前言

秘方简介

常用词列表

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

CHAPTER XIII

THE SEA MONSTER

Tom Swift, who had been making readings of the various gauges 测量, taking notes for future use, and otherwise busying himself about the navigation 导航 of his reconstructed 重建 craft 手艺, turned quickly from the instrument board at the cry from Mr. Hardley. The gold 金-seeker 导引头, with a look of terror 恐怖 on his face, had recoiled from the observation 意见 windows.

" Bless 祝福 my hat band!" cried Mr. Damon. "Look, Tom!"

They all turned their attention to the glass, and through the plates 盘子 could be seen a school of giant 巨人 fishes that seemed to be swimming 游泳 in front of the submarine 潜艇, keeping pace 步伐，速度 with it as though waiting for a chance to enter.

"Are we well protected against sharks 鲨鱼, Mr. Swift?" demanded the adventurer 冒险活动. "Are these sea monsters 怪物 likely to break the glass and get in at us?"

"Indeed not!" laughed Tom. "There is absolutely no danger from these fish—they aren't sharks 鲨鱼, either."

"Not sharks 鲨鱼?" cried Mr. Hardley. "What are they, then?"

"Horse mackerel," Tom answered. "At least that is the common name for the big fish. But they are far from being sharks 鲨鱼, and we are in no danger from them."

"Oh!" exclaimed 喊叫 Mr. Hardley, and he seemed a little ashamed 惭愧的 of the exhibition 展览 of fear he had manifested 表现. "Well, they certainly seem determined to follow us," he added.

The big fish were, indeed, following the submarine 潜艇, and it required no exertion on their part to maintain 保持 their speed, since below the surface the M. N. 1 could not move very fast, as indeed no submarine 潜艇 can, due to the resistance 抵抗 of the water.

"They do look as though they'd like to take a bite 咬 or two out of us," observed Ned. "Are they dangerous 危险, Tom?"

"Not as a rule," was the answer. "I don't doubt, though, but if a lone 孤单 swimmer 游泳 got in a school of horse mackerel he'd be badly 很糟地 bitten 咬. In fact, some years ago, when there was a shark 鲨鱼 scare 惊恐 along the New Jersey coast, some fishermen declared that it was horse mackerel that were responsible for the death and injury 伤 of several bathers. A number of horse mackerel were caught catch and exhibited 展示 as sharks 鲨鱼, but, as you can easily see, their mouths lack the under-shot shoot arrangement 安排 of the shark 鲨鱼, and they are not built at all as are the man-eaters."

" Bless 祝福 my tooth‧brush 牙刷!" exclaimed 喊叫 Mr. Damon. "Still, between a horse mackerel and a shark 鲨鱼 there isn't much choice!"

Mr. Hardley, with a shudder 不寒而栗, turned away from the glass windows, and Tom glanced 一瞥 significantly 显著 at Ned. It was another exhibition 展览 of the man's lack of nerve 神经.

"We'll have trouble with him before this voyage 旅行 is over," declared the young inventor 发明家 to his chum, a little later.

"What makes you think so?" asked Ned.

"Because he's yellow; that's why. I thought him that once before, and then I revised 修改 my opinion. Now I'm back where I started. You watch—we'll have trouble."

"Well, I guess we can handle him," observed the financial 金融 manager.

"I'm going a little deeper," announced 宣布 Tom, toward evening on the first day of the voyage 旅行 on the open ocean 洋. "I want to see how she stands the pressure at five hundred 百 feet. I feel certain she will, and even at a greater depth. But if there's anything wrong we want to correct it before we get too far away from home. We're going down again, deeper than before."

A little later the submarine 潜艇 began the descent 下降 into the lower ocean 洋 depths. From three hundred 百 and fifty 五十 feet she went to four hundred 百, and when the hand on the gauge 测量 showed four hundred 百 and fifty 五十 there was a tense 紧张 moment. If anything went wrong now there would be serious trouble.

But Tom Swift and his men had done their work well. The M. N. 1 stood the strain 压力, and when the gauge 测量 showed four hundred 百 and ninety 九十 feet Mr. Damon gave a faint 微弱的 cheer 欢呼.

" Bless 祝福 my apple 苹果 dumpling, Tom!" he replied, "this is wonderful 精彩."

"Oh, we've been deeper than this," replied the young inventor 发明家, "but under different conditions. I'm glad 高兴的 to see how well she is standing it, though."

Suddenly, as the needle 针 pointer on the depth gauge 测量 showed five hundred 百 and two feet, there came a slight jar 罐 and vibration 振动 that was felt through‧out 始终 the craft 手艺.

"What's that?" suddenly and nervously 担心的 cried Mr. Hardley. "Have we struck strike something?"

"Yes, the bottom of the ocean 洋," answered Tom quietly. "We are now on the floor of the Atlantic, though several hundred 百 miles, and perhaps a thou‧sand 千, from the treasure 金银财宝 ship. We bumped 磕碰 the bottom, that's all," and as he spoke speak he brought the submarine 潜艇 to a stop by a signal to the engine room.

And there, as calmly 镇定的 and easily as some of the masses of sea‧weed 海‧杂草 growing on the ocean 3 floor around her, rested the M. N. 1. It was a test of her powers, and well had she stood the test, though harder ones were in store for her.

And inside the submarine 潜艇 Tom and his party were under scarcely 缺乏的 greater discomfort 不舒适 than they would have been on the surface. True, they were con‧fine 局限 to a restricted 限制 space, and the air they breathed 呼吸 came from compression 压缩 tanks 容器, and not from the open sky. The lights had to be kept aglow, of course, for it was pitch 沥青 dark at that depth. The sun‧light 阳光 cannot penetrate 穿透 to more than a hundred 百 feet. But sun‧light 阳光 was not needed, for the craft 手艺 carried powerful 强大 electric lights that could illuminate 照亮 the sea in the immediate vicinity 附近 of the submarine 潜艇.

"Are you going to stay here long?" asked Mr. Hardley, when Tom had spent spend some time making accurate 准确的；精确的；正确的 readings of the various instruments of the boat. "Of course, I realize that you are the commander 命令, but if we don't get to the treasure 金银财宝 ship soon some one else may loot 抢劫 her before we have a chance. She's been given up as a hope‧less 绝望 task 任务 more than once, but the lure 饵 of the millions may attract 吸引 another gang 结伙."

"I want to stay here until I make sure that nothing is leaking 泄漏 and that everything is all right," answered the young inventor 发明家. "This is a test I have not given her since the rebuilding 重建. But I think she is coming through it all right, and we can soon start off again. Before we do, though, I want to try the new diving 潜水 outfit 配备. Ned, are you game for it now? This is a little deeper than you have gone out in for some time, but—"

"Oh, I'm game!" exclaimed 喊叫 the young financial 金融 manager. "Get out the suit, Tom, and I'll put it on. I'll go for a stroll 漫步 on the bottom of the sea. Who knows? Perhaps I may pick up a pearl 珍珠."

"Pearls aren't found in these northern 北方的 waters, any more than are sharks 鲨鱼," said Tom with a laugh. "However, I'll have the suits made ready. I'll send Koku with you, and I'll stay in this time. Mr. Damon, do you want to go out?"

"Not this time, Tom," answered the eccentric 偏心 man. "My heart action isn't what it used to be. The doctor said I mustn't strain 压力 it. At a depth not quite so great I may take a chance."

"How about you, Mr. Hardley?" asked Tom. "Do you want to put on one of my port‧able 手提 diving suits and walk around on the bottom of the sea?"

"I—I don't believe I've had enough experience," was the hesitating 犹豫 answer. "I'll watch the others first."

Tom felt that it would be this way, but he said nothing. He ordered the diving suits made ready, a special size having been built for the giant 巨人, and soon preparations 制备 were under way for the two to step outside the craft 手艺.

Those who have read of Tom Swift's submarine 潜艇 boat know how his special diving outfit 配备 was operated. Instead of the diver 潜水 being supplied with the air through a hose 软管 connected 连接 with a pump 泵 on the surface, there was attached 连接 to the suit a tank 容器 of compressed 压缩 air, which was supplied as needed through special reducing valves 阀.

The diving dress, too, was exceptionally 异常 strong, to with‧stand 经受 the awful 糟糕的 pressure of water at more than five hundred 百 feet below the surface. The usual rubber 橡胶 was supplemented 补充 by thin, rein‧force 加强 sheets of steel 钢, and this feature 特征, together with an auxiliary 辅 air pressure, kept the wearer safe.

Thus Ned and Koku could leave the submarine 潜艇, walk about on the floor of the ocean as they pleased, and return, unhampered by an air hose 软管 or life line. In dangerous 危险 waters, infested by sea monsters 怪物, weapons could be carried that were effective under water. The diving suit was also provided with a powerful 强大 electric light operated by a new form of storage 存储 current, compact 紧凑 and lasting.

"Well, I think we're all ready," announced 宣布 Ned, as he and Koku were helped into their suits and they waited for the glass-windowed helmets 头盔 to be put on. Once these were fastened 系牢 in place talk would have to be carried on with the outside world by means of small telephones or by signals.

"Give me axe 斧子!" exclaimed 喊叫 Koku, as some of the sailors 水手 were about to put his helmet 头盔 in place.

"What do you want of an axe?" Tom asked.

"Maybe so one them cow 奶牛 fish come along," explained the giant 巨人. "Koku whack 重打 him with axe."

"He means horse mackerel," laughed Ned. "Give him the axe 3, Tom. I don't like the looks of those fish, either. I'll take a weapon myself 我."

Two keen 热切的 axes 斧头 were handed to the divers 潜水员, their helmets 头盔 were screwed 螺丝钉 on, and they immediately began breathing 呼吸 the compressed 压缩 air carried in a tank 容器 on their shoulders.

Slowly and laboriously they walked to the diving chamber 室. Their progress would be easier in the water, which would buoy them up in a measure. Now they were heavily 很大，沉重地 weighted.

To leave the submarine 潜艇 the divers 潜水员 had to enter a steel 钢 chamber 室 in the side of the craft 手艺. This craft 手艺 contained double doors. Once the divers 潜水员 were inside the door leading to the interior 室内 of the submarine 潜艇 was hermetically closed. Water from outside was then admitted until the pressure was equalized. Then the outer door was opened and Ned and Koku could step forth.

They entered the chamber 室, the door was closed tightly 紧的 and then Tom Swift turned the valve 阀 that admitted the sea water. With a hiss 嘶 the Atlantic began rushing 仓促 in, and in a short time the outer door would be opened.

"If you'll come around to the observation 意见 windows you can see them," said Tom, when a look at the indicators 指示符 told him Ned and Koku had stepped forth.

To the front cabin 舱 he and the others betook themselves, and when the interior 室内 lights were turned out and the exterior 外观 ones turned on they waited for a sight of the two divers 潜水员.

"Bless 3 my pickle 泡菜 bottle!" cried Mr. Damon, "there they are, Tom."

As he spoke there came into view, moving slowly, Ned and Koku. Their port‧able 手提 lights were glowing 辉光, and then, in order to see them better, Tom turned out the exterior 外观 searchlights. This made the two forms, in their rather grotesque 奇怪的 dress, stand out in bold 胆大的；醒目的 relief amid 际 the swirling 漩涡 green waters of the Atlantic.

Ned and the giant 巨人 moved slowly, for it was impossible to progress with any speed under that terrific 了不起 pressure. They looked toward the submarine 潜艇 and waved their hands in greeting 欢迎. They had no special object on the ocean floor, except to try the new diving dress, and it seemed to operate successfully 顺利. Ned made a pretense 借口 of looking for treasure 金银财宝 amid 际 the sand 沙 and sea‧weed 海‧杂草, and once he caught and held up by its tail 尾 a queer 奇怪 turtle 龟. Koku stalked 茎 about behind Ned, looking to right and left, possibly for a sight of some monster 怪物 " cow 奶牛 fish."

"They're coming back in, I think," remarked Tom, when he saw Ned turn and start back for the side of the craft 手艺, where, amidships, was located 定位 the diving chamber 室. "They're satisfied with the test."

Suddenly Koku was seen to glide 滑行 to the side of Ned, and point at something which none of the observers 观察者 in the M. N. 1 could see. The giant 4 was evidently 明显地 perturbed, and Ned, too, showed some agitation 搅动.

"Bless my rubber 橡胶 shoes! what's the matter?" cried Mr. Damon.

"I don't know," answered Tom. "Perhaps they have sighted a wreck 破坏；使遇难, or something like that."

"Look! It's a sea monster 怪物!" cried Mr. Hardley. "I can see the form of some great fish, or something. Look! It's coming right at them!"

As he spoke all in the observation 意见 chamber 室 saw a great, black form, as if of some monster 怪物, move close to the two divers 潜水员.

CHAPTER XIV

IN STRANGE PERIL

"What is it, Tom? What is it?" cried Mr. Damon, not stopping in this moment of excitement 激动 to bless anything. "What is going to attack Ned and Koku?"

"I don't know," answered the young inventor 发明家. "It's some big fish evidently 明显地. I must get to the diving chamber 室!"

He gave a quick glance 一瞥 through the observation 意见 windows. Ned and the giant 5 were moving as fast as they could toward the side of the craft 手艺 where they could enter. The black, shadowy 神出鬼没 form was nearer now, but its nature could not be made out.

Calling to his force of assistants 助理, Tom stood ready to let his chum and Koku out of the diving chamber 室 as soon as the water should have been pumped 泵 from it.

A little later, as they all stood waiting in tense 紧张 eagerness, there came a signal that the two divers 潜水员 had entered the side chamber 室. Quickly Tom turned the lever 杠杆 that closed the outer door.

"They're safe!" he exclaimed 喊叫, as he started the pumps 泵 to working. But even as he spoke they felt a jar 罐, and the submarine 潜艇 rolled partly over as if she had collided 碰撞 with some object. Yet this could not be, as she was stationary 静止的 on the floor of the ocean.

"Bless my cake 蛋糕 of soap 肥皂, Tom!" cried Mr. Damon, "what in the world is that?"

"If it's an accident 意外事件!" exclaimed 喊叫 Mr. Hardley, "I think it ought to be prevented. There have been too many happenings on this trip already. I thought you said your submarine 潜艇 was safe for under‧water 水下 trips!" he fairly snapped 卡 at Tom.

The young inventor 4 gave one look at the irate man who was coming out in his true colors. But it was no time to rebuke 训斥 him. Too much yet remained to be done. Ned and Koku were still in the chamber 室 and protected from some unknown 未知 sea monster 怪物 by only a comparatively 比较 thin door. They must be inside to be perfectly safe.

Tom speeded up the pumps that were forcing the water from the chamber 室 so the inner 里面的 door could be opened. Eagerly he and his men watched the gauges 测量 to note when the last gallon 加仑 should have been forced out by the compressed 压缩 air. Not until then would it be safe to let Ned and Koku step into the interior 室内 of the craft 手艺.

The submarine 潜艇 had not ceased 停止 rolling from the force of the blow she had received when there came another, and this time on the opposite side. Once more she rolled to a dangerous 危险 angle.

"Bless my tea 茶水 biscuit 饼干!" cried Mr. Damon, "what is it all about, Tom Swift?"

"I don't know," was the low-voiced answer, "unless a pair of monsters 怪物 are attacking us on both sides alternately 备用. But we'll soon learn. There goes the last of the water!"

The gauge 测量 showed that the diving chamber 室 was empty. Quickly the inner 里面的 doors were opened, and, with their suits still dripping 滴 from their immersion 浸没 in the salty sea, Ned and Koku stepped forth. In another moment their helmets 头盔 were loosed from the bayonet catches, and they could speak.

"What was it, Ned?" cried Tom.

"Big fish!" answered Koku.

"Two monster 怪物 whales 鲸!" gasped 喘气 Ned. "We barely 光秃秃的 got away from them! They're ramming 随机存取存储器 the sub 子, Tom!"

As he spoke there came a blow on the port 港口 side, greater than either of the two preceding 优于 ones. Those in the M. N. 1 staggered 错开 about, and had to hold on to objects to preserve their footing.

"Both at the same time!" cried Ned. "The two whales 鲸 are coming at us both at once!"

This was evidently 明显地 the case. Tom Swift quickly hurried to the engine room.

"What are you going to do?" asked Mr. Hardley. "You ought to do something! I'm not going to be killed down here by a whale 鲸. You've got to do something, Swift! I've had enough of this!"

Tom did not deign an answer, but hurried on. Mr. Damon followed him, having seen that some of the sailors were helping Ned and Koku out of the diving suits.

"Are we in any danger, Tom?" asked the eccentric 偏心 man.

