前言

秘方简介

常用词列表

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

CHAPTER I

UNTOLD MILLIONS

"Tom, this is certainly wonderful 精彩 reading! Over a hundred 百 million dollars' worth of silver 银 at the bottom of the ocean 洋! More than two hundred 百 million dollars in gold 金! To say nothing of fifty 五十 millions in copper 铜, ten 十 millions in—"

"Say, hold on there, Ned! Hold on! Where do you get that stuff 塞满；材料; as the boys say? Has something gone wrong with one of the adding machines, or is it just on account of the heat? What's the big idea, anyhow 总之? How many millions did you say?" and Tom Swift, the talented 天赋 young inventor 发明家, looked at Ned Newton, his financial 金融 manager, with a quizzical smile.

"It's all right, Tom! It's all right!" declared Ned, and it needed but a glance 一瞥 to show that he was more serious than was his companion 同伴. "I'm not suffering from the heat, though the thermometer is getting close to ninety 九十-five in the shade 遮阳；阴. And if you want to know where I get 'that stuff 塞满；材料' read this!"

He tossed 折腾 over to his chum, employer, and friend—for Tom Swift assumed 承担 all three relations toward Ned Newton—part of a Sunday newspaper. It was turned to a page containing a big illustration 插图 of a diver 潜水 attired 服装 in the usual rubber 橡胶 suit and big helmet 头盔, moving about on the floor of the ocean 洋 and digging 挖 out boxes of what was supposed to be gold 金 from a sunken wreck 破坏；使遇难.

"Oh, that stuff!" exclaimed 喊叫 Tom, with a smile of disbelief 怀疑 as he saw the source 资源 of Ned's information. "Seems to me I've read something like that before, Ned!"

"Of course you have!" agreed the young financial 金融 manager of the newly 最近，新近 organized Swift Construction 施工 Company. "It isn't anything new. This wealth 财产 of untold millions has been at the bottom of the sea for many years—always increasing 增加 with nobody ever spending 用钱；消磨时间 a cent of it. And since the Great War this wealth has been enormously 巨大 added to because of the sinking 淹没 of so many ships by German submarines 潜艇."

"Well, what's that got to do with us, Ned?" asked Tom, as he looked over some blue prints and other papers on his desk, for the talk was taking place in his office. "You and I did our part in the war, but I don't see what all this under‧sea 在…下面‧海 wealth 财产 has to do with us. We've got our work cut out for us if we take care of all the new contracts 合同 that came in this week."

"Yes, I know," admitted Ned. "But I couldn't help calling your attention to this article, Tom. It's authentic 真实!"

"Authentic? What do you mean?

"Well, the man who wrote it went to the trouble of getting from the ship insurance 保险 companies a list of all the wrecks 破坏；使遇难 and lost vessels 容器 carrying gold and silver 银 coin 硬币, bullion, and other valuables 贵重的. He has gone back a hundred 百 years, and he brings it right down to just before the war. Hasn't had time to compile 编 that list, the article says. But without counting the vessels the Germans sank 淹没:sink, there is, in various places on the bottom of the ocean 洋 today, wrecks of ships that carried, when they went down, gold, silver 银, copper 铜 and other metals to the value of at least ten 十 bill‧ion 十亿 of dollars!"

Tom Swift did not seem to be at all surprised by the explosive 爆炸的 emphasis 重点 with which Ned Newton conveyed 传达 this information. He gazed 凝视 calmly 镇定的 at his friend and manager, and then handed the paper back.

"I haven't time to look at it now," said Tom. "But is there anything new in the story? I mean has any of the wealth 3 been recovered 恢复 lately 近来—or is it in a way to be?"

"Yes!" exclaimed 喊叫 Ned. "It is! A company has been formed in Japan for the purpose of using a new kind of diving 潜水 bell 钟, invented 发明 by an American, it seems. The inventor 发明家 claims that in his machine he can go down deeper than ever man went before, and bring up a lot of this lost ocean 3 wealth."

