Dolphin Island - Arthur C. Clarke [11]
"You'd be surprised how many boys still run away from home," continued that annoying voice. "It took several hours to find out who you were—and I must say that when we called your Aunt Martha, she didn't sound particularly grateful. I don't really blame you for clearing out."
Perhaps Dr. Keith wasn't so bad after all. "What are you going to do with me, now I'm here?" asked Johnny. He realized, to his alarm, that there was a slight quiver in his voice and that tears of disappointment and frustration were not far away.
"There's not much that we can do at the moment," said the doctor, raising Johnny's hopes at once. "Our boat's over at the mainland and won't be back until tomorrow. It will be a week after that before it sails again, so you have eight days here that you can count on."
Eight days! His luck was still holding out Many things could happen in that time—and he would make sure that they did.
In the next half hour, Johnny described his ride back from the wreck while Dr. Keith made notes and asked questions. Nothing about the story seemed to surprise him, and when Johnny had finished, he pulled a sheaf of, photographs out of his desk drawer.
They were pictures of dolphins; Johnny had no idea that there were so many different varieties.
"Could you identify your friends?" the doctor asked.
"I'll try," said Johnny, riffling through the prints. He quickly eliminated all but three probables and two possibles.
Dr. Keith looked quite satisfied with his choice of dolphins.
"Yes," he said, "it would have to be one of those." Then he asked Johnny a very odd question.
"Did any of them speak to you?"
At first Johnny thought he was joking; then he saw that Dr. Keith was perfectly serious.
"They made all sorts of noises—squeaks and whistles and barks—but nothing that I could understand."
"Nothing like this?" asked the doctor. He pressed a button on his desk, and from a loud-speaker at the side of the office came a sound like a rusty gate creaking on its hinges.
Then there was a string of noises that reminded Johnny of an old-fashioned gas engine starting up, and, after that, clearly and unmistakably, "Good morning, Doctor Keith."
The words were spoken more quickly than a man could utter them, but they were perfectly distinct. And even then, on that first hearing, Johnny knew that he was not listening to a mere echo or a parrotlike repetition. The animal that said, "Good morning, Doctor Keith," had known exactly what it was doing.
"You seem surprised," chuckled the doctor. "Hadn't you heard that dolphins could speak?"
Johnny shook his head.
"Well, it's been known for half a century that they have an elaborate language of their own. We've been trying to learn it—and, at the same time, trying to teach them Basic English. We've made a good deal of progress, thanks to the techniques worked out by Professor Kazan. You'll meet him when he comes back from the mainland; he's very anxious to hear your story. Meanwhile I'd better find someone to look after you."
Dr. Keith pressed a switch, and a reply came at once from an intercom speaker.
"School here. Yes, Doctor?"
"Any of the older boys free at the moment?"
"You can have Mick—and welcome to him."
"Good—send him around to the office."
Johnny sighed. Even on an island as small and remote as this, it seemed that one couldn't escape from school.
Chapter 6
As a guide to the island, Mick Nauru had just one drawback—he would exaggerate.
Most of his tall stories were so outrageous that there was no danger of taking them seriously, but sometimes Johnny was left in doubt. Was it really true, for instance, that Nurse Tessie (or Two-Ton Tessie as the islanders called her) had left home because the big girls on Tonga poked fun at her for being so small? Johnny didn't think so, but Mick assured him that it was perfectly true. "Ask