"Yes; but I think it is easily remedied 治疗法," was the answer. "We'll go up to the surface. I don't believe the whales 鲸 will follow us. Or, if they do, they can't do much damage 损害 when we are in motion. It's because we are stationary 静止的 and they are moving that the blows seem so violent 猛烈. Unless they collide 碰撞 head on with us, in the opposite direction to ours, we ought to be able to get clear of them. If they persist 坚持 in following us—"

He paused 暂停 as he pulled over the lever 杠杆 that would send the M. N. 1 to the surface.

"Well, what then?" asked Mr. Damon.

"Then we'll have to use some weapon, and I have several," finished the young inventor 5.

A few moments later the craft 手艺 was in motion, not before, however, she was struck another blow, but only a glancing 一瞥 one.

"We're puzzling 使迷惑 them!" cried Tom.

Having done all that was possible for the time being, Tom hurried to the observation 意见 chamber 室, followed by the others. There Tom switched 开关 on the powerful 强大 lights. For a moment nothing was to be seen but the swirling 漩涡, green water. Then, suddenly, a great shape came into view of the glass windows, followed by another.

"Whales!" cried Tom Swift. "And the largest I've ever seen."

It was true. Two immense 极大的 specimens 标本 of the cetacean species 种类 were in front of the submarine 潜艇, one on either bow 弓, evidently 明显地 much puzzled 使迷惑 over the glaring 强光 lights. They were bow-heads, and immense creatures 动物；生物, and it would not take many blows from them to disable 禁用 even a stouter 肥硕 craft 手艺 than was the submarine 潜艇.

But the motion of the under‧sea 在…下面‧海 ship, the bright lights, and possibly the feel of her steel skin 皮 was evidently 明显地 not to the liking of the sea monsters 怪物. One, indeed, came so close to the glass that he seemed about to try to break it, but, to the relief of all, he veered 德维尔 off, evidently 明显地 not liking the look of what he saw.

Just once again, before the craft 手艺 reached the surface, was there another blow, this time at the stern 严肃. But it was a parting tap 敲；龙头；汲取（液体）, and none others followed.

"They've gone!" exclaimed 喊叫 Mr. Damon, as the whales 鲸 vanished 消失 from the sight of those in the forward cabin 舱.

"Have you any adequate 足够的；合格的；合乎需要的 protection against these monsters 怪物 of the deep?" asked Mr. Hardley in a fault 缺点-finding voice. "I should think you would have taken pre‧caution 预防, Swift!"

He had dropped the formal "Mr." and seemed to treat Tom as an inferior 下.

"We have other protection than running away," said the young inventor quietly. "There are guns we can use, and, if the whales 鲸 had been far enough away, I could have sent send a small torpedo 鱼雷 at them. Close by it would be dangerous 危险 to use that, as it would operate on us just as the depth bombs 炸弹 operated on the German submarines 潜艇. However, I fancy 想像 we have nothing more to fear."

And Tom was right. When the surface was reached and the main hatch 孵化 opened, the sea was calm 镇定的 and there was no sight of the whales 鲸. They evidently 明显地 had had enough of their encounter 遭遇 with a steel fish, larger even than themselves.

"But they surely were monsters 怪物," said Ned, as he told of how he and Koku had sighted the animals; for a whale 鲸 is an animal, and not a fish, though often mistakenly 误 called one.

"Koku was for attacking them with his axe," went on Ned, "but I motioned to him to beat it. We wouldn't have stood a show against such creatures. They were on us before we noticed their coming, but I presume 假设 the big submarine 潜艇 attracted 吸引 them away from us."

"It might have been the lights you carried that drew draw them," suggested Tom. "I am glad 高兴的 you came out of it so well."

Mr. Hardley seemed to recover 恢复 some of his former manners, once the peril 岌 was passed, but his conduct 进行 had been a revelation 启示 to Mr. Damon.

"Tom," said the eccentric 偏心 man in private to the young inventor, "I'm disgusted 反感 with that fellow. I don't see how I was ever bamboozled into taking up his offer."

"I don't, either," replied Tom frankly 坦率地说. "But we're in for it now. We've agreed to do certain things, and I'll carry out my end of the bar‧gain 讨价还价；交易. However, I won win't put up with any of his non‧sense 废话. He's got to obey 服从 orders on this ship! I know more than he thinks I do!"

The next two days the M. N. 1 progressed along on the surface, and nothing of moment occurred 发生. Then, as they neared southern 南部的 waters, and Tom desired to make some observations 意见 of the character of the bottom, it was decided to submerge 淹没. Accordingly, one day the order was given.

Not until the gauge 测量 showed a hundred 百 fathoms, or six hundred 百 feet, did the craft 手艺 cease 停止 descending 下来, and then she came to rest on the bottom of the sea—a greater depth than she had yet attained 达到 on this voyage 旅行.

"How beautiful 美丽!" exclaimed 喊叫 Mr. Damon, when Tom turned on the lights and they looked out of the forward cabin 舱 windows. "How wonderful 精彩 and beautiful 美丽!"

Well might he say that, for they were resting on pure white sand 沙, and about them, growing on the bottom of this warm, tropical 热带 sea were great corals 珊瑚, purple 紫色的 and white, of wondrous shapes, waving plants like ferns 蕨类 and palms 棕榈, and, amid 际 it all, swam 游泳:swim fish of queer 奇怪 shapes and beautiful 美丽 colors.

"This is worth waiting for!" murmured 私语 Ned. "If only moving pictures of this could be taken in colors, it would create a sensation 感觉."

"Perhaps I may try that some day," said Tom with a smile. "But just now I have something else to do. Ned, are you game for another try in the diving dress? I want to see how it operates with a new air tank 容器 I've fitted on. Want to try?"

"Sure I'll go out," was the ready answer. "It's nicer walking around on this white sand than on the black mud 泥 where we saw the whales 鲸. You can see better, too."

A little later he and one of the sailors were outside the submarine 潜艇, walking around in the diving dress, while Tom and the others watched through the glass windows. The new air tank 3 seemed to be working well, for Ned, coming close to the window, signaled that he was very comfort‧able 舒服；自在.

He walked around with the sailor 水手, breaking off bits 一点 of odd 奇-shaped coral 珊瑚 to bring back to Tom. Suddenly, as those inside the craft 手艺 looked out, they saw the sailor turn from Ned's side, and with a warning hand, point to something evidently 明显地 approaching. The next instant 瞬间 a queer 奇怪 shape seemed to envelope 信封 Ned Newton, coming out from behind a ledge 窗台 of weed 杂草-draped 悬垂 coral 珊瑚. And a cry went up from those in the submarine 潜艇 as Ned was seen to be enveloped 信封 in long, waving arms.

"An octopus!" cried Mr. Damon. "Bless my soul, Tom, an octopus has Ned!"

"No, it isn't that!" cried the young inventor hoarsely. "It's some other monster 怪物. It has only five arms—an octopus has eight 八! I've got to save Ned!"

And he hurried toward the diving chamber 室, while the others, in fascinated 深深吸引；迷住 horror 恐怖, looked at the diver who was in such strange peril 岌.

CHAPTER XV

TOM TO THE RESCUE

Mr. Damon came to a pause 暂停 in the compartment 隔室 from which the diving chamber 室 gave access 访问 to the ocean outside. Tom, standing before the sliding steel door, had summoned 召唤 to him several of his men and was rapidly giving them directions.

"What are you going to do, Tom Swift?" asked the eccentric 偏心 man.

"I'm going out there to save Ned!" was the quick answer. "He's in the grip 握 of some strange monster 怪物 of the sea. What it is I don't know, but I'm going to find out. Koku, you come with me!"

"Yes, Master, me come!" said the giant simply, as if Tom had told him to go for a pail of water instead of risking his life.

"Barnes, the electric gun!" cried the young inventor to one of his helpers 帮手, while others were getting out the diving suits.

"The electric gun!" exclaimed 喊叫 the man. "Do you mean the small one?"

"No, the largest. The improved one."

"Right, sir 先生! Here you are!"

"Do you mean to say you are going out there, where that monster 怪物 is, and attack it with a gun?" asked Mr. Hardley.

"That's what I'm going to do!" answered Tom, as he began to put on the suit of steel and rubber 橡胶, an example followed by Koku.

"But you may be attacked by the monster 怪物! You may be killed! You are risking your life!" cried the gold 金 seeker 导引头.

"I know it." Tom spoke simply. "Ned would do the same for me!"

"But hold on!" cried Mr. Hardley. "If you are killed there will be no one to navigate 导航 this boat to the place of the wreck 破坏；使遇难! You can't desert 沙漠；抛弃 this way!"

Tom gave the man one look of con‧tempt 鄙视. "You need have, no fears," he said. "This submarine 潜艇 is under international maritime 海上 laws. If I die, Captain Nelson, the next in command, takes charge, and the original 原版的 orders will be carried out. If it is possible to get the gold for you it will be done. Now let me alone. I've got work to do!"

"Bless my apple 苹果 cart 运货马车, Tom, that's the way to talk!" exclaimed 喊叫 Mr. Damon, and he, too, for the first time, seemed ready to break with Hardley. "If I were a bit 一点 younger I'd go out with you myself 我 and help save Ned."

"Koku and I can do it—if he's still alive 活的；有生命的!" murmured 私语 the young inventor. "Lively now, boys! Is that gun ready?"

"Yes, and doubly charged," was the answer. "Good! I may need it. Koku, take a gun also!"

"Me take axe, Master," replied the giant.

"Well, perhaps that will be better," Tom agreed. "If two of us get to shooting under the water we may hit one another. Quick, now! The helmets 头盔. And, Nash, you work the big search‧light 搜寻‧光；灯!"

"Aye, aye 赞成, sir 先生!" answered the sailor 水手.

The helmets 头盔 were now put on, and any further orders Tom had to give must come through the telephone, and it was by that same medium 中 that he must listen to the talk of his friends. It was possible for the divers 潜水员 to talk and listen to one another while in the water by means of these peculiarly 奇怪的 constructed 构造 telephones.

"All ready, Koku?" asked Tom.

"All ready, Master," answered the giant, as he grasped 把握 his keen 热切的 axe.

The inner 里面的 door of the diving chamber 室 was now opened, and, the water having been pumped out of the chamber 室 since Ned and the sailor 水手 had emerged 出现, it was ready for Tom and Koku. They entered, the door was closed, and presently they felt the pressure of water all about them, the sea being admitted through valves 阀 in the outer door.

While this was going on Mr. Damon, the gold-seeker 导引头, and some of the crew 全体工作人员；全体船员 and officers went into the forward chamber 室 to observe the under‧sea 在…下面‧海 fight against the monster 怪物 that had attacked Ned.

Suddenly the waters glowed 辉光 with a greatly increased light, and in this illumination 照明 it was seen that the monster 怪物, whatever it was, had almost completely enveloped Tom's chum with its five arms.

"What makes it possible to see better?" asked Mr. Damon.

"I've turned on the big search‧light 搜寻‧光；灯," was the answer. "Mr. Swift had it installed 安装 at the last moment. It's the same kind he invented 发明 and gave to the government, but he retained 保留 the right to use it himself."

"It's a good thing he did!" exclaimed 喊叫 the eccentric 偏心 man. "Now he can see what he's doing! Poor Ned! I'm afraid he's done for!"

"Look!" exclaimed 喊叫 one of the crew 全体工作人员；全体船员. "Norton, the sailor 4 who went out with Mr. Newton, is trying to kill the monster 怪物 with his spear 矛!"

This was so. Ned's companion 同伴, armed with a lone 孤单 pole 极 to which he had lashed 睫毛 a knife, was stabbing 刺 and jabbing 戳 at the black form which almost completely hid hide Ned from sight. But the efforts of the sailor 5 seemed to produce little effect.

"What in the world can it be?" asked Mr. Damon. "Tom says it isn't an octopus, and it can't be, unless it has lost three of its arms. But what sort of monster 怪物 is it?"

No one answered him. The powerful 强大 search‧light 搜寻‧光；灯 continued to glow 辉光, and in the gleam 闪光 Ned could be seen trying to break away from the grip 握 of the Atlantic beast 野兽. But his efforts were unavailing. It was as if he was enveloped in a sort of sack 解雇, made in segments 部分；片；段；瓣；节；弓形, so that they opened and closed over his head. About all that could be seen of him was his feet, encased in the heavy lead-laden 载货 boots 靴；鞋. The form of the other sailor, who had gone out of the submarine 潜艇 with him, could be seen moving here and there, stabbing 刺 at the huge 巨大 creature 动物；生物.

"Here comes Tom!" suddenly exclaimed 喊叫 Mr. Damon, and the young inventor, followed by the giant Koku, came into view. They had emerged 出现 from the diving chamber 室, walked around the submarine 潜艇 as it rested on the ocean floor, and were now advancing to the rescue 营救. Tom carried his electric rifle 步枪, and Koku an axe.

So desperately 拼命 was Norton engaged 从事 in trying to kill the sea beast 野兽 that had attacked Ned, that for the moment he was unaware 不知道 of the approach of Tom and Koku. Then, as a swirl 漩涡 of the water apprised him of this, he turned and, seeing them, hastened 加速 toward them.

"What is it?" Tom asked through the telephone, this information being given to the watchers 守望者 in the submarine 潜艇 later, as all they could gather then was by what they saw. "What sort of monster 怪物 is it?"

"A giant star‧fish 星‧鱼!" answered Norton, speaking into his mouth‧piece 口‧块 and the water serving as a transmitting 发送 medium 中 instead of wires. "I never knew they grew grow so big! This one has its five arms all around Mr. Newton!"

"A star‧fish 星‧鱼!" murmured 私语 Tom. This accounted for it, and, as he looked at the monster 怪物 from closer quarters, he saw that Norton had spoken speak the truth.

Small star‧fish 星‧鱼, or even large ones, two feet or more in diameter 直径, may be seen at the sea‧shore 海‧岸 almost any time. Nearly always the specimens 标本 cast 投 up on the beach 海滩 are in extended form, either limp 跛行, or dead and dried. In almost every instance 例 they are spread out just as their name indicates 表明, in the conventional 传统的；常规的；普通的 form of a star.

But a star‧fish 星‧鱼 alive 活的；有生命的, and at its business of eating oysters 牡蛎 or other shell 壳 animals in the sea, is not at all this shape. Instead, it assumes 承担 the form of a sack 解雇, spreading its five radiating 辐射 arms around the object of its meal 餐. It then proceeds 继续 to suck 吮吸 the oyster 牡蛎 out of its shell, and so powerful 强大 a suction organ 器官；机构 has the star‧fish 星‧鱼 that he can pull an oyster 牡蛎 through its shell, by forcing the bivalve to open.

And it was a gigantic 巨大 star‧fish 星‧鱼, a hundred 百 times as large as any Tom had ever seen, that had Ned in its grip 握. The creature 动物；生物 had doubt‧less 毫无疑问， taken the diver for a new kind of oyster 牡蛎, and was trying to open it. An octopus has suckers 吸盘 on the inner 里面的 sides of its eight 八 arms. A star‧fish 星‧鱼 has little feelers, or "fingers," arranged parallel 位置 rows 行 on the inner 4 side of its arms—thou‧sand 千 of little feelers, and these exert 发挥 a sort of sucking 吮吸 action.

The gigantic 巨大 star‧fish 星‧鱼 had attacked Ned from above, settling down on him so that the head of the diver was at the middle of the creature 动物；生物's body, the five arms, dropping over Ned in a sort of living canopy 华盖. And the arms held tightly.

"Come on, Koku, and you, too, Norton!" called Tom through his head‧piece 头；上端‧块 telephone. "We'll all attack it at once. I'll fire, and then you begin to hack 劈 it. The electric charge ought to stun 击晕 it, if it doesn't kill the beast 野兽!"

Tom's new electric gun, unlike 不像 one kind he had first invented, did not fire an electrically 电动 charged bullet 子弹. Instead it sent a powerful 强大 charge of electricity 电力, like a flash 使闪光 of lightning 闪电, in a straight line toward the object aimed at. And the current was powerful 强大 enough to kill an elephant 象.

Bracing his feet on the white sand, which gleamed 闪光 and sparkled 火花 in the glare 强光 of the search‧light 搜寻‧光；灯, Tom aimed at the gigantic 巨大 star‧fish 星‧鱼 which had enveloped Ned. Standing on either side of him, ready to rush 仓促 in and attack with axe and lance, were Koku and Norton.

For an instant 瞬间 Tom hesitated 犹豫. He was wondering whether the powerful 强大 electric charge might not penetrate 穿透 the body of the star‧fish 星‧鱼 and kill his chum.

