Sign of the Green Arrow

by Roy J. Snell

  CHAPTER V WHISPERING DEPTHS

  Johnny had an active mind. Figuring and planning were almost continuousactivities with him. Sometimes he really tried to slow the process up,but his mind would keep right on, figuring and planning.

  As he rowed slowly back to the boat, his thoughts were particularlyactive. There were things to be done. He would see that they _were_ done,in the end; he surely would. By going down in the steel ball as manytimes as Dave wanted him to, and by taking pictures, he'd put Dave indebt to him. Then he'd persuade Mildred to go down in the steel ball.Dave would like that. Then, at just the right time, he and Mildred wouldask Dave to help find that trading boat at the bottom of the sea, and tofloat it once more.

  Then they would get busy on those spies, he and Mildred and--and anyoneelse who would help. It was a patriotic duty, by thunder! It surely was!In his mind's eye he saw the map of the Caribbean Sea, these islands atone side, the Panama Canal on the other. If the Europeans got theseislands, what would happen to the canal? Filled with rocks and mud--thatwas the answer! They'd bomb the very daylights out of it. Yes, they mustuncover those spies--at least some of them. He wondered whether the greenarrow would show tonight, and whether he would be able to make any senseout of the numbers he had written down in his notebook.

  "It's some sort of code," he told himself repeatedly. "If I can decipherit we may get somewhere."

  But here he was alongside the _Sea Nymph_, and Dave was saying:

  "Hello, Johnny. We're shifting our position tonight--coming in a littlecloser. Tomorrow afternoon I'd like you to go down with me to get somepictures. You won't mind, will you?"

  That was exactly what Johnny had planned. "No, I won't mind," he said,"that will be keen."

  A mist drifted out over the ocean. All that night Johnny paced the deckin a chill fog. No green light showed from the island hills. Once hethought he heard men's voices, but nothing came of it. He was glad enoughwhen he could crawl into his berth, draw his blankets over him, and losehimself in sleep.

  When he awoke the sun was shining. It was mid-afternoon, and Dave waswaiting for him to appear, for their trip below.

  "What a life!" he murmured. After he had gulped some hot coffee,hurriedly bolted some seabiscuits and a piece of pie he reappeared ondeck.

  "All ready?" Dave asked.

  "Soon as I get my camera and things."

  "Good! I'll have the steel ball in shape P.D.Q.," Dave grinned,good-naturedly.

  "He's really a nice chap," Johnny thought. "Only he takes science anddiscovery pretty seriously. I suppose we'll discover some saber-toothedviper fish, or maybe some flying snails!" He smiled at his thoughts. Lifewas not half bad after all.

  Half an hour later he was experiencing such thrills as only the deep,deep sea could bring. Some five hundred feet beneath the surface of thesea he sat doubled up in his place, staring at an ever changing panorama.A rocky wall, not twenty feet from him, stood up like a sky-scraper,straight and tall. Here and there it was broken by fissures and caves.Everywhere it was festooned with sea vegetation--seaweed, kelp, anemones.All these, with coral that rose like Gothic architecture, wereentrancing.

  Dave was by his side--not to admire, but to record. The look on his facewas almost solemn. As they moved slowly downward Dave spoke into a smallmicrophone and Doris, up on deck, recorded his words. Strange words theywere, too: "A school of parrot fish; three hatchet fish; tworound-mouths; a golden-tailed serpent dragon; a--oh--oh!--Holdeverything!"

  At that instant Dave's window was opposite a dark cavern. As he threw ona more powerful light he caught the gleam of two, great eyes. How farapart they were!

  Despite his efforts to remain calm, Johnny's heart skipped a beat as, atDave's command, he touched his moving-picture camera and set itrecording. What sort of creature was this? A whale? A blackfish? Or somestrange, unknown denizen of the deep? Suppose at this instant it shouldbecome enraged, should rush out of its hiding place and drag the steelball out into the deep--to send it crashing against the rocky wall? Abroken window would mean instant death. And yet Johnny's hand did nottremble as he adjusted his camera....

