Danny Dunn and the Swamp Monster Read online

  “Oh, boy!” said Danny. “Africa!”

  “But wouldn’t it be dangerous?” asked Irene. “I mean, lions and crocodiles and poisonous snakes—”

  “There aren’t any lions where we’d be going,” answered Dr. Fenster. “As for crocodiles, you just have to use common sense and not swim where they swim. And you have poisonous snakes right here, around Midston. There are copperheads and rattlers up in the hills, aren’t there? Yet that doesn’t stop you from hiking.”

  “No, of course not. Oh, wouldn’t it be marvelous if we could all go!”

  “No reason why you shouldn’t,” said Dr. Fenster heartily. “Just as soon as we get all the details ironed out. We’ll fly to Khartoum first, and then I’ll charter a big amphibian—”

  “Just a moment.” Mrs. Dunn’s voice was sharp. They all looked at her. She stood, arms folded, wearing the kind of expression Danny knew well from the times when he’d done something more than usually thoughtless.

  “Are you serious about this hare-brained expedition?” she demanded.

  “Perfectly serious, ma’am,” said Dr. Fenster.

  “You are really considering taking these three youngsters and the Professor along with you into the depths of some sort of horrible swamp?”

  “But it’s not horrible,” Dr. Fenster said.

  She cut him short.

  “Professor Bullfinch can, of course, make up his own mind,” she said. “And I don’t know what the Pearsons and the Millers will decide. But as far as I’m concerned, the very last thing I’d ever permit would be for Danny to go on such a long and frightful trip. And that’s final!”

  CHAPTER 5

  A Warm Christmas Present

  The plane circled and began its long slant towards the airstrip. Water sparkled below, and the square roofs of houses made a checkerboard pattern off to one side. Dr. Fenster glanced through the window.

  “That’s the Nile,” he said. “Or rather, both Niles—the White and the Blue. They meet at Khartoum.”

  “They both look the same color from here,” said Joe.

  The three young people were craning their necks, trying to see all they could in spite of being constrained by their seat belts.

  “You’ll find that they really are different colors, though,” said Dr. Fenster. “One is brownish-white and the other blue-gray. It’s because of the kind of soil they travel through to get here.”

  “We may not have much time for seeing their colors,” Professor Bullfinch warned. “The children have only two weeks. You remember what we promised their parents.”

  The trip had been a Christmas present.

  For a long time, the Millers and the Pearsons had felt as Mrs. Dunn did that the whole idea of their children going halfway around the world to search for some possibly dangerous animal in a savage land was out of the question. But little by little, Dr. Fenster had talked them over. From the start, he had had the help of Professor Bullfinch, who was as eager to go as the children themselves, and who joined his voice to that of the zoologist. Dr. Fenster said that he had lived and worked in Africa for many years and that the region he was going to was no more dangerous than most American forests or swamps like the Everglades, or Yellowstone Park. The expedition would have plenty of supplies, and he himself knew a good deal about medicine—he had to, since he often went deep into the bush on his journeys and was a long way from doctors and hospitals. There were, in the swampland of the Sudd, few wild animals. The people were easy to deal with. In case of emergency, his own chartered amphibious plane would be at hand. To hear him talk, it was as safe as if he were proposing a stroll in Midston Park, and to cap it all off he insisted that the trip would cost nothing. In the end, Mrs. Dunn had given her consent, and once she had agreed to let Danny go, the Pearsons and the Millers had no peace until they, too, gave in.

  Dr. Fenster said that the best time for his expedition was the dry season, which began in November. By that time, too, the special equipment would all be ready. So it was decided that they would set out right after Christmas, and that the children could have two full weeks from the time of their arrival in Khartoum. At the end of that time, however, whether there was any result or not, they would be put on a plane and sent home. “I know my Danny,” Mrs. Dunn remarked. “He won’t want to leave until Dr. Fenster gives up, and that might not be for a year or more.”