"But the rubber 3 suit ought to insulate 隔离 and protect him," mused 沉思 the young inventor. "Here goes!"

Taking quick aim, Tom pulled the switch 开关, and the deadly charge shot out of the rifle 步枪 toward the sea monster 怪物.

CHAPTER XVI

GASPING FOR AIR

For an instant after the electrical 电动 charge had been fired nothing seem to happen. The giant star‧fish 星‧鱼 still enveloped Ned Newton in its grip 握, while Tom and his two companions 同伴 stood tensely 紧张 waiting and those in the submarine 潜艇 looked anxiously 焦急的 out through the thick glass windows.

Then, as the powerful 强大 current made itself 本身 felt, those watching saw one of the arms slowly loosen 变松 its grip 握. Another floated 漂浮 upward 向上, as a strand 缕 of rope 粗绳 idly ID drifts 漂移 in the current. Tom saw this, and called through his telephone:

"He's feeling it! Go to him, boys! Koku, you with the axe!"

They needed no second urging.

Springing toward the monster 怪物, Koku with upraised axe and Norton with the lance, they attacked the star‧fish 星‧鱼. Hacking and stabbing 刺, they completed the work begun by Tom's electric gun. With one powerful 强大 stroke 一击;轻抚, even hampered 阻碍 as he was by the heavy medium 中 in which he operated, Koku lopped off one of the legs. Norton thrust 推力 his lance deep into the body of the monster 怪物, but this was hardly needed, for the star‧fish 星‧鱼 was now dead, and gradually 逐步地 the remaining arms relaxed 放松 their hold.

Pushing with their weapons, the giant and the sailor now freed Ned from the bulk 块 of the creature 3, which floated away. It was almost immediately attacked by a school of fish that seemed to have been waiting for just this chance. Ned Newton was freed, but for a moment he staggered 错开 about on the floor of the sea, hardly able to stand.

"Are you all right, Ned? Did he pierce 刺穿 your suit?" asked Tom, anxiously through the telephone.

"Yes, I'm all right," came back the reassuring 再保证 answer. "I'm a bit 一点 cramped 抽筋 from the way he held me, but that's all. Guess he found this suit of rubber and steel too much for his digestion 消化."

Slowly, for Ned was indeed a bit stiff 严厉的 and cramped 抽筋, they made their way back to the submarine 潜艇, passing through a vast 广大 horde 部落 of small fishes which had been attracted by the dismemberment of the monster 怪物 that had been killed.

"There'll be sharks 鲨鱼 along soon," said Tom to Ned through the telephone. "They're not going to miss such a gathering of food as these small fry 油炸；炒 present. And sharks 鲨鱼 will present a different emergency 急 from star‧fish 星‧鱼."

Tom spoke truly 真, for a little later, when they were all once more safely within the submarine 潜艇, looking through the windows, they saw a school of hungry 饥饿 sharks 鲨鱼 feeding on the millions of small fish that gathered to eat the creature that had attacked Ned.

"What did you think was happening to you out there?" asked Tom, when the diving suits had been put away.

"I didn't know what to think," was the answer. "I was prospecting 展望 around, and I leaned lean over to pick up a particularly beautiful 美丽 bit of coral 珊瑚. All at once I felt something over me, as a cloud sometimes hides the sun. I looked up, saw a big black shape settling down, and then I felt my arms pinned 钉 to my sides. At first I thought it was an octopus, but in a moment I realized what it was. Though I never thought before that star‧fish 星‧鱼 grew so large."

"Nor I," added Tom. "Well, you've had an experience, to say the least."

They remained a little longer in the vicinity 附近, Tom and his officers making observations 意见 they thought would be useful 有用 to them later, and then the submarine 潜艇 went up to the surface.

They cruised 巡航 in the open the rest of that day, recharging the storage 存储 batteries 电池 and getting ready for the search which, Tom calculated 计算, would take them some time. As he had explained, it would not be easy to locate 定位 the Pandora in the fathomless depths of the sea.

Ned and Mr. Damon did some fishing while they were on the surface, and, as their luck was good, there was a welcome change from the usual food of the M. N. 1. Though, as Tom had installed 安装 a refrigerating plant, fresh meat 肉 could be kept for some time, and this, in addition 加成 to the tinned 锡 and preserved foods, gave them an ample 充足 larder.

"When are we going to begin the real search for the gold?" asked Mr. Hardley that evening.

"I should say in another day or two," Tom answered, after he had consulted 咨询；请教；查阅 the charts 图表 and made calculations 计算 of their progress since leaving their dock 码头. "We shall then be in the vicinity 附近 of the place where you say the Pandora went down, and, if you are sure of your location 位置, we ought to be able to come approximately 约 near to the location 位置 of the gold wreck 破坏；使遇难."

"Of course I am sure of my figures," declared Mr. Hardley. "I had them directly from the first mate 伴，友, who gave them to the captain."

"Well, it remains to be seen," replied Tom Swift. "We'll know in a few days."

"And I hope there will be no more taking chances," went on the gold-seeker 导引头. "I don't see any sense in you people going out in diving suits to fight star‧fish 星‧鱼. We need those suits to recover 恢复 the gold with, and it's foolish 傻 to take need‧less 不必要 risks."

His tone 音 and manner were dictatorial, but Tom said nothing. Only when he and Mr. Damon were alone a little later the eccentric 偏心 man said:

"Tom will you ever for‧give 原谅 me for introducing you to such a pest 虫害?"

"Oh, well, you didn't know what he was," said Tom good-naturedly. "You're as badly 很糟地 taken in as I am. Once we get the gold and give him his share, he can get off my boat. I'll have nothing more to do with him!"

Not wishing to navigate 导航 in the darkness 黑暗, for fear of not being able to keep an accurate 准确的；精确的；正确的 record of the course and the distance made Tom submerged 淹没 the craft 手艺 when night came and let her come to rest on the bottom of the sea. He calculated that two days later they would be in the vicinity 附近 of the Pandora.

The night passed without incident 事件, situated 位于, as they were, on the sand about three hundred 百 feet below the surface; and after break‧fast 早餐 Tom announced 宣布 that they would go up and head directly for the place where the Pandora had foundered 创办人.

The ballast tanks were emptied, the rising rudder set, and the M. N. 1 began to ascend 登. She was still several fathoms from the surface when all on board became aware 知道的 of a violent 猛烈 pitching 沥青 and tossing 折腾 motion.

"Bless my post‧age 邮资 stamp 邮票, Tom!" exclaimed 喊叫 Mr. Damon, "what's the matter now?"

"Has anything gone wrong?" demanded Mr. Hardley.

"Nothing, except that we are coming up into a storm 暴风雨," answered the young inventor. "The wind is blowing hard up above and the waves are high. The swell 膨胀；增强 makes itself 本身 felt even down here."

Tom's explanation 说明 of the cause of the pitching 沥青 and rolling of the submarine 潜艇 proved correct. When they reached the surface and an observation 意见 was taken from the conning CON tower 塔, it was seen that a terrific 了不起 storm was raging 愤怒. It was out of the question to open the hatches 孵化, or the M. N. 1 would have been swamped 沼泽. The waves were high, it was raining hard and the wind blowing a hurricane 飓风.

"Well, here's where we demonstrate 演示 the advantage of traveling in a submarine 潜艇," announced 宣布 Tom, when it was seen that journeying 旅行 on the surface was out of the question. "The disturbance 骚乱 does not go far below the top. We'll submerge 淹没 and be in quiet waters."

He gave the orders, and soon the craft 手艺 was sinking 淹没 again. The deeper she went the more untroubled the sea became, until, when half way to the bottom, there was no vestige of the storm 暴风雨.

"Are we going to lie here on the bottom all day, or make some progress toward our destination 目的地?" asked the gold-seeker 导引头, when Tom came into the main cabin 舱 after a visit to the engine room. "It seems to me," went on Mr. Hardley, "that we've wasted enough time! I'd like to get to the wreck 3, and begin taking out the gold."

"That is my plan," said Tom quietly. "We will proceed 继续 presently—just as soon as navigating 导航 calculations can be made and checked up. If we travel under water we want to go in the right direction."

His manner toward the gold-seeker 导引头 was cool and distant 遥远的. It was easy to see that relations were strained 压力. But Tom would fulfill 履行 his part of the contract 合同.

A little later, after having floated quietly for half an hour or so, the craft 手艺 was put in motion, traveling under water by means of her electric motors. All that day she surged 浪涌 on through the salty sea, no more disturbed 打扰 by the storm 3 above than was some mollusk on the sandy 沙 bottom.

It was toward evening, as they could tell by the clocks 钟 and not by any change in day‧light 日光 or darkness 黑暗, that, as the submarine 潜艇 traveled on, there came a sudden violent concussion.

"What's that?" cried Mr. Damon.

"We've struck something!" replied Tom, who was with the others in the cabin 舱, the navigation 导航 of the craft 手艺 having been entrusted 委托 to one of the officers. "Keep cool, there's no danger!"

"Perhaps we have struck the wreck!" exclaimed 喊叫 Mr. Hardley.

"We aren't near her," answered the young inventor. "But it may be some other half-submerged 淹没 derelict 被遗弃. I'll go to see, and—"

Tom's words were choked 呛 off by a sudden swirl 漩涡 of the craft 手艺. She seemed about to turn completely over, and then, twisted 扭成一束 to an uncomfortable 不舒服 angle, so that those within her slid slide to the side walls of the cabin 舱, the M. N. 1 came to an abrupt 突兀 stop. At the same time she seemed to vibrate 颤动 and tremble 发抖 as if in terror 恐怖 of some unknown 未知 fate 命运.

"Something has gone wrong!" exclaimed 喊叫 Tom, and he hurried to the engine room, walking, as best he could with the craft 手艺 at that grotesque 奇怪的 angle. The others followed him.

"What's the matter, Earle?" asked Tom of his chief assistant 助理.

"One of the rudders has broken break, sir 先生," was the answer. "It's thrown throw us off our even keel. I'll start the gyroscope, and that ought to stabilize 稳定 us."

"The gyroscope!" cried Tom. "I didn't bring it. I didn't think we'd need it!"

For a moment Earle looked at his commander 命令. Then he said:

"Well, perhaps we can make a shift 转移 if we can repair 修理 the broken rudder. We must have struck a powerful 强大 cross current, or maybe a whirl‧pool 旋转‧水池, that tore tear the main rudder loose. We've rammed 随机存取存储器 a sand bank, or stuck stick her nose into the bottom in some shallow 浅的 place, I'm afraid. We can't go ahead or back up."

"Do you mean we're stuck, as we were in the mud 泥 bank?" asked Mr. Hardley.

"Yes," answered Tom, and Earle nodded 点头 to confirm 确认 that version 版 of it.

"But we'll get out!" declared Tom. "This is only a slight accident 意外事件. It doesn't amount to anything, though I'm sorry 对不起的 now I didn't take my father's advice 劝告 and bring the gyroscope rudder along. It would have acted automatically 自动 to have prevented this. Now, Mr. Earle, we'll see what's to be done."

All night long they worked, but when morning came, as told by the clocks, they were still in jeopardy 危险.

And then a new peril 岌 con‧front 面对 them!

Earle, coming from the crew 全体工作人员；全体船员's quarters, spoke to Tom quietly in the main cabin 舱.

"We'll have to turn on one of the auxiliary 辅 air tanks," he said. "We've consumed 消耗 more than the usual amount on account of the men working so hard, and we used one of the compressed 压缩 air motors to aid 援助 the electrics. We'll have to open up the reserve tank."

"Very well, do so," ordered Tom.

But a grim 严峻 look came to his face when Earle, returning a little later, reported with blanched cheeks 脸颊:

"The extra 额外的 tank hasn't an atom 原子 of air in it, sir 3!"

"What do you mean?" asked Tom, in fear and alarm 警告.

"I mean that the valve 阀 has been opened in some way—broken perhaps by accident—and all the air we have is what's in the submarine 潜艇 now. Not an atom 原子 in reserve, sir!"

"Whew!" whistled 吹口哨 Tom, and then he stood up and began breathing quickly.

Already the atmosphere 大气层 was beginning to be tainted 污点, as it always becomes in a closed place when no fresh oxygen 氧 can enter. Without more fresh air the lives of all in the submarine 潜艇 were in imminent 即将来临 peril 岌. And even as Tom listened to the report of his officer, he and the others began gasping 喘气 for breath.

CHAPTER XVII

WHERE IS IT?

"Down on your faces!" called Tom to those with him in the cabin 舱. "Lie down, every one! The freshest air is near the floor; the bad air rises, being lighter with carbonic acid 酸. Lie down!"

All obeyed 服从, Tom following the advice 劝告 he himself gave. It was a little easier to breathe 呼吸, lying on the tilted 倾斜 cabin 舱 floor, but how long could this be kept up? That was a question each one asked himself.

"Is every bit of our reserve air used?" asked Tom, speaking to Earle.

"As far as I can learn, yes, sir. If I had known that the auxiliary 辅 tank was empty I wouldn't have ordered the compressed 压缩 air motor used. But I didn't know."

"No one is to blame 指责," said Tom in a low voice. "It is one of the accidents 意外事件 that could not be foreseen. If there is any blame it attaches 连接 to me for not installing 安装 the gyroscope rudder. If we had had that when we were caught in the cross current, or the whirl‧pool 旋转‧水池 swirl 漩涡, our equilibrium 平衡 would have been automatically 自动 maintained 保持. As it is—"

He did not finish, but they all knew what he meant.

"Bless my soda 苏打 fountain 喷泉, Tom!" murmured 私语 Mr. Damon, "but isn't there any way of getting fresh air?"

"None without rising to the top," Tom answered. "We'll have to try that. Come with me to the engine room, Mr. Earle. It may be possible we can pull her loose."

They started to crawl 爬行 on their hands and knees, to take advantage of the purer air at the floor level. The situation of the M. N. 1 was exactly the same as it had been when she ran into the mud bank in the river, with the exception that now she was in graver 坟墓；严重的 danger, for the supply of air for breathing was almost exhausted 排气.

Reaching the engine room, where he found the crew 3 lying down to take advantage of the better air near the floor, Tom made a hasty 匆 examination 检查 of the apparatus 仪器. There was still plenty of power left in the storage 存储 batteries 电池, but, so far, the motors they operated had not been able to pull the craft 手艺 loose from where her nose was stuck fast.

"Are the tanks completely emptied?" asked Tom.

"As nearly so as we could manage with the pumps not acting to their full capacity 容量," answered Earle. "If we could turn the craft 手艺 on a more level keel we might empty them further, and then her natural 自然 buoyancy would send her up."

"Then that's the thing to try to do!" exclaimed 喊叫 Tom, his head beginning to feel the heaviness due to the impure air. "We'll move every stationary 静止的 object over to the port 港口 side, and we'll all stand there, or lie there, ourselves 我们自己. That may heel 脚跟 her over, and help loosen 变松 the grip 握 of the sand."

"It's worth trying," said Earle. "Get ready, men!" he called to the crew.

Tom crawled 爬行 back to the main cabin 舱 and told Mr. Damon and the others what was to be attempted.

"Koku, you come and help move things," requested Tom.

"Me move anything!" boasted 自夸 the giant, who, because of his great strength and reserve power did not seem as greatly affected 影响 as were the others.

Going back to the engine room with Koku, Tom assisted 帮助；协助；援助, as well as he could, in the shifting 转移 of pieces of apparatus 仪器, stores and other things that were movable. They all worked at a great disadvantage 坏处 except Koku, and he did not seem to feel the lack of vitalizing air.

One thing after another was shifted 转移, and still the M. N. 1 maintained 保持 the dangerous 危险 angle.

"It isn't going to work!" gasped 喘气 Tom, as he noticed the indicator 指示符 which told to what angle the craft 手艺 was still off an even keel. "We'll have to try something else."

"Is there anything to try?" asked Earle, in a faint 微弱的 voice. He was on the point of fainting 微弱的 for lack of air.

Tom looked desperately 拼命 around. There was one piece of heavy machinery that might be moved to the other side of the engine room. It was bolted 螺栓 to the floor, but its added weight, with that of the crew and passengers 乘客, together with what had already been shifted 转移, might turn the trick 哄骗；诀窍.

"Let's try to move that!" said Tom faintly 微弱的, pointing to it.

"It will take an hour to unbolt it," said one of the men.

"Koku!" gasped 喘气 Tom, pointing to the heavy apparatus 仪器. "See if—see if you—"

Tom's breath failed him, and he sank 淹没:sink down in a heap 堆. But he had managed to make the giant understand what was wanted.

