His snore joined Makar Ivanovich’s snore soon.
Chapter 9
ON TYPHOON SHOULDERS
In the morning wind ceased, but the ocean roared and stormed with an awful force. It was necessary to spend the night in a cave. Behind morning tea of Vanyushk told about the night adventure in underground labyrinths. He solved, despite a rain, now to move off in searches of yesterday’s people whom it so puzzled and to get acquainted with them. The slim silhouette of the girl against the background of a fire did not go at it out of the mind. This silhouette was drawn to it on rocks, clouds, far mountains – everywhere…
It would be much more pleasant to travel to a rain in one pants, but Vanyushka dressed up: put on long trousers, yellow boots and a sweatshirt. This dress, extraordinary for such weather, forced even Guzik to go down from the nadzvezdny heights to express surprise, Volkov pretended that he does not notice yellow boots of Vanyushki, and Konobeev slapped oars hands on hips and told briefly favourite:
– However!
Bending down under strong streams of a rain, Vanyushka went to wander about neighboring caves. Without special work it was succeeded to find that in which he saw at the night of people at a fire. But alas! Now in this cave was nobody. Ashes of a fire were still warm. The come unsoldered teapot lay on black coals. A can “bull-calves in a tomato”, an empty box from under cigarettes, a becheva piece – here everything that remained from unknown travelers. Yes at the exit of Vanyushk found the Chinese shoe. The scared Chinese, obviously, having dropped it from a leg during flight, did not dare to return behind it any more. Now about this cave, probably, the legend will be put!.
Vanyushka bypassed a cave several times, examined all corners behind a stone ridge… It is empty! And any traces which would specify where travelers went. Really it, Vanyushka, so frightened them that they left, without waiting for dawn? And why he did not get acquainted with them last night? Vanyushka could not forgive himself it.
It returned to the cave all wet, dirty, tired and angry. Resembled up and down and suddenly declared that now will fall by a sea bottom.
– Yes you also will not reach water! Look what again becomes – Volkov told, pointing to an exhaust outlet of a cave. Through a frequent grid of a rain the storming ocean and trees shivering under a terrible pressure of wind was visible.
– I will very just reach – Vanyushka stubborn answered. – I went to look for a cave.
– Then it was more silent, and now it was again played.
– But it is at the bottom silent. Fishes probably also do not know what here is created. Semyon Alekseevich and as well as not to go? You know, typhoons both will set in, and will go to twist. The joke to tell, from June to November they twirl! However, not continuously, nevertheless blow yes blow. So, all of us this time will be idle? Already all work stopped ashore. As you want, and I will go. It is not sat to me.
Vanyushk was taken by a black nanosnik and points.
– Put on at least semifixed diving suit – Volkov advised. – Look, the whole water mountains fall upon the coast. They will smash you, will crush as an egg shell.
– That the truth, the truth – Vanyushka answered and got into the semifixed suit fitting a body. The rigid cover at a breast assuming water pressure was feature of this diving suit.
– Good-bye, companions! – Vanyushka told and put on a space suit the head. Volkov helped it to attach a satchel with the device delivering oxygen in a space suit. Vanyushka started at way.
Between falling on the coast of waves there passed only several seconds. For this short period of Vanyushk wanted to reach a breakwater. But of it there was nothing and to think Heavy lead soles and not less heavy lead suit connected freedom of movement on the Earth’s surface. Vanyushka resembled along the coast and, having waved a hand, went back. However Volkov was mistaken, thinking that prudence won. Vanyushka departed from the coast and, having made an arch, ascended to high break. The bottom of break had quite deep water, and Vanyushka plunged here into the water more than once and dived. Now he decided to use this place to fall by a bottom, avoiding collision with waves.
Vanyushka waited when the wave broke against the rock, and rushed down. It was risky too. The following wave if he did not manage to fall rather deeply, could hurt him against the rock. Volkov attentively looked, standing at an entrance to a cave, on waves. Vanyushki is not visible. It, obviously, plunged into depth.
– However look at the sky! – Volkov uslykhat Makar Ivanovich’s voice. Volkov raised eyes up the direction specified by Konobeev’s hand.
Among the shaggy worrying lead clouds the ominous dark stain was formed. A spot everything increased – and suddenly from its center the funnel which, rotating with the terrifying speed, began to go down below and below as a trunk of a terrible animal seemed. At the same time on the surface of the ocean under a black cloud someone invisible mixed waves in one bubbling weight. This weight, rotating about all the accelerating speed, it began to be made buldge out, turning into the funnel turned by the pointed end up, and rising towards to the funnel which was going down from the sky.
– Tornado! – Volkov told. He already had to see tornadoes – constant satellites of a typhoon. But this time the show was extremely interesting.
Both funnels – going down from a black cloud and rising from the surface of the ocean – connected, having formed the huge water column extending below and above. This column moved on the surface of the ocean with a speed of thirty five kilometers per hour. Having looked at the top end of a water column, Volkov saw that in that place where this column joined clouds, it as if passed into very long water pipe which was sharply allocated in the lighter color on a black background of a cloud. This pipe continuously coiled as a huge snake. Sometimes “snake” curled in knot, and on this place Volkov saw a black circle with even more black point in the middle. This water pipe was one and a half times longer than the tornado and vanished somewhere away in clouds. It was terrible to look at the terrible rotating water snake. Here the tornado turned pale, the pipe became torn at the top end, and at the same time the tornado at the lower end tore. The lower funnel was leveled with the surface of the ocean, and top, turning, rose to clouds and disappeared in a black cloud… In a few minutes the phenomenon repeated – again the huge column moved on the surface of the vzbalamuchenny ocean. And once again the tornado tore, and its lower funnel, gradually falling, rushed off towards the coast and there broke. It was visible how this funnel flew on the coast and fell to a high slope. The whole Niagara waters suddenly began to rage on coast slopes, falling to the ocean.
– However to the enemy you will not wish to be in the ocean at this time – Konobeev told. – And it was necessary.
In twenty minutes tornadoes disappeared. The sky was cleared. Far in the east one column which bent and slowly as if hardly, moving the North still was seen. Here and he turned pale, became torn below and disappeared.
Quickly carried away clouds on the North. The sun looked out soon. And by a lunch the sky was already cloudless, wind ceased, only the ocean continued to throw on the coast a wave behind a wave.
Vanyushka did not return to a lunch. There passed hour after an hour, its everything was not. Volkov, Guzik and Konobeev began to worry. Konobeev decided to move off in searches though it was not easier to find Vanyushka at an ocean floor, than a needle in hay.
– However, maybe, broke it a wave about the rock! – Konobeev spoke. – I will look! – And Konobeev fell in a diving suit from the same place from which jumped in Vanyushk’s water. Rummaged around all bottom around the rock, but Vanyushki did not find.
And by the evening, at a sunset, Vanyushka was