John Blaine - Rick Brant 23 by Danger Below!

Author:Danger Below! [Below!, Danger]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-06-05T12:09:58+00:00

CHAPTER XI

The Blue Menace

It was difficult to estimate the actual depth of the shark pack, but Rick thought they were probably between 30 feet and the surface. He wondered what had brought them, and in the same moment realized that a large boat was barely visible as a dark shadow on the water at the distant edge of visibility. Had the fools dumped garbage overboard in the vicinity of a diver’s flag?

He knew that sharks often followed ships, just to collect the garbage jettisoned a couple of times each day, and he couldn’t think of any other solution. It didn’t matter, anyway. The sharks were about. Somehow they had to get into their boat.

He put his communicator in place. “We go up to 100 feet. Slow. Do not get close to each other. We

should not bang tanks or make strange noise. Sharks are curious. I lead. Scotty last.”

The five strung out on the buoy line. Rick finned upward, keeping an eye on the sharks. He saw that they came and went. The area directly overhead was not the focus of their attention; that was beyond, out of sight. He hoped whatever it was would go away.

At the 100-foot marker he stopped, while the others clustered around him. The distance to the sharks was still considerable; he could see that the animals were close to the surface. He debated the next move, then took a deep breath and switched to his communicator.

“Dick, you stay with girls just in case. Scottycome with me.”

Jan swiftly changed to her communicator. “What are you going to do?”

Rick had returned to his mouthpiece. He changed back. “Go to the 50-foot level and see. Don’t worry.”

With Scotty close behind him he moved up the buoy line. As the distance to the sharks lessened he could see their white bellies and pointed snouts.Then, as one rolled, he saw the deep, indigo blue of its back. As he had suspected, they were blues.

Swiftly he reviewed everything he knew about the Great Blue shark, also called Blue Pointer. He didn’t like any of what he remembered. He had killed a baby blue once with his powerhead when it had hung around almost beyond air reserve limits while he and Scotty were lobster hunting. The baby was about eight feet long. The adults ranged from twelve to fifteen feet in length, and the blues above were all adults.

There were not many records of attacks on people by the blues, but that was because most shark attacks took place near shore and on bathing beaches. The big blues roamed the high seas, and they were plentiful inNorth Atlantic waters. He had read old whaling stories about how blue sharks continued feeding on a whale carcass even after they had been cut almost in half by keen, pole-handled blubber knives. They were not particular about their food, either. When in a feeding frenzy, after garbage tossed over by a ship, they had been seen to consume chunks of wood, old boots, tin cans, and anything else dropped into the water.

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