Danny Dunn and the Swamp Monster

by Raymond Abrashkin

  Dr. Fenster sighed. “All right. Let’s go look at that spot.”

  They paddled to the fork and got out, pulling their boats up on land. The ground was soft near the water and they moved with care. They spread out, looking at Cuol for guidance. “Somewhere here...” Cuol murmured.

  Then all at once, two things happened.

  Joe gave a wild yell and jumped straight up into the air, slapping at his thigh. And Irene uttered a muffled shriek.

  “I’m bitten!” Joe bawled. “Help! Snakes! I’m dying!”

  He was making so much noise that they ran to him first.

  “Where is it? Where are you bitten?” asked the Professor.

  Joe took his hand away from his thigh.

  “I can’t see any wound,” said Dr. Fenster. “And it’s sort of high up for a snakebite.”

  Cuol smiled. He bent over and picked something off the ground. He held it out on his palm. It was a large horsefly, squashed flat by Joe’s slap.

  “Seroot,” he said.

  “Of course,” said Dr. Fenster. “I might have known. It’s one of the few savage beasts here in the marshes. I forgot to warn you about it. It’s not poisonous, but it bites like anything.”

  “You’re telling me,” Joe groaned. “It felt like a red-hot needle.”

  Professor Bullfinch glanced at Irene. She was standing quite still. She had been a little ahead of the others and on the end of the line, near one branch of the stream.

  “Were you bitten, too?” asked the Professor.

  She shook her head. “Come over here,” she said in a strained voice. The others joined her.

  There was a deep furrow sloping up from the water into the soft soil. The reeds and grasses had been smashed down and the earth churned into a trench so wide that all six of them could have stood in it, side by side.

  Something had come ashore there and then gone back into the water, something so big that they found it hard to imagine.

  CHAPTER 9

  On the Monitor Screen

  The rest of the day was spent in the hard work of setting up their observation post.

  The portable generator was unpacked and assembled. It was small, but powerful enough to provide all the electric power they needed. A number of plastic balloons were inflated from a helium cylinder. Three miniature television cameras, using about a hundred watts each, were fastened to the balloons. Three special infrared lamps were also attached to balloons. They would show up anything that came into their field at night, but would not disturb it.

  This equipment was ferried over to the triangular point of land where they had seen the strange marks. They cut down reeds and cleared a space so that they could work more easily. Cameras and lights were hooked up with Professor Bullfinch’s new superconductor. The plastic cord was as light as spider web and not much thicker, so that hundreds of yards of it could be unreeled without dragging down the balloons. The balloons were allowed to soar to a height of about thirty feet and tethered with lengths of the plastic line pegged into the ground, so that they couldn’t float away. The cameras now scanned a large triangle of swampland.

  The superconducting lines were then led back to camp where the final hookup was made to the control panel, the generator, and the television monitor screens. The plastic cord needed no support, as wires or cables would have required.

  The generator was started, and they tested the equipment. On their monitor, the patch of ground with the river running along both sides of it showed up clearly.

  “It’s a lucky thing we have you kids with us,” said Dr. Fenster. “With five of us to share the job, we can keep a fairly continuous watch on the television screens.”

  “Do you think the creature will show itself in daylight?” asked the Professor.

  “Since we don’t know what it is, there’s no telling,” Dr. Fenster said. “But whenever it comes—if it does—we’ll try to be ready for it. I’ll work out a schedule.”

  For the rest of that evening, however, the schedule wasn’t much good because nobody could bear to tear himself away from the screens in case the lau suddenly appeared. The young people finally crawled away to their tents in exhaustion at midnight. Danny was up again at the very first light. He staggered out, still half-asleep, and found a bleary-eyed Professor Bullfinch seated before the TV screens.

  “Anything?” asked Dan.

