Chapter 18 18 found the professor's pearl

The next day, they scraped off the flesh from the giant squid's tentacles and cut them into thin strips, which were soon dried by the sun. Shall we tan them soft?asked Roger. If we want this rope to last a few years, we need to tan it well.Now, we have other purposes, and we only need to last for a week or two. How funny to make a rope out of squid tentacles. Why?People also use other strange animals like kangaroos, buffaloes, ostriches, deer, lizards, crocodiles, sharks, seals and walruses. They cut four strips from a twenty-foot-long tentacle and joined them together to make a rope that can reach the bottom of the ocean.They tied the palm bag to the line again and were ready to dive.

let me go first.Roger said. With the coral stone under one arm and the bag in the other hand, he jumped into the lake. The water splashed, and Hal saw his brother's swaying figure as he sank to the bottom of the sea. It was difficult for Roger to keep his feet under his body and keep floating upwards. He solved the problem by clamping a stone with his feet.His head is just above his feet. His body was under tremendous pressure, he felt as if he was hugged by a giant, and all he could do was keep the gas in his lungs from exploding. He started to pick up the oysters and put them in the bag. The shells of the oysters were thick and some had thorns. He regretted not wearing Omer's gloves. His hands were streaked with blood. If the shark smelled the blood But there were no sharks in the lagoon, and anyway, he didn't want to.

Fifteen oysters filled a bag, and he persisted in keeping it full, for as long as he had been under this terrible pressure, it seemed half an hour. He left the bag full of oysters at the bottom of the lake and returned to the surface first.He gasped heavily, his body convulsing in pain.His face was disfigured with pain, and blood vessels in his arms and face were bulging out of the skin.He shivered in the sun like the plague, he felt cold and weak. Howl scolded him anxiously. You've been down there too long. You've been there for two minutes. Even a Polynesian can't stay three.

Roger tried to sit up straight, I'm all right, he said drowsily, and pulled the bag up to see what was inside. Hal pulled the rope and lifted the bag out of the water, holding the bottom of the bag with his other hand as it was about to come out of the water, in case the bag was crushed.He dumped the bag of oysters on the sand, and fifteen huge shells unfolded before them like fifteen black turtles. Impatient with waiting, they opened one after another, looking for pearls, but found none. Roger stared unhappily at the bottom of the sea. Don't tell me you have to go down again. I'm afraid I'll have to go down many times, and now it's my turn.

Putting on the gloves, Roger looked at his red hands and advised Hal to prevent your hands from being cut. Hal put on his gloves, carried the coral stone and the bag, and dived to the bottom. He didn't take the time to stand upright with his feet down, but fanned himself and floated, filling the bag quickly at the same time. Then he returned to the surface, slowing his ascent as much as possible, but when Roger pulled him out of the water, he too lay exhausted on the coral rocks.Blood flowed from his ears, nose, and mouth. He gulped for fresh air, his chest heaving like a bellows. I'm afraid, I'm not an amphibian.he gasped.

Roger pulled the bag up, and they anxiously opened the shells. They took turns, Roger opening the first shell, Hal the second, twelve shells in a row, all empty.Next it was Roger's turn.Thirteen, he muttered, was an unlucky number.He stabbed the knife into the shell, and with a turn, the shell's mouth opened.His hand reached down, groping. He touched and stopped, looked at Hal, his eyes were wide open, his mouth was open, and his breathing became rapid. God!I think it must be there. He took the pearl out with his fingers, and for a while no one spoke.They sat there, looking at the pearl, stunned.

Then Hal whispered, My God, how big is it! It was really big, the biggest pearl the children had ever seen.It is very round and looks white, but when you look at it from another position, all the colors of the sky and the lake are reflected in its milky white.It seems to be alive. Roger put it into Hal's hand, and Hal was surprised that it was very heavy, which proved to be a fine pearl.He turned the pearl slowly in his hand, there was not a single blemish on it, it was so unreal, filled with too much mysterious light, as if it were part of the sun or the surrounding scenery. When he covered the sun with his other hand, the pearl still shone, but it was more like sunlight.

With a bewildered look on Roger's face, he whispered: My God!See what the professor will say when he sees it. I think he'll consider his experiment a success! success?How can he see it?It's too far from the professor here.What if we lose it, or if it's stolen; if we go back to Pennepool, if we ever get back there, and Kargs watches us, don’t worry!Hal laughed, but obviously he also felt the sudden responsibility, which is the trouble with having a treasure, he said, once you have a treasure, you have to think about how to keep it, let's take Show it to Omer. In the dark room, the pearl still shines brightly, as if it were a fire itself.Hal put it in front of Omer, Omer sighed softly.

It was the finest pearl I had ever seen, he said, and such a large pearl had never been found in these waters.Without a doubt, the professor proved that the Persian Gulf oyster can make its home in the Pacific Ocean.Pass me that glass of water. He threw the pearl into a coconut shell filled with water, and the pearl sank quickly to the bottom, proving its incomparable specific gravity. Keep it for us, Hal said, I'm terrified to think I might lose it, it's safer with you, you keep it. That's no good, said Homa, it'll keep me awake, and I think you're to blame. Hal reluctantly took the pearl and wrapped it in palm fiber to give it volume so it wouldn't fall out unnoticed.He put it in his pocket and felt as if he tensed up immediately.Now, day or night, he carefully preserves it.

Well, he sighed, we have to keep working, the professor can't draw conclusions from a single pearl. Before dark, they found two more pearls, the second one was slightly smaller, and the third one was the largest.Omer called the three pearls comforting auspicious stars. I'm not at all uncomfortable, said Hal, I know I won't be until I hand them over to Professor Stuyvesant. That night, in restless sleep, he dreamed that the raft capsized and sank to the bottom of the sea and that the shark ripped off his jacket.Later, he saw clearly that the shark was Kargos, with a sinister smile on his face and three pearls in his hand.

When he woke up, he was covered in sweat. He touched his pocket, and the baby was still there.