As Tom watched in agonized2 suspense3, he saw the shark's jaws4 open and shut in a lightning snap at Mel's outstretched arm. Its razor-sharp teeth missed their target by inches!
Mel's gasp5 of relief was audible over Tom's earphones. "Let's get out of here!" he cried, arrowing away from the man-killer.
Suddenly Tom realized the full extent of their peril6. A long, sweeping7 coral reef, which extended above water, lay between them and the Sea Hound. Unless they could round the reef in time, the shark had them trapped!
"Quick! This way!" Tom exclaimed.
The shark was moving at blinding speed. As if sensing the boys' plan of escape, it launched itself in a wide curving sweep to cut them off.
Both swimmers were armed with skin diver's knives as a precaution. The two maneuvered10 to meet the killer's onslaught.
This time its broad nightmarish head was aiming straight at Tom. He jetted off to the right, but the monster veered11 instantly. Its lashing12 tail gave Mel a stunning13 blow.
As the shark's jaws gaped14 for a bite, Tom zoomed15 underneath16 the man-eater and slashed17 its belly19 with his knife.
The shark, maddened, thrashed the water in a frenzy20. Tom moved like lightning to dodge a deadly blow from its bony tail. Again and again they felt the horrifying21 brush of the killer's fins22 or armor-tough hide. By this time, Mel had revived. Repeatedly the two boys dived to jab and slash18 at the shark's soft underbelly.
Both were nearly exhausted23 when the monster at last went limp and floated slowly up toward the surface. Pale with shock and fright, Tom and Mel jetted back to the Sea Hound.
Zimby Cox was startled by their faces when they clambered aboard and ripped off their masks. "What happened to you two?"
Tom told him. "Good night!" Zimby cried out.
After resting, Tom and Mel dived in again. This time luck was with them. In less than twenty minutes they sighted a small porpoise24.
"We'll try," Tom replied.
The creature with the bottle-shaped snout was as friendly and playful as most of its fellow dolphins. Too playful, Tom concluded, after vainly trying to tease it into chasing them. Instead of following, it would "tag" Tom or Mel quickly, then swim away, evidently expecting to be chased in turn!
"I give up!" Mel snorted in disgust.
Tom grinned and bobbed to the surface. He waved his hand several times in a prearranged signal. Zimby at last spotted27 him and brought the Sea Hound to the scene.
Raising his mask, Tom called, "Let's have the net!"
Zimby lowered a nylon net and some pieces of fish to the two swimmers as they came alongside. With the food as bait they tried to lure the porpoise to the seacopter. But just as they thought they had it, the monster would scoot off.
At last, after winning its confidence with several bits of fish, the boys succeeded in snaring29 the porpoise. Tom clambered onto the Sea Hound's deck and helped Zimby haul their catch aboard. "Quacking30" reproachfully, it was lowered through the hatch and placed in the tank, which was then pumped full of salt water.
As soon as the Sea Hound arrived at Fearing, Tom phoned Chow Winkler at Enterprises and asked him to fly out to the base.
"Pardner, how'd you like to ride herd31 on this critter and gentle it down for me?" Tom asked, when he showed Chow the porpoise.
It had been transferred to a huge, glass-paneled tank which had been set up just outside Tom's Fearing Island laboratory during his flight to the Florida Keys.
The porpoise stared morosely32 at Chow. The kindly33 old Texan's heart was touched by the odd creature. To his delight, it soon responded to his friendly overtures34 and quickly recovered its good nature. By the next morning the porpoise was playing catch with Chow, or else swimming over to have its back scratched. The cook named it Smiley.
"She's kind of a sea cow," he told Tom, "and you got to talk to my Smiley like any cow!" Tom grinned and refrained from explaining to Chow that a real "sea cow" was a walrus35.
Meanwhile, the young inventor was busy with his own experiments. By means of a microphone placed in the tank, he made exact recordings36 of Smiley's "talk." Using Mel Flagler as a subject, Tom also tape-recorded the sound of a skin diver propelled through the water by ion drive.
The next step was to compare the sound pattern of the tapes. Tom filtered out the difference in the two sounds with the correlation37 calculator unit of one of his quality analyzer sonars.
"Uh-huh. So you got the difference betwixt Smiley's talk an' the noise Mel made," muttered Chow as he watched the jagged lines of light flashing on the pulse-check oscilloscope. "Now what're you fixin' to do with it?"
"This will be fed into the diver's sonar along with his own noise output," Tom said, "to make him sound like a porpoise."
Chow howled. "That I've got to hear!"
