d Rick consulted his watch. Their time was nearly up. He
hooted to Scotty and they surfaced.

The first tanks they had used were ready now. They shifted the
regulators and hooked up another pair to the compressor.

"I'm afraid Tony was right," Rick said. "We'll have to take the ship
apart piece by piece."

Scotty examined his foot where the fin was rubbing a little. "What would
be a logical hiding place? If I were the captain, I'd probably hide the
statue under false flooring or something. Anyway, I'd hide it aft, in
officer's country, and not near the forecastle where the crew lived."

"That's probably right. Anyway, we won't have time to do much wrecking
today. What say we hunt for loose boards in the cabin?"

Scotty grinned. "The treasure fever has got our boy Rick. Have you
forgotten we were going to see what those fancy frogmen were curious
about?"

Rick grinned back, a little sheepishly. "You're right. I had forgotten.
Well, we can spend half the time looking for the treasure and the other
half looking for the frogmen's cache."

The search for the treasure disclosed no loose boards, or anything
resembling a secret hiding place. At the end of ten minutes they turned
from the wreck and swam along the bottom toward the reef.

Since they had no idea what they were looking for, the search couldn't
be a very carefully planned one. Rick led the way, following the reef,
taking time to examine the coral formations. There were countless sea
urchins, and enough small fish to feed the entire population. Bigger
fish, however, were not plentiful. Once Rick saw a snook that would have
been worth taking, but the fish sped off into the watery gloom. Again,
Scotty called his attention to a deadly scorpion fish. This small,
rather weird-looking little creature had a dangerous defense mechanism
in the spines of his back. His poison bore a strong resemblance to cobra
venom. The boys gave him a wide berth.

Now and then a moray glared at them with unwinking eyes from a crevice,
but the boys paid no attention. The morays wouldn't attack unless
disturbed, and there was no reason for disturbing them. Rick wondered if
the big one they had ousted from the wreck had found a new home.

They passed a colony of sea worms, colorful even in the green light. The
worms were pretty, but their long hairs could give a painful sting.

Their time was growing short. Rick consulted his watch, then his depth
gauge. They were at eighty-five feet