"Well, every so often an inventor, or some one who calls himself that, crops 农作物 up with a new proposal for cleaning up the untold millions on the floor of the Atlantic or the Pacific," replied Tom. "Mind you, I'm not saying it isn't there. Everybody knows that hundreds 百 of ships carrying gold and silver 3 have gone down in storms 暴风雨 or been sunk 淹没:sink in war. And some of the gold and silver has been recovered 恢复 by divers 潜水员—I admit that. In fact, if you recall 召回, my father and I perfected a new style 样式 diving dress a few years ago that was successfully 顺利 used in getting down to a wreck 破坏；使遇难 off the Cuban coast. A treasure 金银财宝 ship went down there, and I believe they recovered 恢复 a large part of the gold bullion—or perhaps it was silver.

"But this diving bell 钟 stunt 特技 isn't new, and it hasn't been successful 成功. Of course a man can go down to a greater depth in a thick iron 铁器 diving bell than he can in a diving suit. That's common knowledge. But the trouble with a diving bell 3 is that it can't be moved about as a man can move about in a diving suit. The man in the bell can't get inside the wreck 破坏；使遇难, and it's there where the gold or silver is usually to be found."

"Can't they blow the wreck 3 apart 相隔 with dynamite, and scatter 散落 the gold on the bottom of the ocean?" asked Ned.

"Yes, they could do that, but usually they scatter it so far, and the ocean currents so cover it with sand 沙, that it is impossible ever to get it again. I admit that if a wreck is blown blow apart a man in a diving bell can perhaps get a small part of it. But the limitations 局限性 of a diving bell are so well recognized that several inventors 发明家 have tried adjusting 改变；调节 movable arms to the bell, to be operated by the man inside."

"Did they work?" asked Ned.

"After a fashion, yes. But I never heard of any case where the gold and silver recovered 恢复 paid for the expenses of making the bell and sending men down in it. For it takes the same sort of outfit 配备 to aid 援助 the man in the diving bell as it does the diver in his usual rubber 橡胶 or steel 钢 suit. Air has to be pumped 泵 to him, and he has to be lowered and raised."

"Well, isn't there any way of getting at this gold on the floor of the ocean?" asked Ned, his enthusiasm 热情 a little cooled by the practical "cold water" Tom had thrown throw.

"Oh, yes, of course there is, in a way," was the answer of the young inventor 发明家. "Don't you remember how my father and I, with Mr. Damon and Captain Weston, went in our submarine 潜艇, the Advance, and discovered the wreck of the Boldero?"

"I do recall 召回 that," admitted Ned.

"Well," resumed 恢复 Tom, "there was a case of showing how much trouble we had. An ordinary diving outfit 配备 never would have answered. We had to locate 定位 the wreck, and a hard time we had doing it. Then, when we found it, we had to ram 随机存取存储器 the old ship and blow it apart before we could get inside. Even after that we just happened to discover the gold, as it were. I'm only mentioning this to show you it isn't so easy to get at the wealth under the sea as writers 作家 in Sunday newspaper supplements 补充 think it is."

"I believe you, Tom. And yet it seems a shame 羞愧 to have all those millions going to waste, doesn't it?" And Ned spoke speak as a banker and financial 金融 man, who is not happy unless money is earning interest all the while.

"Well, a bill‧ion 十亿 of dollars is a lot," Tom admitted. "And when you think of all that have been sunk, say even in the last hundred 百 years, it amazes 惊奇 one. But still, all the gold and silver was hidden hide in the earth before it was dug 挖:dig out, and now it's only gone back where it came from, in a way. We got along before men dug it out and coined 硬币 it into money, and I guess we'll get along when it's under water. No use worrying over the ocean treasures 金银财宝, as far as I'm concerned."

"You're a hope‧less 绝望 pro‧position 主张!" laughed Ned. "You'd never make a banker, or a Napoleon of finance 金融."

