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

  CHAPTER II

  The Scuba Slip

  Charlotte Amalie had color. It was an old community, dating back toDanish ownership of the Virgin Islands, and there was a feeling ofantiquity underneath the color of the tropics. There was no sharp linesto buildings; everything had a pleasant weathered look.

  "Friendly folks," Scotty observed, after the tenth passer-by had biddenthem a good day. "Doesn't seem to matter whether they're rich or poor.They look happy, and they're certainly polite."

  "I like it," Rick agreed. "Those colored roofs get me." He stumbled on acobblestone and added, "But the street could stand improving. Cobblesare fine for horses, maybe, but they're hard on cars."

  "What do they do here for a living?" Scotty asked. "Wish we had Chahdaalong. He could reel off the straight dope from his _WorroldAlm-in-ack_." Their Indian friend, Chahda, was at home in Bombay andthey hadn't heard from him in some time. His ability to quote from _TheWorld Almanac_, which he had memorized, had caused the boys considerableamusement, even while they appreciated having a kind of walkingencyclopedia with them.

  They passed a fruit stand where women were shopping for mangoes,soursops, and other delicious-looking things, including sugar cane."That's part of it," Rick said. "Sugar. This is also the headquartersfor bay rum."

  Scotty's eyebrows went up. "_Bay_ rum?" He stepped out of the way to letan ancient woman on a donkey go by. "What's the bay part of it?"

  Rick shrugged. "Search me. Anyway, you don't drink it, you put it onyour face. I guess it was originally distilled from bayberry trees orsomething. Anyway--" He stopped suddenly as Scotty's fingers sank intohis arm.

  "Look!" Scotty exclaimed.

  Rick looked, and let out a yell. "Steve! Steve Ames!" In the next momenthe could have bitten his tongue out, because it was entirely possiblethat Steve wasn't traveling under his own identity.

  Ames was an athletic-looking young man in a white suit and Panama hat.He stopped at Rick's hail, turned, and waited for the boys to catch up.His face split in a pleased grin.

  Rick breathed his relief. Evidently Steve didn't mind being called byname.

  The boys knew Steve as Spindrift's contact with JANIG, the JointArmy-Navy Intelligence Group for which Spindrift had worked in the past,once to solve _The Whispering Box Mystery_, and again to track down thesecret of _The Caves of Fear_.

  "Wonder what he's doing here?" Scotty muttered.

  "We'll soon find out," Rick said.

  Steve greeted them cordially. "What brings you two wanderers to theseshores?"

  "We were about to ask the same of you," Rick returned.

  Steve grinned at the obvious curiosity in the boys' faces. "Nothing veryexciting. I'm here on a little vacation. Swimming."

  "What kind of swimming?" Scotty wanted to know.

  "Oh, skin diving, mostly."

  "Gosh, that's wonderful!" Rick exclaimed. "Scuba or snorkel?"

  There was the barest of hesitations before Steve replied. "Snorkel.There's nothing that's more fun than snorkeling around the reefs. That'sthe only way to swim in waters like these. You can get right down amongthe fish."

  Rick saw Scotty's mouth open to point out Steve's error, but he steppedon his friend's foot and said quickly, "We're here for the swimming,too. Maybe we can join forces."

  He knew the answer would be no. Steve wasn't vacationing; he was on acase. A vacationing skin diver would know that a snorkel is nothing buta tube that allows a swimmer to float face down on the surface of thewater while looking for something to dive after. Once the dive starts,the snorkel has no purpose, since its short length only allows it toproject a few inches above the surface while a diver is floating facedown. On the other hand, the Scuba--Self-Contained Underwater BreathingApparatus, like the boys' aqualungs, really does allow the diver to getdown among the fish.

  "Thanks for the invitation," Steve said. He smiled. "I don't usually trya cover story unless I have it down cold. Just for my future guidance,where did I slip? Your faces were quite a study."

  Rick told him. Steve nodded. "Thanks. I just got here on the morningplane, and I haven't been briefed yet. By tonight I'll be an expert onskin diving."

  The statement only whetted further Rick's over-sharp curiosity. If Stevewas to be briefed on skin diving, it sounded like a case that wouldinterest him and Scotty.

  Steve continued to smile. "I don't want to linger too long. Want to giveme a hand?"

