It managed to find Volkov and Konobeev in underwater dregs not at once. Inflow on the surface of the ocean carried Vanyushka to the coast, and it had to float over familiar footpaths, being confused in long films of seaweed and from time to time stopping to cut osklizly tapes a dirk. Water squeezed out up. Vanyushka was forced to dive to the bottom, to find for several stones and, having taken them in hand, to go to a way rather “balanced” for underwater travel.
Here somewhere in the distance, in a green haze, the spark flashed and draft beats of castanets were heard. Vanyushka answered with conditional three blows and quickened the pace. Fire moved towards to it. Vanyushka approached Volkov and Konobeev soon, Volkov grabbed a govoritelny tube of Vanyushki and made such look as though he twists it for an ear, then, having put a tube to lips, told:
– Johnny! It is impossible to be such thoughtless. You risked to die laughing. There are your galoshes!
– It would be the most cheerful death, Semyon Alekseevich – Vanyushka answered, putting on heavy sandals. – Howls! – it added.
– Who howls?
– Hunguz. There will be a scolding Makar to Ivanovich again – and, having addressed Konobeev, Vanyushka put a mouth a tubule and raised a howl, starting up bubbles.
Konobeev’s face was suddenly saddened. Eyebrows over big points moved, and moustaches and hair of a beard about a mouth bristled up. “Sea god” was angry or upset with something. It waved hands oars and went quickly to the coast.
– Semyon Alekseevich! I can look though with half an eye how she will abuse it? – Vanyushka asked.
– Jean! You forget about the duties! – strictly Volkov told. They turned to work again.
Chapter 2
“TO FISH – WATER, THE EARTH – TO THE PERSON”
– And Makar Ivanovich quickly went, going to the coast. An ocean floor everything rose. Than closer to the coast, those the soil became more oozy from the alluvial earth and humus. The movement of water was more and stronger felt. The surf adjusted Konobeeva as strong wind. The old man leaned back back and hardly managed to touch legs. If not its huge force, would turn it long ago and cast with waves ashore as the broken ship mast. But Konobeev still fought. However, when it came to a sandy slope where water hardly covered the head, even it, the Neptune Ivanovich, could not resist. The ocean overcame. The surf was helped by the strong wind blowing to the coast. Water masses, elastic as soccerballs, rotating, lifted silt, sand, crabs, shrimps from a bottom, pulled out seaweed and rolled all this together with themselves to the coast and threw out with noise, hissing, a rumble. They, these water spheres, brought down from Konobeev’s legs and together with his network filled with fish threw out on a shallow and with deafening hissing were rolled away back.
Big dog – the Siberian laika of gray wool – with the scared yelping, having put the fluffy tail between the legs, jumped aside from Konobeev, then suddenly, choking with joyful bark, ran up to it and began to lick his wet person, damp glasses of points, a rubber black nose, the beard similar to seaweed, huge hands…
“Ah! Ah!” – the dog hysterical screamed; then, having unexpectedly turned on the place a top, rushed off a whirlwind to the fanza standing under a fir-tree. For bark of a dog a fanza there was an elderly tolstenky short woman, with chubby red hands and a red round face. On her head the clean white scarf with black peas was tied; a blue spacious jacket from the Chinese cloth and a black long skirt waved at each movement. The woman a vperevalka, in a duck way, hobbled to the coast.
Konobeev confusedly rose from wet sand and went to it towards, and the dog with joyful bark ran to the woman, to the old man until they met then the laika began to jump around them.
– Hi, old woman! – Konobeev told, shaking network in which fish trembled. – Here I … … small fishes brought that to you!
But the old woman did not pay to network with fish any attention.
– Remove you though a nasty ugly mug from a face, to look precisely! – she told strictly. – Water. Directly water! Also flows from it, as from utoply. Ha – and – рош! There is nothing to tell. Go, change clothes in dry, perhaps!
– Nothing, I will dry. Now warmly. Yes to me and back soon in water. Work waits.
– Yes you though to tea get drunk. Dampened probably there, in water. Long ago to tea not of saws.
Konobeev it is noisy sighed and took off from himself glasses, a rubber nose and a satchel.
His own nose was the little more beautiful rubber: big, fleshy, friable and in addition overgrown with a gray long hair. Hands with the big, inactive, very widely placed fingers and folded thick skin were surprising. And on palms the old man had real corn pillows. He freely put a hot piece of coal on these palms, without burning.
