Zchoom!

Shall I tell you? asks Louis de Freycinet.

No, says Terence. I'll wait and see what happens.

Eh bien! says Louis de Freycinet.

He climbs out of his dinghy and drags it onto the sand.

Then he clambers into Captain Baudin's dinghy.

Give me a push, says Louis de Freycinet.

Terence gives him a push.

Nothing happens.

I'll go and get Gaius, says Roo-kai.

He flies off and comes back with Gaius.

Gaius and Terence both push the dinghy.

It slides into the sea.

Louis de Freycinet waves back at them, and starts rowing.

I suppose he plans to walk back, says Gaius.

Yes! says Terence. And he'll have no one to talk to.

We could go and meet him, says Gaius. 

Okay, says Terence. Can we go now?

Not yet, says Gaius. It will be some time before he arrives at the lighthouse.

What if Baudin rows him back? says Roo-kai.

Why would he do that? asks Terence.

He might think it's the right thing to do, says Roo-kai.

It would be stupid, says Terence. He'd have to row back again. 

These old sea captains are fond of the sea, says Gaius. 

Terence still thinks it's stupid.

I wonder if the botanists have found anything to eat yet? says Gaius.

Yes I wonder, says Roo-kai. 

I sometimes forget they're just babies, says Gaius.

They grow up fast, says Roo-kai. We may not see them again.

Wah! cries Terence. They have to come back for their Nachoos!

And I'm hoping to follow their progress as cuttlefish botanists, says Gaius.

You should have made an arrangement, says Roo-kai.

Too late for that now, says Gaius. 

.....

Far out at sea, Carl-Botanist and Jean-Botanist are trying out their high-speed tentacles.

Zchoom! Zchoom! 

These are great! says Carl-Botanist.

Look over there, says Jean-Botanist.

Half a dozen leatherjackets are darting this way and that, in an unpredictable manner.

How do we sneak up behind them? asks Carl-Botanist.

We work together, says Jean-Botanist. I'll attract their attention while you do the sneaking. And we share what you catch.

A clever plan, thinks Carl-Botanist.

Jean-Botanist undulates into a space not too far from the leatherjackets.

He starts spinning and making horrible faces.

Skills he learned earlier.

The leatherjackets stop darting in an unpredictable manner and watch him.

That cuttlefish is going nuts, says a leatherjacket.

Maybe it ate something nasty, says another.

Zchoom! 

A leatherjacket is impaled on toothed suckers.

The other five dart away.