Tom glided back to the spot which the Sea Hound had just passed over and began digging into the silt. Presently he felt the fork strike something hard.
“An obstruction!” Tom thought excitedly.
He probed deeper. Bit by bit, a smoothly contoured and still-shiny metal surface became visible. “I’ve found ill” Tom’s eyes flashed in triumph, his heart pounding.
There was no doubt he had uncovered the nose cone of the missile which had re-entered the earth’s atmosphere tailfirstl Meanwhile, Bud, keeping watch on the enemy submarine, had seen a shadowy figure glide from its air lock and head in Tom’s direction. Bud donned a hydrolung and followed.
“What’s that he’s carrying?” Bud wondered.
Suddenly the answer came to him-a self-propelled underwater grenade!
Horrified, Bud jetted forward, tackling the diver at full speed.
A split second too late! The grenade went streaking straight toward Tom Swift!
CHAPTER XX
A LUCKY BLAST
TOM’S earphones caught the hiss of the approaching grenade. Instantly his eyes darted to the sonarscope on his wrist.
A tiny blip of light was moving on the screen!
Tom whirled about, then gunned his ion drive. He pushed out of the path of the grenade, which nevertheless grazed him as it streaked past.
Seconds later, the grenade struck bottom. A shattering bo-o-oom reverberated through the depths, and clouds of silt darkened the water into Stygian gloom.
Tom, knocked off balance, was tumbled about helplessly by the train of shock waves. As they died away, he gradually recovered his bearings and pressed the throttle control of his ion drive. It coughed and stuttered! For a moment Tom felt a surge of panic, but the jet motor smoothed into a steady purr of power.
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