by Robb White
Johnny saw him and began to grin. Then the nurse slipped two crutches under his arms and, very slowly, Johnny raised himself. The nurse helped him when he swayed, but at last he stood straight up on the crutches. Then he began to grin again.
Pete's throat was so tight he was afraid he wouldn't be able to talk.
He stopped walking a few feet from Johnny. " 'Lo," he said.
" 'Lo, Pete."
"How are you, Jawn?"
"Good. Say, you look a little wrung out."
SECRET SEA
"rm okay, Jawn . . ."
The nurse went away, her dress rustHng a Httle. She walked over to where Mike was leaning against a tree, his back to Pete and Johnny.
"Good morning," the nurse said.
"How you do?" Mike said.
"That's Johnny's brother, isn't it?"
"Yeh. His name's Pete. Pete Martin. My name's Martin, too. Mike Martin."
"Oh, are you kin to Johnny?"
Mike looked at her and then looked up into the sky. "In a way," he said.
"Johnny's a grand boy."
"So's Pete."
"I never saw anyone with so much courage," the nurse said.
"Me neither."
"Who?"
"Pete."
"No, I meant Johnny."
"Well, lady," Mike said, "I meant Pete."
The nurse smiled. "You think a lot of Pete, don't you?"
"Why not? Listen, lady, if Johnny is half the man Pete is, then he's okay, see?"
"I see," the nurse said. "Well, he is. Why don't you go over and talk to him?"
"Oh . . . well. Naw, I can't. I told Pete I'd get us something to eat."
NO BRIGHT RED BICYCLE
"No. You go talk to Johnny, and Til get something to eat. What would you like?"
"Oh, just a little something."
"Steak . . . French fries . . . onions?"
Mike grinned. "I bet you do all right as a nurse."
"Maybe. You go talk to Johnny."
Pete was calling him, and Mike went slowly over. He looked at Johnny for a while and then said, "You're doing all right. We thought you were lying up in a sack."
Johnny grinned. "I can even walk ... a little."
"Take it easy, kid," Mike said, "We're going to get you out of here in a little while. Aren't we, Pete?"
Pete grinned and nodded.
Mike shuffled his feet around and then pulled a lump out of his pocket. It was wrapped in brown grocery paper. "I brought you something to fool around with," he said. He held it out, then drew it back. "Say, I forgot. You're about in the same shape as Pete."
Mike tore the wrapping paper off and held out one of the golden birds. "That's what Pete dug up," he said.
Pete started to say something, and Mike scowled at him. "What do I want with a little gold bird?" he demanded. "Can't fly. Can't holler. Can't even lay an egg. Here."
Johnny balanced himself carefully and then
SECRET SEA
held out one hand. Mike put the bird in it and wrapped Johnny's fingers around it. "You can throw it at the nurse if she bothers you," Mike said.
"Thanks, Mike," Johnny said. "Let me sit down and then tell me what happened."
Pete, with Mike supplying any details he left out, was halfway through the story when the nurse came back. Behind her was another girl who was pushing a rubber-wheeled truck with rows of shiny pots lined up on it.
The two nurses began setting plates and opening the pots. The steaks were sizzling on the platters they had been cooked on, and steam came up from the onions.
"Boy!" Mike said. "Now this is my idea of a picnic. No ants."
They finished telling Johnny the story as they ate, and after Mike had wiped his plate clean with a piece of bread, he leaned back on his elbows, a blade of grass between his teeth.
"Wonder what the old Santa Ybel is doing now?" Mike asked.
"Don't know. But Weber blew his sloop up very close to where she was. Might have rattled her," Pete said.
Mike said softly, "I hope not."
But the explosion of the Auf Wiedersehen had
NO BRIGHT RED BICYCLE
done more than that. As the concussion of it packed downward a crab had stopped moving. A purple pecten close beside the Santa Ybel slowly-closed its fluted shells as the shock struck it. Fish near the surface turned belly up and some of them never recovered.
The wave of shock died as it moved away from the blasted sloop but there was still enough power in it to make the Santa Ybel tremble. This trembling loosened grains of sand and they slipped, pushing other grains. A little running cloud of wet dust rose along the southern side of the Santa Ybel. More sand slipped. Things alive scuttled away from the ship as she moved, slowly at first, and then fast, tumbling down and down into the thousand-foot deep.
She struck bottom at last and lay, finally broken, beside the shattered Nazi submarine.
THERE'VE BEEN SOME CHANGES MADE
Probably you already own some COMET BOOKS. Well, we've
decided to change the name of the series to POCKET BOOK,
JRS. because they are new editions of the best books for modern
teen agers, reprinted from the regular $2.00 to $3.00 editions,
just as regular POCKET BOOK editions are reprints of the best
books for adults. You can still buy COMET BOOKS at your
local store—and watch for the new POCKET BOOK, JRS., o
few of which are listed below.
J-35. SKI PATROL by Montgomery Atwater
J-36. LONG LASH by Bertrand Shurtleff
J-37. THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER by Mark Twain
J-38. BALDY OF NOME by Esther Birdsall Darling
J-39. SPONGER'S JINX by Bert Sackett
J-40. MOUNTAIN PONY by Henry Larom
J-41. BLACK STORM by Thomas C. Hinkle
J-42. THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN
by Mark Twain J-43. BLACK BEAUTY by Helen Sewell J-44. POPULARITY PLUS by Sally Simpson J-45. YOUR OWN BOOK OF FUNNY STORIES J-46. YOUR OWN BOOK OF CAMP CRAFT
by Catharine T. Hammett J-47. THE MYSTERY OF BATTY RIDGE by Alan Gregg J-48. BUFFALO BILL by Shannon Garst J-49. BLUE TREASURE by Helen Girvan J-50. TIGER ROAN by Glenn Bolch J-51. THE KINGDOM OF FLYING MEN
by Frederic Nelson Litten J-52. GRIDIRON CHALLENGE by Jackson Schoiz J-53. SUE BARTON, SENIOR NURSE by Helen Dore Boylston J-54. LOGGING CHANCE by M. H. Losher J-55. TOUCHDOWN TWINS by Philip Harkins J-56. C0WD06 by Ned Andrews
J-57. THE BLACK ARROW by Robert Louis Stevenson J-58. MUSTANG by Thomas C. Hinkle J-59. PIVOT MAN by Dick Friendlich J-60. BUCKSKIN BRIGADE by Jim Kjelgaard J-61. BLACK SPANIEL MYSTERY by Betty Cavanna J.62. YELLOWSTONE SCOUT by William Marshall Rush February, 1951
POCKET a
lOCKET BOOK, JRS.
are exciting, gay, worthwhile books for modern teen-agers. To get the best in reading always look for this trademark.
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