"Koku do!" murmured 私语 the big man. Striding to the piece of machinery, the legs of which were bolted 螺栓 to the floor, Koku got his arms under it. Bending over, and arching 弓形 his back, so as to take full advantage of his enormous 巨大 muscles 肌肉，身体部份, the giant strained upward 向上.

There was a cracking 破裂 of bone 骨头 and sinew, a rasping sound, but the machinery did not leave the floor.

"Him must come!" gasped 喘气 the giant. "One more go!"

He took a hold lower down. Tom's eyes were dim 暗淡 now, and he could not see well. Some of the men were unconscious 无意识.

Then, suddenly, there was a loud 响亮的, breaking sound, and something tinkled on the steel floor of the submarine 潜艇 engine room. It was the heads of the bolts 螺栓 which Koku had torn tear loose. Like hail 冰雹 they fell fall about the giant, and in another instant the big man had pulled loose the machine, weighing 称重 several hundreds 百 of pounds. In another moment he shoved 推 it across the floor, toward the elevated 提升 side of the craft 手艺.

For a second or two nothing happened. Then slowly, very slowly, the M. N. 1 began to heel 脚跟 over.

"She's turning!" some one gasped 喘气.

An instant later, freed by this turning motion from the grip 握 of the sand bank, the submarine 潜艇 shot to the surface. Up and up she went, breaking out on the open sea as a great fish darts 镖 upward 向上 from the hidden hide depths.

It was the work of only a few seconds for the man nearest it to open the hatch 孵化, and then in rushed 仓促 the life-giving air. Tom and his companions 同伴 were saved, and by Koku's strength.

"Me say him machine got to come up—him come up!" said the giant, smiling in happy fashion, when, after they had all gulped 吞 down great mouthfuls of the precious 宝贵的 oxygen 氧, they were talking of their experience.

"Yes, you certainly did it," said Tom, and due credit 信用 was given to Koku.

"Never again will I travel without a gyroscope," declared Tom. "I'm almost ready to go back and have one installed 安装 now."

"No, don't!" exclaimed 喊叫 the gold-seeker 导引头. "We are almost at the place of the wreck."

"Well, I suppose we can travel more slowly and not run a risk like that again," decided Tom. "I'll put double valves 阀 on the emergency 急 air tank, so no accident will release 发布 our supply again."

This was done, after the broken valves 阀 had been repaired 修理, and then, when the machine Koku had torn loose was fastened down again, and the submarine 潜艇 restored 修复；使复位；使复职 to her former condition, a consultation 会诊 was held as to what the next step should be.

They were in the neighborhood of the West Indies, and another day, or perhaps less, of travel would bring them approximately 约 to the place where the Pandora had foundered 创办人. The latitude 纬度 and longitude had been computed 计算, and then, with air tanks filled, with batteries 电池 fully 充分 charged, and everything possible done to insure 保证 success, the craft 手艺 was sent on the last leg of her journey 旅行.

For two days they made progress, sometimes on the surface, and again submerged 淹没, and, finally, on the second noon 正午, when the sun had been "shot," Tom said:

"Well, we're here!"

"You mean at the place of the wreck?" asked Mr. Hardley.

"At the place where you say it was," corrected Tom.

"Well, if this is the place of which I gave you the longitude and latitude 纬度, then it's down below here, somewhere," and the gold-seeker 导引头 pointed to the surface of the sea. It was a calm 镇定的 day and the ocean was the proverbial mill 磨坊 pond 池塘.

"Let's go down and try our luck," suggested Tom.

The orders were given, the tanks filled, the rudders set, and, with hatches 孵化 closed, the M. N. 1 submerged 淹没. Then, with the powerful 强大 search‧light 搜寻‧光；灯 aglow, the search was begun. Moving along only a few feet above the floor of the ocean, those in the submarine 潜艇 peered 窥视 from the glass windows for a sight of the sunken Pandora.

All the rest of that day they cruised 巡航 about below the surface. Then they moved in ever widening 放宽 circles. Evening came, and the wreck had not been found. The search was kept up all night, since darkness 黑暗 and day‧light 日光 were alike 同样的 to those in the under‧sea 在…下面‧海 craft 手艺.

But when three days had passed and the Pandora had not been seen, nor any signs of her, there was a feeling of something like dismay 沮丧.

"Where is it?" demanded Mr. Hardley. "I don't see why we haven't found it! Where is that wreck?" and he looked sharply at Tom Swift.

CHAPTER XVIII

A SEPARATION

"Mr. Hardley," began Tom calmly, as he took a seat in the main cabin 舱, "when we started this search I told you that hunting for something on the bottom of the sea was not like locating 定位 a building at the inter‧section 路口 of two streets."

"Well, what if you did?" snapped 卡 the gold-seeker 导引头. "You're supposed to do the navigating 导航, not I! You said if I gave you the latitude 纬度 and longitude, down to seconds, as well as degrees and minutes, which I have done, that you could bring your submarine 潜艇 to that exact point."

"I said that, and I have done it," declared Tom. "When we computed 计算 our position the other day we were at the exact location 位置 you gave me as being the spot where the Pandora foundered 创办人."

"Then why isn't she here?" demanded the unpleasant 不愉快 adventurer. "We went down to the bottom at the exact spot, and we've been cruising 巡航 around it ever since, but there isn't a sign of the wreck. Why is it?"

"I'm trying to explain," replied Tom, endeavoring 努力 to keep his temper 性情. "As I said, finding a place on the open sea is not like going to the inter‧section 路口 of two streets. There everything is in plain sight. But here our vision 视力 is limited, even with my big search‧light 搜寻‧光；灯. And being a few feet out of the way, as one is bound 必定；跳 to be in making nautical calculations, makes a lot of difference. We may have been close to the wreck, but may have missed it by a few yards."

"Then what's to be done?" asked Mr. Hardley.

"Keep on searching," Tom answered. "We have plenty of food and supplies. I came out equipped 装备 for a long voyage 3, and I'm not discouraged 不鼓励 yet. Another thing. The ship may have moved on several fathoms, or even a mile or two, after her last position was taken before she went down. In that case she'd be all the harder to find. And even granting 发放 that she sank where you think she did, the ocean currents since then may have shifted 转移 her. Or she may be covered by sand."

"Covered by sand!" exclaimed 喊叫 the gold-seeker 导引头.

"Yes," replied Tom. "The bottom of the ocean is always changing and shifting 转移. Storms produce changes in currents, and currents wash the sand on the bottom in different directions. So that a wreck which may have been exposed 暴露 at one time may be covered a day or so later. We'll have to keep on searching. I'm not ready to give up."

"Maybe not. But I am!" snapped 卡 out Mr. Hardley.

"What do you mean?" asked the young inventor.

"Just what I said," was the quick answer. "I'm not going to stay down here, cruising 巡航 about without knowing where I'm going. It looks to me as if you were hunting for a needle 针 in a hay‧stack 干草‧堆."

"That's just about what we are doing," and Tom tried to speak good-naturedly.

"Then do you know what I think?" the gold-seeker 导引头 fairly shot forth.

"Not exactly," Tom replied.

"I think that you don't understand your business, Swift!" was the instant retort 反驳. "You pretend 假装 to be a navigator 航海家, or have men who are, and yet when I give you simple and explicit 明确的 directions for finding a sunken wreck you can't do it, and you cruise 巡航 all around looking for it like a dog that has lost the scent 香味! You don't know your business, in my estimation 估计!"

"Well, you are entitled 使有资格，允许 to your opinion, of course," agreed Tom, and both Mr. Damon and Ned were surprised to see him so calm. "I admit we haven't found the wreck, and may not, for some time."

"Then why don't you admit you're incompetent 无能?" cried Mr. Hardley.

"I don't see why I should," said Tom, still keeping calm. "But since you feel that way about it, I think the best thing for us to do is to separate."

"What do you mean?" stormed 暴风雨 the other.

"I mean that I will set you ashore 岸上 at the nearest place, and that all arrangements 安排 between us are at an end."

"All right then! Do it! Do it!" cried Mr. Hardley, shaking his fist 拳头, but at no one in particular. "I'm through with you! But this is your own decision. You broke break the contract 合同—I didn't, and I'll not pay a cent toward the expenses of this trip, Swift! Mark my words! I won't pay a cent! I'll claim the money I deposited 留下 in the bank, and I won't pay a cent!"

"I'm not asking you to!" returned Tom, with a smile that showed how he had himself in command. "You put up a bond 键, secured 安全 by a deposit 留下, to insure 保证 your share of the expenses—yours and Mr. Damon's. Very well, we'll consider that bond 键 canceled 取消；终止；撤销. I won't charge you a cent for this trip. But, mark this, Hardley: What I find from now on, is my own! You don't share in it!"

"You mean that—"

"I mean that if I discover the wreck of the Pandora and take the gold from her, that it is all my own. I will share it with Mr. Damon, provided he remains with me—"

"Bless my silk 丝 hat, Tom, of course I'll stay with you!" broke in the eccentric 偏心 man.

"But you don't share with me," went on the young inventor, looking sternly 严肃 at the gold-seeker 导引头. "What I find is my own!"

"All right—have it that way!" snapped 卡 the adventurer. "Set me ashore 岸上 as soon as you can—the sooner the better. I'm sick of the way you do business!"

"Nothing like being honest 诚实的!" murmured 私语 Ned. But, as a matter of fact, he was glad the separation 分离 had come. There had been a strain 压力 ever since Hardley came aboard 船上. Mr. Damon, too, looked relieved 解除, though a trifle 琐事 worried. He had consider‧able 大量 at stake 赌注, and he stood to lose the money he had invested 投资 with Dixwell Hardley.

"This is final 最后," announced 宣布 Tom. "If we separate we separate for good, and I'm on my own. And I warn you I'll do my best to discover that wreck, and I'll keep what I find."

"Much good may it do you!" sneered 冷笑 the other. "Perhaps two can play that game."

No one paid much attention to his words then, but later they were recalled 召回 with significance 重要性.

"Get ready to go up!" Tom called the order to the engine room.

"Where are you going to land me?" asked Mr. Hardley. "I have a right to know that?"

"Yes," conceded 承认 Tom, "you have. I'll tell you in a moment."

He consulted a chart 图表, made a few calculations and then spoke.

"I shall land you at St. Thomas," answered the young inventor. "I do not wish to bring my submarine 潜艇 to a place that is too public, as too many questions may be asked. From St. Thomas you can easily reach Porto Rico, and from there you can go any‧where 任何地方 you wish."

"Very well," murmured 私语 the malcontent. "But I don't consider that I owe 欠…债 you a cent, and I'm not going to pay you."

"I wouldn't take your money," Tom answered. "And don't forget what I said—that what I find is my own."

The other answered nothing. Nor from then on did he hold much conversation with Tom or any others in the party. He kept to himself, and a day later he was landed, at night, at a dock 码头, and if he said "good-bye 再见" or wished Tom and his friends a safe voyage, they did not hear him.

They were steaming 蒸汽 along on the surface the next day, and at noon 正午 the submarine 潜艇 suddenly halted 停.

"What's on now, Tom?" asked Ned, as he saw his chum prepare to go up on deck 甲板 with some of the craft 手艺's officers.

"We're going to 'shoot the sun' again," was the answer. "I want to make sure that we were right in our former calculations as to the position of the Pandora. The least error 错误 would throw us off."

Using the sextant and other apparatus 仪器, some of which Tom had invented himself, the exact position of the submarine 潜艇 was calculated. As the last figure was set down and compared with their previous 以前 location 位置, one of the men who had been doing the computing 计算 gave an exclamation.

"What's the matter?" asked Tom.

"Look!" was the answer, and he pointed to the paper. "There's where a mistake was made before. We were at least two miles off our course."

"You don't say so!" exclaimed 喊叫 Tom, and, taking the sheet, he went rapidly over the results.

CHAPTER XIX

THE SERPENT WEED

All waited eagerly 渴望的 for Tom Swift to verify 校验 the statement 声明 of the other mathematician 数学家, and the young inventor was not long in doing this, for he had what is commonly known as a "good head for figures."

"Yes, I see the mistake," said Tom. "The wrong logarithm was taken, and of course that threw throw out all the calculations. I should say we were nearer three miles off our supposed location 位置 than two miles."

"Does that mean," asked Mr. Damon, "that we began a search for the wreck of the Pandora three miles from the place Hardley told us she was."

"That's about it," Tom said. "No wonder we couldn't find her."

"What are you going to do?" Ned wanted to know.

"Get to the right spot as soon as possible and begin the search there," Tom answered. "You see, before we submerged 淹没 as nearly as possible at the place where we thought the Pandora might be on the ocean bottom. From there we began making circles under the sea, enlarging 放大 the diameter 直径 each circuit 电路.

"That didn't bring us any‧where 任何地方, as you all know. Now we will start our series 系列 of circles with a different point as the center. It will bring us over an entirely different territory 疆土，领域 of the ocean floor."

"Just a moment," said Ned, as the conference 会议 was about to break up. "Is it possible, Tom, that in our first circling that we covered any of the ground grind which we may cover now? I mean will the new circles we propose making coincide 重合 at any place with the previous 以前 ones?"

"They won't exactly coincide 重合," answered the young inventor. "You can't make circles coincide 重合 unless you use the same center and the same radius 半径 each time. But the two series 系列 of circles will intersect 相交 at certain places."

"I guess intersect 相交 is the word I wanted," admitted Ned.

"What's the idea?" Tom wanted to know.

"I'm thinking of Hardley," answered his chum. "He might assert 断言 that we purposely went to the wrong location 位置 with him to begin the search, and if we after‧ward 之后 find the wreck and the gold, he may claim a share."

"Not much he won't!" cried Tom.

"Bless my check book, I should say not!" exclaimed 喊叫 Mr. Damon.

"Hardley broke off relations with us of his own volition 意志," said Tom. "He 'breached 突破口 the contract 合同,' as the lawyers say. It was his own doing.

"He has put me to consider‧able 大量 expense and trouble, not to say danger. He was aware 知道的 of that, and yet he refused to pay his share. He accused 指责 me of incompetence 无能. Very well. That presuggested that I must have made an error 错误, and it was on that assumption 假设 that he said I did not know my business. Instead of giving me a chance to correct the error 错误, which he declared I had made, he quit 放弃—cold. Now he is entitled to no further consideration 考虑.

"An error 错误 was made—there's no question of that. We are going to correct it, and we may find the gold. If we do I shall feel I have a legal 法律 and moral right to take all of it I can get. Mr. Hardley, to use a comprehensive 全面的；综合的；详尽的, but perhaps not very elegant 优雅 expression, may go fish for his share."

"That's right!" asserted 断言 Mr. Damon.

"I guess you're right, Tom," declared Ned. "There's only one more thing to be considered."

"What's that?" asked the young inventor.

"Why, Hardley himself may find out in some way that we were barking 吠 up the wrong tree, so to speak. That is, learn we started at the wrong nautical point. He may get up another expedition 远征 to come and search for the gold and—"

"Well, he has that right and privilege 特权," said Tom coolly. "But I don't believe he will. Anyhow 总之, if he does, we have the same chance, and a better one than he has. We're right here, almost on the ground, you might say, or we shall be in half an hour. Then we'll begin our search. If he beats us to it, that can't be helped, and we'll be as fair to him as he was to us. This treasure 3, as I understand it, is available to who‧ever 无论谁 first finds it, now that the real owners 所有者, whoever they were, have given it up."

"I guess you're right there," said Mr. Damon. "I'm no sea lawyer, but I believe that in this case finding is keeping."

"And there isn't one chance in a hundred 百 that Hardley can get another submarine 潜艇 here to start the search," went on Tom. "Of course it's possible, but not very probable."

"He might get an ordinary diving outfit 配备 and try," Ned suggested.

"Not many ordinary divers 潜水员 would take a chance going down in the open sea to the depth the Pandora is supposed to lie," Tom said. "But, with all that, we have the advantage of being on the ground, and I'm going to make use of that advantage right away."

He gave orders at once for the M. N. 1 to proceed 继续, and this she did on the surface. It was decided to steam 蒸汽 along on the open sea until the exact nautical position desired was reached. This position was the same Mr. Hardley had indicated 表明, but that position was not before attained 达到, owing 欠…债 to an error 错误 in the calculations.

As all know, to get to a certain point on the surface of the ocean, where there is no land to give location 位置, a navigator 航海家 has to depend on mathematical 数学的 calculations. The earth's surface is divided by imaginary 想像中的 lines. The lines drawn draw from the north to the south poles 极 are called meridians of longitude. They are marked in degrees, and indicate 表明 distance east or west of the meridian of, say, Greenwich, England, which is taken as one of the centers. The degrees are further divided into minutes and seconds, each minute being a sixtieth of a degree and each second, naturally 自然地, the sixtieth of a minute.

