“You think one of these might have survived into recent times?”
Poplar was thumbing through a thick tome. “That’s what that chief thinks, only to him it’s a god and not a shark. The Great White prefers ocean-going- mammals to fish. Probably this oversized ancestor of his fed on the earlier, slower-moving whales. First the whales grew more streamlined, and then man began picking off the slower ones. The sea couldn’t have supported
150
He
too many of these monsters anyway. A megalodon would have a killer whale for breakfast.”
“A man-eater as big as a blue whale.” She shook her lovely head. “A diver’s nightmare.”
“The Matai who brought this one in says he knows where there’s another, and maybe more.”
“Far out. You think I might get my thesis out of this?”
“Well,” he smiled, “the chief did say that according to legend anyone who sees Him is forever changed. All you’ve got to do is spot Him.”
“Very funny.”
“We leave first thing tomorrow morning, on the Vatai. Tenish. Now go and pack.” But she was already out the door.
She was not so happy for the reasons Poplar thought
Tourists waved from the hotel balcony. It had been built at the point where the open sea met Pago Pago’s magnificent harbor. Elaine slid her lava-lava down a little lower on one shoulder and waved back coquet-tishly. Poplar looked up from the wheel disapprovingly.
“Just because naked native maidens went out of fashion forty years ago is no reason for you to feel any obligation to revive the tradition for the benefit of overweight used-car salesmen from Des Moines.”