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Updated: June 24, 2025
In a few minutes they were sure they were at the right spot to meet the jetmarine. But it was gone! As the Sea Hound returned to Fearing Island from its search for Bud's jetmarine, Tom was beside himself with worry. Had his experiment cost the lives of his best friend and the other crewmen aboard? "I'll never forgive myself if anything's happened to them!" Tom muttered bleakly.
Tom thanked each one of the men personally. Then everyone went to eat lunch. After the meal, Hank Sterling asked, "How about a detection test to see how she works?" "Coming right up," Tom said. "Want to skipper the jetmarine, Bud?" "Sure do!" "Okay. Pick out a couple of men for a crew and take her down." Tom produced a hydrographic chart of the waters around Fearing and marked out a test area.
By sending that jetmarine to the South Atlantic, we might get a line on enemy activities down there." Hank was in favor of the idea. He volunteered to prepare the jetmarine for a cruise and take off from Fearing that very night. "Thanks," Tom said with a parting handshake. "Keep us posted if you learn anything." Meanwhile, Bud and Mel Flagler had arrived at the base by helicopter.
"Your antidetection gear worked so well we vanished right out of the ocean!" Bud replied with a chuckle. Turning serious, he reported how his jetmarine had trailed the mysterious intruder and how he and Mel had captured the two Brungarian frogmen and their shore contact. "Nice going, pal!" Tom exclaimed. "But here's the catch," Bud went on.
"How soon can we try it?" "Depends on Arv," Tom replied. He picked up the phone and called the plastics department. To his delight, the sheathing was already being rolled out in quantity. Arv promised that by noon he would have enough of it available to coat a jetmarine. "Nice going!" Tom said. "Shoot it out to the cargo-jet hangar as soon as it's ready!"
"But a little smart maneuvering can cover up that angle," Tom added. "Try the hydrophones, Arv, and see if you can hear 'em." The chief modelmaker slipped on the earphones and listened intently. For another ten or fifteen minutes they probed about with no sound trace of the "invisible" jetmarine. But presently Arv snapped his fingers to catch Tom's attention. "Got her, skipper!"
Tom's pulse quickened. "Moving straight toward us," the sonarman added. Tom surrendered the controls to Zimby long enough to dart over and study the sonarscope. "I've a hunch it's Bud," he told the others. His guess proved correct when the unmistakable outline of a jetmarine loomed into view. Tom flicked on the search beam for a moment, and Bud could be seen waving through the cabin window.
"Yes," Tom replied, "and also give them personal spy gear to probe the waters around them and spot an 'undetectable' enemy." Bud whistled. "Do that, and I'll say you're really a magician, skipper!" Tom himself transferred the analyzer from the Sea Hound to Bud's jetmarine.
Then the yellow glare went off, and Bud's jetmarine glided away to take up a scouting position ahead of the Sea Hound. An hour went by, then another. Suddenly a flash of light stabbed through the murk from dead ahead. "It's a signal from Bud!" Zimby exclaimed. Tom nodded grimly. "He's spotted trouble probably an enemy sub."
His only hope now was that a radio message from the jetmarine might have been picked up while they were gone. As soon as the seacopter was moored, Tom leaped ashore. The crewmen on the docks had no news to report, so Tom piled into a jeep with Arv and sped off to the Fearing communications center. Hank remained aboard the Sea Hound to secure all gear.
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