  Just after the steel ball had gone over the side, Mildred Kennedy, in herdugout canoe, had arrived for a visit. It had called for real courage,this little journey. From a distance these _Sea Nymph_ people had seemedso serious. All but Johnny. "But it's not decent to stay away and not beproperly sociable," she had told her grandfather. So here she was.

  There had been time only for a brief word of welcome from Doris. Afterthat, whispering excitedly--"Dave and Johnny are below in the steel ball.It--it's dreadfully thrilling, even here on deck," Doris had clamped apair of head-phones over her guest's ears and had whispered tensely:

  "Listen!"

  So they were seated on the deck of the _Sea Nymph_, listening intentlyfor reports from below. At the same time, they talked.

  "I came to visit my grandfather," Mildred said, "just as sort of a lark.I was storm bound indoors for two weeks, and when I saw how simple andkind the natives were, the happy, free life they lived, and yet how manythings could be done for them, I wanted to stay. So I just did. And I amglad. Only--" A shadow passed over her face.

  "Listen!" Doris held up a finger. "Thought I heard a whisper. It--itcouldn't be Dave! I--I hope nothing has gone wrong. It's truly dangerousbeing down there, and yet one does learn so much--"

  "Shish!" Mildred held up a finger. "I--listen--I hear a whisper! It--it'snumbers he's saying. How strange!"

  As the two girls sat in silence, pressing the phones to their ears,listening with their every sense, they caught--in a low whisper:

  "Two hundred--and--eight--and a half. Ten. No--now a drop--thirty,thirty-one--two--three--"

  Then Dave's voice boomed through, drowning out the whisper. "O.K. We sawsome sort of monster," he was saying. "He was in one of these caverns andJohnny got his picture--we hope! Wish you were down here."

  "So do we!" Doris' voice exclaimed. "We heard a whisper. Thought youmight--"

  "You've been dreaming!" Dave boomed back. "Forget it--and tell that manat the cable to let us down again, slowly. Boy!--how I do want to seethings!"

  Yes, Dave wanted to see things. Most of all, on this particular day hewished to go down--down--down into the watery depths, to discover, ifpossible, just how far down, sea vegetation and coral were to be found.

  "If only I don't find bottom too soon," he thought. "And if the searemains calm."

  The sea. He shuddered a little at this. If the anchors held--all would bewell. But if they should give way--that would be truly terrible. To theright and left of them, not a quarter-mile apart, were parallel walls ofrock. To be dragged against one of these--? Who could tell what disastermight result!

  * * * * * * * *

  In the meantime, as they listened, the two girls talked of many things,of home, of thrilling tropical nights, of Mildred's sunken schooner andmany other things.

  Of a sudden, their conversation was interrupted by a sound, conveyedthrough their head-phones.

  "Sh--"--Doris' hand went up. "It's that strange whisper again!"

  "Whispering waters!" Mildred murmured. "How mysterious!"

  Low as her tone was, the whisperer apparently caught it, for--still inthat hoarse whisper--there came back:

  "So we are mysterious! How very grand! And it was a lady who spoke!"

  Once again Dave's voice broke in upon the whisperer: "Doris!" Tensenesswas evident in his tone. "Doris!--Tell them to hold us right where weare!"

  "_Hold it!_" Doris called to the windlass man, instantly.

  "_Hold it_," came back the quick acknowledgment.

  "All this," Doris said to Mildred, "is most provoking. You are just dyingto know what strange things are happening below, what marvelousdiscoveries are being made--but the only part you have in it is listeningand waiting!"

  Down in the steel ball, Dave had caught a movement to the right, awayfrom the
cliff. Switching his light in that direction he had discovered ahuge, dark object moving slowly through the water.

  "It's that 'thing'!" he told himself. "The very thing I've seen before!"

  To his great disappointment, the form was as indistinct as before. Thatit might be a whale he knew quite well. He suggested the idea to Johnny.

  "But it's not a whale--I'm sure of it!" Johnny whispered. Swinging hismoving-picture camera into range, he managed to catch the rear half of itbefore it passed from view.

