CHAPTER XXV
THE STEEL BOX
Perhaps the least of all affected by what had taken place was thegiant. Gold meant nothing to him. To serve Tom Swift was his whole aimin life. Born in a savage country, he had not acquired an overwhelmingdesire for wealth.
Consequently he was cool enough as he tore another box from the manythat were fitted into the safe. The water had swelled the wood, and itwas not easy to get them out.
A pressure of the giant's iron bar broke the sealed lid. On top was thesame layer of gold pieces, but when the box was emptied the same trickwas discovered. Iron disks made up the remainder of the contents.
"Bilked! That's what I call it! Regularly bilked!" exclaimed one of thedivers, an Englishman who had been in Tom's service several years."Somebody's got the cream of this pudding before we did!"
"I'm inclined to agree with you," said Tom. "Unless it transpires thatnot all the boxes have been thus camouflaged. We must take time toexamine."
Then began a period of hard work. Laboring in relays of divers, everybox that had been locked in the purser's safe was brought out on thesubmerged cabin table, broken open, and the contents examined. The hoaxwas even worse than indicated at first. For after the front section ofboxes had been taken out none of the others remaining contained anygold at all. There were only iron disks.
"Well, Tom, what do you think of it?" asked Ned of his chum, when theyhad returned to the cabin of the submarine, leaving some members of thecrew to complete the examination. For this the diving bell was used, aswell as the suits.
"I don't think very much," was the answer. "It looks as though we hadbeen sold."
"Do you think Hardley knew that the gold had been changed to iron--thatis, all but a small part of it?"
"No, I don't believe he did," Tom answered. "If he were here I'dwarrant he would be as much surprised as we are. He certainly believedthe Pandora was a regular treasure-ship."
"Just how much did she really have in gold?" asked Mr. Damon, lookingat the double eagles on the table of the M. N. 1.
"Well, at a rough guess I'd say ten thousand dollars," Tom answered."We haven't brought it all out yet, and it's possible they may find afull box in the safe. But, unless there is one, I guess ten or fifteenthousand dollars will cover it."
"And Hardley said two millions!" exclaimed Ned. "Whew, what adifference!"
"Do you think he was in on the change?" asked one of the officers.
"No," replied Tom. "I guess it was like a good many of thesefilibustering plots. Somebody put up good money to be used to gaincontrol of a country--perhaps for the country's good. But somebody elsemade the substitution, and the patriots were left. I don't believeHardley knew this."
"Well, you'll get a little out of it, Tom," Ned remarked.
"Nothing worth while," was the answer. "But I'm not disappointed; thatis, very much. Of course I could use the money, but I don't really needit. The trip has been a wonderful experience, and I have learnedsomething I didn't know before. I'm sorry for you, though, Mr. Damon.You invested considerable with Hardley, didn't you?"
"About twenty thousand dollars, Tom. It will be hard to lose it, but Iguess I can stand it."
Tom privately made up his mind to see that his old friend did notsuffer financially, for the gold discovered on the Pandora, while itwas far from the amount hoped for, would almost reimburse Mr. Damon.But the young inventor did not say anything about that just then.
They were looking at the recovered gold and getting ready to store itin some of the boxes that had been brought from the wreck when thedivers that had remained on the Pandora to bring the last of thetreasure returned through the chamber. Two of them carried a smallsteel box.
"What's that?" asked Tom, when they had their helmets off.
"Don't know," was the answer. "It was in the purser's safe. Stuck awayin the far corner."
"Maybe it has jewels in it!" exclaimed Ned. "If it has--"
At that moment the lookout who had maintained his position in theconning tower called for Tom on the telephone.
"What is it?" asked the young inventor.
"There's some sort of grappling iron, or cable with a hook on it, beinglowered from the surface, and it's near the wreck," was the answer. "Ifit isn't any of your apparatus it may be some other ship having a tryfor the gold."
