ank. He turned and swam north, going
slowly, paying out line from the spool. Now that he was traveling in a
straight line, he covered the bottom quickly, and in less than a minute
he was in shallow water. He stopped, afraid that his tank would show
above the surface.

It was clearer in the shallows. He made out the line of a branch, or
root of some kind that thrust its way through the surface. It would
serve. Quickly he passed the spool around it and made a knot, then he
pushed the spool itself into the mud and turned.

Now to find the boat again. Cruising slowly, he headed in the general
direction, rising slightly as he swam. Finally, he found the boat by its
shadow and swam under it to the stern. Again orienting himself by the
sun, he made sure that the boat would be between him and the south bank.
He surfaced and pulled off his mask.

Scotty was swabbing the deck of the cockpit as casually as though
trouble was the last thing on his mind. Rick wondered briefly if he had
imagined the danger signal, or had mistaken some other sound for a
signal. Then Scotty hailed him.

"Where are all the clams?"

Rick's mind raced. Obviously someone was listening. Was the someone on
the boat, or ashore?

"I only found one," he called back. "I don't believe there are enough in
this cove to bother about, no matter what those fishermen said."

"Did you dig deep enough?" Scotty asked.

"As deep as I could without a shovel. The mud is two feet thick down
there."

"Well, you might as well come aboard. I guess if we're going to have
clam chowder, we'll have to buy clams from a commercial boat."

Scotty wouldn't invite him aboard if there was any danger, Rick knew. He
accepted the hand Scotty held down and got aboard.

He surveyed the situation quickly. There was no sign of any danger.

"Pretty murky down there?" Scotty asked.

"Like swimming in ink."

"We'll try again out in deep water. It should be clear near the river
mouth."

"Suits me," Rick said. "I never did think we'd find clams in this cove.
The mano boats dredge in deeper water than this."

"Maybe the fishermen didn't want us stirring things up where they clam.
Come on in and I'll fix you some coffee. I made it while you were down
below."

"Okay."

Once inside the cabin, Scotty said softly, "Two men. On the shore. One
is the bodyguard. I've never seen the other one before. Both of them
have rifles."

Rick considered. "They couldn't possibly know the thing--