Now, if a navigator 航海家 had to depend only on the meridian lines indicating 表明 distance east and west, he might be almost any distance north or south of where he wanted to go. So the earth is further divided into sections 部分 by other imaginary 想像中的 lines called parallels 位置 of latitude 纬度. As all know, these indicate 表明 the distance north or south of the middle line, or the equator. The equator goes around the earth at the middle, so to speak, running from east to west, or from west to east, according as it is looked at. The meridian of Greenwich may be regarded as a sort of half equator, running half way around the earth in exactly the opposite direction, or from north to south.

The place where any two of these imaginary 想像中的 lines, crossing at right angles, meet may be exactly determined by the science of navigation 导航. It is a complicated 使复杂化 and difficult science, but by calculating 计算 the distance of the sun above the horizon 地平线, sometimes by views of stars, by knowing the speed of the ship, and by having the exact astronomical 天文 time at hand, shown on an accurate 准确的；精确的；正确的 chronometer, the exact position of a ship at any hour may be determined.

By this means, if a navigator 航海家 wants to get to a place where two certain lines cross, indicating 表明 an exact spot in the ocean, he is able to do so. He can tell for instance 例 when he has reached the place where the seventy 七十-second degree of longitude, west from Greenwich, meets and crossed the twentieth parallel 位置 of latitude 纬度. This spot is just off the northern 北方的 coast of Haiti. Other positions are like‧wise 同样 determined.

It was after about an hour of rather slow progress on the surface of the calm sea, no excess 超过 speed being used for fear of over-running the mark, that Tom and his associates 关联 gathered on deck 甲板 again to make another calculation 计算.

Long and carefully 小心 they worked out their position, and when, at last, the figures had been checked and checked again, to obviate the chance of another error 错误, the young inventor exclaimed 喊叫:

"Well, we're here!"

"Really?" cried Ned.

"No doubt of it," said his chum.

"Bless my door‧mat 门‧席子!" cried Mr. Damon. "And do you mean to say, Tom Swift, that if we submerge 淹没 now we'll be exactly where the Pandora lies, a wreck on the floor of the ocean.

"I mean to say that we're at exactly the spot where Hardley said she went down," corrected Tom, "and we weren't there before—that is not so that we actually knew it. Now we are, and we're going down. But that doesn't guarantee 保证 that we'll find the wreck. She may have shifted 转移, or be covered with sand. All that I said before in reference to the difficulty in locating 定位 something under the surface of the sea still holds good."

Once more, to make very certain there was no error 错误, the figures were gone over, Then, as one result checked the other, Tom put away the papers, the nautical almanac, and said:

"Let's go!"

Slowly the tanks of the M. N. 1 began to fill. It was decided to let her sink 淹没 straight down, instead of descending by means of the vertical 垂直 rudders. In that way it was hoped to land her as nearly as possible on the exact spot where the Pandora was supposed to be.

"How deep will it be, Tom?" asked Ned, as he stood beside his chum in the forward observation 意见 cabin 舱 and watched the needle 针 of the gauge 测量 move higher and higher.

"About six hundred 百 feet, I judge, going by the character of the sea bottom around here. Certainly not more than eight 八 hundred 百 I should say." And Tom was right. At seven 七 hundred 百 and eighty 八十-six feet the gauge 测量 stopped moving, and a slight jar 罐 told all on board that the submarine 潜艇 was again on the ocean floor.

"Now to look for the wreck!" exclaimed 喊叫 Tom. "And it will be a real search this time. We know we are starting right."

"Are you going to put on diving suits and walk around looking for her?" asked Ned.

"No, that would take too long," answered Tom. "We'll just cruise 巡航 about, beginning with small circles and gradually 逐步地 enlarging 放大 them, spiral 螺旋 fashion. We'll have to go up a few feet to get off the bottom."

As Tom was about to give this order Ned looked from the glass windows. The powerful 强大 search‧light 搜寻‧光；灯 had been switched 开关 on and its gleams 闪光 illuminated 照亮 the ocean in the immediate vicinity 附近 of the craft 手艺.

As was generally the case, the light attracted hundreds 百 of fish of various shapes, sizes, and, since the waters were tropical 热带, beautiful 美丽 colors. They swarmed 一群 in front of the glass windows, and Ned was glad to note that there were no large sea creatures, like horse mackerel or big sharks 鲨鱼. Somehow or other, Ned had a horror 恐怖 of big fish. There were sharks 鲨鱼 in the warm waters, he well knew, but he hoped they would keep away, even though he did not have to encounter 遭遇 any in the diving suit.

Slowly the submarine 潜艇 began to move. And as she was being elevated 提升 slightly above the ocean bed, to enable 启用 her to proceed 继续, Ned uttered 说出 an exclamation and pointed to the windows.

"Look, Tom!" he cried.

"What is it?" the young inventor asked.

"Snakes!" whispered 低声说 his chum. "Millions of 'em! Out there in the water! Look how they're writhing about!"

Tom Swift laughed.

"Those aren't snakes!" he said. "That's serpent grass 草—a form of very long sea‧weed 海‧杂草 which grows on certain bottoms. It attains 达到 a length of fifty 五十 feet sometimes, and the serpent weed 杂草 looks a good deal like a nest （鸟）窝 of snakes. That's how it got its name. I didn't know there was any here. But we must have dropped down into a bed of it."

"Any danger?" asked Ned.

"Not that I know of, only it may make it more difficult for us to see the wreck of the Pandora."

As Tom turned to leave the cabin 舱 the submarine 潜艇 suddenly ceased 停止 moving. And she came to a gradual stop as though she had been "snubbed" by a mooring 泊 line.

"I wonder what's the matter!" exclaimed 喊叫 Tom. "We can't have come upon the wreck so soon."

At that moment a man entered the cabin 舱.

"Trouble, Mr. Swift!" he reported.

"What kind?" asked Tom.

"Our propellers are tangled 纠纷 with a mass of serpent weed 杂草," was the answer. "They're both fouled 犯规, and we can't budge."

"Bless my anchor 锚 chain!" ejaculated Mr. Damon. "Stuck again!"

CHAPTER XX

THE DEVIL FISH

It was true. The long sinuous strands 缕 of ocean grass 草, known under the name of "serpent weed," had caught around the whirling 旋转 propellers and there had been wound 创伤 and twisted very tightly. Just as sometimes the stern 严肃 line gets so tightly twisted around a motor boat propeller 推进 as to require hours of work with an axe to free it, the sea‧weed 海‧杂草 was twisted around the blades 刀片 of the M. N. 1.

Slowly the under‧sea 在…下面‧海 craft 手艺 came to a stop, and there she remained, floating 漂浮 freely enough, but a few feet above the bottom of the ocean. There was a look of alarm 警告 on the faces of Ned and Mr. Damon, but Tom Swift smiled.

"This is annoying 打扰, and may cause us delay 延迟," he announced 宣布, "but there is no danger."

"How are we to get free from the weed 4?" asked Mr. Damon. "We can't move if it's wound 创伤 around our propellers, can we?"

"Not very well," Tom answered. "But all that will have to be done will be for some of us to put on diving suits, go out and chop 劈 the strands 缕 of weed 5 away. We can do it more easily than could an ordinary vessel 容器, for they would have to go into dry dock 码头 for the purpose. I think I'll go out myself 我. I want to look around a little."

"I'll go with you," said Ned. "As long as we haven't seen any sharks 鲨鱼 I don't mind."

"Nor gigantic 巨大 star‧fish 星‧鱼, either," added Tom with a smile, and Ned nodded 点头 in agreement 协议.

"We might try reversing 反向；倒转 the propellers," suggested the man from the engine room, who had come in with the information about the serpent weed. "The chief didn't like to try that. We saw the weed from our observation 意见 windows and stopped as soon as we felt we had fouled 犯规 it."

"That was right," commended 表彰 Tom. "Well, try reversing. It can't do any harm 损害, and it may make it easier for us to free the propellers when we go out."

He went to the engine room himself to see that everything was properly attended to. Slowly the motors were reversed 反向；倒转, and only a slight current was given them, as, with the resistance 抵抗 of the tightly wound weed, too powerful 强大 a force might burn out the insulation 绝缘.

Slowly the starting lever 杠杆 was thrown over. There was a low humming 哼 and whining 抱怨 as the current jumped from the batteries 电池, and a slight vibration 振动 of the craft 手艺. Tom looked at the movable pointer which showed the speed and direction of the propellers. The hand oscillated slightly and then stopped.

" Shut 关闭 off the current!" cried Tom. "It's of no use. The propellers are held as tight 紧的 as a drum 鼓! We've got to go out and cut loose the serpent weed!"

The experiment of reversing the propellers had failed. But still Tom did not believe his craft 手艺 was in danger. He gave orders for the engine room force to stand by and then arranged for himself, Ned, and Koku to go outside in diving dress and cut the weed off the shafts 轴. There were twin 双胞胎之一 propellers on the submarine 潜艇, each revolving 围绕 independently 独立地 by separate motors, and each cap‧able 能 of being sent in forward or reverse 反向；倒转 direction.

"Start the engines as soon as we give the signal," Tom told the machinist. "Two knocks 敲 on the hull 船壳 with an axe will mean go ahead, and three will mean reverse."

"I understand," said Weyth, the machinist. "But stand away from the propellers after you give the signal. I'll give you three minutes to move clear."

"That will be enough," Tom said. "But better make it half speed in either case. My idea is that if we can partly cut the weed off, starting the propellers, either forward or in reverse 反向；倒转, will finish the trick 哄骗；诀窍."

"It may," agreed Weyth.

Armed with axes 斧头 and sharp steel bars, Tom, Ned, and Koku were soon ready to step outside the submarine 潜艇.

They entered the diving chamber 室. In the usual manner water was admitted, and, when the pressure was equalized, the outer door was opened and they walked out on the floor of the ocean, the submarine 潜艇 having been allowed to settle down again on the bottom of the Atlantic.

The powerful 强大 search‧light 搜寻‧光；灯 had been turned so that the beams 梁 were diffused 扩散 toward the stern 严肃. In addition 加成 to this Tom and his two companions 同伴 carried, attached 连接 to their suits, small, but brilliant 出色的, electric torches 火炬. Of course they had their air tanks with them, and also the telephones, by means of which they could communicate 通信 with one another.

As they emerged 出现 into the warm waters surrounding the submarine 潜艇 they disturbed thou‧sand 千 of small fish which were feeding all about. Like ocean swallows 吞, the creatures scattered 散落 in all directions, some even brushing the divers 潜水员 as they slowly made their way toward the stern 严肃 of the craft 手艺.

"Nice place here," said Ned to Tom, as they walked along, Koku coming just behind them.

"Yes. If we could take this up above and exhibit 展示 it in some city park it would make a hit all right," answered the young inventor.

They were walking on the pure, white, sandy 沙 floor of the ocean, some seven 七 hundred 百 feet below the surface, protected from the awful 糟糕的 pressure of the water by means of the specially constructed 构造 suits which Tom had invented. About them, growing as if in a garden, were great masses of coral 珊瑚, some so thin and sinuous that it waved as do palms 棕榈 and ferns 蕨类 in the open air. Other coral 珊瑚 was in great rock masses.

Then, too, there was the unpleasant 不愉快 serpent weed. It did not grow all over, but in patches 补丁 here and there, as rank 排列 grass springs up in a meadow 草地.

And it had been the misfortune 不幸 of the M. N. 1 that she poked 戳 her tail 尾 into a mass of this long, tough 坚强的 grass, which was now wound about her propellers.

In addition 加成 to the many wonderful 精彩 vegetable 蔬菜 forms that grew on the ocean floor, some rivalling 对手 in beauty the orchids of the tropics, and almost as delicate 微妙的；纤弱的, there were the fishes, which darted 镖 to and fro 来来往往, now swiftly 如飞 swimming beneath 之下 some coral 珊瑚 arch 弓形, and again poising 平衡 around some mass of waving sea fronds.

"Well, let's get busy," called Tom to Ned through the telephone. "We want to free the propellers and find the wreck of the Pandora. She may be a hundred 百 feet from us, or a mile away, and in that case it's going to take longer to locate 定位 her."

Together they walked to the stern 严肃 of the disabled 禁用 craft 手艺. One look at the propeller 推进 shafts 轴, the examination 检查 being made by the diffused 扩散 glow 辉光 from the search‧light 搜寻‧光；灯, as well as from the electric torches 火炬 carried, showed that the diagnosis 诊断 of the trouble was correct.

Wound around both propellers was a mass of the serpent weed, tightly bound 必定；跳 because the machinery had whirled 旋转 it around and around after the grass had once been caught. It was almost as bad as though manila cable 电线 had been thus accidentally 偶然 fastened.

"Well, might as well begin to cut it loose," said Tom to his companions 同伴. "Koku, you take the port 港口 propeller 推进, and Ned and I will work on the other. You ought to be able to beat us at this game."

"Me do," said the giant, as he got his axe ready for work.

Blows struck in water lose much of their force. This can easily be proved by filling a bath‧tub 沐浴‧桶 full of water, rolling up the sleeves 袖, and then taking a hammer 铁锤 in the hand, immersing 沉浸 it fully 充分, and trying to strike some object held in the other hand. The water hampers 阻碍 the blows.

It was this way with Tom and his friends. Nearly half of Koku's great strength was wasted. But they knew they could take their time, though they did not want to waste many hours.

The streamers of weed were like strands 缕 of tightly wound rope 粗绳, and this, under certain circumstances 环境, acquires 获得 almost the density 密度 of wood. Tom and Ned, working together, had managed to chop 劈 a little off their propeller 推进 shaft 轴, and Koku had done some‧what 有些 better with his task 任务, when Ned became aware 知道的 of a shadow passing above him.

Instinctively he looked up, and as he did so he could not repress 抑 a start of horror 恐怖. Tom, too, as well as Koku, saw the menacing 威胁 shadow. Ned grasped 把握 more tightly his sharp, steel bar and spoke through the telephone to his companions 4.

" Devil 魔鬼 fish!" he said. "The devil fish are after us."

CHAPTER XXI

A WAR REMINDER

To a large number of people the name devil fish brings to mind a concept‧ion 概念 of an octopus, squid, cuttle fish, or a member of that species 种类. This is, however, a mistake.

The true devil fish of the tropics is a member of the sting 叮 ray 光束 family, and the common name it bears is given to it because of two prongs, or horns 角；喇叭, which project 项目 just in front of its mouth. His Satanic Majesty is popularly supposed to have horns 角；喇叭, together with a tail 尾, hoofs 蹄 and other appendages, and the horns 角；喇叭 of this sting ray fish are what give it the name it bears.

The devil 魔鬼 fish, some specimens 标本 of which grow to the weight of a ton 吨 and measure fifteen 十五 feet from wing 翅膀 tip 尖；窍门 to wing tip, are armed with a long tail 3, terminating 终止 in a tough 坚强的, horny substance 物质, like many of the ray 光束 family members. This horn 角；喇叭-tipped 尖；窍门 tail, lashing 睫毛 about in the water, becomes a terrible weapon of defense. Possibly it is used for offense 进攻, as the devil 魔鬼 fish feeds on small sea animals, sweeping them into its mouth by movements 运动 of the horns 角；喇叭 mentioned. These horns 角；喇叭, swirled 漩涡 about in the water, create a sort of suction current, and on that the food fishes are borne bear into the maw of the gigantic 巨大 creature.

A whale 鲸 rushes 仓促 through a school of small sea animals with open mouth, takes in a great quantity 量 of water, and the fringe 边缘 of whale‧bone 鲸‧骨头 acts as a strainer 压力, letting out the water and retaining 保留 the food. In like manner the devil 3 fish feeds, except that it has no whale‧bone 鲸‧骨头. Its "horns 角；喇叭" help it to get a meal 餐.

The "wing tips 尖；窍门" of the devil fish have been spoken of. They are not really wings 翅膀, though when one of these fish breaks water and shoots through the air, it appears to be flying. The wings are merely fins 鳍, enormously 巨大 enlarged 放大, and these give the fish its great size, rather than does the body itself 本身. It is the whipping 鞭打 spike 穗-armed tail of the devil fish that is to be feared, aside from the fact that the rush 仓促 of a monster 怪物 might swamp 沼泽 a small boat.

It was two or three of these devil fish that were now floating in the water above Tom and his companions 5, who were grouped about the stern 严肃 of the disabled 禁用 submarine 潜艇.

"They won't attack us unless we disturb 打扰 them," said Tom through his telephone, speaking to Ned and Koku. "Keep still and they'll swim 游泳 away. I guess they're trying to find out what new kind of fish our boat is."