– However well, we will go, the old woman! With water let fish in the coil. Tomorrow you will weld an ushitsa. The humpback salmon is more, but there is also a herring, ivas…
Konobeev’s wife, Marfa Zakharovna, knew that her old man likes to chayevat. For this purpose she also enticed it with insidiousness of the woman into the Chinese fanza where a vein. When Konobeev crossed a fanza threshold, Marfa Zakharovna, quickly moving on a fanza the duck transfer, prepared tea, put fresh bread on a table and, looking at the husband pouring in a huge mouth in a glass behind a glass began to lecture it for “dissolute life”.
– Well have you ever seen anything like it, where it slykhano, that the person how a humpback salmon, in water of veins? To fishes – water, to birds – air, and to the person – the earth. So from time immemorial god put. You got into the wet place.
– However the person by air flies now better than any bird – Konobeev objected, sipping tea.
Marfa Zakharovna did not pay attention to this remark and continued, more and more increasing tone:
– If you married me, and live with me, but not with humpback salmons and seldyam. What you are a husband after that when herring is lovelier to you, than the wife? Forty years lived together, and here on you! As changed the person. Sdurel on an old age of years. I do not want and do not wish. Either I, or herring. Now to the woman free will. Here I will go to a registry office and I will divorce you.
– However … – there began Konobeev, but choked on tea. The dog began a bark, and because of a door Vanyushka seemed.
– Correctly, Marfa Zakharovna, correctly, mamafa! – Vanyushka shouted, appearing in the doorway in one pants. – Now not an old regime. But only you it is vain, a mamafa, on Makar you serchat Ivanovich. You better would come to live to us…
– What? I! Under water? To herrings? I am not a mermaid, in the name of God, that under water to live. With frogs, with reptiles sea.
– There are no frogs there, Marfa Zakha…
– Yes never!
– And you though looked, Marfa Zakharovna. There very much it is even excellent. In the sea ocean there is felezny mansion caps, and under caps – an izbufka. And in an izbufka and light-, and warmly, and any water – chilly quite. Both the tea, and sugar, and a samovarchik will be.
– You are better trousers a would plot, than to teach old people. Shameless person! And still Komsomol member.
– You are afraid, means?
– I am afraid of nothing. And I do not wish to dampen.
– And here Pun was not afraid. Brisket is more courageous than you. It at us on all hands. Both cooks, and farit, and washes clothes, and washes the floor.
– Washes the floor? Under water?
– Yes that you, really think that at us everything is filled in with water – both floors, and beds, and samovarny pipes? Anything similar! To the land, than in your fanza. Eh, here it is just bad: is not able to cook a dinner of Pun in an our way. As will weld on the Korean kufaniye – only one Ji Zi and bursts with appetite. And if you, Marfa Zakharovna, to us ff made how, you remember, ugoffyal me? I still lick fingers. You to us would cook yes faril and pies fish baked with a fish stuffing and pelmeni…
The praise worked – Marfa Zakharovna was softened, but going down under water, and did not want to hear.
– Come itself here pelmeni are – she answered, having smiled.
– However it is time for us – Konobeev told and began to put on himself a mask and diving vestments.
– My eyes would not look at you! – swinging the head, the old woman told.
– Anything special, however – Konobeev answered and went from Vanyushkaya to the coast towards to the flying waves. Waves roared, foam hissed on sand, splashes flew a rain, and Konobeev safely went forward.
– Hold me! – he shouted Vanyushke when they approached a breakwater. Vanyushka grasped a powerful hand of the old man. The first wave drenched them and nearly brought down from legs.
Having inclined the heads, having nestled to each other, Konobeev and Toporkov were rushed forth. Waves covered them. For a moment the shaggy gray-haired head of Makar Ivanovich seemed once again and disappeared.
Marfa Zakharovna, having put red hands on a round stomach, inclined the round red face. Lips were bent; she was ready to begin to cry. And a dog Hunguz, having approached the water, suddenly raised a muzzle and began to howl. Then angrily began a bark on waves and began to run on the coast, as if wishing to rush after left under water. And again raised a howl, plaintively and lingeringly…
Chapter 3
UNDER FIVE DOMES
It is difficult to move towards on an ocean floor to inflow. It is more difficult, than on the ground against wind during a storm. Konobeev bent the head and rammed it the elastic moving mass of water. And Vanyushka went on the tow, holding hands hips of the old man giant.
When went down in an underwater hollow, at once it became more silent. Here only water “breeze” was felt. Vanyushka was unhooked from Konobeev and raised the head up. The sun was above them the shining indistinct spot. Nervousness on a surface prevented to see sharply outlined sphere as it happened during a calm.
“Midday. It is time to have dinner” – Vanyushka thought.
And at this moment the bell sound was heard. Under water it was heard very distinctly. The bell rang out twelve. In a greenish haze the spark flickered. It the beacon on a roof of the underwater dwelling shone. It was extinguished only when all were assembled. Konobeev straightened a back and quickly went to light. Vanyushka hardly kept up with the leader.
