“Dad,” Eddie said that morning after breakfast, as his father prepared to leave for school, “what would a foreign submarine be doing around here?” “That’s a tough question to answer, Eddie,” Mr. Taylor said. “And remember, what showed up on the airplane’s radar wasn’t positively identified as a submarine. It might have been a whale. Or several whales, for that matter.” “The newspaper doesn’t think so,” Eddie said. “Besides, no one’s ever seen whales that close in.” “There’s always a first time.” “But what if it was a submarine?” Eddie insisted. “It’s possible that it got off its course and surfaced to try and get a bearing,” his father said. “If that’s the case, they probably were considerably startled to find themselves so close to shore, and dived immediately to avoid discovery. It could happen. Submarines have been known to scout off this coast. But usually they are far out to sea in international waters.” “Maybe they were picking up spies,” Eddie blurted. “Or—or landing some.” His father looked at him sharply. “What kind of harum-scarum talk is that, Eddie?” he demanded. Eddie swallowed uncomfortably. He wished he hadn’t said it. But he had been doing so much thinking about the stolen radioisotope and the missing blueprints from the Acme Aviation Company that the words had leaped from his mouth without his realizing it. Before Eddie could think of an answer, his father’s face relaxed. “Forget it, son,” he said. “You always have had a pretty active imagination. There’s nothing wrong with that. Just don’t let it get away from you. Well, I’d better be leaving.” “Dad,” Eddie said, “do you have a teacher at school named Simms?” “Simms?” his father replied. “I don’t recall any Simms. What department?” “I don’t know,” Eddie said. “Teena and I saw him out fishing a couple of times with a fat man called Roy Benton. Then I thought I saw Mr. Simms last week on the college campus.” “Well, we have nearly two thousand enrolled for summer courses, you know,” his father explained. “Many of them are adults. Teachers taking extra credit courses, or studying for their masters’ degrees. I imagine a lot of them go fishing on their days off. Any reason I should know this Simms?” “I guess not,” Eddie said. He was a little embarrassed at the questions he had asked. He didn’t really know why he had asked them. Yet he felt that the various puzzling things which had happened during the past weeks might tie in together. He couldn’t explain the feeling, but it gained strength all of the time. It was the reason, too, why he decided late that afternoon to go and take a look at the shack he and Teena had seen located back from the top edge of the bluff the previous week. He decided not to ask Teena to go. She had worried the other day about the brush scratching her arms and legs. It would be simpler to go by himself. He decided to take Sandy along for company.