a clang as something hard hit the rail! There _had_ been a splash!

He went over it again, searching his memory for details he had forgotten
or which had only registered vaguely at the time. He studied the shape
and texture of the object he had seen so briefly. He saw its red eyes
open and glare at him, saw the extended claws reaching....

He came out of his chair with a yell, arms extended to defend himself.

Scotty stood next to him in the darkness. "Hey, take it easy, Rick! I
didn't think I'd startle you so when I shook you."

Rick stared. "Did I fall asleep? I must have. I was trying to remember,
and suddenly I was dreaming about red eyes and claws--"

Scotty laughed softly. "If you've got to have nightmares, at least do it
in comfort. Let's go to the boat and go to bed."

Rick dreamed no more of the flying stingarees. In the morning he
couldn't have said what his dreams had been about, except that they had
been pleasant.

In the bright glare of morning, the whole thing seemed dreamlike. It was
preposterous to imagine that flying objects, probably balloons shaped
like stingarees, were launched from a famous mansion that dated back to
the days of the early Maryland colony. But the sighting data couldn't be
ignored. Dreamlike or not, something strange was going on at Calvert's
Favor.

The boys breakfasted in the farmhouse, reducing Steve's supply of eggs
substantially and wiping out the bacon reserve. "We'll have to shop
sometime today," Rick observed. "Steve has plenty of food here, but we
don't want to use it when there's a store so close."

"Sure," Scotty agreed. "But when? It may have to wait until we go after
Steve. We can't very well leave the house, or at least both of us can't.
Ken Holt might call."

Rick nodded and poured himself a cup of coffee. He had thought of that.
They had to give Ken time to get the picture and check it out. By the
latest, they should hear before noon--unless the job turned out to be
very difficult. That would leave four hours before they would have to
leave the house to pick up Steve. Four hours was time enough for the
investigation Rick had in mind.

After breakfast they settled down with the data sheets and notebook to
review them once more. But only one additional fact emerged. Two people
thought, but weren't absolutely sure, that they had seen a spurt of fire
from the flying stingarees. Rick wondered if they had seen a sudden
flare of sunlight from some highly reflecti