  All the Christmas presents had been thrown a little in the shade by the trip. Still, they had admired each other’s trees and had eaten themselves full of good food. Then the good-byes had been said, and all the last-minute things that had been forgotten were remembered—too late— and off they had flown on the first leg of the journey, to New York. From there, they had taken the London plane, and now, after a total of nearly twenty hours of flight, they were arriving at their destination. They had caught up on the sun; as Irene put it, “We’ve been flying towards yesterday.”

  They gathered their things together as the plane came to a halt. They went out into the blazing hot sunshine of the morning.

  “I can’t believe it’s December,” Danny said, wiping his face with one hand and struggling to hold his suitcase and overcoat with the other.

  A large car was waiting for them at the airport. They all piled in. Soon, they were driving towards the city.

  Suddenly, Irene shrieked, “Look! Camels!”

  They were approaching the first houses, low structures of mud-brick, the color of milky coffee. And there, in a dusty square, were three or four camels, their long necks curving high so that they looked like weird swans. Veiled figures stood around them.

  “Now we really know were in a foreign land,” said Danny.

  They had glimpses of modern offices and shops among the old, brick, flat-topped houses; of an open air market thronged with dark-skinned people in white robes; of a mosque with a dome and tall minaret. Then they came out at the river’s edge and parked before a handsome brick building. Its front was lined with arched, pointed windows, and a double row of palm trees led up to it. Other buildings could be seen behind it.

  “This is Khartoum University,” said Dr. Fenster, as he got out of the car.

  They followed him to the stone-and-glass College of Science, a new building. There, in a spotless but crowded laboratory, they found a wrinkled old black man, gray-haired and gray-bearded, making notes at a table on which stood a glass tank with a single fish in it.

  Dr. Fenster went eagerly towards him. They hugged each other, patting each other on the back and exclaiming loudly in Arabic.

  Then Dr. Fenster said, “Allow me to present my dear friend, Professor Hamid Ali Ismail, Director of the Department of Zoology; Professor Euclid Bullfinch, Daniel Dunn, Joseph Pearson, and Miss Irene Miller, all of the United States.”

  Professor Ismail bowed. “Salaam aleikum,” he murmured.

  They returned his bow. “What does that mean?” asked Danny, always curious.

  “It is a way to say hello in Arabic,” said Professor Ismail, with a smile. “It means, ‘Peace be with you.’”

  “It’s one of the nicest ways I ever heard,” Irene said.

  “The only better way,” mumbled Joe, “would be, ‘Dinner’s ready.’”

  “But, Joe,” said Danny, “we just had a big breakfast on the plane.”

  “Was that what it was? I thought it was an appetizer,” Joe retorted.

  Professor Ismail was saying to Dr. Fenster, “All your equipment arrived safely. I suppose you will want to examine it before you leave.”

  “Yes, that would be best. And what about our permit to conduct investigations?”

  “It is waiting for you at the Ministry of National Guidance. I have also made all arrangements for chartering your airplane. It is a land-and-water craft, fitted with drop tanks for extra fuel.”

  “Splendid, my dear friend. I am very grateful.”

  “N
ot at all. It is an important expedition and a very interesting one. I only wish I could go with you this time, but I have too much to do here.”

  Danny said, “What do you think the lau is, Professor Ismail? Could it be some kind of dinosaur? Is that possible?”

  Professor Ismail turned his large, kind, brown eyes on Dan. “I do not know what it is, young man,” he said. “As for possible, in nature all things are possible. Look at this fish, for instance.” He motioned to the tank, and they came closer to peer at it.

  Joe said, “It just looks like an oversized sardine. If it had a hard-boiled egg and some mayonnaise with it, I’d be more interested.”

  “Hard-boiled egg?” Professor Ismail looked bewildered. “I do not understand.”

  “The boy is a poet,” Dr. Fenster said, “and like all poets, he is always hungry.”

  “Ah, I see. Well, perhaps while we check over your apparatus, these young people could go out and see a bit of the city and have an early lunch.”

  “Yes,” said Danny, “but you started to tell us something about the fish.”

