Boy Scouts in the North Sea Part 34

"At last, I thought I had my instrument perfected. I next needed only something on which to practice. With my precious treasure carefully guarded I succeeded in reaching the Gulf of Mexico, where it is said so much pirate gold has been buried. Wonderful to relate, I actually located and recovered a small amount. It was not large but helped me to fit out a vessel in which to make other cruises."

"And it really worked?" inquired Jimmie in a tone of unbelief.

"How well I shall presently demonstrate, you know," was the reply. "But I found that the crew was tricky. They helped me get a treasure aboard then calmly turned pirates themselves and ran away with the treasure. For nearly a year I had hard luck. Then I succeeded in locating a large sum of gold that had been buried by a man's grandfather.

"My past experiences had taught me that I could not trust anyone.

Therefore I determined to prosecute my search in other channels.

"Piece by piece in different shops I had this vessel constructed after my own designs. The pieces were a.s.sembled in a part of the Gulf of Mexico little frequented. There I tried out the undersea boat, named it the 'U-13'--the 'U' standing for Undersea and the '13' in defiance of the popular superst.i.tion. But I found a new difficulty.

"The instrument, although working perfectly on land, was not reliable under the ocean, for as you know there is a large amount of suspended gold in sea water. That made the instrument unreliable."

"What did you want to go under water for, anyway?" asked Ned.

"Gold!" was the curt reply. "So I had to construct another device that would neutralize the local attraction of the sea water just on the same principle that the mariner has the two iron b.a.l.l.s near his compa.s.s to overcome the local attraction on his vessel.

"Then I was prepared to pursue my quest for treasure undisturbed. My first venture was the recovery of a large sum from a sunken ship in Havana harbor. This provided me sufficient funds so that I put stores aboard and came across to seek for the vessels of the Spanish Armada."

"How did you get across the Atlantic?" asked Jimmie incredulously.

"In this vessel!" was the reply. "And most of the way under water, too, you know! I didn't want anyone to see me!"

"But you had to come up once in a while to get air!"

"Oh, no! Here is a contrivance," indicating a huge box-like affair, "with which I separate the oxygen from the hydrogen by electricity. Water, as you know, is composed of two gases--oxygen and hydrogen. Two atoms of hydrogen combined with one atom of oxygen and make a tiny bit of water.

By the aid of this special device I segregate the two gases, use the oxygen and discharge the hydrogen overboard."

"I'm going to take my hat off to you!" declared Jimmie. "But you had to have some means to prevent discomfort from the storage batteries!"

"Not with these!" smiled the other. "I'm using, without permission, of course, a new storage battery that does away with the lead-sulphuric acid type of battery. The inventor is a man whose name is familiar to you all.

He uses a nickel, iron oxide and steel combination in a solution of potash. This battery, instead of causing inflammation or even proving deadly as is the case with the old type, is actually a benefit to a person. It is exactly opposite in its effect to the old style."

"And you manage to make a cruise of days and days under water?"

"Surely!" smiled their host. "There's nothing to prevent it!"

"That's going some!" declared Jimmie. "But I don't believe you managed to dig up a lot of gold from the bottom of the ocean!"

"What is there to hinder?" questioned the other.

"Everything!" declared Jimmie. "In the first place there is all the water about. Then, too, it would be easier to take this instrument into the regions where gold is usually discovered on land. You could prospect with it in almost the positive knowledge that you would locate a vein. Digging then would be easy."

"Yes, but I don't like to dig!" laughed the other. "Perhaps I'm too lazy to do that sort of thing!"

"There's something queer here that I don't quite get," stated Jimmie.

"Can't you explain a little more in detail?"

"Why, certainly, I'll be glad to elucidate!" was the answer. "You have in mind the securing of free gold in nuggets and dust. I go about it in quite another way. My purpose is to recover the minted coins that have been placed aboard ships. When the ships sink, no diver yet has been able to reach those in deep water. Therefore, most of the gold that has been carried to the bottom in sunken vessels is forever lost. I intend to recover a great deal of it!"

"Then when you know approximately where the vessel was wrecked or sunk,"

put in Ned, "you go to that neighborhood. Your instrument indicates the presence of gold and you follow its directions until the exact spot is reached. Then you step out and carry the money aboard your own craft. Is that the correct explanation?"

"You have it exactly. And I have done pretty well so far!"

"I don't believe it!" declared Jimmie flatly. "The whole thing sounds mighty fishy--not meaning any disrespect," he added addressing the man who sat leaning back against a bulkhead.

"But I a.s.sure you that what I have said is absolutely true!"

"I'm from Missouri!" stated Jimmie in a tone of doubt.

Their host stepped to a locker which he opened.

"Great Frozen Hot Boxes!" cried Jimmie.

CHAPTER XXI

A MYSTERY EXPLAINED

"Why, boys, look at this!" cried Jimmie, his voice rising to a shriek then trailing off into a whisper. "Did you ever see the like?"

"Let's see!" put in Frank, crowding forward. "What is it?"

Eagerly the boys gathered around the open compartment. They heard distinctly the tinkle of coins as Jimmie seized a handful and let them slip one by one back into place. Again and again the boy dived his hands into the yellow ma.s.s of metal. He raised handfuls of coin to look at them a moment, then let them drop from his grasp.

"Good Night!" he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed at length, turning a round-eyed face to the man who stood smiling beside the group. "Why, you must have enough here to buy a farm and build a fence clear around it!"

"Quite likely I have!" declared the other quietly. "But there are two or three other wrecked vessels that I wish to visit before I stop. I have the exact locations charted and have examined the interiors."

"Why didn't you take the gold away with you, then?"

"For the very simple reason that I found one pair of hands not enough to perform the task. I could have taken the gold away from the sunken wrecks, but the matter of getting it ash.o.r.e was another thing!"

"Why, what's to prevent?" asked Ned wonderingly.

"Several things!" declared the other. "In the first place the peculiar phase of human nature that makes every man mad when he sees a lot of money would operate against my plan of taking the gold ash.o.r.e. Who could I hire to move the heavy stuff with any a.s.surance of their honesty if they once found out what might be in the packages?"

"That's so!" admitted Ned thoughtfully. "Human nature is crooked!"

"My plan has been to find some one who needs the money and who would work on a percentage basis--share and share alike. We can then get the money ash.o.r.e, negotiate the older coins that possess more than their face value, bank the current coins and be prepared to use the wealth exactly as we see fit. So long as it remains under water it is safe."

"But I can't understand how you get it aboard!" declared Jimmie.

"I have a tank of compressed air fixed to the back of a special diving suit," explained the man. "There's also a search light and a small storage battery provided. In this suit I step out through the air lock onto the wreck. The rest is easy. I return with the load of gold the same way I went out. The submarine is anch.o.r.ed. The whole thing is simple!"