THE FLYING STINGAREE BY JOHN BLAINE A RICK BRANT SCIENCE-ADVENTURE STORY GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS NEW YORK, N. Y. BY GROSSET & DUNLAP, INC., 1963 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED _Printed in the United States of America_ [Transcriber's note: Extensive research found no evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] To my sons, Chris and Derek, who have watched the stingarees from the sun deck of the cruising houseboat Spindrift THE FLYING STINGAREE What's shaped like a sting ray and flies over Chesapeake Bay? This is the eerie riddle which confronts Rick Brant and his friend Don Scott when, seeking shelter from a storm, they anchor the houseboat _Spindrift_ in a lonely cove along the Maryland shore and spot the flying stingaree. The "thing," they learn, is not the only one of its kind--one is actually suspected of having kidnaped a man! The residents of the Eastern Shore of Maryland believe the strange objects are flying saucers, but, weary of ridicule, have ceased reporting the sightings. Rick and Scotty, their scientific curiosity aroused, begin a comprehensive investigation, encouraged by their friend Steve Ames, a young government intelligence agent, whose summer cottage is near the cove. As the clues mount up, the trail leads to Calvert's Favor, a historic plantation house--and to the very bottom of Chesapeake Bay. How Rick and Scotty, at the risk of their lives, ground the eerie menace forever makes a tale of high-voltage suspense. [Illustration: _Little Choptank River_] Contents I CHESAPEAKE BAY II THE FLYING STINGAREE III ORVIL HARRIS, CRABBER IV STEVE'S PLACE V THE FACE IS FAMILIAR VI THE SAUCER SIGHTERS VII SIGHTING DATA VIII CALVERT'S FAVOR IX THE DUCK BLIND X KEN HOLT COMES THROUGH XI ON THE BOTTOM XII NIGHT RECOVERY XIII THE NIGHT WATCHERS XIV DAYBREAK XV THE EMPTY BOAT XVI STEVE WAITS IT OUT XVII CROWD AT MARTINS CREEK XVIII THE STINGAREE'S TAIL XIX LUCKY LEFTY XX HUNT THE WIDE WATERS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Little Choptank River Scotty fitted the camera to the telescope Now to find out what he had The flying stingaree lifted him CHAPTER I Chesapeake Bay The stingaree swam slowly through the warm waters of Chesapeake Bay. Geography meant nothing to the ray, whose sole interest in life was food, but his position--had he known it--was in the channel that runs between Poplar Island and the town of Wittman on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The ray was also directly in the path of an odd-looking cruising houseboat, the _Spindrift_, that had just rounded the north point of Poplar Island and entered the channel.