Dark Day in the Deep Sea

get back just in time to see the men haul up this morning’s catch!” said Henry.
    “This is so much fun!” said Annie, her eyes shining as the little rowboat bobbed up and down.
    Jack wasn’t having any fun at all. To keep from being sick, he gripped his backpack, closed his eyes, and gritted his teeth.
    “Every day we make new discoveries,” said Henry. “Off the coast of Argentina, we found over one hundred new species! Giant worms several feet long! Shrimp the size of lobsters! Caught them in our nets, didn’t we, Joe?”
    “Aye,” said Joe as he pulled on the oars. “But the creature that’s never been caught is the one these mates should be worried about!”
    “What creature is that?” asked Annie.
    “The great monster,” answered Tommy.
    Jack opened his eyes. “What? You mean like a shark?” he asked.
    “No, no, lad, ’tis much worse than any shark, even the twenty-foot tiger shark that’s been following us,” said Tommy. The sailor blinked nervously.
    Whoa, twenty-foot tiger shark?!
thought Jack. He looked at the dark water for a shark fin.
    “Aye! This monster’s much bigger than
any
shark!” shouted Joe. “They say it looks like a cross between a dragon and a gigantic starfish.”
    “Nay, more like a floating nest of snakes, mate,” said Tommy with a shudder. “They say it’ll curl around your body and strangle you to death!”
    “A floating nest of snakes?” Annie asked.
    Jack gulped. He turned to Henry. “Have
you
seen the monster?” he asked the scientist.
    Henry shook his head. “I’ve never seen it,” he said. “But a few of our crewmen claim to have glimpsed something monstrous in these waters just yesterday.”
    “Don’t be scared, mates!” said Joe. “If we see a monster, we’ll hurl our harpoons at ’im!”
    “We’ll shoot ’im with our cannons!” said Tommy. He and Joe laughed loudly.
    Maybe the sailors on the ship are just trying to scare the scientists
, Jack thought hopefully. Why else would they be laughing?
    When they reached the HMS
Challenger
, the rowboat drew alongside the big ship, rocking on the water. Jack gripped his pack tighter as more waves of seasickness washed over him.
    “You go first, mate!” Joe said to Jack. “You’re looking a bit green.”
    Clutching his pack under one arm, Jack grabbed the sides of the ladder. He held on tightly and climbed from the wooden hull of the ship up to the top deck. Annie came after him, then Henry, Joe, and Tommy. When they were all on the deck, the two seamen hauled up the row-boat.

    Jack took a long, deep breath. Though the large ship rocked in the wind, it wasn’t nearly as bad as the small rowboat’s movement on the waves. Looking around the deck, Jack saw teams of sailors working. Some were coiling thick ropes. Others were hauling up strange-looking buckets.
    Jack turned to ask Henry what the sailors were doing. But Henry was staring at a tall man in a white uniform and a heavyset older man in a dark suit who were walking briskly toward them. The two men were frowning.
    “Oh, no,” murmured Henry. “Prepare to meet thy doom.”
    “Who are they?” asked Annie.
    Before Henry could answer, the man in white shouted, “What have you done
this
time, Mr. Moseley?”
    Jack moved closer to Annie. He clutched his pack to his life vest.
    “Well, Captain, I—” started Henry.
    “Goodness, what have you brought up fromthe sea now, Henry?” the portly man asked. “A four-legged, four-armed creature of the deep?”
    “Yes, Professor. It’s a Jack-and-Annie from America,” said Henry. “I found the creature vacationing on the island.”
    The portly man smiled. “Oh, I see. I thought perhaps it was the monster that was sighted by some of the men yesterday.”
    The monster again!
thought Jack.
    “This ship is
not
a place for children, Mr. Moseley,” the captain said gruffly.
    “Yes, I know, sir,” said Henry. “But these two are extraordinary. They hardly seem like children at all. They’re quite independent and have great knowledge of the sea. I thought it might be permissible to bring them aboard for the afternoon and then return them to shore.”
    “I’m afraid it goes against all the ship’s rules,” said the captain.
    “It’s not Henry’s fault, Captain,” Annie piped up. “We begged him to let us visit your ship.”
    “Ah, did you now?” the portly man asked, his eyes twinkling. “Why is that?”
    “We love the ocean!” said Annie.
    “And we’d really like to