The Secret of the Undersea Bell

When Ronnie Nordhoff is left the sole support of a younger brother and sister, he becomes an abalone diver. Through his alert eyes we view not only a little-known California industry, but also the strange and beautiful undersea world where deep-sea divers, in harvesting shellfish, face the danger of attack by killer-whales, octopuses and sea-lions; face also pressure "squeezes" in the depths; severed air-hoses and life lines; or storms along a coast providing scant shelter for their small boats. Ronnie is beset with other problems ashore—the puzzling attitude of piquant Ginger Dart, who helps him but favors his rival...China Charlie's bland secretiveness...the determined opposition of Orrie Shumaker, who intends to control all California abalone plants. And overshadowing everything else is the mystery of the undersea bell which the abalone divers hear tolling in the depths. In solving its secret, Ronnie solves practically all of his own problems, too—and thwarts his strongest opponent! This exciting story of adventure and mystery was written by Mr. Douglas after many weeks with the abalone fishermen... on their boats, in their camps, and undersea in diving dress, exploring the underwater crevasses and kelp "jungles" he describes so vividly. It is so genuinely American and finely readable that it has been awarded first place in the Boys' Life-Dodd, Mead Prize Competition.