“Very well, Mr. Swift, I’m going to ask you a question. Have you all the money you want?”
Tom laughed.
“I suppose any man would answer that question in the negative,” he replied. “Frankly, I could use more money, though I am not poor.”
“So I have heard. Well, would a million dollars clear profit appeal to you?”
“It certainly would,” was the answer.
“Then I am prepared to offer you that sum,” went on Mr. Hardley. “But there are certain conditions, and I may say that this vast wealth is not easy to come at. However, with your inventive genius, I am sure you will be able to solve the mystery of the sea. Now then as to details. There lies, on the floor of the ocean—”
“Hark!” exclaimed Tom, raising a hand to enjoin silence. “I think I hear some one coming.” At that moment there was a knock at the door.
CHAPTER III
THINKING IT OVER
“Father, is that you?” asked Tom. “Father hasn’t been feeling well, of late,” he said to the assembled company, “and I told him to go to lie down. But he’s hard to manage, and he won’t rest more than ten minutes at a time. My father, I might explain, Mr. Hardley,” Tom went on, “is actively associated with me in business.”
“So I have understood,” said the man who had been introduced by Mr. Damon.
“Dis Koku!” came the guttural voice of the giant from the other side of the door. “Koku want more work. Hall, him all clean. Maybe I help dat no-good Rad now.”
“No you don’t, Koku!” exclaimed the young inventor, with a laugh. “You keep away from Rad. You’ll get to disputing again and interrupt me, and I have business on hand. Here, wait a minute. I’ll find something for you to do,” he went on, opening the door to disclose the immense man standing outside, a broom in his hand seeming like a toy.
“Excuse me one moment,” went on Tom to his friends. Taking up his desk telephone he called one of the shops, asking: “Have you any heavy work on hand this morning; lifting big castings, or anything like that? You have? Good! I’ll send Koku right over.”
Turning to the giant who apparently had not paid much attention to the talk over the wire, Tom said:
“Koku, go over to shop number ten, ask for the foreman, and he’ll keep you busy. There are some five-hundred-pound castings that need assembling, and you can help him.”
“Good!” exclaimed the giant, with a cheerful grin. “Koku like big work—no like sweep. Good for women and Rad, but not for Koku!”
“He spoke the truth there,” remarked Ned Newton, as the giant stalked down the hall. “I never saw such a strong man. I’m afraid to shake hands with him, for fear I’ll be minus a couple of fingers in the operation.”
“Well, he’s disposed of,” remarked Tom, as he closed the door. “And now, Mr. Hardley, I’m at your service, as far as listening to your proposition is concerned.”
“Thank you. I shall endeavor to be brief,” remarked the visitor. “Am I correct in assuming that you have had some experience in submarine work? I believe Mr. Damon mentioned something of that sort.”
“Submarine work? Bless my hydrometer, I should say so!” exclaimed the eccentric man. “And not only in submarine, but in aeroplane! but you don’t need any aeroplanes, my dear Mr. Hardley. It’s the submarine end of it that you are interested in, as far as Tom Swift is concerned. Now go ahead and tell him what you told me, and how many millions there are in it.”
“Very well,” assented the visitor. “Have you ever had any experience in recovering treasure from sunken wrecks?” he asked Tom.
“Yes,” was the answer. “And it is curious that you should ask me that, for my friend here, Ned Newton, and I were just talking about that very matter. Here’s what brought it up,” and Tom showed the page from the Sunday paper.
“Hum! Yes!” musingly remarked Mr. Hardley. “That’s all very well. Part of it is true; but I imagine most of it is the work of imagination of some enterprising reporter. Of course there is no question but that there are untold millions on the bottom of the ocean. The only trouble, as I think you will agree with me, Mr. Swift, is in coming at the money.”
“Exactly,” said Tom.
“And will you bear me out when I say that if the wreck of a treasure ship could be exactly located in water that is not too deep, half the trouble would be solved?” asked Mr. Hardley.