The young inventor worked feverishly38 throughout the day and into the next, perfecting his new "porpoise sonar." Using microelectronic components39, he was able to reduce all the units to amazingly small size.
Next, Tom began tailoring himself a completely new skin-diving suit. Mask, ion-drive jet, and the various hydrolung units were molded into the plastic, with no loose wires or tubes showing.
Monday morning he was ready to try the outfit40. The sonarscope with its tiny viewing screen was strapped41 to his left forearm. Another small unit was fastened to the inside of his wrist, with four plungers in finger-tip reach.
"What in tarnation's that?" Chow asked.
"Simplified controls," Tom explained. "One's for breathing adjustment, one's for the density42 unit, one is my ion-drive 'throttle,' and this last is for the sonar pulse—which will duplicate the porpoise sound."
The suit worked perfectly43 in a tank test. Chow was amazed as he listened to Tom gliding44 about, via an underwater microphone.
"If that don't beat all!" he declared. "Can't tell the difference 'twixt you an' Smiley!"
As Tom emerged from the tank, the portly cook rolled up his own pantlegs and waddled45 up the metal ladder to the tank brim. He summoned the porpoise with a whistle and straddled its back.
"What in the name of aquanautics do you think you're doing?" Tom gasped.
Smiley glided47 off gently at first, Chow fanning the air with his hat and yipping like a rodeo star. He did, in fact, cling to his slippery perch48 with considerable skill.
But suddenly Smiley began bobbing and humping like an eel49. Chow's face froze in alarm. A moment later the porpoise dived and the cook let out a yell of terror, "He-e-elp!"
Roaring with laughter, Tom dived in and rescued him. "Guess he ain't quite broke yet, pardner!"
"Reckon not."
Now that Tom had all his technical problems solved, he plunged50 eagerly into the job of fitting out his expedition to the South Atlantic to search for the lost Jupiter missile.
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1
dodge
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| v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计 | |
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agonized
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| v.使（极度）痛苦，折磨( agonize的过去式和过去分词 )；苦斗；苦苦思索；感到极度痛苦 | |
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suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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maneuvered
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| v.移动，用策略( maneuver的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵 | |
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veered
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| v.（尤指交通工具）改变方向或路线( veer的过去式和过去分词 )；（指谈话内容、人的行为或观点）突然改变；（指风） （在北半球按顺时针方向、在南半球按逆时针方向）逐渐转向；风向顺时针转 | |
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12
lashing
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| n.鞭打；痛斥；大量；许多v.鞭打( lash的现在分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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stunning
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| adj.极好的；使人晕倒的 | |
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gaped
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| v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的过去式和过去分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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15
zoomed
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| v.（飞机、汽车等）急速移动( zoom的过去式 )；（价格、费用等）急升，猛涨 | |
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underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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slashed
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| v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减 | |
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slash
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| vi.大幅度削减；vt.猛砍，尖锐抨击，大幅减少；n.猛砍，斜线，长切口，衣衩 | |
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belly
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| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
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frenzy
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| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
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horrifying
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| a.令人震惊的，使人毛骨悚然的 | |
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fins
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| [医]散热片；鱼鳍；飞边；鸭掌 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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porpoise
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| n.鼠海豚 | |
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lure
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| n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引 | |
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queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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fumed
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| 愤怒( fume的过去式和过去分词 )； 大怒； 发怒； 冒烟 | |
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29
snaring
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| v.用罗网捕捉，诱陷，陷害( snare的现在分词 ) | |
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30
quacking
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| v.（鸭子）发出嘎嘎声( quack的现在分词 ) | |
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31
herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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morosely
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| adv.愁眉苦脸地，忧郁地 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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overtures
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| n.主动的表示，提议；（向某人做出的）友好表示、姿态或提议( overture的名词复数 )；（歌剧、芭蕾舞、音乐剧等的）序曲，前奏曲 | |
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walrus
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| n.海象 | |
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36
recordings
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| n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片 | |
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correlation
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| n.相互关系，相关，关连 | |
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feverishly
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| adv. 兴奋地 | |
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components
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| （机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分 | |
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40
outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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41
strapped
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| adj.用皮带捆住的，用皮带装饰的；身无分文的；缺钱；手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词)；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带 | |
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42
density
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| n.密集，密度，浓度 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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44
gliding
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| v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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45
waddled
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| v.（像鸭子一样）摇摇摆摆地走( waddle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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46
bragged
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| v.自夸，吹嘘( brag的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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47
glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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48
perch
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| n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于 | |
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49
eel
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| n.鳗鲡 | |
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50
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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