Page:Cruise of the Dry Dock.djvu/126

 buoy, his big biceps flattened on the canvas cover and slowly blistering in the sun.

"All right, boys, close up," he panted; "let's stay in helping distance of each other."

"Shall we try to take our buoys through, sir?" inquired Greer.

"We'll start with them."

"Don't try to use your legs in the weed," warned Caradoc. "Don't kick; you'll get tangled."

"We'll experiment and work through the best way we can. If it turns out too bad, we can turn back, that's one consolation."

Just then, under Madden's astonished eyes, a queer thing happened. The long open tongue of the sea which they had just entered, silently closed up. It seemed to close very slowly, and yet it was accomplished in an amazingly brief time. Some dull movement in the Sargasso current had blocked the adventurers with sinister precision. Madden felt the hot slimy mass close softly around him.

It was now as easy to go forward as to return.