Chapter 33 Chapter 32 Crystal Spring

The Indians and the Creole immigrants who moved here from Louisiana (specifically referring to the French immigrants who immigrated to Louisiana in the southern United States.——Reviser's Note) Legend, Crystal Springs is a bottomless pit.That was nonsense, of course, and they certainly wouldn't believe it themselves.You only need to put on a mask and take a few strokes of the water—you can see the spring*** spouting clear water, and the surrounding green water plants are rippling with the waves.Looking into the grass, a pair of monster's eyes loomed. Two black circles side by side—even if they never move, what else could it be?That potential threat adds to the excitement and anticipation of every dive.One day this monster will rush out of its old lair, startle the fish around, and look for bigger prey.Neither Bobby (Robert's nickname. - re-reader's note) nor David will admit that there is no such thing as a car in the grass at a depth of about a hundred meters, which is undoubtedly stolen and then abandoned. On this bike there is something more dangerous.

The depth was unbelievable, despite confirmation from survey lines and divers.The older and more experienced Bobby, who had probably dived to this depth ten times or more, concluded that the bottom still looked unfathomable. But now Crystal Springs is about to reveal its secrets.While local historians scoff at that notion, there may indeed be Confederate treasures hidden beneath.At the very least, they can get the favor of the police chief—a local hero—for discovering several pistols used in recent crimes. Bobby had found a small air compressor in the garage junkyard, and it was running briskly, although they had a hard time getting it started at first.Every few seconds it would cough and spit out puffs of blue smoke, but at least it looked like it was still working. "Even if it shuts down," Bobby said, "what does it matter? If the girls at the 'Underwater Theater' can swim up fifty meters without an air hose, so can we. No danger."

If that's the case, a question mark popped into David's mind, why didn't we tell mom what we did, why did we wait until dad went to the headlands for the next launch Note) After that?But he wasn't really worried: Bobby always knew what was best.It must be wonderful to be seventeen and know everything.Although he wished he wasn't wasting so much time on that stupid girl Betty Scholtz now.Seriously, she's pretty darn cute - but, damn it, she's a girl!This morning, it took a lot of effort for them to get rid of her. David was used to being treated like a guinea pig, which was what a younger brother was supposed to do.He dons a mask and flippers and slides into the crystal clear water.

Bobby handed him the air tube, and they attached an old-fashioned scuba holster to it.David took a breath and grimaced. "It tastes terrible." "You'll get used to it. You dive—don't go too deep over that reef. When you get there I'll start adjusting the valve so we don't waste too much air. You come up when I pull the hose." David lowered his head lightly and got into the wonderful underwater world.It's a peaceful, monochrome world, very different from the coral reefs of Key IslandHere there are none of the showy colors of the ocean, where life-animals and plants-compete in all their iridescent beauty.Here there are only blue or green light and shadow changes, and the fish look like fish, not butterflies.

He swung his flippers and dived slowly, dragging the air tube behind him, stopping to take a few breaths when needed.The feeling of freedom was so good that he almost forgot the unpleasant smell of gasoline in his mouth.When he reached the reef—actually a tree trunk washed down by a long-ago current, so overgrown with weeds that he could not see its original appearance—he stopped and looked around. Looking beyond the source, he could see the green slope beyond the surging pit, at least a hundred meters away.There weren't many fish around, but a small school was shining like a string of silver coins in the sun, swimming straight down from above.

There is also an old friend, who stays in the rock crevice as before, where the spring water runs to the sea.A small crocodile ("But it's big enough," Bobby once said cheerfully, "It's bigger than me.") hangs vertically, and it's impossible to see how it maintains this position, only the Nose out of the water.They never bothered him, and he never bothered them. The air tube was pulled impatiently.David wanted to leave too, not realizing how cold it would be in the hitherto unexplored depths—but he was also very uncomfortable.But the hot sun soon lifted his spirits.

"It's all right," Bobby said grandly, "just keep loosening the valve so the gauge doesn't drop below the red line." "How deep do you want to go?" "Keep going as long as I feel happy." David didn't pay attention to this. Both of them knew the ecstasy of deep diving and the taste of nitrogen anesthesia.And anyway, the old rubber tube was only thirty meters long.This length is more than enough for the first trial. And there have been many times before, when he watched his beloved brother rise to the challenge with envious admiration.Bobby slid into the water, swimming as easily as the fish weaving around him, into the mysterious blue world.He turned once and pointed vigorously to the air tube, making it clear that he needed more air.

Although a violent migraine hit him violently, David did not forget his responsibility.He hurried to the old compressor and turned the control valve to its fatal limit—fifty parts per million of carbon monoxide. That was the last he'd seen of Bobby, diving confidently as the dots of light stretched downward, out of his reach forever.The wax-like remains of the farewell ceremony were completely alien and had no connection to Robert Bowman.