Tom Swift and His Submarine Boat; Or, Under the Ocean for Sunken Treasure

by Victor Appleton

  Chapter Nine

  Captain Weston's Advent

  "Bless my water ballast, but that certainly is a fine boat!" cried Mr.Damon, when he had been shown over the new craft. "I think I shallfeel even safer in that than in the Red Cloud."

  "Oh, don't go back on the airship!" exclaimed Mr Sharp. "I was countingon taking you on another trip."

  "Well, maybe after we get back from under the ocean," agreed Mr. Damon."I particularly like the cabin arrangements of the Advance. I think Ishall enjoy myself."

  He would be hard to please who could not take pleasure from a trip inthe submarine. The cabin was particularly fine, and the sleepingarrangements were good.

  More supplies could be carried than was possible on the airship, andthere was more room in which to cook and serve food. Mr. Damon was fondof good living, and the kitchen pleased him as much as anything else.

  Early the next morning Tom set out for Atlantis, to meet Captain Westonat the hotel. The young inventor inquired of the clerk whether theseafaring man had arrived, and was told that he had come the previousevening.

  "Is he in his room?" asked Tom.

  "No," answered the clerk with a peculiar grin. "He's an odd character.Wouldn't go to bed last night until we had every window in his roomopen, though it was blowing quite hard, and likely to storm. Thecaptain said he was used to plenty of fresh air. Well, I guess he gotit, all right."

  "Where is he now?" asked the youth, wondering what sort of anindividual he was to meet.

  "Oh, he was up before sunrise, so some of the scrubwomen told me. Theymet him coming from his room, and he went right down to the beach witha big telescope he always carries with him. He hasn't come back yet.Probably he's down on the sand."

  "Hasn't he had breakfast?"

  "No. He left word he didn't want to eat until about four bells,whatever time that is."

  "It's ten o'clock," replied Tom, who had been studying up on sea termslately. "Eight bells is eight o'clock in the morning, or four in theafternoon or eight at night, according to the time of day. Then there'sone bell for every half hour, so four bells this morning would be teno'clock in this watch, I suppose."

  "Oh, that's the way it goes, eh?" asked the clerk. "I never could getit through my head. What is twelve o'clock noon?"

  "That's eight bells, too; so is twelve o'clock midnight. Eight bellsis as high as they go on a ship. But I guess I'll go down and see if Ican meet the captain. It will soon be ten o'clock, or four bells, andhe must be hungry for breakfast. By the way, is that Mr. Berg stillhere?"

  "No; he went away early this morning. He and Captain Weston seemed tostrike up quite an acquaintance, the night clerk told me. They sat andsmoked together until long after midnight, or eight bells," and theclerk smiled as he glanced down at the big diamond ring on his littlefinger.

  "They did?" fairly exploded Tom, for he had visions of what the wilyMr. Berg might worm out of the simple captain.

  "Yes. Why, isn't the captain a proper man to make friends with?" andthe clerk looked at Tom curiously.

  "Oh, yes, of course," was the hasty answer. "I guess I'll go and see ifI can find him--the captain, I mean."

  Tom hardly knew what to think. He wished his father, or Mr. Sharp, hadthought to warn Captain Weston against talking of the wreck. It mightbe too late now.

  The young inventor hurried to the beach, which was not far from thehotel. He saw a solitary figure pacing up and down, and from the factthat the man stopped, every now and then, and gazed seaward through alarge telescope, the lad concluded it was the captain for whom he wasin search. He approached, his footsteps making no sound on the sand.The man was still gazing through the glass.

  "Captain Weston?" spoke Tom.

  Without a show of haste, though the voice must have startled him, thecaptain turned. Slowly he lowered the telescope, and then he repliedsoftly:

  "That's my name. Who are you, if I may ask?"

  Tom was struck, more than by anything else, by the gentle voice of theseaman. He had prepared himself, from the description of Mr. Sharp, tomeet a gruff, bewhiskered individual, with a voice like a crosscut saw,and a rolling gait. Instead he saw a man of medium size, with a smoothface, merry blue eyes, and the softest voice and gentlest mannerimaginable. Tom was very much disappointed. He had looked for a regularsea-dog, and he met a landsman, as he said afterward. But it was notlong before our hero changed his mind regarding Captain Weston.

  "I'm Tom Swift," the owner of that name said, "and I have been sent toshow you the way to where our ship is ready to launch." The younginventor refrained from mentioning submarine, as it was the wish of MrSharp to disclose this feature of the voyage to the sailor himself.

  "Ha, I thought as much," resumed the captain quietly. "It's a fineday, if I may be permitted to say so," and he seemed to hesitate, as ifthere was some doubt whether or not he might make that observation.