  The Professor shook his head. “Nothing yet.” And that was to be the pattern for the next six days. They took it in turn to watch, and after every watch the person coming on would ask, “Anything?” and the person going off would reply, “Nothing yet.” At night, the three children took the hours from nine to midnight, and the two men divided the remaining six hours or so from midnight to dawn. They all began to look, and feel, very worn, as much from disappointment as weariness.

  When they were not on duty, they passed quiet and peaceful hours dawdling along the river bank or visiting the Nuer camp. The Nuer assured them that there were no crocodiles in this part of the swamp—“The lau has eaten them all,” they said. However, they did not venture to swim, though they did feel they could walk or fish along the shore without fear. Joe rigged a hook and line and pulled in some perch, which they had for dinner and found delicious. Irene made friends with some of the Nuer girls, who were rather shy of her at first but soon responded to her warm and sympathetic ways. They taught her how to milk the humpbacked cows, which was their main job. In return, she got a long piece of heavy line and taught them the mysteries of skipping rope. They all went crazy about the game, and so popular did it become that Irene found herself loaded down with presents from grateful admirers: beaded belts and ivory bracelets. As for Danny, whose curiosity could never be satisfied, he became very friendly with Cuol and began to learn a little of the Nuer language. He also learned how to throw the long spear with which the men fished, and once or twice he was allowed to go hunting for small game with Cuol, who called him “Brother Redhead.”

  But time was passing, and everyone began to feel the strain as no further trace of the lau appeared. Their monitor showed nothing but empty swamp. After a time, Dr. Fenster considered moving the cameras to another spot.

  He and Professor Bullfinch were talking about it one day, as the Professor’s watch was ending.

  Breakfast had been eaten, and Danny had just come to take over the first two hours of the morning.

  “I’ll give it one more day,” Dr. Fenster said. “Then we’ll move.”

  “Gosh, then we won’t see our friends here any more,” Danny said sadly.

  “Oh, I don’t plan on moving the base camp,” said Dr. Fenster. “I’m thinking of just shifting the cameras and monitor screens. Euclid and I will go deeper into the swamp and set up an observation post there.”

  “What about us?”

  “You all seem to be getting along so well with the Nuer, we thought we’d leave you here to look after our base.”

  “Oh, no!” Danny wailed. “What’s the good of that? Then we won’t be around when you catch the lau?”

  “If we catch it,” Professor Bullfinch amended. “It doesn’t seem very likely right now, does it?”

  “But—but—” Danny stuttered, “but you’ll be all alone, just the two of you. How can you handle a thing that big by yourselves?”

  Dr. Fenster raised his eyebrows. “If it exists and it’s really so big, I’d rather not have you three enthusiasts underfoot. I didn’t intend to let you come along if we saw it on the screens, my lad. And in any case, I don’t intend to tackle it with my bare hands. I’ll have Little Sandy to help me.”

  “Who’s Little Sandy?” Danny asked.

  Dr. Fenster patted the holster he wore on his belt. “Little Sandy’s my portable Sandman,” he said.

  He unsnapped the flap of the holster and pulled out a strange-looking pistol. It had a long thick barrel and an unusual cylin
drical grip.

  “It’s a specially modified air pistol,” he explained. “It’s very powerful, and instead of shooting bullets, it shoots a dart containing a new tranquilizer drug. It is guaranteed to put an elephant to sleep. It ought to deal with our friend the lau.”

  He replaced the pistol and closed the holster. “I suspect, however,” he went on, “that the lau is going to turn out to be either a big python or an oversized crocodile. Everything points to one or the other. So you won’t miss much by not seeing it the moment it appears.”

  “But—” Danny began.

  Professor Bullfinch patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t fuss, Dan,” he said. “You’ll have to leave it to Dr. Fenster to make the decisions. He’s the boss of our expedition.”

  The two men went off, leaving Dan alone with the monitor. Glumly, he stared at the familiar scene which appeared on the three small screens.

  Tall reeds swayed gently, bordered by dark water. Nothing else. Danny sighed.

