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Jan had already gone through the exercise of clearing the aqualung hoses of water, clearing her mask while using the lung underwater, and using the reserve lever on the tank, and Rick had instructed her in the theory of diving. Now it was time to put what she had learned to the ultimate test.
Knives, masks, snorkels, their favorite guns, fins, and lungs completed their equipment. "Shall we walk up the beach, or swim?" "Swim," Rick said promptly. "This stuff is too heavy to carry comfortably." They launched floats, placed aqualung mouthpieces on top of their masks, and swam parallel to the beach.
"Let's tie our floats to something," Rick suggested, and Scotty nodded. Aqualung mouthpieces replaced the snorkels, and each boy tested his flow of air, checked to be sure his mask was connected to the lung by a safety line, charged his gun, and set his watch. The watches, designed especially for underwater swimming, had an outer dial that could be set to show elapsed diving time.
While Tony Briotti began preparations for dinner, the boys carried their aqualung equipment to the shed at the rear of the cottage and began to check it over. Since their lives would depend on proper functioning of the equipment, they inspected the regulators carefully, checking the condition of the neoprene flaps.
It was hard to see, but Rick thought it had a golden glisten and that it was round, about the size of a basketball. The frogmen took it and went under. Zircon's big hand took Rick by the shoulder, then he turned and motioned to the others that they were going under. Rick shifted from snorkel to aqualung mouthpiece. He took the end of rope that Zircon held out and snapped it to his weight belt.
Willing hands lifted him from the water. He slumped down on the edge of the stage, shaking his head to clear it while Navy frogmen stripped his aqualung harness from him and pulled the mask from his face. A voice said, "Drink this." A mug of steaming black coffee was thrust into his hand and he sipped, grateful for the spreading warmth it brought. Suddenly he started again. "Scotty! Where is he?"
Their own rather shabby swim trunks, torn and stained from contact with undersea rocks and coral, suddenly seemed sloppy. But when Barby examined the aqualung tanks distastefully and demanded that Rick paint them to match the new suits, both boys put their feet down emphatically. "The tanks are that color because they've been treated to withstand rust and corrosion," Rick stated.
He led the way a few feet under the surface to where he had seen Tony and Scotty, then led Rick to the top once more. Tony and Scotty saw them emerge and without a word turned and started back toward the cottage, pushing their floats. Instead of bothering with the snorkel, Rick kept the aqualung mouthpiece in place and swam a few feet under the surface, guiding himself by the wake of the others.
He pointed the red fish out to Scotty, who in turn showed him where a little moray was peering out of a hole near the base of the rock. Rick was fascinated. If a tiny patch of rock held this amount of life, what must the real reefs be like off Clipper Cay? He was suddenly impatient to get going, to put on his aqualung and explore the reef from top to bottom.
"Aqualung instruction tomorrow morning," Rick said. "Come on. I've worked up an appetite." That evening Rick began work on the radio circuits, as he had promised Barby. The transmitters would be the easiest part, since he could use the same circuits that had gone into the design of the Tractosaur controls, modified only slightly for use on the highest amateur band.
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