The Wailing Octopus: A Rick Brant Science-Adventure Story

by Harold L. Goodwin

  CHAPTER XI

  Lights on Clipper Reef

  "This," Hobart Zircon boomed, "is a phenomenon that will rock thescience of zoology to its very depths! We will examine this creature anddetermine his genus and species, and we will name him after you two._Octopus waili branti-scotti._ Or perhaps _Octopus screami_ would bebetter."

  "Of course we're not certain that it was a wail," Rick said soberly. "Hemight have been singing. He might even have been telling us to go catchhim a fish."

  Tony Briotti observed, "This may not be an isolated phenomenon. Whoknows? A search may disclose screaming squid, or simpering sharks, orburbling barracuda."

  "Seriously," Zircon asked, "have either of you a theory to account forthis? Or do you really believe that the octopus wailed?"

  "We'd be in a better position to answer that if we'd had a chance toexplore the cave," Scotty replied. "How can we tell? Maybe the octopusreally did wail, and we were the lucky ones who heard the sound for thefirst time." He grinned. "We should have wailed back and tried to strikeup a conversation."

  Rick agreed. "I'm with Scotty. We just don't know. I agree that awailing octopus is a new kind of beast, but that's not entirelyimpossible, is it?"

  "Perhaps not." Tony stared at the sunset. "I'm trying to recall thephysiology of _Octopus vulgaris_, as the garden variety of octopus iscalled, but my memory isn't working. It isn't beyond reason. After all,some fish make sounds. I've caught croakers myself that were prettynoisy. But I've never heard of octopus sounds until now."

  Scotty chuckled. "Haven't I read that octopuses have some intelligence?We might teach him to sing. He'd be a natural for television."

  "You say that the sound was loud?" Tony asked.

  "Very loud. My head hurt. Did yours, Scotty?"

  "I'll say! For a minute I thought my brain cells were rubbing together."

  Zircon sighed. "I am stumped. And not only by your Wailing Willie,either. This whole affair baffles me, including the presence of Steve'sformer tail on this island. Hasn't it occurred to you that those fancyfrogmen, as you call them, would have made some overt move by now ifthey were really interested in us?"

  "Dropping the chicken was an overt move," Rick pointed out.

  "Yes and no. I'd prefer to call it a not-too-subtle warning. Yet theyhaven't tried to interfere with your diving around the wreck."

  "I've wondered about that," Scotty offered, "and it seems to me they'vesatisfied themselves that our interest is just in the wreck, and not inwhatever they have hidden underwater. If they have anything hidden, Imean. As long as we stick with the wreck, they have no reason forcausing trouble."

  Tony agreed. "That makes sense to me. Perhaps you can answer this: Whydo they wear cold-water suits? It's appreciably cooler at twentyfathoms, but it's certainly not cold enough for a suit."

  "We only stay down fifteen minutes," Scotty said. "If we stayed downlonger we might get chilled. The water isn't warm by any means down bythe wreck."

  Rick had a thought. "We're used to cold water, remember? Diving offSpindrift would chill a polar bear, even in summer. Suppose these peoplehad done all their diving in tropic waters? This water would seem coldto them, particularly down deep."

  It was nearly dark now, only a glimmer of light in the west. The foursat on the front porch of the cottage.

  Zircon asked, "Did you monitor the radio tonight, Rick?"

  "Yes, but there was no word from Steve."

  "Don't you think he might like to know about the presence of his shadowon Clipper Cay?" Tony inquired.

  Rick pointed to the Sky Wagon resting on the beach. "Trouble is, that'sour only communication. I could contact the St. Thomas airport andrequest that they pass a message, but that would be like broadcasting itto the world. Steve might not like it."

  Zircon's deep voice cut into his comment. "Look! Our friends areapparently going to do some night work."

  There were lights on the frogmen's boat, and it was putting out. As theSpindrifters watched, it slowly approached the reef, then stopped.Scotty got the glasses and examined the scene. "Something's up!" heexclaimed. "I saw a diver go over the side!"

  Hobart Zircon coughed self-consciously. "Do you know, I have taken acertain amount of pride in the fact that I am by nature a conservativeindividual with a highly developed capacity for minding my ownbusiness."

  Rick wondered what on earth the big scientist was getting at.

  "The pursuit of truth has led me along many devious routes," Zirconcontinued. "I have tried, with some success and many failures, to plumbthe mysteries of Nature. But while I have tried to make the business ofour natural universe my own, I have never thrust my not-inconsiderablenose into the business of neighbors. However, this admirable reticencehas limits, since, as a scientist, I am also possessed of that inherenttrait of curiosity without which no person can succeed in science."

  Rick exploded into laughter. "And what you're leading up to is, you wantto go see what those people are doing!"

