“Whatever you say, Max.”
“This way, 99.”
They turned right and plunged into the darkness again.
“Max. .”
“It could happen to anybody, 99. All we have to do is turn around and go in the other direction.”
They waded back to shore, then, once more, plunged into the darkness.
“Von BOOM!” Max shouted.
There was no reply.
“Oh, Max. . he’s lost!” 99 wailed.
“Nonsense, 99. We know he’s in Russia. It’s just a matter of narrowing it down a bit.”
Tiring, Max and 99 trudged on. The first light of dawn appeared in the sky. And then suddenly they heard a voice. It seemed somehow familiar.
“I’ll sell you one, man,” the voice said. “But, I’ll tell you this: it won’t do you no good. It won’t fit in a mail slot.”
“Von BOOM!” 99 cried.
They rushed ahead and found the Professor standing in the prow of a row boat that was stacked high with phonograph records. Facing him was a young man who was dressed as a sailor.
“Professor, come along,” 99 urged. “We have to get back to the submarine.”
“No, 99, it’s too late for that,” Max said. “That sub is already at sea. We’ll have to take this row boat.”
“I think you’re right, Max.”
“You couldn’t be no wronger, Max,” the young man broke in. “I got to wait here for my contact. If I’m not here with these rock ’n’ roll records when he shows up, he won’t trust me no more. In the smuggling business, you got to protect your reputation.”
“There happens to be a crisis afoot,” Max said.
The smuggler scowled. “Which foot is that, right or left? I never did know.”
“Don’t be stupid,” Max said. “It’s an emergency. The future of the whole U.S. space program depends on getting Professor von BOOM to the North Pole by way of Alaska.”
The smuggler looked at von BOOM. “Man, if it depends on that, it’s too sick to make it, anyway,” he replied.
“In that case, I’ll have to use my authority,” Max said. “In the name of the government, I hereby commandeer this row boat.”
“Man, you can’t do that!” the young man said. “Where do you think you are-in Russia?”
“It’s done,” Max said. “Shove off!”
Grumbling, the young man got out of the boat, gave it a push, sending it out into the water, then jumped back aboard. He and Max began rowing toward Alaska.
When they had passed out of sight of land, Max said, “I’m sorry that this is necessary, but you understand, I’m sure.”
“I don’t understand it a-tall, man,” the young man replied. “I was doing myself some free-enterprise smuggling, and all of a sudden the government come along and took over. It’s un-American.”
“Actually, it’s only a slight inconvenience,” Max argued. “As soon as we reach Alaska, you can drop us off, then you can row back to Russia with your smuggled records. Very simple.”
“When we reach Alaska, the Coast Guard will be waiting for us,” the young man said. “And when they see these smuggled records, they’ll get nasty, man.”
“He’s right, Max,” 99 said. “If we get caught, there’ll be a lot of explaining to do.”
“Mmmmm. . and we don’t have time for that,” Max mused.
“Let’s turn back,” the young man said.
“I have a better idea,” Max replied. “We’ll dump the records overboard.”
The young man shook his head sadly. “Man, you sure work for the government, all right.”
“You keep rowing,” Max said, rising. “I’ll get rid of the records.” He bent down, picked up a stack of records, then headed toward the stern of the boat with it.
Unfortunately, he tripped over his own oar. The stack of records fell from his hands-and crashed through the bottom of the boat.
“Max. . I’m getting water in my shoes,” 99 said.
“About two seconds and you’re going to have water in your ears,” the young man said. “This row boat is going to sink like a row boat full of records.”
“Max! We’re going down!”
“Everybody overboard!” Max shouted. “Abandon boat!”
“Anybody notice anything funny?” the young man said.
“I do,” 99 replied. “Max-look! The boat is rising!”
“It’s got a submarine under it!” the young man said, surprised. “Now, isn’t that one for the books. I’ve had this ol’ nitty-gritty boat for almost five years, and I never noticed that submarine down there before.”
“It’s a Navy sub,” Max informed him.
“Then somebody hide those records. The Navy and the Coast Guard are in cahoots!”
“Max! We’re saved!” 99 cried ecstatically. “The submarine will take us to Alaska!”
“That’s very nice, 99,” Max said gruffly. “But it isn’t all
“Why not, Max?”
“I’m going to have a dickens of a time when I begin making out my report on this mission,” Max replied. “How will I say we got to Alaska-by submarine or row boat?”
10
It was mid-day when the submarine reached the coast of Alaska. In the meantime, the evidence-the row boat and the rock ’n’ roll records-had been lost at sea.
“Are you sure that’s Alaska?” Max said to Captain Jinx as they stood on the deck viewing the shore. “From here, it looks green.”
“It’s always that color from here,” Captain Jinx replied.
“Very strange. On my map, it’s yellow.”
“I’ve been making this trip for years-Alaska to Russia, Russia to Alaska, Alaska to Russia, Russia to Alaska- and Alaska has always been in this very spot,” Captain Jinx insisted. “If you were standing on the shore, you could see that I’m right.”
“How’s that?”
“You could see this submarine out here. And right now this submarine is scheduled to be arriving in Alaska.”
“I guess I can’t argue with that,” Max said.
Max called 99, von BOOM and the smuggler up on deck. Then a rubber raft was lowered for them.
As they climbed into it, Max called back to the Captain, “Shall we leave this raft on the beach for you?”
“Take it with you,” Captain Jinx replied. “There’s plenty more where that one came from.”
“It would just be a nuisance,” Max replied.
“You won’t think so when you start getting ice water in your shoes.”
“Pardon?”
“There’s a good stretch of Arctic Ocean between Alaska and the North Pole,” Captain Jinx explained.
“Oh. In that case, we’ll keep it.”
“Why not? There’s plenty more where that one came from.”
Max pushed off and he and the smuggler rowed and the raft soon reached the shore. When they were all safely on land, Max deflated the rubber raft and tucked it into his back pocket. Then, after goodbyes were said, the smuggler turned south, and Max, 99 and von BOOM headed north.
In the early evening, Max, 99 and von BOOM reached a highway. They began thumbing and were soon picked