  “Of course. If I were to ask you if it is possible for a fish to live on dry land, you would say no. No?”

  “No. I mean yes,” said Danny.

  “Yes. Well, this is Clarias lazera, a fish that has special air bladders, as well as gills, so that it can come out on land and even live there for long periods of time. It is possible for there to be a wolf which carries its young in a pouch, as the Tasmanian wolf does. Or a mammal which lays eggs, as the duck-billed platypus does. So perhaps it is possible that the lau is a surviving dinosaur, or a giant water snake, or a creature with tentacles that strikes men dead if they look at it. If it exists at all, it could be anything you like.”

  “Whew!” Danny let out a whistle. “And were going to try to find it.”

  “I’m beginning to hope we don’t,” Joe said in a small voice.

  CHAPTER 6

  The Man in White

  The expedition’s equipment had been stored in a warehouse not far from the University. They all drove there in the big car. The three men began going over the list of materials, opening boxes and crates and checking their contents.

  Danny and his friends stood near the warehouse door, breathing in the strange new smells of the city. It looked as though the men had forgotten them in the interest of unpacking.

  “Professor Ismail did say we could see the town and have some lunch,” Danny said. “Why don’t we just take a little walk down this street? Maybe there’s a restaurant nearby.”

  “Why don’t we just ask Professor Bullfinch first,’’ said Irene. “I don’t want to be a fuss-budget but I don’t know enough of the language they speak here to find my way to the corner.”

  “Girls!” said Danny. “Why are you always so nervous?”

  “Pooh to you. I’m right and you know it.”

  “Girls are always right,” sighed Joe. “Okay, let’s ask them.”

  Professor Bullfinch was lifting one of the miniature television cameras out of its case. Danny went over to him and said, “Can we take a walk for a while, Professor?”

  Professor Bullfinch pursed his lips. “Well, I don’t know whether it would be wise, Dan. I know you must be getting restless, but—”

  Professor Ismail interrupted. “Pardon. I remember that they were hungry, particularly the young poet. If I may suggest something?”

  “Certainly.”

  “There is a coffee house not far away, along this street. It is quiet and clean. I know the owner, whose name is Muhammed Rahma. He speaks some English. If the children will go and say to him that I have sent them and that he is to feed them, they can eat and then rejoin us here.”

  “Great!” Danny said. “Let’s go.”

  “You’d better wait—” said Professor Bullfinch.

  “But, why?” Danny cried. “Can’t we go? We don’t want to stand around here.”

  “—at least until Professor Ismail tells you how to find the coffee house,” Professor Bullfinch finished drily.

  Dan grinned sheepishly. “Sorry,” he said. “I forgot about that.”

  The old scientist quickly explained, and soon the three friends were walking down the hot, dusty street in the bright sunshine. It was wider than the streets at home and there were no sidewalks, but they weren’t missed for there were few cars. Many of the shop fronts were open, and they saw a man making a brass bowl in one, while in another a man sat cross-legged, stitching at a shoe with a turned-up, pointed toe. Here and there, people had spread out their wares on the street: boxes of beans or onions, leather slippers, baskets of fish, or lengths of cloth.

  They found the coffee house with no trouble. An awning shaded its open front, and when they went inside, it took a moment for their eyes to get used to the darkness after the dazzling sunshine. A fat man in a long white coat came towards them, saying something angrily in Arabic and flapping his hands as if to shoo them out.

  “Wait a minute,” Danny protested. “We’re looking for Mr. Muhammed Rahma.”

  “Yes, what is it?” the man said. “Who are you? I have no time for jokes.”

  “Professor Ismail sent us. He said you’d give us some lunch.”

  At the name, the fat man smiled, showing teeth whiter than his coat.

  “Ah, you are friends of his?” he said with a bow. “That is different. Come, sit down. Be welcome. But it is very simple here, nothing fancy, not like your American cafeterias. Here, everything is what we say ahlan wa sahlan—like in a family.”