“A good share of it would,” answered Tom. “That is usually the chief difficulty—locating the wreck. Nearly always they are anywhere from one to five miles from where the persons seeking them think they are. And five miles, or even half a mile, is a good distance on the bottom of the ocean.”
“Exactly,” echoed Mr. Hardley. “Then if I could give you the exact location of a sunken treasure ship, and prove to you that the owners had given up the search for it, leaving it open to salvage on the part of whoever wished to try—would that be any inducement to you to make an attempt, Mr. Swift?”
“I should want to hear more about it before I gave an answer,” replied Tom. “As perhaps Mr. Damon has told you, I once went on a hunt for treasure in my submarine. We found it, but only after considerable trouble, and then I declared I’d never again engage in such a search. There wasn’t enough net profit in it.”
“But there are millions in this, Tom! Bless my gold tooth, but there are millions!” cried the excitable Mr. Damon. “Hurry up and tell him!” he urged his friend.
“I will,” assented Mr. Hardley. “I can readily believe,” he went on, “that the cost of hunting for undersea treasure is great. I have taken that into consideration. Now, in brief, my plan is this. I will join forces with you, and bear half the expense if I am allowed to share half the proceeds. That’s fair, isn’t it?” he asked Tom.
“So far, yes,” replied the young inventor.
“Now then, to business!” exclaimed the visitor. “Will you join with me in searching for some of the wealth-laden wrecks that are rotting at the bottom of the sea, Mr. Swift?”
“Do you mean make an indiscriminate search for any one of a number of wrecks?” Tom wanted to know.
“I should want the understanding broad enough to include all wrecks we might discover,” was the answer, “but I have in mind one in particular now. It is the wreck of the steamer Pandora which was sunk off the coast of one of the West Indian Islands about a year ago.”
Ned Newton quickly caught up the page of the Sunday supplement and scanned the list of wrecks given there.
“No mention of the Pandora here,” he said.
“No,” agreed Mr. Hardley, “the story of this wreck is not generally known, and the story of the treasure she carried is hardly known at all. As a matter of fact, this money, mostly in gold, was to finance a South American revolution, and such matters are generally kept quiet. That is why nothing much appeared in the papers about the Pandora. But I happen to know that she carried over two million dollars in gold, and I know—”
“Think of that, Tom! Think of that!” cried Mr. Damon. “Two million dollars in gold! Why bless my—bless my—”
But the eccentric man could think of nothing adequate to bless under the circumstances, and he subsided with a murmur.
“Excuse me for interrupting you,” he said to his new friend. “But I just couldn’t help it.”
“That’s all right,” Mr. Hardley remarked, with a smile that showed two rows of very even, white teeth. “I don’t blame you for getting excited. Does that interest you?” he asked Tom. “Two million dollars in gold, besides a quantity of silver—just how much I don’t know.”
“It certainly sounds interesting,” replied Tom, with a smile. “But are you sure of your facts?”
“Absolutely,” was the answer. “I was a passenger on the Pandora when she was wrecked in a storm. I saw the gold put on board. It was not taken off, and is on her now as she lies at the bottom of the sea.”
“And the location?” queried Tom.
“I know that, too!” said Mr. Hardley eagerl
y. “I was with the captain just before we had to abandon ship, and I heard the exact nautical location given him by an officer who made the calculation. I have it written down to the second—latitude and longitude. That will be a help in locating the wreck, won’t it?”
“Why, yes,” Tom had to agree, “it will be, but if you know it, then the captain and others must know it. And what is to prevent them from making a search for the Pandora if they have not already done so?”
“The best reason in the world,” was the answer. “The boat containing the captain and the officer who gave him the ship’s position was sunk, and all on board lost. The boat I was in was the only one picked up, and I believe I am the only one who knows exactly where the Pandora lies.
“Now, here is my offer, Mr. Swift,” went on the seeker after the ocean’s hidden wealth. “I will bear half the expense of fitting out a submarine, or for any other kind of expedition to go in search of the wreck of the Pandora. I will furnish you with the exact nautical location, as I have it. And when the wealth is found and brought to the surface, I will give you half—in other words at least a million dollars! Does that appeal to you?”
