jobs. Both had done well in their
assigned work, and could have stayed on indefinitely. But in spite of
the temptation to remain for a while, the call of Spindrift was strong.

As Rick said, "It's nice to travel, but one thing that makes it nice is
that we can go back home."

A letter from Barby had made him a little homesick. Everyone was fine.
Dismal was lonesome. Jan Miller was back, with her parents. Dad was
worried because he hadn't heard from Tony Briotti and Howard Shannon,
but that was probably just the slowness of mail. Barby urged them to
hurry back and hoped they were finding life dull enough so they would.
She and Jan needed instruction in sailing, because they had just bought
a new Comet-class sailboat.

The boys said farewell to their friends at Scarlet Lake, not forgetting
Prince Machiavelli, and returned to Spindrift two days after the
successful Cetus shoot.

Back at Spindrift they spent their time instructing the girls in proper
sailing technique, but Rick still had to avoid exertion, and he couldn't
swim because his arm was still bandaged. Then, one day the Brants'
family doctor announced that he was fine, and a bandage was no longer
needed.

Barby looked at the scar on Rick's forearm and her eyes opened wide.
"Rick! That was a terrible cut! How on earth did you get it?"

He couldn't tell her the real story. He had been instructed by his
father not to mention it, even to Barby. "It was pretty exciting," he
said. "It happened when they let me fire a rocket."

"You fired a rocket?" Barby gasped.

"Sort of," Rick said. "I lit the fuse. I didn't jump back far enough,
though. The tail fin clipped me as it went by."

For a long while Barby wasn't sure whether Rick's story was true or not.
She didn't know whether the big rockets had fuses. When she found out by
questioning Dr. Zircon, she asked Scotty to remind her not to talk to
Rick for twenty-four hours.

But before the day was over, Rick was packing, in company with Scotty
and Dr. Zircon, for an emergency trip to the Sulu Sea. Their mission:
find two missing Spindrift scientists!

What happened during the search will be told in the next exciting book
of Rick's adventures: THE PIRATES OF SHAN.

_The_ RICK BRANT SCIENCE-ADVENTURE _Stories_

BY JOHN BLAINE

THE ROCKET'S SHADOW

THE LOST CITY

SEA GOLD

100 FATHOMS UNDER

THE WHISPERING BOX MYSTERY

THE PHANTOM SHARK

SMUGGLERS' REEF

THE C