The boys soon excused themselves, leaving Chow happily swapping reminiscences with his friend.
“That headwaiter looked as if he’d like to brain Chow with a leg of lamb!” Bud remarked to Tom as they left the restaurant. Both boys shook with laughter.
Early the next morning the two hydronauts took off again on their Atlantic crossing-this time with only the base personnel watching as they submerged.
Tom was determined to make as fast time as
30 AQUATOMIC TRACKER
possible, so the boys cruised with their ion jets at “full throttle.” Hours passed with little or no conversation over the mikes of their sonarphones as they sped along, weightless and relaxed, through the green undersea world of inner space.
In midafternoon Bud suddenly signaled, “Take a look at your scope, Tom!”
The young inventor glanced at his wrist sonarscope. A strange blip showed on the screen.
“Too big for a sub, isn’t it?” Bud queried.
Tom agreed. “I’d say it’s definitely more than one object. Might be a school of fish.”
Alert but curious, the boys maintained their course. Soon they could make out a number of large dark creatures swimming straight toward them. Tom’s eyes widened in fear.
“Killer whales, Bud!” he warned over his suit mike. “The most dangerous things we could meet underwater!”
CHAPTER IV
THE SINGING MERMAN
THERE appeared to be at least a dozen monsters in the pack. The killers were black on top and whitish below-the colors slit by their wide, ferocious-looking mouths.
“What’s the drill, Tom?” Bud asked tensely.
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