“I must say it is a fair, though perhaps strange, offer,” conceded Tom. “And a million dollars is not made every day nor every year. But what about the title to this money? After we have recovered it—provided we are successful—will not some person or some government lay claim to it?”
“None can successfully,” declared Mr. Hardley. “As I told you, the money was to finance a revolution. It was raised for an unlawful purpose, so to speak, and no one has a valid claim to it under the circumstances, so lawyers whom I have consulted have told me. But if that is not enough, I have papers to prove that those who might be called the owners have given up the search for it. More than a year has elapsed, and though I don’t know just how long it takes to outlaw an under-ocean claim, I feel sure that we would have a legal and moral right to take this gold if we could find it.”
“I should want to be satisfied on that point before I undertook the search,” said Tom.
“Then you will undertake it?” eagerly exclaimed Mr. Hardley.
“I will think it over,” Tom answered quietly—so quietly that distinct disappointment showed on the face of the visitor.
CHAPTER IV
AGAINST HIS WILL
For a moment it seemed that Mr. Damon, as well as Mr. Hardley, felt disappointment at Tom’s answer, for the eccentric man exclaimed:
“Bless my leather belt, Tom, but you aren’t very keen on making a million dollars!”
“Oh, yes, I like to make money,” the young inventor answered. “I guess you know that, as well as any one, for you’ve been with me on several trips. And I don’t mind hard work, nor danger.”
“I’ll say you don’t!” added Ned, as he thought of some of Tom’s perilous voyages, among the diamond makers and in the caves of ice.
“Well, if you are anxious to make money, as I admit I am,” said Mr. Hardley, “why can’t you give me an answer now?”
“Because,” answered Tom, “there are many things to be considered. Hunting for a treasure on the floor of the Atlantic isn’t like going to some location on land, however wild or inaccessible it might be. Do you realize, Mr. Hardley, what a large difference in miles a small error in nautical calculations makes? We might go to the exact spot where you thought the wreck of the Pandora lies, only to find that we would have to hunt around a long time.
“I must think of that, and also think of my other business affairs. Then, too, there is my father. He is getting old, and while he is still active in the affairs of the company, particularly when it comes to taking up new lines of work, I do not like to think of leaving him, as I should have to, in case I went on this trip.”
“Take him along!” exclaimed Mr. Damon. “He’s gone with us before, Tom.”
“He’s too old now,” said the young inventor a bit sadly. “Father will never make another extended trip. But I will let you have my answer as soon as I can, Mr. Hardley, and I will give the matter considerable thought.”
“I’m sure I hope you will, and also that you will consent to go,” was the answer. “A million is not easily to be come at in these days after the Great War.”
“I realize that,” agreed Tom with a smile. “And you shall have my answer as soon as possible.”
With this the visitor was forced to be content, and a little later he withdrew with Mr. Damon, the latter telling Tom that he would see him again soon.
“Well, that was queer, wasn’t it?” remarked Ned, when he and Tom were alone again.
“What was?” asked Tom, as though his mind was far away, as indeed it was.
“That this man should come in with his project to search for a sunken treasure wreck just as we were talking about how many millions were on the bottom of the ocean.”
“Yes, it was quite a coincidence,” Tom admitted.
“What do you think of it—and him?” asked Ned.
“Well, to tell you the truth, I didn’t take a great fancy to Mr. Hardley,” Tom said. “I think he’s altogether too cocksure, and takes too much for granted. Still I may misjudge him. Certainly he doesn’t have a chance at a million dollars every day.”
“Do you think you could get the treasure out of this wreck, Tom, if you could locate her?”
“Why, it’s possible; yes. We proved that with the Boldero.”
“Would you use the same submarine?”
“No, I think I’d have to rebuild it, or make an altogether new one. Possibly I might get one of Uncle Sam’s and add some improvements of my own.”