  "It certainly is," agreed the lad. Then, with a smile he added: "It isnearly four bells."

  "Ha!" exclaimed the captain, also smiling, but even his manner ofsaying "Ha!" was less demonstrative than that of most persons. "Ibelieve I am getting hungry, if I may be allowed the remark," and againhe seemed asking Tom's pardon for mentioning the fact.

  "Perhaps you will come back to the cabin and have a little breakfastwith me," he went on. "I don't know what sort of a galley or cook theyhave aboard the Beach Hotel, but it can't be much worse than some I'vetackled."

  "No, thank you," answered the youth. "I've had my breakfast. But I'llwait for you, and then I'd like to get back. Dad and Mr. Sharp areanxious to meet you."

  "And I am anxious to meet them, if you don't mind me mentioning it,"was the reply, as the captain once more put the spyglass to his eye andtook an observation. "Not many sails in sight this morning," he added."But the weather is fine, and we ought to get off in good shape to huntfor the treasure about which Mr. Sharp wrote me. I believe we are goingafter treasure," he said; "that is, if you don't mind talking about it."

  "Not in the least," replied Tom quickly, thinking this a goodopportunity for broaching a subject that was worrying him. "Did youmeet a Mr. Berg here last night, Captain Weston?" he went on.

  "Yes. Mr. Berg and I had quite a talk. He is a well-informed man."

  "Did he mention the sunken treasure?" asked the lad, eager to find outif his suspicions were true.

  "Yes, he did, if you'll excuse me putting it so plainly," answered theseaman, as if Tom might be offended at so direct a reply. But the younginventor was soon to learn that this was only an odd habit with theseaman.

  "Did he want to know where the wreck of the Boldero was located?"continued the lad. "That is, did he try to discover if you knewanything about it?"

  "Yes," said Mr. Weston, "he did. He pumped me, if you are acquaintedwith that term, and are not offended by it. You see, when I arrivedhere I made inquiries as to where your father's place was located. Mr.Berg overheard me, and introduced himself as agent for a shipbuildingconcern. He was very friendly, and when he said he knew you and yourparent, I thought he was all right."

  Tom's heart sank. His worst fears were to be realized, he thought.

  "Yes, he and I talked considerable, if I may be permitted to say so,"went on the captain. "He seemed to know about the wreck of the Boldero,and that she had three hundred thousand dollars in gold aboard. Theonly thing he didn't know was where the wreck was located. He knew itwas off Uruguay somewhere, but just where he couldn't say. So he askedme if I knew, since he must have concluded that I was going with you onthe gold-hunting expedition."

  "And you do know, don't you?" asked Tom eagerly.

  "Well, I have it pretty accurately charted out, if you will allow methat expression," was the calm answer. "I took pains to look it up atthe request of Mr. Sharp."

  "And he wanted to worm that information out of you?" inquired the youthexcitedly.

  "Yes, I'm afraid he did."

  "Did you give him the location?"

  "Well," remarked the captain, as he
took another observation beforeclosing up the telescope, "you see, while we were talking, I happenedto drop a copy of a map I'd made, showing the location of the wreck.Mr. Berg picked it up to hand to me, and he looked at it."

  "Oh!" cried Tom. "Then he knows just where the treasure is, and he mayget to it ahead of us. It's too bad."

  "Yes," continued the seaman calmly, "Mr. Berg picked up that map, andhe looked very closely at the latitude and longitude I had marked asthe location of the wreck."

  "Then he won't have any trouble finding it," murmured our hero.

  "Eh? What's that?" asked the captain, "if I may be permitted to requestyou to repeat what you said."

  "I say he won't have any trouble locating the sunken Boldero," repeatedTom.

  "Oh, but I think he will, if he depends on that map," was theunexpected reply. "You see," explained Mr. Weston, "I'm not so simpleas I look. I sensed what Mr. Berg was after, the minute he began totalk to me. So I fixed up a little game on him. The map which I droppedon purpose, not accidentally, where he would see it, did have thelocation of the wreck marked. Only it didn't happen to be the rightlocation. It was about five hundred miles out of the way, and I ratherguess if Mr. Berg and his friends go there for treasure they'll findconsiderable depth of water and quite a lonesome spot. Oh, no, I'm notas easy as I look, if you don't mind me mentioning that fact; and whena scoundrel sets out to get the best of me, I generally try to turn thetables on him. I've seen such men as Mr. Berg before. I'm afraid, I'mvery much afraid, the sight he had of the fake map I made won't do himmuch good. Well, I declare, it's past four bells. Let's go tobreakfast, if you don't mind me asking you," and with that the captainstarted off up the beach, Tom following, his ideas all a whirl at theunlooked-for outcome of the interview.