Rick Brant 6 The Phantom Shark

by John Blaine

  THE PHANTOM SHARK

  A RICK BRANT

  SGIENCE-ADVENTURE

  STORY, No. 6

  By JOHN BLAINE

  CHAPTER I

  A Plan for Barby

  Rick Brant was aware that events frequently hang on small, obscure incidents, but he had no idea that a mental image of his sister Barby holding an envelope to the light, trying to see what was in it, would eventually lead to one of the most unusual adventures of his young life.

  It began in Washington, D.C. Rick, Don Scott, Hart-son Brant, Rick’s famous scientist father, Julius Weiss and Hobart Zircon, two of the Spindrift scientists, were preparing to return to Spindrift, the island laboratory and home of the Brants off the New Jersey coast.

  The Whispering Box Mystery had been solved, to the entire satisfaction of the scientists, the boys, and theUnited States government. The Spindrifters were tired. For weeks they had raced against time to create a counterweapon for the Whispering Box.

  While they waited for final word that the case was closed, Rick read them a letter from Barby, his pretty blond sister. Among other things, Barby had written that Rick and Scotty had a letter from Chahda, their Hindu friend who was inHawaii , and that there was a second letter fromHawaii that was not from Page 1

  Chahda. It had no return address. She had held it to the light, trying to find out who it might be from, but with no success.

  Hartson Brant knew, however. At first, because the famous electronic scientist was very tired, he hadn’t remembered all the details. Later, as they took a taxi to the railroad station, he recalled, “Paul Warren asked me about you two when we were inHonolulu . He was planning an expedition to the Southern Pacific and wanted you to join him.”

  Rick was sitting on the folding seat in the rear of the taxi. He turned around so fast he almost fell off.

  “Honest, Dad? What kind of expedition?”

  “Fishing,” big Hobart Zircon boomed.“Scientific fishing. Wasn’t that it, Hartson?”

  Mr. Brant nodded. “I believe so. The combined Pacific Research Societies have been commissioned by the United Nations to explore new fishing grounds that may supply all ofSoutheast Asia .Warren was getting his staff together.”

  Scotty, a husky boy with black hair and brown eyes, asked quickly, “Does he want us to work for the expedition?”

  “Not this time.” Hartson Brant smiled. “He evidently doesn’t know what he’s letting himself in for, inviting you two and Chahda to go along. He merely thought

  youwould enjoy the trip. He and Mrs. Warren like to have young people around.”

  Rick looked at the scientist anxiously. “Can we go, Dad?”

  Little Julius Weiss, the mathematics genius of the Spindrift group, leaned forward. “Confidentially, I overheard your father telling your mother that he’d be glad to give his permission.”

  Rick let out a whoop. “When do we start?”

  Hartson Brant smiled. “That depends. How are your finances?”

  There was a rule in the Brant household. When Rick, Scotty, or Barby wanted to take trips or make purchases that did not involve the entire family, they had to pay their own way. It was Hartson Brant’s method of teaching them financial responsibility, and of making them self-sufficient against the day when they would be on their own.

  “How much money would we need?” Scotty asked.

  “Plane fare both ways,” Hartson Brant replied, and that will be expensive. As I recall, the Tarpon was scheduled to leaveHawaii on the eleventh. This is the eighteenth. That means you must meet the expedition inNew Caledonia -if you want to go.”

  Rick had checked into plane fares before, when he, Scotty, and Hartson Brant had flown toHawaii for the expedition to KwangaraIsland . He estimated the fare quickly, then allowed ten per cent discount for a round-trip ticket.

  “I can make it,” he said.“How about you, Scotty?”

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  “Okay. I can do it.”

  The taxi pulled up in front of the station and the party unloaded their baggage. As they walked to the ticket office, Hobart Zircon said, “I’ve been thinking about the salary I received from the government for this last job.”

  The officials for whom they had worked had insisted on placing the scientists and the boys on the government pay roll for the duration of their assignment. Rick had been surprised to receive a check. It wasn’t much, because he and Scotty had been classed as clerks, at a very low wage scale. But Zircon, Weiss, and Hart-son Brant had been paid top salaries.