  But it would be much worse if the Professor and Dr. Fenster went off by themselves tomorrow. There wouldn’t even be the hope of excitement.

  “We might as well go home right now,” Danny mumbled.

  He broke off, holding his breath. Surely, something was moving on one of the screens? He touched a dial to sharpen the focus.

  There was something there. A small boat had nosed in to shore. A man got out and took a few steps. He stopped and stared upward so that he was looking directly into the lens of one of the cameras.

  There was no mistaking him in spite of the small size of the picture. Even the white suit was the same. He was the man who had followed them in Khartoum.

  CHAPTER 10

  “Sabotage!”

  Danny sprang to his feet. Another glance at the screen and he ran to find the others.

  “Professor Bullfinch! Dr. Fenster!” he shouted. “Come quick!”

  The Professor had just fallen asleep in his tent. He came rolling out, almost bringing the whole tent down. Joe and Irene had set out to visit the Nuer camp, but they came hurrying back when they heard Dan’s shouts. Dr. Fenster had been reading, and his book went flying.

  They clustered around the monitor. But now the screens were empty.

  “He was there,” Danny insisted. “I recognized him.”

  “But why?” said Professor Bullfinch. “It doesn’t make sense. Could he have followed us all the way here?”

  “Let’s go take a look at the spot,” Irene said. “If he was really there, we’ll see the mark of his boat or his footprints.”

  “A good idea,” said Dr. Fenster.

  They all went down to the shore. But before they could get into the rubber dinghies, they heard the sound of an outboard motor. Out of the winding waterway that led into the swamp came a boat. A man sat in the stern steering. And in the bow seat was the man in the white suit.

  “I don’t understand this,” Dr. Fenster murmured. “Why didn’t we hear him before? He must have gone past this spot on his way into the swamp.”

  “Maybe he didn’t want us to hear him,”

  Danny said softly. “He could have shut off his motor and used paddles.”

  “True.”

  The motorboat came straight to where their own launch was moored. The man in the white suit stepped out on land.

  They could see that his white suit was wrinkled and dirty. His sallow face had a sly air. His sharp eyes flitted over the group and came to rest on Dr. Fenster.

  “Good morning,” he said. “I see the famous explorer Benjamin Fenster, Mtu’anaye, do I not? I introduce myself. Jean Canigou, at your service.”

  He bowed. Dr. Fenster, tugging at his beard, did not return the bow, but said, “What do you want?”

  “Only to help,” said Canigou. “My work brings me to the Sudd sometimes. And here I come and I see your balloons floating in the air. Very surprising.”

  “No doubt,” said Dr. Fenster. “It must be very interesting work that brings you into the Sudd.”

  “Very interesting, indeed. I am a collector of rare animals. So I know much about the country and how to find and catch all different species.”

  “I see. And what makes you think you can help us?”

  “Dr. Fenster jokes me,” the other man said, rubbing his hands together. “You have long talks with Professor Ismail, and you come with your equipment to this place. Everyone knows that Dr. Fenster is famous for catching animals.”

  “It sounds to me as though you have been spying on us,” Dr. Fenster said sternly.

  Canigou shrugged. “I only know what everyone knows. Something very big, very important, a new animal, maybe the most important discovery for many years.”

  Irene nudged Danny. “That’s what he heard you say,” she whispered.

  “So perhaps I can help?” Canigou continued.

  “Perhaps not,” said Dr. Fenster. “Thank you very much. We don’t need your help. I suggest that you go now. Good-bye.”

  Canigou lost his friendly expression. His face became cold and hard.

  “Maybe you will change your mind,” he said.

  “I doubt it,” said Dr. Fenster.

  Canigou stepped back into his boat and spoke a word to the other man, who started the motor. The boat swung away from land and went off downstream.

  “Well!” said Professor Bullfinch. “A most interesting encounter.”

  “I know that man,” said a deep voice behind them.

