e gotten lost underwater."

"But you had the wrist compasses, didn't you?" Scotty asked. The boys
had stressed that compasses were essential because low visibility in
the waters off Spindrift made it very easy to lose one's sense of
direction.

"We had the compasses," Barby said. "How do you think we swam right to
the houseboat?"

"Then why didn't you get into the water out of sight of the
houseboat?" Rick asked, and suddenly he knew. That would have meant
plotting a compass course around a turn. So many feet in one
direction, then change to another compass heading. He had explained it
to them, but they just hadn't learned. It was not easy, he had to
admit, and it took practice even on land. "Never mind," he said. "I
know the answer. Go ahead. Tell us the rest."

Barby studied his face. "I guess you do know," she assented. "Well,
they told us later, on the houseboat. They saw us get into the water,
then they watched our bubbles come right toward them. So when we got
here, they weren't fooled."

"We went through with it, as we planned," Jan said, "and we thought we
were getting away with it. They were very nice. Of course we could
come up and rest. They were glad to have us stop by. But when we got
aboard, one of the women had a gun, and she made us go into the cabin
and sit down. Then they started asking us questions."

"What kind of questions?" Rick inquired.

"About why we had come. We stuck to the story, until they told us
they'd seen us. Even then we didn't admit anything. Then Barby started
to threaten them."

Scotty chuckled. "I'd like to have heard that."

Rick watched the tip of the cove. The speedboat from Spindrift should
be coming shortly. "How about the plane?" he asked suddenly. "What did
you do with it?"

Scotty motioned to the other side of the houseboat. "It's anchored. I
landed next to the JANIG team and got into the rowboat with them." The
Sky Wagon carried a small anchor and a few yards of anchor line in one
of the pontoons.

"Okay. Carry on, Barby. How did you threaten them?"

"I was very logical," Barby stated. "Wasn't I, Jan?"

Jan nodded agreement. "You definitely were."

"I started by telling them that they couldn't possibly do a thing to
us, and they might as well let us go right away."

"Bet that impressed them," Rick murmured.

"Are you telling this, or am I?"

"You are," Rick said contritely. "Go ahead."

"Well, I said my brother knew where we were, and they'd better b