“Yes, you could do that,” agreed Ned. “You’ve done so much for the government that it couldn’t refuse you something reasonable, now that the war is over. Then do you think you’ll go?”
“Really, Ned, I can’t make up my mind yet. Now let’s forget the Pandora and all the millions and get down to business. This Criterion company seems to me to want altogether too much, We’ll have to trim their request down a bit. They owe the money and ought to pay it.”
“Yes, I’ll get after them,” said Ned, and then he and his chum, as well as employer, plunged into a mass of business details.
It was the next afternoon, when Tom, following a strenuous morning of work, leaned back in his chair at his desk, that Mr. Damon was announced.
“Tell him to come in,” ordered Tom, always glad to see his friend. “Wait a minute, though!” he called to the messenger. “Is any one with him?”
“No, sir; he is alone.”
“Good! Then show him right in. I was afraid,” said Tom to Ned, who was also in the office, “that he had Hardley with him. I’m not quite ready to see him yet.”
“Then you haven’t made up your mind about going for the treasure?”
“Not exactly. I shall, perhaps, this week.”
“Bless my matchbox, Tom, but I’m glad to see you!” cried Mr. Damon, as he hastened forward with outstretched hand. “I was afraid you might be out. Now look here! What about my friend Hardley? He’s very anxious to know your decision about going for that treasure, and I said I’d come over and sound you. I don’t mind saying, Tom, that if you go I’m going too; if you’ll take me, of course.”
“Well, Mr. Damon, you know you’ll always be welcome, as far as I am concerned,” said the young inventor; “but, as a matter of fact, I don’t believe I’m going.”
“What? Not going to pick up a million dollars off the floor of the ocean, Tom? Bless my bank balance! but that’s foolish, it seems to me.”
“Perhaps it is, but I can’t help it.”
“What’s your principal objection?” asked the eccentric man. “It isn’t that you don’t want the money, is it?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then it must be that you object to Mr. Hardley personally.” went on Mr. Damon. “I began to suspect that, Tom, and I want to say that you are wrong. Mr. Hardley is a friend of mine—a good friend. I have not known him long
, but he strikes me as being all right. He had some good letters of introduction, and I believe he has money.”
“Where’d he get it?” asked Tom.
“I don’t know, exactly. Seems to me I heard him mention silver mines, or it may have been gold. Anyhow, it had something to do with getting wealth out of the ground. Now, Tom, I don’t mind saying that I stand to make a little money in case this thing goes through.”
“How’s that, Mr. Damon?” asked the young scientist in surprise.
“Why, I agreed to bear part of the expense,” was the answer. “I thought this was a pretty good scheme, and when Mr. Hardley came to me and told me of the possibilities I agreed to help him finance the expenses. That is, I have taken shares in the company he formed to raise his half of the expense money.
“Of course I thought of you at once when he spoke of having to search out a sunken wreck, and I proposed your name. He’d heard of you, he said, but didn’t know you. So I brought you together and now—bless my apple pie, Tom! I hope you aren’t going to turn down a chance to make a million and, incidentally, help an old friend.”
“Well,” remarked Tom, slowly, “I must admit, Mr. Damon, that I didn’t think you’d go into a thing like this. Not that it is more risky than other schemes, but I thought you didn’t care for speculation.”
“Well, this sort of appealed to me Tom. You know—sunken wreck under the ocean, down in a diving bell perhaps, and all that! There’s romance to it.”
“Yes, there is romance,” agreed Tom. “And hard work, too. If I undertook this it would mean an extra lot of work getting ready. I suppose I could use my own submarine. I could get her in commission, and make improvements more quickly than on any other.”
“Then you’ll go?” quickly cried the eccentric man.
“Well, since you tell me you are interested financially, I believe I will,” assented Tom, but he spoke reluctantly. “As a matter of fact, I am going against my better judgment. Not that I fear we shall be in danger,” he hastened to add; “but I think it will prove a failure. However, as Mr. Hardley will bear half the expense, and as by using my own submarine that will not be much, I’ll go!”
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