All might have gone well had not Koku acted precipitately 沉淀. One of the devil fish, the smallest of the trio 三人, measuring about ten 十 feet across, swam down near the giant. It was an uncanny 神秘的 looking creature, with its horns 角；喇叭 swirling 漩涡 about in the water and its bone 骨头-tipped tail lashing 睫毛 to and fro 来来往往 like a venomous serpent.

"Look out!" cried Tom. But he was too late. Koku raised his axe and struck with all his force at the sea beast 野兽. He hit it a glancing 一瞥 blow, not enough to kill it, but to wound it, and immediately the sea was crimsoned with blood.

The devil fish was able to observe under water better than its human enemies, and it was in no doubt as to its assailant. In an instant it attacked the giant, seeking 寻求 to pierce 刺穿 him with the deadly tail.

These tails 尾 are not only armed with a tip 尖；窍门 of horn 角；喇叭-like hardness, they are also poisonous 有毒, and their penetrating 穿透 power is great. Fishermen have sometimes caught small sting 叮 rays 光束, which are a sort of devil fish. Lashing about in the bottom of a boat a sting ray 光束 can send its tail tip 3 through the sole 唯一 of a heavy boot 靴；鞋 and inflict 造成 a painful 痛苦 wound which may cause serious results.

The beast 4 Koku had wounded 创伤 was trying to sting 4 the giant, and the latter, aware 知道的 of his peril 岌, was striking out with the axe.

"Look out, Tom!" called Ned through his telephone, as he saw one of the two unwounded devil fish swirl 漩涡 down toward the young inventor. Tom looked up, saw the big, horrible 可怕 shape above him, and jabbed 戳 it with the sharp, steel bar. He inflicted 造成 a wound which added further to the crimson tinge in the sea, and that fish now attacked Tom Swift.

In another instant all three divers 潜水员 were fighting the terrible creatures, that, knowing by instinct 直觉 they were in danger, were using the weapon with which nature had provided them. They lashed 睫毛 about with their sharp-pointed tails, and more than one blow fell on the suits of the divers 潜水员.

Had there been the least penetration 渗透, of course almost instant death would have followed. For the sea, at that depth and pressure, entering the suits would have ended life suddenly. But Tom had seen to it that the suits were well made and strong, with a lining of steel. And however great a thickness 厚度 of leather 皮 the devil fish could send his sting 5 through, it could not over‧come 战胜 steel.

There was danger, though, that the slender 苗条 tip might slip through the steel bars across the windows in the helmets 头盔 and shatter 打碎 the glass. And that would be as great a danger as if the suits themselves were penetrated 穿透.

"We've got to fight 'em!" gasped 喘气 Tom through his instrument, and, seeing his chance, he gave another jab 戳 to the devil fish attacking him. Koku, too, was standing up well under the attack of the monster 怪物 he had first wounded. Ned, watching his chance, got in several blows, first at one and then at the other of the huge 巨大 creatures. The third devil fish, which had not been wounded, had disappeared 不见. Finally Koku, with a desperate 殊死 blow, succeeded in severing 严峻的 the tail from the beast 5 attacking him, and that battle was over.

As if realizing that it had lost its power to harm 损害, the devil fish at once swam off, grievously wounded. Then Koku turned his attention to Tom's enemy. Ned, too, lent 把…借给:lend his aid 援助, and they succeeded in wounding 创伤 the creature in several places, so that it sank to the bottom of the sea and lay lie there gasping 喘气.

Slowly the red waters cleared and the three divers 潜水员, exhausted 排气 by the fight, could view the remaining creature—the one wounded to death. It was the largest of the three, and truly 真 it was a monster 怪物. But it was past the power to harm 损害, and in a few minutes an under sea current carried it slowly away. Later it would float 漂浮, doubt‧less 毫无疑问，, or be devoured 吞食 by sharks 鲨鱼 or other ocean pirates 海盗 before reaching the surface.

"Thank goodness 善良 that's over!" said Ned to Tom. "I don't want to see any more of them."

"There may be more about," Tom said. "We'd better keep watch. Ned, you lay off and Koku and I will work on the propellers. Then you can take your turn."

This plan was followed. Koku, not being tired, did not need to stop working, and he was the first to free his shaft 轴 partially 部分 of the entangling weeds 杂草. Tom rapped 敲击 a signal, the blades were slowly revolved 围绕 and then came free. A little later the second was in like condition.

"Now we can move!" said Tom, as they started back toward the diving chamber 室. "I hope we don't run into another patch 补丁 of that serpent grass."

"Nor see any more devil fish," added Ned.

"Same here!" echoed 回声 the young inventor.

Luck seemed to be with the gold-seekers 导引头 after that, for as the submarine 潜艇 was sent ahead, no more of the long, entangling grass was encountered 遭遇.

The search for the sunken Pandora was now begun in earnest 热心的, since they were positive 正 that they were at the right spot.

No immediate sign of her was found. But Tom and his friends hardly expected to be as lucky 幸运 as that. They were willing to make a search. For, as Tom had said, a current might have shifted 转移 the position of the wreck.

They followed the plan of moving about in ever-widening circles. Only in this way could they successfully 顺利 cover the ground. It was the third day after the encounter 遭遇 with the devil fish that Tom, Ned and Mr. Damon were in the forward observation 意见 cabin 舱. The eccentric 偏心 man suddenly pointed to something visible 可以看见的；可视的 from the star‧board 星‧板，上船 window.

"There's a wreck, Tom!" he cried. "Maybe it's the Pandora!"

Tom and the others hurried to Mr. Damon's side and peered 窥视 out into the sea, illuminated 照亮 by the great search‧light 搜寻‧光；灯.

"That isn't the Pandora!" said the young inventor.

"But it's a wreck, isn't it?" asked Ned.

"Yes, it's a sunken vessel 容器, all right," Tom assented 同意. "But it's a reminder of the Great War. Look! She has been blown blow up by a torpedo 鱼雷!"

CHAPTER XXII

STUDYING CURRENTS

There was no question about Tom's statement 声明. They had approached close to the side of a small, sunken and wrecked 破坏；使遇难 steamer 蒸汽, and in her side was torn a great hole. In the light from the submarine 潜艇 it could be seen that the plates bent bend inward 向内的, indicating 表明 that the explosion 爆炸 was from outside.

"What are you going to do, Tom?" asked Ned, as he saw his chum move the engine room telegraph 电报 signal to the stop position.

"Going to investigate 调查," was the answer. "We might as well take the time. We may learn something of value."

"Do you think there is any treasure in her?" asked Mr. Damon.

"There might be," answered Tom. "We'll put on the diving suits and go outside."

"I hope there aren't any devil fish," remarked Ned.

"Same here," Tom agreed. "But I don't believe we'll meet with any. Will you take a chance, Ned?"

"I surely will! I'd like to find out what sort of ship that is—or rather, was, for there isn't much left of her."

He spoke truly 真, for indeed the torpedo 鱼雷 had created fearful 可怕 havoc 浩劫. The full extent of it was not observed until Tom, Ned, Koku and two of the crew had put on diving suits and approached the hulk. She lay on her side on the sandy 沙 bottom, heeled 脚跟 over some‧what 有些, and when the investigators had walked around her, as they were able to do, they saw a second, and even larger hole in the opposite side.

"Two submarines 潜艇 must have attacked her," said Ned, speaking through his telephone to Tom.

"Either that, or else one sent a torpedo 鱼雷 into her, dived 潜水, came up on the other side and sent another."

"Well, let's see if she has any treasure aboard 船上," Ned proposed. "Wouldn't it be queer 奇怪 if we should discover two treasure ships?"

"More queer 奇怪 than likely," Tom answered. "We've got to be careful 小心 going inside her."

"Why?" asked Ned. "Do you think we'll set off a hidden hide mine?"

"No, but part of the wreck‧age 残骸 might be loosened 变松 if we climbed over it, and we might fall and be pinned down. I've read of divers 潜水员 being caught that way. We must be careful 小心."

"Do you suppose a German sub 子 did this?" Ned asked.

"I think very likely," Tom answered. "Maybe we can tell if we can discover the nationality 国籍 of this craft 手艺."

They made their way to a position just outside the gaping 盱；目瞪口呆 hole in the star‧board 星‧板，上船 side of the craft 手艺. Evidently; it was, or had been, a tramp 流浪汉 steamer, and the torpedo 鱼雷 hole on her star‧board 星‧板，上船 side was about amidships. She must have filled and sunk 淹没:sink quickly with two such great holes torn in her.

Standing near the wound in the steel skin 皮, Tom and his companions tried to see what was inside. Their port‧able 手提 torches 火炬 did not give light enough to make out clearly the character of the cargo 货物 carried, and it was too risky 有风险 to venture 企业；投机活动；商业冒险 into the mass of wreck‧age 残骸 that must be the result of the explosion 爆炸 of the torpedo 鱼雷.

"Let's try the other side," suggested Tom, and they moved around the stern 严肃 of the craft 手艺. When they reached the place where the name was visible 可以看见的；可视的 Tom raised his electric torch 火炬 and, in the glow 辉光 of it, they all read the painted inscription 题词, Blakesly, New York.

"That's the vessel 容器 that disappeared so mysteriously 神秘!" exclaimed 喊叫 Ned, speaking through his instrument. "I remember reading about her. She sailed 航行；帆 from New York for Brest, but was never heard of. At last we have solved 解决 the mystery!"

"Yes," agreed Tom, "but without much avail 果. We are too late to do any good."

"Not one of her crew or passengers was ever heard of," went on Ned. "It was surmised that a German sub 子 attacked her, and that she was either sunk 'without a trace 跟踪' or else her survivors 幸存者 were taken aboard 船上 the submarine 潜艇 and carried to Germany."

"Perhaps we may learn something to that end," said Tom, as they got around to the other side. The hole there was not quite so big, and as it seemed safe to enter Tom and Ned prepared to do so, the others remaining outside to give them aid 援助 in case of necessity 必须.

It was comparatively 比较 easy to enter by this wound in the side of the Blakesly, and, proceeding 继续 cautiously 小心的, Tom and Ned made the attempt. They found they could not penetrate 穿透 far, however, because of the mass of wreck‧age 残骸 scattered about by the explosion 爆炸. They could see through into the engine room, and there the machinery was in every stage of destruction 破坏, while below the boilers 锅炉 were disrupted 破坏.

"She must have gone down in a hurry," remarked Tom.

"Yes, and with part of her crew," added Ned, as he pointed to where a heap 堆 of white bones 骨头 lay—grim 严峻 reminders 提醒 of the Great War. The engine room forces had been trapped 陷阱；诱骗 and carried down to death.

"I wonder if, by any chance, she did carry gold," suggested Ned.

"It wouldn't be down here if she did," asserted 断言 Tom. "And if she was a treasure ship, and the huns knew it, they wouldn't leave any on board."

"That's just it," went on his chum. "They may not have known it, and have ripped 安息 a couple of torpedoes 鱼雷 at her without any warning. It would be just like them."

"Granted," assented 同意 the young inventor. "Well, we can take another look around outside. Maybe there's a way of getting on deck 甲板, and so going below from there. I wouldn't chance it from here."

"Me, either," Ned answered.

They looked around a little more, a further view showing how dangerous 危险 it would be to attempt to enter the shattered 打碎 engine room, where a misstep or a sudden change of equilibrium 平衡 might cause disaster 灾难，大祸.

"Nothing there," Tom reported to Koku and the others waiting for him outside.

" Rope 粗绳 by up go him stern 严肃," said Koku, motioning toward the after part of the wreck.

"What does he mean?" Tom asked one of his crew.

"Oh, he went walking around outside while you were inside, sir," was the answer, "and he seems to have found a rope 3 ladder 梯子 or a chain, or something hanging from the stern 严肃."

"Let's go and see it," proposed Tom. "I've been wondering if we could get on deck 甲板."

"Are we going to spend much time here?" Ned wanted to know.

"Not much longer," Tom replied. "Why?"

"Well, I was thinking we'd better keep on looking for the Pandora. I don't want that fellow Hardley to get the bulge 凸 on us."

"Oh," laughed Tom, "he isn't likely to. But we won't take any chances. As soon as I see if we can learn anything that may be useful 有用 from this hulk, we'll go back and start on our way again."

The party of divers 潜水员, led by Koku, who wanted to point out his discovery 发现, walked slowly along on the bottom of the sea, around to the stern 严肃 of the Blakesly.

"See!" said the giant through his telephone, and, as the instruments were inter‧change 互换, all heard him.

Koku pointed to several ropes 粗绳 and chains that were dangling 吊着 from the stern 严肃 of the sunken craft 手艺. Evidently they had been used by those who sought to escape from the sinking ship after she had been torpedoed 鱼雷.

"Wait a minute!" Tom telephoned, as he saw Koku grasp 把握 a chain, evidently 明显地 with the object of hoisting 提升 himself up on deck 甲板 by the simple method 方法 of going up hand over hand. He could easily do this by adjusting 改变；调节 the air pressure inside his diving suit to make himself more buoyant.

"Koku go up!" said the giant.

"Better make sure that chain will hold you," cautioned 小心 Tom. The giant proved it by several powerful 强大 tugs 拖船, and then began to raise himself from the sandy 沙 bed of the ocean.

"Well, if it will hold him it will hold us," asserted 断言 Tom. "Ned, we'll go up. You two stay here," he said to the members of his crew. "We can't take any chances of all getting in the same accident if there should be one."

A little later Tom, Ned, and Koku stood on the deck 甲板 of the sunken craft 手艺. Much of what she had carried had been swept sweep off, either in the explosions 爆炸 or by reason of currents gene‧rate 生成 by storms 暴风雨 since the fatality 病死率. But what seemed to be the cabin 舱 of the captain, or of some of the officers, was in plain view and easy of access 访问 from this level.

"Let's take a look!" said Tom.

Ned followed him to the door. It had been torn off, and inside was a table made fast to the floor. From the appearance of the room it was evidently 明显地 the compartment 隔室 where the charts 图表 were kept, and where the captain or his officers worked out the reckoning 估计. But it was tenant‧less 承租人‧少 now, and if any maps 地图 or papers had been out they were dissolved 溶解 in sea water some time since.

"Let's see if we can find the log 记录 book," proposed Ned.

"Good idea," assented 同意 Tom.

Using the iron 铁器 bars they carried, they forced open some of the lockers 更衣室, but aside from pulp 纸浆, which might have been charts 图表 or almost anything in the way of documents 文件, nothing was come upon that would tell anything.

"Unless the log book was kept in a water- tight 紧的 case the ink 墨水 would all run, once it was wet 湿的," Tom said, when they were about ready to give up their search.

"I suppose so," agreed Ned. "But I would like to know whether she carried treasure."

However, it was impossible to discover this, and dangerous 危险 to look too far into the interior 室内. So Tom and his party were forced to leave without discovering the secret of the Blakesly, if she possessed 拥有 one.

Later, however, when they had returned home, Tom and Ned made a report of what they had seen, and so cleared up the fate 命运 of the vessel 3. They learned learn that she carried no treasure, and they were glad they had not risked their lives looking for it. What had happened to her crew was never learned.

They returned to the submarine 潜艇 and told what they had viewed. And then, with a last look at the wreck, they passed on in their search for the Pandora.

Several fruit‧less 成果‧少 days followed, and though a careful 小心 search was made in the vicinity 附近 of the true location 位置 given by Mr. Hardley, nothing was discovered.

"How long will you keep at it before you give up?" asked Ned one evening, as they went aloft to replenish the air tanks and charge the batteries 电池.

"Oh, another week, anyhow 总之. I have a new theory 理论, Ned."

"What's that?"

"Ocean currents. I believe there are powerful 强大 currents in these waters, and that they may have shifted 转移 the position of the Pandora consider‧able 相当. I'm going to study the currents."

"Good idea!" cried his chum.

And the next day they began observations 意见 which were destined 注定 to have surprising results.

CHAPTER XXIII

AN UNDERSEA COLLISION

Under the warm, tropical 热带 sun the submarine 潜艇 floated idly ID on the surface of the calm sea. She had risen rise from the depths, her hatches 孵化 had been opened, and now the crew, the owner, and his guests were breathing free air. The men were taking advantage of the period above water to wash out some of their garments 服装, hanging them on improvised 凑合 lines stretched along the deck 甲板. For Tom Swift had said he would remain above the surface all day.

Some slight repairs 修理 were necessary to the electric motors, and they could be made only when the craft 手艺 was on the open sea. This, too, would afford 买得起 a chance to recharge the batteries 电池 and repair 修理 one of them.

