gun. But that wouldn't be necessary, anyway, since he was outnumbered
three to one.

The four marched up to the front door of the frogmen's house and
stopped. The boys were prone under a palm less than twenty feet away.
One of the frogmen said, "Let me get a jacket. I'm getting chilled. Then
we'll walk you home."

There was something very odd here! Rick nudged Scotty and they backed
slowly away. When they were sure they could not be seen, they stood up
and ran on silent bare feet through the palm grove, circling to approach
their own cottage from the rear.

[Illustration: _Rick nudged Scotty to back away_]

At the back door they paused. "Now what?" Rick said helplessly. "They're
bringing him home. Why?"

"I wondered about that while we were running. I think they're bringing
him home to check up on us. He must have sold them some kind of yarn."

"Steve's tail will recognize us!"

"Not if we're in bed," Scotty answered quickly. "We'll pretend to be
asleep. Come on."

"Just a minute." Rick hurried to the shed and got two short hand spears.
He handed one to Scotty. "Here. Have a bedfellow."

A few minutes later they heard footsteps and voices on the front porch.
The door opened. A strange voice said, "Your friends don't seem to be
here." The voice hardened. "I thought you said they were?"

"They're probably in bed," Tony replied mildly. "We go to bed right
after dark because there's nothing to do."

"Except stick your nose in other people's business," a harsh voice
snapped.

Tony replied tartly, "I've already apologized for letting my curiosity
get the better of me."

"I'd like to see the bedrooms," a third voice said. Rick thought it
belonged to the man they had taken off Steve's tail.

He lay motionless as a form blocked out the lamp-light from the living
room. In a moment the voice said, "They're asleep, all right. They must
sleep soundly."

"Young men do." Tony sounded relieved.

Rick grinned to himself. The archaeologist couldn't have known they were
in bed, but his stall had worked.

"All right. We'll be going. But keep in mind that the most stupid thing
anyone can do is to dive alone, even by day. At night it's worse than
stupid. It's sheer insanity. Also, we'll thank you and your party to
keep away from us and not gum up our recordings with your flipper noises
and bubble sounds."

"We will," Tony said. "Good night."

The front door closed. Scotty rose, slid open the window, and went out.