“Doing some heavy thinking, Biff?” he inquired.
“Trying to, Uncle Charlie. Look ...” he paused, then went on. “I have a feeling that since Dietz failed on this try, he’ll grow even more desperate. I mean, the next time he tries, he probably won’t be so easy to scare off.”
The boy was silent again. He wanted to be clear in his own mind before he advanced the proposal he had outlined to himself.
“Derek, I don’t want you to be offended by what I’m about to say. It’s just that I want to get my thinking clear. Okay?”
“Nothing you could say, Biff, could make me feel angry with you.”
“Thanks, Derek.” The two boys looked at one another in the starlit night. The bond of friendship between them had grown stronger with each passing day.
“It’s this, Derek. Finding the pearl fishery is of secondary importance to you. Finding your father comes first.”
Charles Keene waited. He knew his nephew was cooking up a plan. He also knew that most of Biff’s plans had merit.
“Well, then,” Biff continued. “As I see it, we’re faced with two big problems. First, if we abandon our search for the pearl fishery, to devote all our time to looking for your father, then we give Dietz a wide-open field to try to find the fishery. That’s not good.”
“No, it isn’t, Biff. But I must find my father,” Derek replied earnestly.
“Very true, Biff,” Uncle Charlie said. “It’s quite a problem.” Charles Keene offered no suggestions. He was anxious to see how his nephew would attack the problem, what solution he might come up with.
“Uncle Charlie, a few moments ago you used the word ‘harassment.’ You said that would be the chief tactic used by Dietz to delay our locating the pearl fishery,” Biff said.
“He’ll double his efforts if I’m any judge. What’s on your mind?”
“If we can pull it off—” Biff was thinking out loud.
“I’ve got a plan. I want to know what you and Uncle Charlie think of it.”
“It’s this. Suppose tomorrow, we pretend to find the fishery. We’ll fire off guns. Blast off on the boat horn. Dance around the beach like mad. In full sight of Dietz, of course. Make him think we’ve located the site. Only, of course, we’ll do all this where we know there are no pearls. We’ll put on our act at one of the first places we tackled, before Dietz became so vigilant. What do you think?”