  “Julius and I were locked up in that old house for most of the period for which we were paid,” Zircon said. “I think that it would be only proper if we turned our checks over to you boys. What do you say, Julius?”

  “I agree,” Weiss answered promptly.

  “We couldn’t take your pay checks,” Scotty protested.

  “I insist,” Zircon said flatly.

  “So doI .” Weiss was equally firm.

  Rick was silent. He had a swift vision of Barby, holding the letter fromHawaii against an electric light globe, trying to penetrate its mystery. Barby’s intuition was swift and sure. He remembered the promise she had tricked him into making that if there ever was another chance to take a trip during the summer vacation he would “use his influence,” as she put it flatteringly.

  He could imagine her face when they told her, her suspicions were true: that he and Scotty would be off again to the Pacific. She would make hisMe miserable until he made an effort to keep his promise.

  “Dad, this trip is strictly a vacation for us?” he asked.

  “Yes, Rick.Warren said nothing about assignments for you.”

  “Is Mrs. Warren going?”

  “She had planned to.”

  Rick blurted impulsively, “Professor Zircon, I’ll accept that salary, if we can use it to buy plane tickets for Barby!”

  Scotty looked astonished, then grinned and winked.

  Hartson Brant reacted with a resounding, “No!”

  Rick talked fast and earnestly. He almost succeeded in convincing himself. “Listen, Dad, Barby has never been on an expedition, and she hates always being left behind. This one is different. We won’t be doing anything dangerous, and you know the Tarpon is safe!”

  “No, Rick.” The scientist shook his head. “If Mother were going, it would be fine. But there would be Page 3

  no one to take care of Barby.”

  Scotty took a hand. “Don’t you think Rick and I could take care of her, sir?”

  The scientist was firm. “I’m sorry, boys. Of course you could take care of her. But, after all, she wasn’t invited.”

  “And that, I think,” Julius Weiss declared, “is simply because Paul Warren had no idea you might let her go.”

  “Exactly,” Zircon boomed. “Hartson, you know that Helen Warren is very fond of Barby.”

  Rick was very much like his father, both in appearance and in the way his mind worked. He knew that the scientist was weakening. “I’ll send a cable,” he said quickly.“Right now. The Tarpon has radio equipment. We can have an answer waiting when we get home to Spindrift.”

  Hartson Brant patted his son on the shoulder. “All right, Rick. I thinkit’s fine that you should want to include Barby. However, this sudden rush of brotherly devotion has its suspicious side.” He added a warning. “I can’t speak for your mother. You’ll have to persuade her.”

  “Leave it to us,” Scotty said. “Rick, let’s get that cable on the way!”

  “Get going,” Zircon urged. “I’ll get your tickets.”

  The boys ran for the telegraph desk.

  “What a guy,” Scotty exulted. “She’ll have th
e time of her life! But all of this doesn’t sound like the Rick I knew!”

  At the telegraph desk, he composed swiftly.“To the motor vessel Tarpon, at sea, Western Pacific. Your invitation just received. Accept with pleasure. Where do we meet you? Would there be room for Barby as Mrs. Warren’s personal maid or as baby sitter? Reply to Spindrift.” He signed it “Scotty-Rick.”

  The message filed, Rick sighed with relief. Well, he had kept his promise to his sister. Scotty was witness. Rick, not being the owner of a crystal ball, could not know that he had started a chain of events that would lead the Spindrift trio of youthful explorers into situations both strange and mysterious. Nor could he know that Barby, at that very moment, was engrossed in a pamphlet she had just received in exchange for twenty-five cents and the top off a box of soap powder. The pamphlet, too, would have much to do with coming events. It was titled Daughter of the Moon.

  SpindriftIsland, famous location of the Spindrift Scientific Foundation Laboratories and home of the Brants , was located off the coast ofNew Jersey , near the mainland town ofWhiteside .