"It must be Hardley!" cried Tom. "He's come back with another ship, ashe half threatened to do, and, instead of diving for the wreck, whichhe can't get ordinary men to do in this depth, he's trying to grapplefor it. Come on, we'll have a look!"
Ned and Mr. Damon followed Tom to the conning tower. Looking outthrough the heavy glass windows, while the searchlight illuminated thewaters, the young inventor and his friends saw a great grappling ironswaying this way and that through the sea not far from the wreck, andonce, indeed, uncomfortably close to their own craft.
"He's struck it uncommonly near," remarked Tom. "I guess it's time forus to be leaving."
"Suppose it's Hardley up above there?" suggested Ned.
"I don't doubt but it is."
"Well, are we going off and leave the wreck--and possibly other goldthat may be hidden on her?"
"I wouldn't give ten dollars for the chance of searching for any moregold!" Tom exclaimed. "We'll take this steel box--it may containsomething of value. The rest we'll leave to Hardley."
Preparations for rising to the surface were quickly made. Up and upwent the M. N. 1, leaving the ill-starred Pandora to whatever else fatehad in store for her.
Tom's craft broke water with gentle undulations of the waves. The topof the hatch was thrown back, admitting the bright sunshine on thosewho had been long in the shadow of the underseas. And, as the younginventor and his friends went out on deck, they saw a small steamerriding on the ocean not far away.
One look was enough to tell them it was from this craft that thegrappling iron had been let down, and as the submarine drifted nearerthe form of Hardley was seen on deck. He was directing operations.
Some one must have called his attention to the M. N. 1, for he hurriedto the rail of the craft which he had evidently chartered to seek thePandora, and he exclaimed:
"What are you doing here, Swift?"
"The same thing you are, I believe," coolly answered Tom. "Cleaning upthe treasure ship. You might as well save your money though, for wehave all the gold there is!"
"Impossible!" cried the now irate man. "You cannot have found thePandora!"
"That's just what we did, though," answered Tom. "And, for yourinformation, I'll say that we took all the gold we found, though it wasconsiderably less than you stated."
"How dare you?" stormed the adventurer. "I'll have the law on you forthis!"
"I guess you forget," replied Tom, "that we parted company at yourrequest and that I told you I was on my own. Finding is keeping. Ididn't find what I expected to, and, on the other hand, I got somethingI didn't look for."
"What do you mean?"
"The Pandora was rightly named," went on Tom. "If you recall the oldstory, Pandora had a box of treasures. They all flew out except Hope,which remained in the bottom. Well, most of the gold seems to haveflown away, but we found a box on the Pandora. What's in it I don'tknow yet, as I haven't opened it. Still, if it doesn't contain morethan Hope I shall be disappointed."
The face of Hardley showed the rage felt.
"Give me that box! Give me that box!" he cried, shaking his fist at Tom.
"Not today," was the cool answer of the young inventor. "I may let youknow what I find in it if you leave your address. Goodbye!"
Tom waved his hand, gave orders to close the hatches and submerge theM. N. 1, and a few moments later the sea closed over her, leaving theother vessel to grapple uselessly for the treasure-ship.
"What are you going to do, Tom?" asked Ned of his chum, as they wereall gathered in the main cabin half an hour later.
"Head for home as soon as we can. I've had enough of this, and I wantto get at something else I have
in mind. But first I'm going to seewhat's in this box."
It required the strength of Koku to open the small steel box, but whenit was torn apart, for the combination was impossible to guess at, allthat was seen were bundles of papers. The case having been hermeticallyclosed, no water had penetrated it, though it had been submerged a longtime.
"What are they?" asked Ned of his chum.
Tom did not answer for a moment. Then having quickly examined thepapers, he cried:
"We've struck it!"
"What?" they all wanted to know.
"The very thing Hardley was after. These are the missing papers in theoil-well deal--the papers that prove Barton Keith has a half share inproperty worth many millions of dollars. It was these papers thatHardley was after. He may have thought he could get the gold, too, buthe wanted most these oil shares. Boys, we've found the fortune anyhow,in spite of the fellows who looted the gold boxes!"
