losed.
And the men who stared, faces pale, hearts pounding, ray-guns at the
ready, saw him no longer. The water had closed over that shiny metal
helmet. Only a mocking ripple was left.

Hawk Carse was gone!

* * * * *

Gone!--and laughing to himself.

The space-suit, his heavy prison of metal and fabric, would protect
him from water as well as from space! It offered his golden--his
only--opportunity. It had been pierced by Tantril's shots, back in the
house, but only the gravity-plate compartments, which were sealed and
separate. It was still--after he had closed the mittens--air-tight, an
effective little submarine in the dark waters of the Great Briney!

So Carse followed his black course over the lake-bottom laughing and
laughing. In his mind he could see what he had left behind: the men,
shivering there in the water for an instant, completely befogged, and
perhaps firing one or two shots at where he had disappeared; then
turning and breaking back in a grand rush for the fence and safety.
And the ray-batteries, all manned and centered on the lake; Tantril,
in a very fury of rage, but fearful, preparing for a siege; preparing
for anything that might loom suddenly from the water! And all of them
wondering what lay beneath its calm surface; what he, Hawk Carse, had
gone to join!

For days they would stare fearfully at the lake, while the tides
rolled steadily in and out; for days the ray-batteries would be held
ready, and none would venture outside the fence. It might take hours
for the realization of his trick to sink in--but they still would not
be sure of anything, and would have to keep vigilant against the
still-possible attack.

Fourteen miles up the coast was Ban Wilson's ranch, and Eliot Leithgow
and Friday waiting there. He would rest for a while, and then the
three of them would go home to the laboratory--whose location was now
still secret. And then, later, there was his promise to the
coordinated brains to be kept....

But that was in the future. For the present, he went his dark, watery
way, laughing. Laughing and laughing again....

Yes, John Sewell, first of all Hawk Carse's traits was his
resourcefulness!

* * * * *

End of Project Gutenberg's The Bluff of the Hawk, by Anthony Gilmore

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLUFF OF THE HAWK ***

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