  "Precisely," Zircon admitted.

  Tony and the boys roared with laughter.

  "Hobart," Tony said with a chuckle, "you never fail to astonish me. Andhow do you propose to stick your not-inconsiderable nose into thebusiness now going on over there?"

  Zircon waved his hand. "The method was developed by our young Mr. Brant,who sometimes shows slight sparks of intelligence. He has a device whichprojects infrared light, and glasses that allow the wearer to seewhatever that light illuminates."

  Rick stared. Zircon was proposing that they take his underwater cameraand use it for illumination. That must mean ... "You want to swim overwith the lungs?" he asked incredulously.

  "And why not?"

  "But we've never done any night diving!"

  "You tested the camera at night, did you not?"

  "Yes," Rick admitted, "but that was in water that we knew, off Pirate'sField at home. And we only stayed in long enough to expose a few feet offilm."

  "We know enough about these waters to know that there are no dangerousobstructions beyond the reef, at least between here and the _MaidenHand_."

  Scotty laughed. "This is a day I never thought would come. It's usuallythe other way around, with Rick trying to sell some idea that everyoneelse opposes. Why not swim at night, Rick?"

  "No reason," Rick admitted. "It was just that it hadn't occurred to me.There's one difficulty, though. I have only two pairs of glasses withinfrared-sensitive lenses. So only two of us could go."

  "Only two could dive with the camera," Tony corrected. "But all of uscould go. Two would remain on the surface, with the floats, in case oftrouble."

  "Who would dive and who would stay on the surface?" Scotty demanded.

  Rick produced a quarter. "Let coins decide. Except for the professor. Hethought of it, so he dives."

  "Fair enough," Scotty agreed. "All right with you, Tony?"

  "Of course. The three of us, then. Odd man goes with Hobart."

  Tony and Scotty produced coins. With Rick, they walked into the livingroom and lighted a kerosene lamp.

  "Now," Rick said, and tossed his coin, catching it in the palm of hishand and slapping it onto his other wrist. Tony and Scotty followedsuit. Rick uncovered first. He had heads. Tony uncovered and displayed atail.

  Scotty groaned. "Shucks! I lose. It's one of you."

  Rick held his breath as Scotty uncovered--another tail! He turned toZircon. "We dive, while Scotty and Tony stay topside."

  "Good. Well, what are we waiting for?"

  They changed quickly into trunks, then assembled their diving gear. Ricktook the front plate from his camera and put the infrared searchlight onits mounting bracket. He changed to a fresh battery, then replaced thefilm in the camera with the special infrared-sensitive film.

  Whatever the infrared illuminated could be seen through special glass.Rick had ordered lenses ground from the glass and had placed them inframes made to fit into a face mask. These frames could be purchased atany diving-equipment supply house. They had been desi
gned for divers whohad to wear their own corrective glasses, and they suited Rick's purposeto perfection. He handed a pair to Hobart Zircon, then inserted theother pair in his own mask.

  Zircon, Tony, and Scotty decided to take spear guns. Zircon chose Rick'srubber-powered gun, while Tony selected the light spring gun. Scottychose the highest-powered gun they had, a new jet-type powered withcarbon dioxide.

  Rick and Zircon connected their regulators to two freshly filled tanks,then tested the equipment. Zircon tied a rope to his belt.

  The big scientist drew them together for a brief conference.

  "We'll swim out and cross the reef," he directed. "Then we'll swim alongthe reef, staying as close as possible to the breakers. They will helpconceal us. When we approach the boat, Tony and Scotty will stop andhold position. Scotty, are the binoculars waterproof?"

  "Yes, they are."

  "Then take them. Rick and I will go directly to the bottom at the baseof the reef. We will then proceed along the reef until we spot ourfriends yonder."

  Rick had an unhappy thought. "Suppose they see us?"

  "We will try to prevent them from seeing us. However, if they do, Isuggest a retreat in as good order as we can manage. If they shouldcatch up with us, we will bluster and bluff our way on the basis that wewere only diving to see if they were trying to search our wreck."

  Scotty laughed. "Turn their own table on them. That's very good,Professor."

  "I'm glad I'm not a physicist," Tony said piously. "We archaeologistsaren't half so devious."

  "I am acting in my capacity as a former consultant to JANIG, and not asa physicist," Zircon retorted with dignity. "You will refrain fromcasting aspersions on my profession, Doctor Briotti."

  "My apologies," Tony said, grinning. "In other words, the man isdevious, but the scientist is not."

  "Exactly. Well, shall we go?"

  Rick was glad to get into the water. The camera in its underwater casewas heavy in air, but weighed only a few ounces in water. He swam withface mask under, breathing through his snorkel and letting the camerahang.

