Chapter Eight
Another Treasure Expedition
While Tom and Mr. Damon continued on to Atlantis after the oil, theyoung inventor lamenting from time to time that his remarks about thereal destination of the Advance had been overheard by Mr. Berg, thelatter and his companion were hastening back along the path that ran onone side of the sand dunes.
"What's your hurry?" asked Mr. Maxwell, who was with the submarineagent. "You turned around as if you were shot when you saw that man andthe lad. There didn't appear to be any cause for such a hurry. Fromwhat I could hear they were talking about a submarine. You're in thesame business. You might be friends."
"Yes, we might," admitted Mr. Berg with a peculiar smile; "but, unlessI'm very much mistaken, we're going to be rivals."
"Rivals? What do you mean?"
"I can't tell you now. Perhaps I may later. But if you don't mind, walka little faster, please. I want to get to a long-distance telephone."
"What for?"
"I have just overheard something that I wish to communicate to myemployers, Bentley & Eagert."
"Overheard something? I don't see what it could be, unless that lad--"
"You'll learn in good time," went on the submarine agent. "But I musttelephone at once."
A little later the two men had reached a trolley line that ran intoAtlantis, and they arrived at the city before Mr. Damon and Tom gotthere, as the latter had to go by a circuitous route. Mr. Berg lost notime in calling up his firm by telephone.
"I have had another talk with Mr. Swift," he reported to Mr. Bentley,who came to the instrument in Philadelphia.
"Well, what does he say?" was the impatient question. "I can'tunderstand his not wanting to try for the Government prize. It isastonishing. You said you were going to discover the reason, Mr Berg,but you haven't done so."
"I have."
"What is it?"
"Well, the reason Mr. Swift and his son don't care to try for the fiftythousand dollar prize is that they are after one of three hundredthousand dollars."
"Three hundred thousand dollars!" cried Mr. Bentley. "What governmentis going to offer such a prize as that for submarines, when they aregetting almost as common as airships? We ought to have a try for thatourselves. What government is it?"
"No government at all. But I think we ought to have a try for it, Mr.Bentley."
"Explain."
"Well, I have just learned, most accidentally, that the Swifts aregoing after sunken treasure--three hundred thousand dollars in goldbullion."
"Sunken treasure? Where?
"I don't know exactly, but off the coast of Uruguay," and Mr. Bergrapidly related what he had overheard Tom tell Mr. Damon. Mr. Bentleywas much excited and impatient for more details, but his agent couldnot give them to him.
"Well," concluded the senior member of the firm of submarine boatbuilders, "if the Swifts are going after treasure, so can we. Come toPhiladelphia at once, Mr. Berg, and we'll talk this matter over. Thereis no time to lose. We can afford to forego the Government prize forthe chance of getting a much larger one. We have as much right tosearch for the sunken gold as the Swifts have. Come here at once, andwe will make our plans."
"All right," agreed the agent with a smile as he hung up the receiver."I guess," he murmured to himself, "that you won't be so high andmighty with me after this, Tom Swift. We'll see who has the best boat,after all. We'll have a contest and a competition, but not for agovernment prize. It will be for the sunken gold."
It was easy to see that Mr. Berg was much pleased with himself.
Meanwhile, Tom and Mr. Damon had reached Atlantis, and had purchasedthe oil. They started back, but Tom took a street leading toward thecenter of the place, instead of striking for the beach path, alongwhich they had come.
"Where are you going?" asked Mr. Damon.
"I want to see if that Andy Foger has come back here," replied the lad,and he told of having been shut in the tank by the bully.
"I've never properly punished him for that trick," he went on, "thoughwe did manage to burst his auto tires. I'm curious to know how he knewenough to turn that gear and shut the tank door. He must have beenloitering near the shop, seen me go in the submarine alone, watched hischance and sneaked in after me. But I'd like to get a completeexplanation, and if I once got hold of Andy I could make him talk," andTom clenched his fist in a manner that augured no good for thesquint-eyed lad. "He was stopping at the same hotel with Mr. Berg, andhe hurried away after the trick he played on me. I next saw him inShopton, but I thought perhaps he might have come back here. I'm goingto inquire at the hotel," he added.
Andy's name was not on the register since his hasty flight, however,and Tom, after inquiring from the clerk and learning that Mr. Berg wasstill a guest at the hostelry, rejoined Mr. Damon.
"Bless my hat!" exclaimed that eccentric individual as they startedback to the lonely beach where the submarine was awaiting her adventinto the water. "The more I think of the trip I'm going to take, themore I like it."
"I hope you will," remarked Tom. "It will be a new experience for allof us. There's only one thing worrying me, and that is about Mr. Berghaving overheard what I said."
"Oh, don't worry about that. Can't we slip away and leave no trace inthe water?"
"I hope so, but I must tell dad and Mr. Sharp about what happened."
The aged inventor was not a little alarmed at what his son related, buthe agreed with Mr. Damon, whom he heartily welcomed, that little was tobe apprehended from Berg and his employers.
"They know we're after a sunken wreck, but that's all they do know,"said Tom's father. "We are only waiting for the arrival of CaptainAlden Weston, and then we will go. Even if Bentley & Eagert make a tryfor the treasure we'll have the start of them, and this will be a caseof first come, first served. Don't worry, Tom. I'm glad you're going,Mr Damon. Come, I will show you our submarine."
As father and son, with their guest, were going to the machine shop,Mr. Sharp met them. He had a letter in his hand.
"Good news!" the balloonist cried. "Captain Weston will be with usto-morrow. He will arrive at the Beach Hotel in Atlantis, and wants oneof us to meet him there. He has considerable information about thewreck."
"The Beach Hotel," murmured Tom. "That is where Mr. Berg is stopping. Ihope he doesn't worm any of our secret from Captain Weston," and it waswith a feeling of uneasiness that the young inventor continued afterhis father and Mr. Damon to where the submarine was.
Tom Swift and His Submarine Boat; Or, Under the Ocean for Sunken Treasure Page 8