  It was Cuol. He had come up without their hearing him, and he was standing on one leg with the other drawn up so that he looked like a stork. It was the peculiar way in which the Nuer rested.

  He went on, “He is a bad man. He cheats and steals. I have even heard that he will kill if he wants something badly enough.”

  “Hmp!” grunted Dr. Fenster. “A delightful fellow. If he’s an animal collector, I’m the king of Spain.”

  Cuol said, “He has made camp a half mile or so down the river. He has other men with him.”

  “What do you think he’s after?” asked Professor Bullfinch.

  “He sniffs money,” said Dr. Fenster. “Remember the shoebill we saw? I told you how much some zoos will pay for one. You can imagine how much Canigou might get if the lau turned out to be the biggest python ever seen—and he could get his hands on it and sell it.”

  “Dear me,” said the Professor. “What do you think we’d better do?”

  “At the moment, nothing. So far, all we have of the lau is a noise in the night and some marks in the mud which might or might not mean anything. I suggest that we go on with our watch for the rest of the day, anyway.”

  “Yipe!” said Danny. “I forgot. It’s still my turn.”

  He made for the monitor. A moment later, he was calling for help again.

  “Don’t tell me you’ve seen another snooper,” said Professor Bullfinch.

  “The fact is that I can’t see anything at all,” said Danny.

  All three screens were blank. The Professor examined them and looked over the control panel.

  “Very odd,” he muttered. “Nothing seems to be wrong.”

  He went to inspect the generator. After a moment, he uttered an exclamation.

  “It’s blown!” he said.

  “What do you mean?” asked Dr. Fenster.

  “It looks as though it was shorted out. The insulation has failed and the generator is burned out.”

  The two men plunged into a technical discussion. Finally, the Professor said, “Well, unless we can figure out a way of fixing it without the proper parts, we have no power. It’s just possible the fault came from the cameras, although I don’t see how. We’d better go check them.”

  They all piled into the rubber boats, for the young people didn’t want to be left out. They paddled to the point where the dead tree stump stuck up
. Before they even reached it, they could see the balloons holding cameras in the air above the heads of the papyrus. There were only two of them.

  They hauled their boats up and walked to the spot where the third camera balloon had been anchored.

  The river bank here was scarred and churned up by marks very much like those they had seen before. The TV camera lay half-buried in the mud. There was no sign of the balloon.

  Dr. Fenster and Professor Bullfinch bent over the camera.

  “Someone’s pulled it down,” said the Professor.

  “Maybe it was the lau,” Joe said. “Maybe he didn’t like being a guest star on TV.”

  “I’ll tell you what it is,” said Danny. “It’s sabotage! And I’ll bet you anything the man who did it was that fellow Canigou!”

  CHAPTER 11

  The Monster of the Swamp

  “You may be right,” Professor Bullfinch said slowly. “But why? What could he hope to gain from such a thing?”

  “He knows what were after,” said Danny. “And he wants to catch the lau himself. So he pulled down our camera and did something to it that blew out the generator.”

  The Professor shook his head. “Doesn’t quite make sense, my boy. Why only one camera?”

  “He didn’t have time to do more. Or he got scared. Or he decided that wouldn’t work and then came to see if he could join us. Or—”

  “Too many ‘ors’ and none of them quite fits,” said the Professor. “What do you think, Ben?”

  Dr. Fenster was staring into space. His eyes held a blank, distant look.

  “Is that so?” he said vaguely.

  “Ben—”

  “Not at all,” said Dr. Fenster. “Get in touch with me on Wednesday.”

  He turned his back, clasping his hands behind him.

  “Ah, well,” Professor Bullfinch said, “we won’t hear from him again until he’s thought through whatever he’s thinking about.”

  He picked up the camera and studied it with a frown. “It’s scorched, as if it had been struck by lightning,” he said. “The question really is not how this happened but what to do about it. Without electrical power our search for the lau has come to a dead end.”