For the time being the search under the sea for the treasure ship Pandora had been abandoned 放弃. But it was not given up entirely. As Tom had announced 宣布 to Ned, a new theory 理论 would be worked out. So far, cruising 巡航 about in the place where the fillibuster ship was supposed to have gone down had resulted in nothing.

Mr. Damon, who had been below, shaving 剃须, came up on deck 甲板 to see Tom and Ned tossing 折腾 into the water large pieces of cork 软木塞 taken from spare 节省；多余的；备用件 life preservers. Tom tossed 折腾 his in from one side of the deck 甲板, and Ned from the other. Then, as the eccentric 偏心 man listened, he heard Tom say:

"I think mine is going to beat yours, Ned!"

"Then you've got another guess coming," declared the young financial 金融 man. "Mine's going twice 两次 as fast as yours is now, though yours did start off better."

"Bless my beefsteak!" exclaimed 喊叫 Mr. Damon, "what's this, Tom Swift? I thought we came on a treasure-hunting expedition 远征, and here I find you and Ned playing some childish 幼稚 game! I hope you aren't laying any wagers on it!" Mr. Damon did not approve of gambling 赌 in any form.

"No, we aren't doing that," laughed Tom, as he dropped another bit of cork 软木塞 into the ocean.

"We are trying to arrive at some valuable 贵重的 scientific facts, Mr. Damon."

"Scientific facts—that childish 幼稚 play?"

"It isn't play," said Tom, turning to remark to Ned: "I think we've settled it. The current has a decided twist 扭成一束 to the north."

"Yes," agreed his chum. "You were right, Tom."

"If you don't mind explaining," began Mr. Damon, "I should like to know—"

"We're trying to determine the drift 漂移 of the ocean currents in this locality 局部性," Tom said.

"So we'll know better where to look for the Pandora," added Ned.

"Oh, so you haven't given up the hunt, then?" asked the eccentric 偏心 man.

"By no means!" exclaimed 喊叫 Tom. "It's this way, Mr. Damon. We went down at as nearly the exact spot where the treasure-ship was sunk as we could determine by means of calculations. She wasn't there, nor could we find her by going around in circles. Then it occurred 发生 to me, and to some of the others also, including Ned, that the ocean currents might have shifted 转移 the position of the craft 手艺 after she had sunk. There are powerful 强大 currents in the ocean, as you know, the Gulf Stream being one and the Japan Current another. Now there may be smaller ones in these waters that would produce a local effect.

"So Ned and I have been dropping bits of cork 软木塞 of different shapes into the water and watching which way they drifted 漂移. Our conclusion 结论 is that the currents here have a decided set toward the north."

"And what does that indicate 表明?" asked Mr. Damon.

"That we should have begun our search some distance north of the point where we actually did begin," answered Tom.

"How far north?" the eccentric 偏心 man wanted to know.

"That's just what we have yet to ascertain 探明," the young inventor replied. "So far our conclusions 结论 have been arrived at merely from surface data 数据. Now we've got to go below."

"And play with bits of cork 3 there?" asked Mr. Damon.

"No, we'll have to use something heavier than cork," Tom said. "We'll probably use weights, and see how far they move along the bottom in a given time. But we have established 建立 one thing, and I begin to have hopes now that we may locate 定位 the Pandora."

The remainder 余 of the day was spent in various ways aboard 船上 the submarine 潜艇, which continued to float 漂浮 idly ID on the waves.

It was toward evening, when the red, setting sun gave promise of a fair day on the morrow that the submarine 潜艇's deck 甲板 look‧out 小心 approached Tom, and, waiting until he had the attention of the young inventor, reported:

"There is a smudge of smoke dead astern, sir."

"Is there?" exclaimed 喊叫 Tom. "Let me have the glasses."

He took them from the look‧out 小心 and made a long and careful 小心 study of the slight, black smudge which was low down on the horizon 地平线.

"A steamer," decided Tom, "and coming on fast. We'll go below!" he added. "Please make ready," he said to the officer in charge.

"What's up, Tom?" asked Ned, as his chum gathered up the papers on which he had been figuring on an improvised 凑合 table set under an awning on deck 甲板.

"Some craft 手艺 is coming, and I'd just as soon she wouldn't sight us," was the answer.

"You mean she might interfere 干预 with our search for the treasure-ship?"

"Not exactly. But she might want to start a search on her own account, and there's no use of giving our presence away, or letting them guess at what might be right conclusions 结论 as to the location 位置 of the Pandora."

"But, Tom, no one knows of the wreck! At least, no one is supposed to but our party and—"

"Hardley. Exactly!" exclaimed 喊叫 Tom, as he saw his chum about to utter 说出 the name.

"And you think he is coming?"

"I shouldn't be a bit surprised. Anyhow 总之, it's just as easy for us to submerge 淹没 and let them do their own guessing. I was going down soon, anyhow 3, and another hour won't make any difference. Here, take a look, if you like."

Ned peered 窥视 through the glasses, but his eyes not being trained in sea interpretation 解释, as were Tom's, he could make out nothing but a black smudge, now larger and darker.

"It might be a cloud for all I can tell," he said, as he handed the binoculars 双眼 back to Tom.

"Well, it's a steamer all right, and she's under forced draft 草案, too, if I'm any judge. We'll go below before she sights us."

"Perhaps she has already," suggested Ned, as the crew began clearing the submarine 潜艇's deck 甲板.

"No, we lie too low in the water for that. Well, now we can start our under‧water 水下 observations 意见 of current trends 趋势."

It did not take long, once she started, for the M. N. 1 to go down. Just as the sun sank below the horizon 地平线, and while the smudge of smoke was becoming more distinct 不同, the waves closed over the steel deck 甲板 of the submarine 潜艇. Half an hour later she was nearly a quarter of a mile below the surface, resting on the bottom of the sea again.

On this trip Tom did not go to any such depths as he did on his former voyage in the Advance. Not that the reconstructed 重建 submarine 潜艇 was not cap‧able 能 of it, for she was even stronger than when first built. But the wreck they were seeking 寻求 did not lie in so great a depth of water, and there was no need of running use‧less 无用 risks.

"Well," remarked Ned, when they came to a stop, "I don't believe any one will find us here."

"Not an ordinary diver, at any rate," Tom agreed. "And after supper 晚饭 I'm going to have another go at the currents."

The meal was served as usual, and a very good one it was, considering the fact that not as many supplies could be carried in the rather limited space of a submarine 潜艇 as may be transported 运输 in an ocean liner. Then, as it was still early, Tom and Ned, with the help of some of the officers, got ready for a new series 系列 of experiments.

The big search‧light 搜寻‧光；灯 was set aglow, and, going out on the ocean bed in diving suits, Tom and his friends dropped on the sand various weighted objects.

These were made in the shape of the hull 船壳 of a steamer, and in proportion 比例. Once they were on the sand, an iron 铁器 rod 杆 was thrust 推力 into the ocean bed near each object.

"Now," remarked Tom, as they all went into the submarine 潜艇 again, "we'll let them drift 漂移 until morning. Then we'll make new calculations. I think we'll arrive at some results, too."

"Just what are you aiming to do?" asked Mr. Damon.

"See how far each one of those weighted objects drifts 漂移," Tom replied. "We have planted them in different spots on the ocean bed. Some will drift 漂移 farther than others. Some are large and some are small. By striking an average we may be able to tell about how far from the supposed location 位置 of the Pandora we ought to look for her."

The night passed without incident 事件 and as calmly and peacefully 安然 as though they were all in some deep cave 洞穴 beneath 之下 a great mountain. In the morning after break‧fast 早餐 Tom and his friends went outside the submarine 潜艇 again and noted the weighted objects. Some had drifted 漂移 farther than others. Measurements were carefully 小心 taken, and then began a series 系列 of intricate 错综复杂 calculations.

The distance each object had drifted 漂移 from the iron bar marker was considered in reference to its size and shape. Also the elapsed 过去 time was computed 计算. The results were then compared, an average struck, and then the size and weight of the Pandora, as nearly as they could be ascertained 探明, were figured. The result‧ant 结果 figures were compared, and Tom announced 宣布:

"If we are any‧where 任何地方 near right in our conclusions 结论 we ought to begin to search for the treasure-ship about four miles from here, in a general northerly direction."

"Do you think she has drifted 漂移 that far?" asked Ned.

"Fully 充分 that," Tom answered. "That is only our starting point—the center of a new series 系列 of circles."

A moment later Tom gave the order to rise to the surface.

"Going up?" exclaimed 喊叫 Ned.

"Yes, I want to make some observations 意见 to determine our exact nautical position."

"But suppose that other steam 蒸汽—"

"We'll have to take a chance. We can submerge 淹没 quickly if we have to, and I don't believe she's able to do that."

An observation 意见 was taken through the conning CON tower 塔, however, before the M. N. 1 went all the way up, and there was not a sail 航行；帆 nor a smudge of smoke on the horizon 3.

"So far so good," murmured 私语 Tom. "Now we'll 'shoot the sun,' and after we submerge 淹没 we'll begin our search in earnest 热心的. I think we are on the right track 小路 now."

The observation 意见 was made at noon 正午, and then, as nearly as possible, the submarine 潜艇 was moved to a position approximately 约 four miles north of the place where the Pandora was supposed to have foundered 创办人.

"Down we go!" exclaimed 喊叫 Tom, and down they went.

The depth gauge 测量 showed more than a thou‧sand 千 feet below the surface when the M. N. 1 came to rest. This was deeper than Tom had thought to find the wreck, but his craft 手艺 was able to with‧stand 经受 the pressure. A brief 简要 wait, to make sure that everything was in readiness 准备就绪, was followed by the beginning of the new search. In gradually 逐步地 widening circles the craft 手艺 moved about under water.

If the voyagers had expected to locate 定位 at once the treasure-ship, they would have been disappointed 使失望. For the first day gave no signs. But Tom had not promised immediate results, and no one gave up hope.

It was shortly after noon 3 on the second day of the search at the new location 位置 that, as they were proceeding 继续 at rather greater speed than usual, something happened.

Ned had just suggested that he and Tom might go out and try the current-setting experiments again, when suddenly they were both thrown off their feet by a terrific 了不起 jar 罐 and concussion. The M. N. 1 seemed to reel 卷轴 back, as if from a great blow.

"Bless my safety 安全 razor 剃刀!" cried Mr. Damon, "what's the matter, Tom?"

"I think we've had a collision 碰撞!" was the answer. "I must see how badly 很糟地 we are damaged 损害!"

CHAPTER XXIV

THE TREASURE-SHIP

Sudden and forceful 有力 had been the under‧water 水下 collision 碰撞 in which the M. N. 1 had participated 参加. Either the look‧out 小心, aided 助手 though he was by the focused 焦点 rays of the great search‧light 搜寻‧光；灯, had failed to notice some obstruction 梗阻 in time to signal to avoid it, or there was an error 错误 somewhere else. At any rate the submarine 潜艇 had rammed 随机存取存储器 something—what it was remained to be discovered.

"Bless my shot‧gun 滑膛枪," cried Mr. Damon, "perhaps it was one of those big whales 鲸, Ned!"

"It didn't feel like a whale 鲸," answered the young financial 金融 man.

"And it wasn't!" declared Tom, who was hastening 加速 to the engine room. "It was too solid for that."

Following the collision 碰撞 there had been consider‧able 大量 confusion 混乱 aboard 船上 the vessel. But discipline 训练 prevailed 战胜, and now it was necessary to determine the extent of the damage 损害. This, Tom and his officers and crew proceeded 继续 to do.

There were automatic 自动 devices 设备 in the various control cabins 舱, as well as in the main engine room, which told instantly 瞬间 if a leak 泄漏 had been sprung in any part of the craft 手艺. In that serious difficulty automatic 自动 pumps, controlled by an electrical 电动 device 设备, at once began forcing out the water. Other apparatus 仪器 rushed a supply of compressed 压缩 air to the flooded 洪水 compartment 隔室 in order to hold out the water if possible. For further security 安全 the submarine 潜艇 was divided into different compartments 隔室, as are most ships in these days. The puncturing 刺 or flooding 洪水 of one did not necessarily mean the foundering 创办人 of the craft 手艺, or, in the case of a submarine 潜艇, prevent her rising.

But Tom had sensed that the collision 碰撞 was almost a head-on one, and in that case it was likely that the plates might have started in several sections 部分 at once. This he wanted to discover, and take means of safety 安全 accordingly 于是.

"How do you make it, Mr. Nelson?" cried the young inventor to the captain in the engine room.

"Only a slight leak 泄漏 in compartment 隔室 B 2," he answered, as Tom's eyes rapidly scanned 扫描 the tell-tale 故事，不实之词 gauges 测量. "The pumps and air are taking care of that."

"Good!" cried Tom. "It doesn't seem possible that there isn't more than that, though. We struck a terrible blow."

"Yes, but a glancing 一瞥 one, I think, sir."

"Send for the look‧out 小心," ordered Tom. "I can't understand why he didn't see whatever we've hit in time to avoid it."

The look‧out 小心 came in, very much frightened 使惊恐, it must be admitted. Only by a narrow margin 差额 had all escaped death.

"It was impossible to see it, Mr. Swift," he said. "We had a clear course, not a thing in sight. The bottom was white sand, and I could almost count the fishes. All at once there was a big swirl 漩涡 of water that threw our nose around, and before I could signal to slow down or reverse 反向；倒转 we were right into her."

"Into what?" asked Tom.

"Some sort of wreck, I took it to be. I shoved 推 the wheel hard over as quickly as I could, and we struck only a glancing 一瞥 blow."

"That's good," murmured 私语 Tom. "I thought that must have been the explanation 说明. But what's that about a sudden swirl 漩涡 of water?"

"It seemed to me like a change in the current," the look‧out 小心 answered. "It threw us right over against the wreck."

"I can very easily imagine something like that happening," admitted Tom. "Well, as long as we're not badly 很糟地 damaged I think we'll go outside and take a look. If we hit a wreck—"

"Bless my looking glass!" cried Mr. Damon, "it may be the Pandora, Tom."

"That's too good to be true!" cried Ned. "Anyhow, let's get out and take a look."

Tom first made sure that the slight leak 泄漏 was not likely to increase, and then arrangements 安排 were made for himself, Ned, Koku, and some of the others to go outside in the diving suits. Mr. Damon wanted to be of the party, but Tom was afraid to permit him in that depth of water. Mr. Damon, in spite 恶意 of his jollity, was not as young as he had been.

Shortly after the collision 碰撞, which had missed being a disaster 灾难，大祸 by a narrow margin 差额, Tom and his companions were outside the submarine 潜艇, walking on the white, sandy 沙 bottom of the sea. Around them was a myriad 无数的 of fishes, some of large size, but seemingly 似乎 harm‧less 无害, as they scudded rapidly away after a glance 一瞥 at the strange creatures who appeared to have come to dispute 争议 with them for possession 所有物 of Father Neptune's element 元件.

Moving more slowly than usual, because of the greater pressure of water at that depth, Tom and the others made their way around the nose of the submarine 潜艇. And then, in the glow 辉光 of the big search‧light 搜寻‧光；灯, they saw the dim 暗淡 out‧line 概述；轮廓线 of a steamer, partly imbedded in the sand. Her stern 严肃 was toward the under‧sea 在…下面‧海 craft 手艺 that had rammed 随机存取存储器 her, and the name was not so obliterated 泯 but what the young inventor could read it.

"The Pandora!" exclaimed 喊叫 Tom, speaking into his helmet 头盔 telephone transmitter 发射机, the others all hearing him. "We've found the treasure-ship at last!"

And so they had. An accident had brought them to the end of their quest 寻求, though it is probable they would have found the Pandora anyhow, since they were making careful 小心 circles in her vicinity 附近.

"Yes, that's the Pandora," said Ned. "And now the thing to do is to find out if she really has any treasure on board."

"That's what I'm going to do," declared Tom. "But first I want to investigate 调查 this queer 奇怪 current. We can't feel it here, but we may if we get out beyond the wreck. We don't want to be swept off our feet."

"Yes, we had better be careful 小心," said one of the officers.

Accordingly they proceeded 继续 with caution 小心 along the length of the sunken Pandora. And as they neared her bow 弓 they all began to feel some powerful 强大 force in the current.

"This is far enough!" said Tom. "Don't get out beyond the protection of the hull 船壳. I see what it is. The steamer has drifted 漂移 here from where she was originally 本来 sunk. And here two currents meet, forming a very strong one. It was that which threw us off our course. As long as we remain behind the wreck we'll be safe. But beyond her we may be in danger. She's firmly held in the sand, or, at best, is drifting 漂移 only slightly. She'll be a sort of under‧sea 在…下面‧海 break‧water 破；断‧水 for us. And now to see if we can get on board!"