  They crossed the reef without difficulty, then turned to swim along it.The trough just seaward of the breaking point of the waves was the mostcomfortable swimming position and they went in single file, Zirconleading.

  Every now and then Rick looked up. They were getting near the boat, hethought. Perilously near. The boat was anchored just inside the reef,and he could see activity on its deck. Apparently the frogmen hadreturned from their first dive and were changing tanks.

  Zircon stopped swimming and lay motionless in the water. Rick drewabreast of the big scientist, and Tony and Scotty stopped behind them.As they watched, suited figures with belt lights and back tanks climbeddown a ladder into the water. A third man, on deck, lowered something tothem. It was hard to see, but Rick thought it had a golden glisten andthat it was round, about the size of a basketball. The frogmen took itand went under.

  _A third man lowered something that glistened like gold_]

  Zircon's big hand took Rick by the shoulder, then he turned and motionedto the others that they were going under. Rick shifted from snorkel toaqualung mouthpiece. He took the end of rope that Zircon held out andsnapped it to his weight belt. He and Zircon were now connected by aten-foot length of rope, necessary to keep them from becoming separatedin the darkness.

  He submerged and dove straight down into the blackness. His thumbcompressed the button on the side of the case and the camera started,the infrared light turning on. A narrow cone of water extending outabout twenty feet was illuminated, but the illumination was visible onlythrough the special glasses he and Zircon wore.

  Rick held the button until they reached bottom, then suddenly realizedhe would use all his film before they had even found the frogmen. Hegroaned silently. Why hadn't he used his head? The light as well as thecamera motor were operated by the same button. If he had only thought,it would have been a few seconds' work to change the circuit so thelight would be on continuously. Or he might even be able to rig awaterproof switch that would operate just the light.

  Well, it was too late now. He jerked on the rope for Zircon to stop,then took his belt slate and wrote, "Cam on whn lite is. Wll use nw &thn." He held it in the beam of infrared light for Zircon to read. Thescientist scribbled "OK" under the message, then gave him a gentle pushas a signal to go ahead.

  Rick held his wrist in the beam and read ninety-two feet on his depthgauge. He calculated quickly. They would have enough air for abouttwenty-five minutes at this depth.

  He held the camera switch long enough to see that there was only smoothbottom ahead, then released it. Almost total blackness flooded in. Forall practical purposes it was completely dark, no glimmer of light tomark their way.

  For an instant Rick felt panic, but reason reasserted itself. It wasinstinctive to feel fear under such circumstances, he thought. Not onlywas he out of his own medium, air, but in a high-pressure realminhabited by potentially dangerous creatures. He grinned inwardly at thethought. The most dangerous creatures in this vicinity were human.

  A twinkle of light stopped him, but Zircon continued on and theconnecting line tightened. Rick identified the twinkle asphosphorescence from some marine creature on the reef. There were manysuch in the ocean. He flashed the infrared light, saw that they werestill heading properly, and cut it off again.

  The rope at his belt tugged four times for danger! He stopped instantly,letting go of the camera with one hand while he reached for his beltknife. Then he saw what Zircon had seen, a glow in the water ahead andabove them. Rick estimated quickly the distance they had traveled. Therewas no doubt of it. The frogmen were at the octopus cave!

  He followed Zircon's lead, cutting the light off and on as necessary, asthe big scientist moved ahead. The glow grew in intensity, but they werestill too far away to see its exact position, or whether there were menaround it.

  Rick's heart beat faster, and his breathing speeded up appreciably. Inspite of Zircon's plan to claim they were only checking on the frogmen'sinterest in the wreck, Rick knew that being discovered would meanserious trouble. He recalled Steve's warning that they were up against aruthless enemy.

  The question was, how close could they get without being seen? He couldtake pictures at ten feet, but at any greater distance the camera wouldbe useless.

  Zircon moved ahead, going slowly now. Rick followed, not bothering withthe dark-light unit because the glow in the water was enough for abeacon. Then the glow faded for a moment as a figure crossed in front ofit. Still Zircon moved ahead until Rick could see two additional,smaller glows that he identified as the belt lights the frogmen had beenwearing.

  Zircon continued on, still hugging the bottom, and Rick divined hisintention. The big scientist was going to take them directly under thefrogmen! It was logical, since the frogmen would not expect dangerbelow.

  Rick followed, staying just behind Zircon's flippers, feeling the washof water from his wake. The light was nearly overhead now, and Rick sawdark figures moving. It was unreal, like a Hollywood motion picture,except that the tense music of a movie production was replaced only bythe soft sighing of their regulators.

  And with the thought, Rick almost lost his mouthpiece. Their bubbles!Their bubbles would rise right past the frogmen, a dead giveaway! Itmight already be too late, because Zircon was almost directly under thecave!