As they motored south, Pitcher kept watching the shore. She sat at the front of the boat with the towel over her head and shoulders to keep the sun off. All of the equipment was in the middle and Banning was driving from the rear of the boat with a towel over his head as well.
"It's somewhere around here," she said finally.
Banning looked back at the sail of the submarine. They were about four or five kilometres south of it. The sun was out and the water was reasonably clear.
"We should be able to see it from the surface," he said. "Here, catch." He tossed the goggles to her. "If you see something, put these on and put the lens in the water to check."
She deftly caught them and nodded.
"We'll go up and down this area and see if we get lucky." Banning slowed the outboard to an idle and turned east. "I figure we have got about two hours of searching and then we'll have to abandon it or we'll be walking again because we'll run out of fuel before we get to Lockhart."
They motored up and down a four hundred metre strip, traversing east to west and gradually worked their way south. At the forty-five minute mark, Pitcher called out.
"I think this is it. There it is." She pointed into the water in front of them.
"Are you sure?" Banning asked.
"Positive," she replied. "I don't even need the goggles. It's clear enough to see from here. It's on its side on the bottom, there." She continued pointing at it. "There's the hull and over there is the keel."
Banning swung the boat around so that he could look over the side.
"I'd say that's a good find," he said. "Let's get this done."
He dropped the anchor over the side. Then he connected up the scuba gear, put on the BCD, weight belt, fins and mask.
"Where in the cabin is this knapsack?" he asked, his voice sounding like his nose was pinched shut – the mask was covering it.
"It's in the forward bunk," she said. "You be careful. I'm not a diver so if you get into trouble I can't help you. If it's dangerous, don't do it. I can always get my licences and cards again some other way."
"Ok. Keep an eye out for the oil bottle. If Godzilla comes back, I don't want to be in the water. Bang on the side of the boat with something. The noise will travel through the water and I'll get back up here quick-smart."
He sat on the gunwale and put the regulator in his mouth, transforming his lips into a lubra look-a-like. After a quick test breath from the fitting, he inflated his BCD, held his mask on his face with one hand and rolled backwards into the water. He bobbed back to the surface quickly because of the air in the vest. When he was satisfied that everything was good, he held the corrugated vent tube vertically, let the air out of the BCD, inverted in the water and started the swim down.
Pitcher grabbed Banning's towel and covered her legs. It was hot being covered but it was better than being sun-burned.
After what seemed forever, but in reality was only about about fifteen minutes, Banning surfaced with the knapsack. He lifted his mask, removed the regulator and reinflated the BCD so that he could float without effort.
"Is this it?"
Pitchers eyes lit up and her joy was very visible.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she said." This will save weeks of angst." She took the knapsack from him and dragged it into the boat.
YOU ARE READING
Calypso's Mast
AdventureSomething smashed into her, knocked out all of her wind and spun her around. A vice clamped over her mouth and crushed her chest. A second later, she was behind a bush and looking eye to eye with Suzi. Suzi growled. "Shut-up, Suzi," hissed Banni...