  They sat down on fat leather cushions around a low table. Mr. Rahma first brought them glasses of cool lemonade. Then he brought out a bowlful of stew, and some pieces of round, flat, soft bread.

  “Eat,” he said. “And may you have good appetites.”

  “Well—um—can we have some forks or spoons or something?” Danny said.

  “Forks? You have something Allah gave you which is better than a fork. Your hand,” chuckled Mr. Rahma. “It is much cleaner. Who knows whether a fork has been properly washed?”

  “It’s a good thing my mother isn’t here,” said Joe. “She’d say the same thing about my hand.”

  They all dipped into the stew with their fingers and with pieces of the flat bread and began eating with gusto.

  “Mysterious Africa,” Joe said, with his mouth full. “The mystery is, what’s in this stew? It’s tasty but different.”

  “Beans,” said Mr. Rahma, who stood beaming down at them. “Tomatoes. Garlic. Onions. And goat.”

  “Goat?” Danny gulped. “Suddenly I’m not so sure it’s so good.”

  “Oh, relax,” said Joe. “You must always be ready for new experiences in food. It’s not as if it was something like camel.”

  “Oh, yes, also camel,” Mr. Rahma added. “Very nice, eh?”

  Joe swallowed with difficulty. “Very nice,” he said sadly.

  However, they were hungry, and the food, if strange, was really very appetizing. They finished the bowlful and mopped up the sauce with bread. Mr. Rahma brought them some sticky cakes and some tiny cups of coffee, rather muddy but sweet.

  “I hope they finish checking over all that equipment soon,” Danny said, licking his fingers. “With only two weeks to spend, I’d like to get going.”

  “I wonder if we really will find anything,” Irene mused.

  “I’ll bet we do,” said Danny. “And you heard Professor Ismail—he said it was important. It’ll turn out to be the most important discovery of the century. If there’s anything there, Dr. Fenster will find it.”

  “My own theory,” said Joe, “is that it’s something from another planet. Remember Dr. Fenster’s description? It has long tentacles on its head. A Martian! A spaceship landed a long time ago and the Martian pilot has never been able to get home again, so he’s living there in the swamp.”
r />   “Neat!” said Danny. “What an imagination. But I’ll bet it’s a dinosaur—a triceratops, for instance. And the tentacles are probably really its horns.”

  Mr. Rahma came over to stand beside them. “Is everything, how we say, okay-dokey?”

  “Everything was fine,” Danny said. “I guess we’d better go now. How much do we owe you?”

  “Oh, there is nothing to pay. I will settle with Professor Ismail later. He is a good man, a friend.”

  The children thanked him and went out into the sunny street. They started back towards the warehouse. Irene glanced over her shoulder, and then said in a low voice, “That’s funny.”

  “What?” asked Dan.

  “There was a man sitting at the next table in that restaurant,” Irene said. “I noticed him staring at us and when you said something about the most important discovery of the century, he leaned over and it looked to me as though he was trying to hear what we were saying. But then I thought maybe I was imagining it.”

  “When do we get to the funny part?” said Joe.

  “The funny part is that he’s following us,” Irene retorted.

  Danny stopped short and looked back. Not far behind was a man in a white suit and a broad brimmed hat. He had a pale, bony face and a thin moustache that turned down at the ends. As soon as he saw that the young people had stopped, he stopped, too. He stood for a moment, hesitating. Then he darted across the street and vanished into a narrow lane.

  “It sure does look suspicious,” said Danny. “But maybe it’s just an accident. Why would he be so interested in us?”

  “Maybe he’s really interested in Martians,” Joe suggested. “And maybe the one in the swamp is his long-lost cousin.”

  “Well, he’s gone now,” said Danny. “So there’s nothing we can do about it.”

  They walked on. At the warehouse, they found that the three men had finished and were repacking the equipment.

  “A truck will be here soon to take the cases to the airport,” said Dr. Fenster. “I’ll wait for it, Euclid, and you and Professor Ismail and the kids can go back to the University. Maybe you’d like to have the driver of the car take you on a little tour of the city.”