her gear while Rick instructed Jan.

"This is the tough part. If you make it, that's the end. From then on
all you'll need is practice. We'll all swim down to the fifty-foot
depth. Watch your ears and don't try to continue down if you feel any
pain. Go back up a few feet and try to clear your ears. When we get to
the bottom, I want you to take off all your equipment, swim away from
it, then swim back and put it on. Okay?"

Jan gave him a tremulous smile. "I think so."

"Good. Plan how you'll do it. Remember, air is the last thing you'll
need, and the first."

"I'll remember."

It was easy enough for a diver with plenty of experience, and the
confidence that experience brings, but Rick remembered from his own
training that it was plenty rough the first time.

He held the tank while Jan got into harness and said reassuringly,
"You'll make it. You're a natural for diving because you don't lose
your head. That's just about the only really dangerous thing a diver
can do." He got into his harness, then picked up his movie camera in
its underwater case.

At his signal, the four waded out into the cold water, splashed around
a little to get accustomed to it, then put mouthpieces in place and
prepared to don masks. Rick waited until last, and called, "Everybody
getting air?" When they nodded, he put his own mouthpiece in place,
checked to make sure the demand valve was working, then slipped the
mask down from his forehead and went underwater.

There was a convenient sandy space among the rocks at the fifty-foot
level. He reached it and turned to count noses. All were present.
Visibility was good enough. He set his camera and took a position
cross-legged on the sand. Barby and Scotty took similar positions and
waited.

At Rick's signal, Jan slipped off her fins, which she placed carefully
on the sand. Her weight belt followed, then her mask. Rick kept the
camera going as she jerked the quick release buckle on her harness,
then pulled the tank over her head, keeping the mouthpiece in place.
At the last moment, she filled her lungs with air, let the mouthpiece
drop to the sand, and swam away. Rick followed as she went about
twenty feet into the rocks, and returned.

Jan had planned well. She picked up the mouthpiece and held it high so
the air rushed out, then she popped it into her mouth and began
breathing. She didn't bother with the tank harness yet. Instead, she
picked up her mask, adjusted it, and blew it clear.