  Rick refrained from shouting and merely nodded his head. Scotty, withonly slightly less restraint, said, "You know we do."

  "Fine. Don't look. In the doorway of the tailor shop is adark-complexioned man in a gray sharkskin suit. He's a tail. He pickedme up at the airport. I don't know the town well enough to lose himeasily in broad daylight. Never been here before today. Take him out forme?"

  Rick and Scotty nodded. Neither looked toward the doorway. "How will weget in touch with you?" Rick asked.

  Steve hesitated. "There's no one I'd rather see more of, and no one I'drather have on my side. But this case is not for you. Just do me thisfavor, then forget you saw me."

  "You never know when you'll need help," Rick pointed out. "We won't hornin, but it won't do any harm to know how we can reach other. Tonightwe'll be at a hotel called Alexander's Rest. Tomorrow we take off for anisland called Clipper Cay."

  "All right. If you really need to reach me, call the duty officer at theUDT base and leave a message. I'll get it."

  Rick turned slightly. In a plate-glass window across the street he couldsee a reflection of the tailor shop Steve had mentioned, and he couldmake out the form of a man in the shadowed doorway. He estimated thatthe shop was about fifty feet away.

  Scotty was also measuring the situation. He said, "Walk away from us sothe tail will have to come by."

  Steve nodded. He shook hands, gave them each a grin, and was gone.

  Rick said loudly, "Give me your shoulder to lean on. I've got a rock inmy shoe."

  Scotty obliged, and Rick half turned as he did so. He saw the man in thegray sharkskin suit saunter out of the doorway and start toward them.

  Rick balanced on one leg, one hand on Scotty's shoulder, the other handfumbling with the shoelace on his lifted foot.

  The tail walked toward them, unfolding a paper as he did so. He wasapparently devoting his full attention to the paper; his actions said hedidn't even know the boys existed.

  "You ought to get tighter shoes," Scotty observed. "Then you wouldn'tget stones in them."

  "Save the advice," Rick grunted. "I've got a knot in the lace."

  The man came abreast of them, between Rick and the building, and in thatmoment, clawing wildly for balance, Rick lost his hold on Scotty'sshoulder. He fell squarely against the man in the gray suit and crushedhim into the building.

  _Pretending to lose his balance, Rick fell squarelyagainst the man_]

  "Hey!" the man yelled. "What's the idea?"

  Scotty rushed to the rescue, took the fallen shadow by the shoulders,and tried to pull him to his feet. This only made matters worse, sinceRick was stretched across his legs.

  "I'm so sorry," Scotty said. "Gosh, I'm sorry. He slipped. Here. Let mehelp you up."

  "Get off me," the man yelled.

  Rick tried, lost his balance again, and fell against the man's chest,pinning him to the sidewalk.

  Scotty groaned. "Rick! You clumsy ox. Get off the man!"

  "I'm trying to," Rick said plaintively. "My shoe came off. Here. Help meup."

  "Help yourself!" Scotty returned sharply. "I'm trying to help thisgentleman."

  Rick rolled clear and Scotty got the man to his feet. He was somethingless than spotlessly clean, thanks to the dust of the road, and therewas a rip in the arm of his coat.

  "Look at that!" Scotty exclaimed. He made ineffectual efforts to dustthe man off. "Rick, you ripped his coat."

  Rick looked embarrassed. "I'm terribly sorry. Here, sir. Let me take youto this tailor shop. We can have it repaired in a jiffy."

  "Forget it!" t
he man snapped. "And get out of my way. I'm in a hurry."

  "It was all my fault, and I refuse to take no for an answer," Rick saidfirmly. He took the man by the arm. "Come on. It will only take amoment. You can't walk around town like that. I insist on having yoursuit repaired. I'm sure that the tailor can mend it so no one would evernotice."

  "No," the man grated. "Please stand aside." Both boys had managed toblock the sidewalk.

  "Please," Rick pleaded. "This is terribly upsetting. We really shouldhave the damage to your suit repaired."

  The man's dark complexion was turning a grayish pink with rage. Rickestimated quickly. If he knew Steve Ames, the JANIG agent was long gone,and the tail would not catch up with him again. They had delayed theshadow for perhaps two minutes, but for Steve that would be enough.