There was no doubt about it. There were all the papers--thecertificates of shares, the partnership agreement and otherdocuments--to show that Mary's uncle was a rich man. The wreck of thePandora held a fortune after all.
"How do you account for Hardley's acts?" asked Ned of his chum.
"Well, there are several explanations. I think we may be certain thathe knew these papers were aboard the Pandora, for he must haveintrusted them to the purser himself when he made a trip on the ship.When she sank he had not time to get them to take with him."
"He either knew then, or found out later, that the vessel carried, orwas supposed to carry, a large amount of gold. He may have beenhonestly mistaken in thinking it was two millions. In any case he wasplaying safe, for he only promised me half if the treasure was found.He could have claimed this box as his property, and that is probablywhat he was after from the beginning. He was using me as a cat's paw,so to speak."
"Well, you beat him to it," observed Ned.
"Bless my necktie, I should say so!" agreed Mr. Damon. "Do you think hereally expected to find the gold?"
"Either that or the papers," was Tom's answer. "He must have engagedthe vessel and the grappling apparatus, and, possibly, a diver, afterwe set him ashore at St. Thomas. Well, we'll leave him to his own fun."
The M. N. 1 made good time back to her home port, nothing except aterrific storm occurring to mark the voyage. And as she submerged whenthat was on she did not feel it. After greeting his father, Tom lostlittle time in going to Mary's house with the box of securities andother papers.
"I want you to hand these to your uncle with my compliments," he said."I've got the Air Scout out in the meadow. We'll go over in that. Howis Mr. Keith?"
"Not very well," Mary answered, after she had got over her surprise atseeing Tom. "But this good news will restore him, I think."
And it certainly was a great tonic. Mr. Keith could hardly believe thestory that Mary and Tom jointly told him. But at length he grasped theidea that he was a wealthy man again, and he exclaimed:
"Tom Swift, I'm going to share half with you!"
"Oh, no," retorted the young inventor. "I couldn't think of that. Ifyou want to pay part of the expenses of the trip I shan't object tothat, as I intend giving the gold I recovered to Mr. Damon. But as fortaking any of the oil shares--"
"Then, Mary, you shall take half!" exclaimed Mr. Keith. "I have moremoney now than I'll ever spend. Mary, half of it is yours, and if youdon't let Tom Swift have a say in the spending of it-- Say, Mary, haveyou thanked him yet?" he asked with a twinkle of his eyes. "Well, UncleBarton, I--I don't know--"
"Then do it now!" cried her uncle. "Tom, if you could have any rewardyou wanted, what would it be?"
Tom took Mary in his arms and--But I refuse to betray any secrets.Anyhow, some time later when Ned asked his chum if he felt entirelysatisfied with the result of his undersea search, the young inventorreplied: "I certainly do!"
Tom admitted to his father that a mistake had been made in notinstalling the gyroscope rudder. There was no excuse for not taking it.Tom declared, as it was small and took up little room, and it mighthave saved them from what was a close call at one time.
"I'll take it on my next submarine trip," the young inventor promised.
Ned wanted to bring suit against Hardley to recover half the expensesof the trip, but Tom would not consent to it. After all, the value ofthe oil well property was more than the gold the Pandora was reputed tohave carried. No attempt was made to take from Tom the comparativelysmall amount he had salvaged. Perhaps whoever had put it on board didnot want to admit the trick that had been played in filling the boxeswith iron disks.
Dixwell Hardley made no further trouble. He could not, for he was soentirely in the wrong. He sold out his shares in the oil property, anda company took possession which gave fair treatment to Mary's uncle.
And this is the end of the story. But the future holds furtheradventures for Tom Swift which, let it be hoped, he will see fit toorder recorded.
Tom Swift and His Undersea Search; Or, the Treasure on the Floor of the Atlantic Page 25