Hatteras Blue Read Online Free PDF Page B

the line. He really is. Don't judge him by what you've seen so far today."
    "I see." Keyes turned. "Topside, then?"
    "Sure."
    An hour later a gray arch grew ahead of them, rising from the sound and the low dunes. They passed only one other boat, a small trawler heading in from seaward. Galloway poked Victory like thread through a succession of needles between low islands covered with sea oats and scrub brush, past shallows where egrets and avocets hunted knee-deep. At intervals kitti-wakes whirled up, their shadows flickering across the water, now growing a translucent greenish-blue.
    "Oregon Inlet Bridge," said Hirsch. She had come up from below in shorts and a "Virginia is for Lovers" T-shirt. She smiled at Galloway and Keyes, then flushed a little, and her dark eyes dropped. Barefoot, with long brown hair twisted back, she looked younger than Caffey.
    "The way to the Atlantic?"
    "That's right. North of it, Nags Head, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills; south of it is all Hatteras Island, down to Ocracoke."
    "It looks like it's built over land, not water."
    "That's the problem," said Caffey. "That's new land. The whole Banks, all the islands are movin' south."
    "Moving?" Keyes looked disturbed. "What do you mean?"
    "This is all sand," said Caffey, waving his hand at the low dunes they were passing. "Just a ribbon of sand, couple thousand feet across—and the Atlantic on the other side. No one knows how it keeps resisting the sea. This inlet opened one night in a storm, a hundred years ago, and now it's closing up. Corps of Engineers been running dredges, but the sand stays ahead. It's driving the trawlers out of business."
    The bridge gradually darkened the sky, the whir of tires coming distant through the concrete, and then fell behind. The channel twisted. Shoals thrust out from the shore, and along their margins tiny figures wielded poles: surf fishermen. A patch of choppy, disturbed water appeared between them and the sea. Galloway eyed it and throttled back. A moment later they saw his hands tense on the wheel as a whisper came from beneath the hull. He held course. The boat slowed, seemed to drop her head for a moment, then raised it and pushed forward again. They were over.
    "There she is," said Hirsch.
    The trawler lay where the channel opened to the sea. Only mast and booms showed above the chop, trailing cables in the tidal current.
    "A real menace to navigation," Caffey said. "Tiller, how'd she get there? I thought she'd be up on one of the shoal patches."
    "She was," said Galloway, unbending enough to turn his head. "Something grabbed her hull when the Guard towed her off. Lot of old wrecks in this sand. Got this far, then went down. Okay—let's get clear to seaward. I'll take the anchor."
    He throttled back and went forward. Jack took the wheel, keeping the boat's head into three-foot swells that came in steadily from the open sea. The sun was intensely hot.
    "Ready to drop," Galloway called back. Caffey gunned the engines a little, watching the wreck. "Leave her room to swing."
    "Okay, Tiller." He aimed the bow a little farther to seaward. The booms poked up like dying trees a hundred yards astern, the breaking surf a white line beyond. "How's this?"
    "Good. Back her."
    The engines hesitated, then rumbled again; Victory began to drift backward. A moment later chain rattled, followed by a splash. Caffey slammed the shift several times before it went into neutral. Galloway stood waiting, watching the line come taut, then made a chopping motion.
    The diesels died. "Tiller," said Bernie, in the sudden silence. "Is it my imagination, or are your engines getting louder?"
    "Mufflers are shot," said Galloway, pulling himself up into the tuna tower. A moment later a red-and-white diving flag was flapping in the sea breeze.
    "Bern, you coming in? Looks like good visibility today."
    "I think 111 stay with the boat this time, Jack."
    The three men began dressing out. Keyes stripped off a starched white shirt, revealing a pale