"Across deep water?" demanded Terry. "That dangerous foam can come up from deep water, but maybe not from shallow water. We've got to stay close to the reef until the flattop comes and bombs these creatures—if it will ever come!"
Davis made a helpless gesture. Terry said crisply, "Get the 'copter to hang over the reef and report on the fighting there. Tell it to report to the flattop. They may not believe us, but they may send a plane anyway. And if the ships come, they'll have to believe about the foam! Tell them to listen for it underwater. They've got sonar gear."
Davis stumbled away. Presently, the dark figure of Nick lowered himself through what had been the forecastle hatch. Davis followed him.
Deirdre came over to Terry.
"Terry ..."
"I'm going to beat in the heads," said Terry, "of those idiots who came after your father and me without throwing you on the wharf first!"
"They'd have wasted precious time," said Deirdre calmly. "I wouldn't have let them. Do you think I want to be ashore when you ..."
There was the faintest of palings of the horizon to the east. Terry said grimly, "I'm going to try to find a passage through the surf, to get you ashore. I'm keeping the Esperance in shallow water—inside the hundred-fathom line—but I don't trust it. Certainly I don't trust a ship to make you safer!"
"It's going to be daybreak soon," she protested. "Then...."
"Then we won't be able to see what goes on underwater," he told her. "Those ... creatures down below are smart!"