  "The camera sees more than the eye," he murmured. "Here's hoping."

  Dave turned again to his task of exploring the under-sea wall. Hesignalled their continued descent.

  A moment later the ear-phones on deck were silent. Both Dave and themysterious whisperer were unheard.

  "Who _could_ that have been?" Mildred asked.

  "I've no idea," was Doris' reply.

  "Do you know," Mildred added dreamily, "I have a feeling that whispererwas not far away!"

  Doris started to speak but checked herself, suddenly. Once again she hadcaught the weird tones of the whisperer.

  "One-eighty--eighty-two--eighty-six," he droned. Then he raised his voiceabove the whisper, and called:

  "Hello there--you mermaids! Are you still there?"

  "He _must_ be near us!" Doris exclaimed. "If not--why would he call us'mermaids'?"

  * * * * * * * *

  At that same instant Dave was experiencing a thrill. Arrived at a spotopposite a broad shelf on the perpendicular wall, he and Johnny foundthemselves within five feet of the rock. Vegetation, which had beenthinning out, was just disappearing.

  And then Dave saw it--a long, wavering arm, reaching out for the steelball. Involuntarily, he started back from the window. Then he laughed.

  A second arm appeared. Then, a third.

  "Octopus!" he whispered to Johnny. "Such a monster!" Instantly his lightwas on, and Johnny's movie camera was grinding away.

  "Only one of his kind I've ever seen!" Dave was thrilled to the tips ofhis toes. "Wish he'd climb on board and let us take him up. He won't dothat, but I'll get him, all the same! Some time I'll get him!

  "How ugly he is! See how his eyes shine, Johnny! People sure would throngaround him in an aquarium! Put him in with some gorgeous, tropical fishand you'd have a 'beauty and the beast' show! You--"

  Suddenly he stopped speaking, to stare straight at the wall. They weremoving away! There could be no doubt of it. Fascinated by the strangenessof the situation, he and Johnny sat motionless while the octopus fadedfrom sight. Two yards--three--five--ten--twenty--they were swinging off!And behind him was a second wall, against which the window of the steelball might crack like an egg shell.

  At that instant Dave heard a strange voice repeating an idiotic question:

  "_Hello there, you mermaids. Are you still there?_"

  The very sound of a human voice seemed to rouse him.

  "Doris!" he called. "The anchors have pulled loose! The ship isdrifting!"

  "_Hello, there_," called that same voice. "_So you're not a mermaid,after all!_"

  Something had gone wrong with Dave's radio, Doris thought. His voice didnot come through clearly.

  "Hello! Hello Dave!" Doris called. "Repeat! What did you say?"

  "_I said are you a mermaid?_" came in that teasing voice.

  "Get off the air!" Doris stormed.

  "Doris!" Dave roared. His voice came through clearly now. "The ship'sadrift! Tell the captain to order our main anchor line played out--topull hard to port!"

  "Anchor line out! Hard to port!" the girl cried.

  "Anchor line out. Hard to port!" came booming back the repetition.

  Instantly Doris found her head in a whirl. Dave and Johnny were down afull thousand feet. On each side of their ball a rock wall rose highabove them. To crash against it might mean disaster.

  "Haul away--Top speed!" came in Dave's usual calm voice.

  "Haul away. Top speed!" Doris called to the control man.

  Complete silence followed. Even the "whisperer" appeared to have sensedthe tenseness of the situation and had gone off the air.

  That there was to be a race against time with their lives as a grandprize, Johnny realized at once. Here they were, several hundred feet downin the black depths of the sea, drifting at a fairly rapid rate toward arocky wall. If they hit that wall? He shuddered at the thought. Thepressure of water at that depth was tremendous. If the ball cracked,nothing could save them.

  "Is there anything at all we can do?" he asked Dave.

  "Not a thing, I guess," Dave answered. Then, "Yes! Yes, there might be,at that! There are the levers! They are _outside_ the ball and can beworked from _within_! I had them fixed up for gathering outside samples.If we lifted them into position, they'd lessen the shock if we hit thewall!"

