Dolphin Island

Two dolphins were approaching the Flying Fish, jumping high in the air as if to draw attention to themselves. They came right up to the boat—and, to Johnny’s surprise, were promptly taken aboard. This was done by a crane which lowered a canvas sling into the water, as each of the dolphins swam into it in turn, it was raised on deck and dropped into a small tank of water at the stern. There was barely room for the two animals in this little aquarium, but they seemed perfectly at ease. Clearly, they had done this many times before.

“Einar and Peggy,” said Mick. “Two of the brightest dolphins we ever had. The Professor let them loose several years ago, but they never go very far away.”

“How can you tell one from the other?” asked Johnny. “They all look the same to me.”

Mick scratched his fuzzy head.

“Now you ask me, I’m not sure I can say. But Einar’s easy—see that scar on his left flipper? And his girl friend is usually Peggy, so there you are. Well, I think it’s Peggy,” he added doubtfully.

The Flying Fish had picked up speed, and was now moving away from the island at about ten knots. Her skipper (one of Mick’s numerous uncles) was waiting until they were clear of all underwater obstacles before giving her full throttle.

The reef was two miles astern when he let down the big skis and opened up the hydrojets. With a surge of power, the Flying Fish lurched forward, then slowly gained speed and rose out of the water. In a few hundred yards, the whole body of the boat was clear of the sea, and her drag had been reduced to a fraction of its normal amount. She could skate above the waves at fifty knots, with the same power that she needed to plow through them at ten.

It was exhilarating to stand on the open foredeck— keeping a firm grip of the rigging—and to face the gale that the boat made as she skimmed the ocean. But after a while, somewhat windswept and breathless, Johnny retreated to the sheltered space behind the bridge and watched Dolphin Island sink behind the horizon. Soon it was only a green-covered raft of white sand floating on the sea; then it was a narrow bar on the skyline; then it was gone.

They passed several similar, but smaller, islands in the next hour; they were all, according to Mick, quite uninhabited. From a distance they looked so delightful that Johnny wondered why they had been left empty in this crowded world. He had not been on Dolphin Island long enough to realize all the problems of power, water, and supplies that were involved if one wished to establish a home on the Great Barrier Reef.

There was no land in sight when the Flying Fish suddenly slowed down, plopped back into the water, and came to a dead halt.

“Quiet, please, everybody,” shouted the skipper. “Prof wants to do some listening!”

He did not listen for long. After about five minutes, he emerged from the cabin, looking rather pleased with himself.

“We’re on the right track,” he announced. “They’re within five miles of us, chattering at the tops of their voices.”

The Flying Fish set off again, a few points to the west of her original course. And in ten minutes she was surrounded by dolphins.

There were hundreds of them, making their easy, effortless way across the sea. When the Flying Fish came to rest, they crowded around her as if they had been expecting such a visit; perhaps, indeed, they had.

The crane was brought into action, and Einar was lowered over the side. But only Einar, for, as the Professor explained, “There’ll be a good many boisterous males down there, and we don’t want any trouble while Einar’s scouting around for us.” Peggy was indignant, but there was nothing she could do about it except splash everyone who came within range.

This, thought Johnny, must be one of the strangest conferences that has ever taken place. He stood with Mick on the foredeck, leaning over the side and looking down at the sleek, dark-gray bodies gathered round Einar. What were they saying? Could Einar fully understand the language of his deep-sea cousins—and could the Professor understand Einar?

Whatever the outcome of this meeting, Johnny felt a deep gratitude toward these friendly, graceful creatures. He hoped that Professor Kazan could help them, as they had helped him.

After half an hour, Einar swam back into the sling and was hoisted aboard, to Peggy’s great relief—as well as to the Professor’s.

“I hope most of that was just gossip,” he remarked. “Thirty minutes of solid Dolphin talk means a week’s work, even with all the help the computer can give me.”

Below deck, the engines of the Flying Fish roared into life, and once again the ship lifted slowly out of the water.

The dolphins kept up with it for a few hundred yards, but they were soon hopelessly outpaced. This was one speed contest in which they could not compete. The last that Johnny saw of them was a frieze of distant, dark bodies, leaping against the skyline, and already miles astern.

Chapter 10