32 DAHLAK 



looked towards our companions, little heads in the middle of 

 the sea, but were unable to hear what they said, although it 

 was clear that something must have happened. They looked 

 as if they were fighting. Soon they all dived under and we 

 saw them no more. Mohammed and Priscilla beckoned 

 feverishly from the boat; at last we realized that they wanted 

 help. We raced the fifty yards towards them. At this moment 

 the others rose excitedly to the surface. 



'Did you see it?' 



'Did you see it?* 



'Did you see it?' 



'But what, for heaven's sake ?' 



'A six-foot barracuda,' exploded Folco. 'Here, under us. I 

 was uprooting a coral, lifted my face a second to look 

 round, and found that muzzle pointing straight at me a 

 yard away, immobile . . . Lord bless me, what teeth!' 



'Where's it now?' 



'Dunno, somewhere below us.' 



Gigi and I dived under, our guns pointed, our fingers on 

 the triggers. The water, this cursed yellow water, was 

 opaque. I arrived on the bottom but there was no sign of 

 Gigi. I cruised obliquely down along the gradually descend- 

 ing slope, flew over one or two corals and found myself on a 

 grey strip of old madrepore, with no living thing to be seen 

 in any direction. I kept revolving swiftly for I had no desire 

 to find myself face to face with a six-foot barracuda in this. 

 Zing! That was Gigi firing. He must be found, he might 

 need help. I searched all over the place, wildly, but in the 

 semi-dark the whole thing was absurd. I shot to the surface 

 like a rocket, and there he was, half a dozen yards away, 

 with a queer looking object hanging in front of his nose. 

 Then I realized what it was. His gun had lost its front barrel 

 and the spring was hanging in the water like a black worm. 



