For a time after that there was silence. Then he spoke again.
“It would seem that, after all, we are discussing a minor problem. The real problem is, who put out that decoy light, if it was a decoy, and how did they take it down?”
“Decoy?” Betty exploded. “Of course it was a decoy to lure our airplanes into the sea.”
“Perhaps. Let’s pass that up for the moment and ask ourselves how the light got there. Did you see or hear any surface craft leave the spot?”
Betty shook her head. “Not a sign, nor an airplane either.”
“Then, only a sub could have put up that light. With a long telescoped steel pole, like a giant fishing rod, guyed by wires, they could hang out a very high light.”
“It might have been an electric light on a wire,” Betty suggested. “Then they could have blinked it out on the instant.”
“Certainly. And when the plane came close, that’s what they did. Has it not occurred to you that they might have been afraid of the plane?”
“I think they were afraid of us.”
“With the plane thundering overhead, they could not have heard your motor. I fancy they thought the plane was out to bomb them. More than likely they crash-dived.”