ere
below? If so, the game was up. Once Merlin and company knew the payload
had fallen into the cove, they would be diving for it themselves, under
cover of guns. Merlin undoubtedly knew that the launching the evening of
the squall had gone wrong, but he couldn't know how, or where.

But somehow, Rick didn't think Orvil had been a party to the shooting.
Maybe it was stubbornness, refusing to think the crabber was involved
just because they liked him. Or maybe it was because the crabber had no
reason for helping Merlin and his gang; at least Harris had no reason
known to Rick and Scotty.

They reached the boat and conferred in whispers that were inaudible six
feet away.

"Could Orvil have put the finger on us?" Scotty questioned.

Rick shrugged. "I don't want to think so, and I don't. But I have to
admit it's possible."

"If he's in with them, they'll be diving for the 'what's-it' at first
light."

Rick glanced at the eastern sky. It was beginning to glow with the first
hint of daylight. "That's not long from now."

"How are we going to recover it first?"

Again Rick shrugged. "There's only one way. Go in and get it."

"Under those guns?"

"A diver on the bottom isn't in danger from the guns. I could find the
thing again without going into the shallows. That's what made us targets
before, because we took the easy way to locate the fish line by going
into the shallows near where I tied the line."

"Let's see your tank," Scotty whispered.

Rick unsnapped his harness release and swung the tank around. Their
probing fingers soon identified where the bullet had glanced off. There
was a dent, coated with silvery metal.

"Lead," Rick said. "Part of the slug."

"Good thing it didn't rupture the tank."

Rick shuddered. "If it had, I'd have been out of air suddenly and
would've had to come up. Listen, Scotty. My plan is a simple one. I'll
take your tank, since you have the most air, and swim right into the
cove, find the 'what's-it' and swim out again. If it's too heavy to tow
far, I can at least wrestle it part of the way, and then bury it in the
mud. Meanwhile, you get the boat out where it's clear and be ready to
pick me up."

"They'll see your bubbles, but they can't do anything about it with
rifles," Scotty pointed out. "One thing they can do, though, is jump in
after you. The cove isn't so deep that a pair of good swimmers couldn't
tackle you. The lung wouldn't improve your chances by much."

"Too true