Dr Clark met them in the lower hall. ‘Your man is awake,’ he said, ‘and anxious to see you. I think you will find him much changed.’
The nurse let them into the room. Dr Dan lay with eyes closed and in his hand was a copy of the morning paper.
‘You won’t stay too long, please,’ the nurse warned. ‘He’s still quite weak, you know.’
‘Weak, nothing,’ said Dr Dan, opening his eyes - and the boys noticed that there was none of that bright hardness in his look to which they had become so unpleasantly accustomed. ‘I feel like a new man. Everything looks different to me this morning. Boys, sit down, I have something to say to you. It’s in the nature of an apology.’
‘That isn’t necessary,’ Hal said. ‘Wouldn’t you do better just to lie quietly and let us talk?’
‘No, I must tell you this. I’ve been very unfair to both of you, and to Captain Ike and Omo, too. I wish they were here so I could tell them so/
‘They’ll be coming,’ said Hal. ‘I sent them a telegram last night.’ The doctor has been telling me a lot of things I didn’t
know,’ went on Dr Dan. ‘He says I haven’t been normal for a long time. And I can see now that he is right. IVe been a perfect stinker, but I hope you won’t blame it on me but on that wedge in my head. He tells me I’ve been having lapses of memory and any one of them could have done me in if you hadn’t been there to look after me.’ He reached out and gripped Hal’s hand, and Roger’s. ‘And all the time I thought … I’m very much ashamed of what I thought. Especially when I saw your interview. Of course you’ve seen it.’
‘No, we didn’t stop to get a paper.’
Hal took up the newspaper. The whole first page was devoted to the story of the bombing of the lava flow. There were pictures of the explosions, photographed from the observation planes. There was a statement by Dr Janno, and an expression of gratitude from the mayor of Hilo. There were reports by the bombardment officers and a general military report by the Chief of Staff who stated:
‘The total cost to the army of this operation was $25,000. It saved from destruction buildings and property worth at least $51,000,000. Therefore from a purely financial standpoint the operation appears to have been justified. More important was the saving of the lives and homes of thirty thousand people. Those who witnessed the bombing declare that the execution of the mission was superb and that the bombs were placed exactly where they should have been. This aerial bombing of a lava flow made history for science in performing a great geological experiment with success.’
Then there was the interview with Hal, one paragraph of which ran as follows:
Tn spite of Dr Janno’s statement that the bombing was originally the idea of Mr Hal Hunt, Mr Hunt, when interviewed, refused to accept the credit. He attributed the success of the operation to the careful and brilliant plans laid by the visiting volcanologist, Dr Dan Adams.’
‘I felt pretty cheap when I read that,’ said Dr Dan. ‘And after all my crazy notions that you were out to discredit me and take my job. I can’t understand now how I ever got such ideas. Of course the bombing plan was yours, and you’re going to be stuck with it as soon as I’m able to talk to reporters. They’re going to get the real story.’
‘Don’t bother about that,’ said Hal. ‘Your job now is to take a good long rest and get well. Then there’ll be some more volcanoes to be conquered.’
‘And I’ll be ready for them! I won’t be afraid any more. I’m not afraid now.’
‘Afraid!’ said Roger. ‘I never noticed that you were afraid.’
‘I’m glad I was able to conceal it. Every time we came near an eruption I was all nerves, ready to jump out of my skin. It all began…’
He stopped, and smiled. ‘I never wanted to talk about it. It was one of those horrible things you want to forget. Now I don’t care whether I remember it or not. It was at the volcano Paricutin in Mexico. I slipped and fell several hundred feet down the inside slope of the crater and gave my head an awful whack on a rock. It knocked me unconscious, and when I did come to I found the slope was too steep to climb. I was roasted by the heat from the boiling lava and weak and giddy from the blow on my head. I spent all night in that crater and every hour worse things happened in my head. It was like torture in the dungeons of the Inquisition. Every moment it seemed I couldn’t stand it an instant longer. Then I had my first lapse of memory and during it I got out of there, I can never tell how. But ever since then I have had a deadly fear of volcanoes.- Now, thanks to the operation, my fear is gone. After a few months I’ll go back to volcanoes and they’ll be just a job to me, like any other. But that’s enough about me - how about you? I’m afraid I’m leaving you rather up in the air.’
‘Honolulu is a busy place,’ Hal said. ‘Well probably find something to do here.’
‘Well, I have a suggestion. Before you came this morning I had a short call from two of my colleagues at the American Museum. I believe you met them yesterday -Sinclair and Scott.’
‘Yes, I talked with them,’ Hal said. ‘Their project sounds pretty exciting.’
‘They liked you,’ Dr Dan said. ‘And what I told them about you and Roger didn’t make them like you any the less. They’re looking for some young fellows to help them on their whaling expedition. How would it appeal to you?’
Roger’s eyes began to pop with excitement.
‘After all,’ went on Dr Dan, ‘you’d still be working for the American Museum. Just a change of bosses.’
‘We don’t want a change of bosses,’ Hal said. ‘We’d rather go on with you. But since we can’t - the whaling sounds great. We’ll think about it. Now we’re leaving so you can have some rest.’
‘Well, don’t think about it too long. They’re leaving in a few days.’
The boys walked down the hall, strange emotions churning in their chests.
‘What a chance!’ exclaimed Roger. ‘A few days to decide! A few minutes is enough for me.’
But Hal, as the older and wiser, felt that the matter must not be decided hastily. In fact, he did not make up his mind until they were out of the front door.
And what the decision was is told in a book called Whale Adventure.
04 Volcano Adventure Page 14