, with his feet dangling over.
Next to him sat Jan Miller. His sister Barby, with their mother and
father, were relaxing in deck chairs on the sun deck, while Scotty
piloted the boat.

Now and then the bow dipped, and the spray splashed up in a cooling
shower. Rick enjoyed the feeling of the cool spray, and the taste of
salt on his tongue. Jan did, too. Rick thought she made quite a picture
with her white bathing suit and golden tan contrasting with her dark
hair. His one regret was that he couldn't swim with Jan, Scotty, and the
family. Both Jan and Barby were expert Scuba divers, and he had looked
forward to spearfishing with them in the bay. The girls had brought
their own Scuba equipment in the luggage compartment of Hartson Brant's
car.

Rick's bandages had been reduced to a single jumbo-size gauze patch, but
his folks would not allow him to go swimming until his face was entirely
healed. He knew they were right, though he chafed under the restriction.
Even so, swimming was really only a small part of the fun of
houseboating, and the ban on swimming wouldn't last long.

Jan had put on a fresh bandage for him after breakfast that morning, and
remarked in her soft voice, "It will be completely healed in another day
or two, Rick. You can go swimming then."

Meanwhile, he had found an acceptable substitute. Steve Ames was a
subscriber to _Bowhunting Magazine_, and in a back issue Rick had found
an article on fishing for sting rays with bow and arrow. Steve had
loaned a bow, and Rick had invested in fishing arrows and a reel for the
bow. So far, he had found only one sting ray, and in his excitement he
had failed to take into account the refraction of the water. He aimed
where the ray seemed to be--but wasn't.

Rick's pretty, blond sister called down to him. "Rick! There's a sand
bar at the tip of that point."

He looked to where Barby was pointing and saw a good-sized sand bar
extending out under the water. "I see it, Sis. Thanks. It will be a
while before we get there."

Jan smiled at him. "Going to try again?"

"You bet I am. Got to catch up with you somehow."

Jan had bagged a ten-pound rockfish underwater on the day before, and
they had baked it in a driftwood fire on a beach at Poplar Island. Rick
was as proud as though the catch had been his own. He had been Jan's
diving instructor and had taught her how to stalk a fish.

"You can catch up day after tomorrow when the folks will let you dive,"
Jan ass