  On the south seaward corner of the island were the long, gray laboratory buildings. On the north seaward side of the island was the big Brant house where the family and the scientists lived. Scotty was considered a member of the family, and had been since the day when, still in Marine uniform, he had rescued Rick from the gang that was attempting to wreck the famed moon-rocket experiment.

  The returning Spindrifters were met at the White-side dock by Barby in one of the two island motor-boats. She ran to meet them as the bus from the railroad station dropped them at the wharf.

  Beside her raced a shaggy little dog.

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  Rick watched his sister, grinning to himself. She was slim and pretty in tennis shorts and one of his white shirts. Obviously, she was excited. He had to laugh when he saw what she carried in her hand. It was a letter-and he would have bet anything that it bore the postmark ofHawaii .

  She kissed her father, embraced the professors and Rick,then shook hands sedately with Scotty. Her blue eyes danced with excitement. “Can we open the letter right now?”

  “No hurry,” Rick said. “Let’s wait until we get home.”

  Barby’s eyes opened wide. “But how can you wait? No, let’s open it!”

  Rick yawned elaborately. He took the letter and tucked it into his pocket.“Too tired to read.”

  “I’ll read it,” Barby offered eagerly.

  “It might be private,” Rick said. “No, I think we’d better wait.”

  Dismal, the shaggy little dog, was on his back, all four legs in the air, playing dead to attract his young master’s attention. Rick scratched the pup’s ribs to his complete satisfaction, then picked him up bodily and carried him to the motorboat.

  As they made themselves comfortable on the leather seats, Hartson Brant asked, “Any wires or cables?”

  Barby looked at him curiously. “No, Dad. Were you expecting one?”

  Hartson Brant laughed. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  Barby’s pert face lengthened. “No one ever tells me anything!” She slid in behind the wheel of the fast motorboat, and, as Scotty cast off, she started the motor, slid the craft into gear, backed expertly out of the slip, turned, and headed for Spindrift.

  Rick was proud of his sister. In situations where most girls would be a burden, she could more than hold her own. She could hike all day without complaint, and she was like a water sprite when it came to swimming. At tennis, although Rick had a much stronger drive, she gave him plenty of competition. And at badminton or ping-pong, where strength didn’t count, she could run him ragged. She was a swell trail companion and her sense of adventure was as strong as his own. Barby was a good sport, he reflected.

  But he resented her placing him in the position in which he found himself- of pleading to take her along on an adventure. Gosh-Gloomily he stroked Dismal, as the speedy craft bounced on the swells, and wondered about the cable.

  There was a chance that the shore station had been unable to reach the Tarpon because of poor atmospheric conditions. But the ship’s call would be repeated over and over until an answer was finally received. No, he might as well face it. Barby had the upper hand this time. She was going on this trip. He might as well admit defeat gracefully.

  It wasnine o’clock that night before the reply came. The Brants , Scotty, and the professors were on the big screened porch that looked out toward theAtlantic . They had eaten one of Mrs. Brant’s excellent dinners and were discussing their recent adventures inWashington , minimizing, as always, the elements of danger.

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  Barby was seated with her legs curled under her in an overstuffed chair. Now and then her eyes went to Rick, and he knew she hadn’t forgotten the letter fromHawaii , even though she hadn’t mentioned it again. He and Scotty had opened it in privacy. As Hartson Brant had predicted, it was an invitation to join theWarrens on a trip to the Southern Pacific.

  A second letter, from Chahda, urged their acceptance. The Hindu boy had stayed with theWarrens after the Kwangara expedition, to attend school inHonolulu .

  In the midst of Professor Weiss’s description of his capture by the Whispering Box gang, the telephone rang. There was instant silence. Mrs. Brant looked around curiously. “Are any of you expecting a call?

  You all look so strange”

  Rick tried to be casual. “Why don’t you answer it, Mom? It may be Mrs. Webster or someone.”

  Barby was sitting bolt upright. She had sensed the instant tension. Her eyes went from Rick to Scotty.

  “Something is up,” she said. “What is it?”

  “I’d better go find out,” Mrs. Brant said. She rose and went to the library extension. Rick followed, and saw that Barby was going to follow, too. He gave Scotty a meaning look.