  Rick stepped aside. "Very well. If you insist--"

  "I do." The man brushed by and hurried off.

  The boys looked at each other and grinned.

  "He won't catch Steve," Rick said.

  "Not a chance. Well, my clumsy friend, shall we put your shoe back onand go meet the others for lunch?"

  "We shall," Rick returned. "Indeed we shall." He slipped his shoe on andtied it quickly. "Wasn't it interesting, where Steve said we could reachhim?"

  Steve had said at the UDT base. That meant simply at the home of theNavy frogmen--the Underwater Demolition Teams. No wonder Steve had saidhe would be an expert on skin diving by nightfall. He was going to bewith the most expert experts of all.

  Rick sighed. "Just our luck he doesn't want us in the case. Wouldn't itbe great to work with the Navy frogmen? We could learn plenty."

  "Forgetting St. Francis?" Scotty inquired. "There he lies, twentyfathoms down, probably covered with barnacles and waiting to be rescued.And you want to go fogging off with the frogmen."

  "All right, all right! Don't rub it in. We'll go back to beinginterested in the bark _Maiden Hand_. And St. Francis. And pirates.Let's cast off, my hearty."

  The Danish Pastry was only a few blocks away, and Dr. Ernst and theSpindrifters were already seated. The boys joined them, with apologiesfor being late, but without mentioning their meeting with Steve Ames.There was nothing to be gained by bringing the matter up in front of Dr.Ernst. They could tell Zircon and Tony later. Zircon knew Steve, butTony didn't.

  Over dessert, Dr. Ernst reached into his bag and brought forth a chart."I thought you might need this," he said.

  It was a detailed chart of Clipper Cay and the surrounding waters. Itshowed clearly the position of the reefs, and it gave soundings thatshowed the depths.

  Zircon shook his massive head. "Paul, your thoroughness has never failedto amaze me. What would we have done without you?"

  Ernst smiled his pleasure. "Thank you, Hobart. I try to be thorough.Besides, I want you all to have a pleasant recollection of the VirginIslands. We who live here love them very much."

  The boys and Tony echoed Zircon's thanks, then fell to a study of thechart.

  It was apparent that the water deepened rapidly beyond the western reef.In a few places, the twenty-fathom line was only a short distance out.

  "Have you any idea where this ship went down?" Dr. Ernst asked.

  "A bare idea," Tony replied. "It was off the western shore of theisland, probably close to the reef, in twenty fathoms. The bark had beenhit and was sinking. The captain ran for the island with the hope ofbeaching the ship on the reef, but he never made it. The bark went down,and Anne Bonney's pirates picked up the survivors."

  "We know of Anne Bonney here," Dr. Ernst told them. "You realize thatthe Virgin Islands were once a hangout for pirates? Oh, we have a darkand bloody history, what with piracy, slave rebellions, even Indianmassacres."

  "You'd never know it," Rick said. "This is the most peaceful place I'veseen in years."

  He didn't add that the peace was only apparent. Steve Ames wasn't neededin really peaceful places. Something was stirring under the tropicalcalm of St. Thomas.

  "Tonight you must have a taste of St. Thomas home life," Dr. Ernst said."You shall be my guests at dinner. Dr. Briotti will be interested in mycollection of Indian pottery. And you young men will be interested in mywife's hobby, which is fish. She has an amazing collection."

  "Alive?" Scotty asked.

  "Yes, indeed. In salt-water aquariums. Our misfortune makes it easy. Yousee, we have no natural fresh-water supplies on St. Thomas. We depend oncatching rain for our drinking water. So our plumbing is operated by seawater, of which we have plenty. As a result, Mrs. Ernst is able to havea constant supply of salt water flowing through her aquariums. I knowyou'll be interested."

  The boys agreed. Mrs. Ernst's hobby sounded like fun.

  After lunch Dr. Ernst departed for his office, leaving the Spindriftgroup to their own devices. Not much remained to be done, except forchecking in at their hotel. For now, they were content to walk aroundtown.

  As they passed the post office where Alexander Hamilton had once been aclerk, Scotty smiled meaningfully at Rick.

  "Steve lost a tail this morning. Remember?"

  Rick looked at him doubtfully. "Of course. Why?"

  "Somebody loses, somebody gains," Scotty replied cheerfully. "Don't lookbehind you, but we've found one!"