"Get Whitey!" cried one of the construction men, pointing at the ocean. "He'll drown!"
While Uncle Andy still held them at bay, they all looked at the man in the water. Whitey was screaming and flailing wildly about, while the undertow and the incoming waves alternately dragged him outward and dashed him against the rocks.
"What's the matter?" asked Scarface, rubbing his knuckles. "Can't he swim?"
"He can swim," said the same man, "but something's got him!"
As they watched, the water darkened around Whitey.
"It's blood!" cried Valerie. "Oh my God, the poor man!"
"Look!" cried Henry. "Those are devil lizards! Hundreds of them!"
Like a voracious swarm of piranhas, the scarlet little monsters converged on Whitey and tore him apart. As the blood filled the water, other "things" were attracted. There were glimpses of finned, serpentine backs and vast, amorphous shadows beneath the churning waves. To those who watched, the eternal light above them seemed deceptive. Subjectively, they were aware of the dark Unknown. The very dark _Unknown_.
One of the construction men ran away screaming. Pee Bee, carrying the lunch basket, took Henry's arm and also started to lead the way, gently but firmly. Uncle Andy handed the gun back to Scarface. He led Valerie down the rock, wordlessly. And Scarface stood there looking back at the bloodied water for a full minute.
Then he followed the others. Weston and Sceranka, he decided, would have to come by themselves and find their own way back to camp.
The fishing pole lay there, abandoned....
The camp was similar, in effect to a military beachhead prior to organization. There was one tent, salvaged from the survival gear that the plane carried. This was used by the women for the purpose of changing their clothes, as well as a sort of "safety deposit vault" for valuable articles such as the ship's log, medicinal supplies and various instruments--plus short wave sending and receiving gear, now quite useless owing to a lack of power source and an absence of activity on the wave bands.
Beyond the tent lay confusion. Small huts constructed of branches and giant leaves, or square areas enclosed by sheets or towels, suspended on crude frameworks rigged together with poles. Here and there a more presentable structure of branches indicated the work of construction men. Between these were scattered both small and large heaps of luggage and personal belongings--suitcases, pullmans, hatboxes, overnight bags, small trunks, packing cases--even an aluminum cage in which reposed a bewildered Pekingese dog. A very lonely dog. The only dog in the universe.