n an objective as
quickly, silently, and invisibly as possible."

"Have you captured the rest of the stations yet?" Rick asked.

"No. But we have teams out, and they know where to go and what to look
for, thanks to the man who talked last night."

"Who are these people?" Scotty demanded.

Steve scratched his chin. "Well," he said finally, "you might put it
this way: they're people who have no business knowing what they're
trying to find out."

Rick hid a grin. He knew perfectly well they would get no more
information out of Steve. The essence of security is to give information
only to people who have a need to know it. The Spindrifters had no
reason for knowing the identity of the enemy, apart from their own
curiosity. One thing was certain, though, it was another nation that
wanted the information.

"You're probably tired of answering questions," Rick said, "but I've got
one more. How did you happen to arrive right in the nick of time?"

"Nothing very mysterious about it," Jimmy Kelly answered. "We steamed up
to the island and sent a boat ashore, with Professor Zircon. Dr. Briotti
had seen us approach, and he met the boat. He told us you were diving.
Zircon had assumed as much since we could see your boat anchored on the
reef."

"I told them about last night," Tony added.

"Yes, and we sent a party of men to the house up the beach to capture
these fancy frogmen of yours. The house was empty. Since their boat was
tied up, we made a quick assumption that they were out on the reef with
you. We did a fast run out ..."

"And got the fright of our lives," Steve finished. "We knew there were
three of the enemy and two of you down below, and we could see only
three sets of bubbles. We thought you were done for."

"It was remarkable the way Lieutenant Kelly and his men got ready to
dive," Zircon said. "I've never seen people move so fast. Steve, too.
Then, just as they were about to go over the side, we saw two more
bubble trails and knew at least that you were still alive. But in a
moment the entire pack of bubbles merged."

"We hit the water," Jimmy Kelly said, "and were about to dive when one
of the enemy skyrocketed up. He was blue in the face and scared witless.
We hauled him out and then started to dive again. And along came Scotty,
half dead and babbling about you. I started straight down to get you,
but you met me halfway." He grinned. "You weren't in very good shape,
either, for a few minutes."

"How a