had ever taken in the Sky Wagon. The party had stoppedfor fuel as needed and had stayed overnight as darkness overtook themalong the way. He had hit every destination on the nose, on time. Andnow the end of the trip was in sight without a single incident to marits smoothness.

  In a short time the mountains of St. Thomas rose out of the sea, andsoon afterward Rick circled high above the colorful roofs of CharlotteAmalie. He switched on his radio and asked for seaplane landinginstructions. The airfield directed him to the proper landing place, abeach and pier at the edge of the city. Then Scotty took over the mikeand, while Rick started in for a landing, asked the airfield tower tophone Dr. Paul Ernst, Zircon's friend, and notify him of their arrival.

  Apparently the tower operator phoned immediately, because as Rick taxiedtoward the dock, Zircon saw his friend waiting. Following theinstructions of a dockman, Rick beached the Sky Wagon and cut theengine. Two husky Virgin Islanders hauled the ship higher onto thebeach, and the Spindrifters climbed out.

  Dr. Ernst was a small, bespectacled man with a shock of unruly whitehair. He looked like a country doctor--which was reasonable enough, Rickthought, because that's just about what he was. Charlotte Amalie, with apopulation of about 11,500, could not be described as a big city.

  The doctor greeted them all cordially, then immediately got down tobusiness. "I'm sorry you are not remaining in Charlotte Amalie. However,Hobart, I have done as you requested. For tonight I have reservationsfor you at one of our oldest hotels, Alexander's Rest. Named forAlexander Hamilton, of course."

  Rick remembered that the Revolutionary hero had been brought up in theVirgin Islands.

  "The beach cottage is waiting at Clipper Cay. It is on the western side,the third from the southern tip of the island. You shall have my ownboat. I think you will find it ideal for a diving tender. I call it the_Water Witch_. An attractive name, is it not? I have checked on yourequipment. It is held at the warehouse in my name. The supplies youwished to buy here have been ordered and are waiting at Andersen'sSupply House. I have told them you will be calling."

  The group listened, delighted at the obvious efficiency with which Dr.Ernst had taken care of Zircon's requests.

  By lunchtime they had picked up their equipment and supplies, Scotty hadtested the twin diesel engin
es on the _Water Witch_ and announcedhimself more than pleased, Rick had checked over the aqualungs andcompressor that had come down with his camera and other equipment byfreight, the supplies had been stowed, the Sky Wagon refueled, andnothing remained but to check in at the hotel. This, they had decided,could wait until after lunch.

  While the scientists drove off in Dr. Ernst's car to pick up the doctorat his office, Rick and Scotty walked into town, headed for "The DanishPastry" where the group was to meet for lunch.

  Rick spoke his amazement. "Look at us," he marveled. "Ready to go. Notrouble, no strain, no pain. Ever see an expedition get off to such asmooth start? We can't lose, Scotty. After a beginning like this wecouldn't help finding the treasure."

  Scotty grinned his agreement. "I didn't ask," he said, "but I wouldn'tbe surprised if the good Dr. Ernst hasn't done some advance diving andmarked the statue's location with a buoy hung around its neck, just tomake things easier for us!"

  "Twenty fathoms," Rick said reflectively. "That's a lot of water.Besides, we don't know how accurate Captain Campion's guess was. We maybe getting into water that's too deep for us."

  Which, though unknowing, was one of the most prophetic remarks he hadever made.