This proved comparatively 比较 easy. Several lengths of chain and one iron ladder 梯子 were over the stern 严肃, evidently 明显地 having been used when the crew abandoned 放弃 the ship in the storm that destroyed her. By means of these Tom and his companions gained the main deck 甲板 near the stern 严肃.

The Pandora was a typical 典型 tramp 流浪汉 steamer. She was high in the bows 弓 and stern 严肃 and low amidships, and it was evident 明显 that the quarters of the officers and passengers, if any of the latter were carried, were in the stern 严肃. Tom was glad to find the vessel thus comparatively 比较 easy of access 访问.

She lay on an almost even keel, and all he and his companions had to do was to walk along the deck 甲板 and enter the cabins 舱. As they did not have to look out for life lines or air hose 软管 they could enter, and even go below decks 甲板, in comparative 比较 safety.

"Well, here's for it," said Tom to the others. "Let's go in.

"Where would the treasure be, if she had any?" asked Ned.

"Captain's cabin 舱 or the purser 钱包's strong room, I imagine," Tom answered. "Hardley didn't actually see it, but he said those two places were constantly 总是；经常地，不断地 guarded. I'm inclined 倾斜 to think the purser 钱包 would have charge of the gold. But we'll try both places."

It was easy to learn which had been the commander 命令's cabin 舱. It had the name "Captain" on a brass 黄铜 plate 盘子 over the door. Tom and Ned entered. The place was in confusion 混乱, and confusion not all caused by the ocean currents. A small safe in the room stood with rusted 荒废；铁锈 door open, and the contents of the strong box were gone. Drawers and lockers 更衣室, too, were opened and empty.

"I guess the captain took as much with him as he could when he got into his boat," commented 评论 Tom.

"And the gold, too," added Ned, pointing to the empty safe.

"That wouldn't have held two million dollars in gold," Tom retorted 反驳. "I believe the purser 钱包's cabin 舱 is the place to look."

Making sure they were not missing anything in the captain's room, they came out, to find Koku and the others waiting for them on deck 甲板.

"Nothing there," Tom reported. "Did any of you locate 定位 the purser 钱包's strong room?" One of the men pointed to an open door to the left.

"That's it!" exclaimed 喊叫 Tom. "Yes, and there's a safe here big enough to hold gold for all the revolutions 革命 in South America," he added. "I guess we're on the right track 小路 at last."

It needed but a look to show them that they had at last reached the place of the treasure. The great safe stood open, and piled 堆 inside were a number of small boxes, such as are generally used to ship gold in. Ned, from his bank experience, recognized them at once.

"There's the gold!" he exclaimed 喊叫. "We've found the treasure!"

"They tried to take some of it with them," said one of the submarine 潜艇 officers, pointing to some opened boxes which were floating near the cabin 舱 ceiling 天花板. They were caught on some project‧ion 投影 which had prevented them from being washed out.

"Maybe they looted 抢劫 the whole safe," suggested Tom. "We'd better have a look."

He tried to pull out one of the many boxes set in tiers 一线 in the safe, but it was beyond his strength.

"Me do!" murmured 私语 Koku.

It was easy for the giant to pry 撬 out one of the boxes with his iron bar, and with another blow from his bar he opened the cover.

"Gold!" cried Ned, as he saw a gleam 闪光 of yellow showing in the glow 辉光 from his torch 火炬. "There's the gold!"

There was a table in the purser 钱包's cabin 舱, made fast to the floor so it had not floated away. At a sign from Tom, the giant turned the box bottom side up on this table.

And then a murmur 私语 of wonder came from all who saw the result. For aside from the top layer of gold pieces, the box was filled with iron disks 磁盘 cut to the size of twenty 二十-dollar gold pieces. In an instant it was borne to all what this meant.

"A fake 假!" exclaimed 喊叫 Tom Swift. "If all the boxes are like this there isn't enough gold on the treasure ship to pay the expenses of this trip! Somebody has been fooled! Open another box, Koku!"

CHAPTER XXV

THE STEEL BOX

Perhaps the least of all affected 影响 by what had taken place was the giant. Gold meant nothing to him. To serve Tom Swift was his whole aim in life. Born in a savage 野蛮人 country, he had not acquired 获得 an overwhelming 压倒 desire for wealth 财产.

Consequently 所以 he was cool enough as he tore another box from the many that were fitted into the safe. The water had swelled 膨胀；增强:swell the wood, and it was not easy to get them out.

A pressure of the giant's iron bar broke the sealed 封上，海豹 lid 盖子. On top was the same layer of gold pieces, but when the box was emptied the same trick 哄骗；诀窍 was discovered. Iron disks 磁盘 made up the remainder 余 of the contents.

"Bilked! That's what I call it! Regularly 经常 bilked!" exclaimed 喊叫 one of the divers 潜水员, an Englishman who had been in Tom's service several years. "Somebody's got the cream 乳霜 of this pudding 布丁 before we did!"

"I'm inclined 倾斜 to agree with you," said Tom. "Unless it transpires that not all the boxes have been thus camouflaged 伪装. We must take time to examine."

Then began a period of hard work. Laboring in relays 中继 of divers 潜水员, every box that had been locked in the purser 钱包's safe was brought out on the submerged 淹没 cabin 舱 table, broken open, and the contents examined. The hoax was even worse than indicated 表明 at first. For after the front section 部分 of boxes had been taken out none of the others remaining contained any gold at all. There were only iron disks 磁盘.

"Well, Tom, what do you think of it?" asked Ned of his chum, when they had returned to the cabin 舱 of the submarine 潜艇, leaving some members of the crew to complete the examination 检查. For this the diving bell 钟 was used, as well as the suits.

"I don't think very much," was the answer. "It looks as though we had been sold sell."

"Do you think Hardley knew that the gold had been changed to iron—that is, all but a small part of it?"

"No, I don't believe he did," Tom answered. "If he were here I'd war‧rant 保证 he would be as much surprised as we are. He certainly believed the Pandora was a regular treasure-ship."

"Just how much did she really have in gold?" asked Mr. Damon, looking at the double eagles 鹰 on the table of the M. N. 1.

"Well, at a rough guess I'd say ten 十 thou‧sand 千 dollars," Tom answered. "We haven't brought it all out yet, and it's possible they may find a full box in the safe. But, unless there is one, I guess ten 十 or fifteen 十五 thou‧sand 千 dollars will cover it."

"And Hardley said two millions!" exclaimed 喊叫 Ned. "Whew, what a difference!"

"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 these filibustering plots 情节. Somebody put up good money to be used to gain control of a country—perhaps for the country's good. But somebody else made the substitution 代换, and the patriots 爱国者 were left. I don't believe Hardley 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; that is, very much. Of course I could use the money, but I don't really need it. The trip has been a wonderful 精彩 experience, and I have learned something I didn't know before. I'm sorry 对不起的 for you, though, Mr. Damon. You invested 投资 consider‧able 大量 with Hardley, didn't you?"

"About twenty 二十 thou‧sand 千 dollars, Tom. It will be hard to lose it, but I guess I can stand it."

Tom privately made up his mind to see that his old friend did not suffer financially 经济, for the gold discovered on the Pandora, while it was far from the amount hoped for, would almost reimburse 补偿 Mr. Damon. But the young inventor did not say anything about that just then.

They were looking at the recovered 恢复 gold and getting ready to store it in some of the boxes that had been brought from the wreck when the divers 潜水员 that had remained on the Pandora to bring the last of the treasure returned through the chamber 室. Two of them carried a small steel box.

"What's that?" asked Tom, when they had their helmets 头盔 off.

"Don't know," was the answer. "It was in the purser 钱包's safe. Stuck away in the far corner."

"Maybe it has jewels 宝石 in it!" exclaimed 喊叫 Ned. "If it has—"

At that moment the look‧out 小心 who had maintained 保持 his position in the conning CON tower 塔 called for Tom on the telephone.

"What is it?" asked the young inventor.

"There's some sort of grappling 抓钩 iron, or cable 电线 with a hook 钩 on it, being lowered from the surface, and it's near the wreck," was the answer. "If it isn't any of your apparatus 仪器 it may be some other ship having a try for the gold."

"It must be Hardley!" cried Tom. "He's come back with another ship, as he half threatened to do, and, instead of diving for the wreck, which he can't get ordinary men to do in this depth, he's trying to grapple 抓钩 for it. Come on, we'll have a look!"

Ned and Mr. Damon followed Tom to the conning CON tower 3. Looking out through the heavy glass windows, while the search‧light 搜寻‧光；灯 illuminated 照亮 the waters, the young inventor and his friends saw a great grappling 抓钩 iron swaying 摇摆 this way and that through the sea not far from the wreck, and once, indeed, uncomfortably 不舒服 close to their own craft 手艺.

"He's struck it uncommonly 罕见 near," remarked Tom. "I guess it's time for us 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 gold that may be hidden hide on her?"

"I wouldn't give ten 十 dollars for the chance of searching for any more gold!" Tom exclaimed 喊叫. "We'll take this steel box—it may contain something of value. The rest we'll leave to Hardley."

Preparations for rising to the surface were quickly made. Up and up went the M. N. 1, leaving the ill 生病-starred Pandora to whatever else fate 命运 had in store for her.

Tom's craft 手艺 broke water with gentle undulations of the waves. The top of the hatch 孵化 was thrown back, admitting the bright sun‧shine 阳光 on those who had been long in the shadow of the underseas. And, as the young inventor and his friends went out on deck 甲板, they saw a small steamer riding on the ocean not far away.

One look was enough to tell them it was from this craft 手艺 that the grappling 抓钩 iron had been let down, and as the submarine 潜艇 drifted 漂移 nearer the form of Hardley was seen on deck 甲板. He was directing operations.

Some one must have called his attention to the M. N. 1, for he hurried to the rail 围栏；钢轨 of the craft 手艺 which he had evidently 明显地 chartered 宪章 to seek 寻求 the Pandora, and he exclaimed 喊叫:

"What are you doing here, Swift?"

"The same thing you are, I believe," coolly answered Tom. "Cleaning up the treasure ship. You might as well save your money though, for we have all the gold there is!"

"Impossible!" cried the now irate man. "You cannot have found the Pandora!"

"That's just what we did, though," answered Tom. "And, for your information, I'll say that we took all the gold we found, though it was consider‧able 相当 less than you stated."

"How dare 敢 you?" stormed the adventurer. "I'll have the law on you for this!"

"I guess you forget," replied Tom, "that we parted company at your request and that I told you I was on my own. Finding is keeping. I didn't find what I expected to, and, on the other hand, I got something I didn't look for."

"What do you mean?"

"The Pandora was rightly named," went on Tom. "If you recall 召回 the old story, Pandora had a box of treasures 金银财宝. They all flew fly out except Hope, which remained in the bottom. Well, most of the gold seems to have flown fly away, but we found a box on the Pandora. What's in it I don't know yet, as I haven't opened it. Still, if it doesn't contain more than Hope I shall be disappointed."

The face of Hardley showed the rage 愤怒 felt.

"Give me that box! Give me that box!" he cried, shaking his fist 拳头 at Tom.

"Not today," was the cool answer of the young inventor. "I may let you know what I find in it if you leave your address. Goodbye!"

Tom waved his hand, gave orders to close the hatches 孵化 and submerge 淹没 the M. N. 1, and a few moments later the sea closed over her, leaving the other vessel to grapple 抓钩 use‧less 无用 for the treasure-ship.

"What are you going to do, Tom?" asked Ned of his chum, as they were all gathered in the main cabin 舱 half an hour later.

"Head for home as soon as we can. I've had enough of this, and I want to get at something else I have in mind. But first I'm going to see what's in this box."

It required the strength of Koku to open the small steel box, but when it was torn apart 相隔, for the combination 组合 was impossible to guess at, all that was seen were bundles 捆 of papers. The case having been hermetically closed, no water had penetrated 穿透 it, though it had been submerged 淹没 a long time.

"What are they?" asked Ned of his chum.

Tom did not answer for a moment. Then having quickly examined the papers, he cried:

"We've struck it!"

"What?" they all wanted to know.

"The very thing Hardley was after. These are the missing papers in the oil-well deal—the papers that prove Barton Keith has a half share in property worth many millions of dollars. It was these papers that Hardley was after. He may have thought he could get the gold, too, but he wanted most these oil shares. Boys, we've found the for‧tune 命运 anyhow, in spite 恶意 of the fellows who looted 抢劫 the gold boxes!"

There was no doubt about it. There were all the papers—the certificates 证书 of shares, the partner‧ship 合伙 agreement 协议 and other documents 文件—to show that Mary's uncle 叔叔 was a rich man. The wreck of the Pandora held a fortune after all.

"How do you account for Hardley's acts?" asked Ned of his chum.

"Well, there are several explanations 说明. I think we may be certain that he knew these papers were aboard 船上 the Pandora, for he must have intrusted them to the purser 钱包 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, or was supposed to carry, a large amount of gold. He may have been honestly 诚实的 mistaken 错误 in thinking it was two millions. In any case he was playing safe, for he only promised me half if the treasure was found. He could have claimed this box as his property, and that is probably what he was after from the beginning. He was using me as a cat 猫's paw 爪子, so to speak."

"Well, you beat him to it," observed Ned.

"Bless my neck‧tie 颈‧打结；系上；关系, I should say so!" agreed Mr. Damon. "Do you think he really expected to find the gold?"

"Either that or the papers," was Tom's answer. "He must have engaged 从事 the vessel and the grappling 抓钩 apparatus 仪器, and, possibly, a diver, after we set him ashore 岸上 at St. Thomas. Well, we'll leave him to his own fun 乐趣."

The M. N. 1 made good time back to her home port 港口, nothing except a terrific 了不起 storm occurring 发生 to mark the voyage. And as she submerged 淹没 when that was on she did not feel it. After greeting his father, Tom lost little time in going to Mary's house with the box of securities 安全 and other papers.

"I want you to hand these to your uncle 叔叔 with my compliments 赞扬," he said. "I've got the Air Scout out in the meadow 草地. We'll go over in that. How is Mr. Keith?"

"Not very well," Mary answered, after she had got over her surprise at seeing Tom. "But this good news will restore 修复；使复位；使复职 him, I think."

And it certainly was a great tonic 补品. Mr. Keith could hardly believe the story that Mary and Tom jointly 共同的 told him. But at length he grasped 把握 the idea that he was a wealthy 富裕 man again, and he exclaimed 喊叫:

"Tom Swift, I'm going to share half with you!"

"Oh, no," retorted 反驳 the young inventor. "I couldn't think of that. If you want to pay part of the expenses of the trip I shan't object to that, as I intend giving the gold I recovered 恢复 to Mr. Damon. But as for taking any of the oil shares—"

"Then, Mary, you shall take half!" exclaimed 喊叫 Mr. Keith. "I have more money now than I'll ever spend. Mary, half of it is yours, and if you don't let Tom Swift have a say in the spending 用钱；消磨时间 of it— Say, Mary, have you thanked him yet?" he asked with a twinkle 眨眼 of his eyes. "Well, Uncle Barton, I—I don't know—"

"Then do it now!" cried her uncle. "Tom, if you could have any reward 报酬 you wanted, what would it be?"

Tom took Mary in his arms and—But I refuse to betray 背叛 any secrets. Anyhow, some time later when Ned asked his chum if he felt entirely satisfied with the result of his under‧sea 在…下面‧海 search, the young inventor replied: "I certainly do!"

Tom admitted to his father that a mistake had been made in not installing 安装 the gyroscope rudder. There was no excuse 原谅 for not taking it. Tom declared, as it was small and took up little room, and it might have saved them from what was a close call at one time.

"I'll take it on my next submarine 潜艇 trip," the young inventor promised.

Ned wanted to bring suit against Hardley to recover 恢复 half the expenses of the trip, but Tom would not consent 同意 to it. After all, the value of the oil well property was more than the gold the Pandora was reputed 名气 to have carried. No attempt was made to take from Tom the comparatively 比较 small amount he had salvaged 打捞. Perhaps who‧ever 无论谁 had put it on board did not want to admit the trick 3 that had been played in filling the boxes with iron disks 磁盘.

Dixwell Hardley made no further trouble. He could not, for he was so entirely in the wrong. He sold out his shares in the oil property, and a company took possession 所有物 which gave fair treatment 治疗 to Mary's uncle.

And this is the end of the story. But the future holds further adventures 冒险活动 for Tom Swift which, let it be hoped, he will see fit to order recorded.