  No sooner said than done! Groping about, Johnny seized a handle here,another there, as Dave was doing. He felt much better when the outsidelevers were in position. They would provide a little protection, atleast.

  With astonishing speed, now, the wall approached. They could see everydetail of the seagrowth clinging there. "Ten yards," Johnny guessed."Eight--five--three--" He was sitting on the inner handle of the leverand gripping the other hard. "Now--now comes the test!" he breathed.

  The words were hardly out of his mouth when there came a grinding impactthat all but lifted him from his place. And then--they were free of theledge!

  "Free!" Dave cried joyously. "Doris! We are safe!" he called into hisspeaker.

  The ball rose slowly above the top of the ledge.

  Dave, however, had spoken too soon. Scarcely had he settled back when agreat spiral of coral, like the towers of a church, appeared to leap atthem. This, he knew, grew from the top of the ledge.

  There was just time for a lightning decision, but they were prepared forit.

  "This lever is closest," Dave exclaimed. "It's our window or the lever!"

  Throwing their whole weight on the lever handle, they waited asecond--two--three--ten--twenty. Johnny heard his watch ticking themoff....

  Then came the heavy jolt. He was thrown so violently that his head struckthe top, and his senses reeled.

  When at last he was able to sit up and look out, he murmured a fervent"Thank God." For the hazard was past. The glorious blue of water was allabout them.

  Fifteen minutes later the steel ball rested on the _Sea Nymph's_ deck. Afew more moments and, hands first, like frogs leaping from a jar, the twotumbled out on the deck.

  "Hel--hello, folks!" Dave said, standing up a trifle unsteadily. "How'sthe weather up here?"

  "That," said Doris, gripping Dave's arm without realizing it and givingJohnny a happy smile, "that was awful!"

  Mildred, gazing at them admiringly, echoed the thought.

  "How about a glass of lemonade, and--and something to go with it?" Davedemanded. "Chocolate coated marshmallow cake, macaroons, and--"

  "Dave, you'll get fat," Doris laughed.

  "And then I wouldn't be able to get into the steel ball. Wouldn't that begrand?

  "But no!" Dave answered his own question. "It wouldn't! Not at all. ForI've been seeing things--wonderful things! And I'm going back tomorrow!"

  After their little feast on deck, Doris accompanied Mildred to the boat'sside, gave her a hand as she dropped lightly into her dugout, and said ina friendly tone:

  "You'll come again, won't you--very soon?"

  "Oh, yes!" Mildred exclaimed. "I'll fairly haunt you from now on, for wedo get a little lonely--grandfather and I. But you must all come over andsee us too! Won't you?"

  "Oh, yes, very soon," Doris answered, cordially.

  "Day after tomorrow is Sunday--how about then?"

  "I'll let you know. It's up to Dave, really. He's so absorbed he almostforgets to eat. You see," Doris went on, "he's very fond of mygrandfather, and wants to help all he can."

  "These grandfathers of ours!" Mildred laughed.

  Half an h
our later Johnny came upon Doris, standing before an easel andputting the last touches on a picture of the sea, the island, and agorgeous sunset.

  "I didn't know you were an artist," he said in genuine surprise.

  "I'm not," Doris frowned. "I only make a try at it. Those colors! Younever can get them just right!"

  "Looks swell!" Johnny said, admiringly. "Wish I could do half so well.Why don't you try an _underseascape_?"

  "What would that be?" Doris wrinkled her brow.

  "You go to the bottom of the sea, fifty feet or so down, in a divinghelmet. You set your easel on the bottom, weight it down, andpaint--whatever you see there!"

  "Not really?"

  "I read about it in a book. Found it in the ship's library. Anyway--itwould be fun trying."

  "Water would spoil your paint."

  "It says not," Johnny grinned. "Only trouble is--little fish, like flies,get into your paint!"

  "I'll try it some time," Doris declared. "I've been down twice with Dave.It's thrilling--walking on the bottom of the sea. Thanks for the idea,Johnny!"