  “Barby, just a minute-“

  In the library, Mrs. Brant picked up the phone. “Yes? Just a moment please, until I get a pencil and paper.”

  Rick, his heart beating fast, handed them to her.

  “All right.Go ahead.” She wrote rapidly as the telegraph station at Whiteside dictated.

  Rick watched her face anxiously and saw surprise, then a frown.

  She hung up the phone and reread what she had written, then she handed the paper to Rick.

  It was addressed simply toSpindriftIsland , and it said:

  “You’re wonderful. How did you know Paul and I wanted to ask Barby? Hesitated for fear you might not want to part with her. Please send her with boys. Repeat, please. Meet them Noumea about first of month. Much love.Helen and Paul.”

  Rick looked up from the message. Well, that settled it!

  Mrs. Brant gave him a quizzical look. “What isall this, Rick?”

  He explained quickly, then said, “She’s dying to go, Mom. She’ll be all right, and she’ll love it.”

  “But she’s so young to travel so far,” Mrs. Brant said. ‘Rick, I don’t know . . .”

  “She’s only a year younger than I am,” Rick pointed out none too happily. “Besides, you can write a good stiff letter to Mrs. Warren saying she’s kinda willful and likes to read, but that she will stay put if she’s handled firmly and all.”

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  Rick got a certain amount of satisfaction out of these suggestions.

  Mrs. Brant sighed. “I suppose I must resign myself to having you both grow up. I don’t like to have her go so far away, but Helen Warren will love having her, and I really shouldn’t object, especially since your father evidently has given his permission.”

  “Then it’s settled?”

  “All right.I’ll write the letter right away. You can hand it to Mrs. Warren.”

  Rick nodded. “Don’t say anything yet, Mom. Let me break it to her in my own way.”

  “Don’t tease her too much,” his mother admonished.

  As they rejoined the others, Rick went to Scotty, winked at him, then solemnly shook his hand. “Hello, fellow traveler. Go
t your bags packed?”

  “They haven’t been unpacked yet.” Scotty’s grin stretched from ear to ear.

  Barby jumped to her feet. “I knew it,” she wailed. “They’re going on another trip! I knew it the minute I picked up that letter!”

  Rick ignored her. “It’s all settled, Dad. When can we leave?”

  Hartson Brant took the telegram and read it. “Let’s see. It’s one day to the coast and another day toHawaii , then about two days toNoumea .”

  “Where isNoumea ?” Barby demanded.

  “On theislandofNew Caledonia ,” Scotty replied. “Start a line atNew Guinea , draw it down through the Solomons and theNew Hebrides , and you come toNew Caledonia . It’s a French colony.”

  Hartson Brant continued, “Allowing for overnight stops and bad weather, you had better plan a minimum of a week’s travel time. Plan to leave here in three or four days. Better make your plane reservations right away.”

  “I’ll do it right now,” Rick said.“By phone. Come on, Scotty. Want to come, Barby?”

  She looked at him wrathfully. “Look here, Rick Brant,” she blazed, “you aren’t going to get away with this I You promised me when I got you out-“

  “Hold everything, kid,” interrupted Rick hurriedly. “Keep your shirt on. I never welch on promises. But this time we’re just going fishing,” Rick explained as they walked into the library.“Scientific fishing, to open up new commercial fishing grounds. We’ll probably stop at theNew Hebrides and the Solomons as well asNew Caledonia . Maybe we’ll even get toAustralia .”

  “It sounds fine,” Barby said gamely but unhappily.

  “Call the airport atNew York for us,” Rick requested. “We want to go by Pan American, fromHawaii , anyway.”

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  Barby sat down at Hartson Brant’s big desk and picked up the telephone. In a steady voice she asked for long-distance, then for theNew York airport. In a moment she said, “Just a minute, please.”

  She looked at Rick. “What shall I ask for?”

  “Three reservations forNoumea viaHonolulu , leavingNew York in about three days,” Rick said.

  “Three res ... three!Who else is going?”

  “You are,” Rick said.