Through the wood of long seaweed light of a beacon inflamed more and more brightly as travelers moved forward. Vanyushka many times already admired an underwater landscape – and could not admire. As though it got on the unknown planet where all other. Long strips, tapes, cords, ropes of brown seaweed quietly fluctuated, coiling as dozing snakes, the flexible bodies. Among these tapes stretched as the serpentine, wide palmlike leaves of laminarias were sharply allocated.
It was possible to distinguish already and the underwater dwelling soon. From a distance it reminded five domes hemispheres of the Byzantine church: as though the temple failed to the earth to the domes. The house stood in the valley between two cross heights which protected from sea “winds” – inflow and an outflow.
Here it was always silent.
Bright light of an underwater searchlight brought together a great number of the fishes who were darting about between seaweed as raznopery birds in the rainforest. Only these birds were silent.
Travelers entered an iron chamber and densely closed behind themselves a door. Vanyushka turned the crane, and water began to go to a pipe. In five minutes strong pumps exempted the camera from water; other pumps filled it with air. Vanyushka and Konobeev took off diving kostima and wet clothes, changed clothes and entered through iron and wooden doors a wooden izba. They were at home.
Under an average, “the public building” from four rooms was the biggest, a dome. In one the general dining room, in another – kitchen from the storeroom, in the third – a reading room and in the fourth – the engine room was located.
Around this big central dome with a beacon four smaller were located. The dome with an exit door directed to the coast was called western. It covered with itself (himself) an izba to two rooms in which Toporkov and Volkov were located. Then followed: a northern dome – there lived the cook Pun and her husband Ji Zi; western – in two rooms of this izba Konobeev and Guzik were located; and, at last, southern – in this dome there were two rooms: one – Guzik’s laboratory workshop, and another – spare – for “visitors” where sometimes spent the night coming from the coast on affairs to Volkov and Guzik.
Vanyushka left to the dining room. It, except an exit door, had two more: directly – in kitchen and to the left – in a reading room. In this room, as well as in other rooms of the central house, there were no windows at all. The strong electric lamp under a ceiling well lit the big, laid by the Chinese pure cloth table with six devices and six stools at a table. Some more spare stools stood at walls. Near a door in kitchen, the wall had a buffet of the Karelian birch; on a round little table the big samovar, the best friend of Konobeev sparkled the polished sides.
In the dining room still was nobody. Vanyushka pulled a nose, frowned and went to kitchen.
At the electric stove small with high cheek-bones Pun in a blue dress and a white apron pottered. Her jet-black hard hair was smoothly combed and collected behind in the bunch which is chopped off by two hairpins with balls on the ends.
History of its emergence in underwater colony was such is. Volkov employed for work of Korean Ji Zi, or – on the Korean pronunciation – Kye Tsa. Agreed about a payment. Ji Zi received a deposit and in the appointed day was with the girlfriend of life which introduced:
– Пунь.
– Why “Pun”? – Volkov who knew that he “пунь” is a small Korean coin asked.
– Is not necessary to Bolsa – Ji Zi answered.
– And you how many you stand? – asked, smiling, Volkov.
– Hundred пунь will be nurses, and ten nurses will be sink. Here how many I stand. Kan! – Ji Zi answered.
– But why you brought the wife? – Volkov asked, glancing at the woman who was obediently standing near the lord.
Ji Zi was surprised to a question and in perplexity shrugged shoulders:
– As, what for? That it worked.
– But I employed you. And you what you will do?
– I will receive money – Ji Zi answered quietly.
Valkov decided that the woman can be useful in the house on economy, and Ji Zi will start working sooner or later, and agreed to accept Pun who implicitly put on a diving mask and followed the husband in ocean waters. Also implicitly it would follow for it even “to the country of shadows”.
Пунь it was extremely useful member of underwater colony. She cooked a dinner, washed the dishes, the floors, washed clothes, directed purity and still managed to help men with their work outdoors. But Ji Zi of absolutely nothing did not do, except for receiving a salary.
He for days on end rolled on a bed, smoked a tubule. Once Volkov specified to the Korean that he the smoking cuts the cheese. Ji Zi told nothing, put on a diving mask and went to the coast. What it did there, it was unknown. Possibly, in good days lay on the coast. But by a lunch it was accurately.
– Hi, Pun what you to us heaped up today? – Vanyushka addressed the cook, looking in pots and frying pans. A sea cabbage, sauce probably too from seaweed, trepangs, ivas, still some pryano sauce smelling of unknown herbs…
– Halas of a navaratil! – cheerfully Pun answered, shaking a frying pan.
– Shchets! – Vanyushka sighed, but Pun did not understand him and began to come true in something.