"That's why my father and I got you to look after our financial 金融 affairs," and Tom smiled. "You're just the one—with your interest-bearing mind—to keep us off the shoals of business trouble."

"Yes, I suppose I can do that, while you and your father go on inventing 发明 giant 巨人 cannons 大炮, great searchlights, submarines 潜艇, and airships," conceded 承认 Ned. "But this, to me, did look like an easy way of making money."

"How's that, Ned?" asked Tom, a new note coming into his voice. "Were you thinking of going to Japan and taking a hand in the under‧sea 在…下面‧海 search?"

"No. But stock in this company is being sold sell, and shareholders 股票持有人，股东 stand to win big returns—if the wrecks are come upon."

"That's just it!" exclaimed 喊叫 Tom. "If they find the wrecks! And let me tell you, Ned, that there's a mighty 威武 big 'if' in it all. Do you realize how hard it is to find anything on the ocean, to say nothing of something under it?"

"I hadn't thought of it."

"Well, you'd better think of it. You know on the ocean sailors 水手 have to locate 定位 a certain imaginary 想像中的 position by calculation 计算, using the sun and stars as guides. Of course, they have navigation 导航 down pretty fine, and a good pilot 飞行员 can get to a place on the surface of the ocean and meet another craft 手艺 there almost as well as you and I can make an appointment 约定 to meet at Main and Broad streets at a certain hour.

"But lots of times there are errors 错误 in calculations 计算 or a storm 暴风雨 comes up hiding the sun and stars, and, instead of a captain getting to where he wants to, he's any‧where 任何地方 from one to a hundred 百 miles out. Now the location 位置 of Broad and Main Streets doesn't change even in a storm.

"And I'm not saying that a location 位置 on an ocean changes. I'm only saying that the least disturbance 骚乱 or error 错误 in calculation 计算 makes it almost impossible to find the exact spot. And if it's that hard on the surface, where you can see what you're doing, how much harder is it in regard to something on the bottom of the sea? So don't take any stock in these ocean treasure 金银财宝 recovering 恢复 companies. They may not be fakes 假, but they're mighty 威武 uncertain 不确定."

"Oh, I don't know that I was really going to buy any stock in this Japanese concern, Tom. I only thought it would be interesting to think about. And perhaps you might sell them a submarine 潜艇 or some of your diving apparatus 仪器."

"Nothing doing, Ned. We've got other plans, my father and I. There's that new tractor 拖拉机 for use in the big wheat 小麦-growing belt 腰带, to say nothing of—"

Tom's remarks were interrupted 打断 by voices outside his office door. One voice, in particular, rose rise above the others. It said:

"No can go in! The Master he am busily! No can go in!"

"Nonsense, Koku!" exclaimed 喊叫 a man, and at the sound of his voice Tom and Ned smiled. "Nonsense! Of course I can go in! Why, bless 祝福 my watch fob, I must go in! I've got the greatest pro‧position 主张 to lay lie before Tom Swift that he ever heard of! There's at least a million in it! Let me pass, Koku!"

"Mr. Damon!" murmured 私语 Tom Swift. "I wonder what he has on his mind now?"

As he spoke the door opened rather violently 猛烈 and a short, stout 肥硕 man, evidently 明显地 much excited, fairly burst 爆裂 into the room, followed, more sedately, by a stranger.

CHAPTER II

A STRANGE OFFER

" Hello 哈喽, Tom Swift! Hello, Ned! Glad 高兴的 to see you both! Busy, as usual, I'll wager. Bless 祝福 my check book! I never saw you when you weren't busy at some scheme 方案 or other, Tom, my boy. But I won win't take up much of your time. Tom Swift, let me introduce my friend, Mr. Dixwell Hardley. Mr. Hardley, shake hands with Tom Swift, one of the youngest, and yet one of the greatest, inventors in the world! I've told you a little about him, but it would take me all day to tell you what he really has done and—"

"Hold on, Mr. Damon!" laughed Tom, as he shook shake hands with the man whom 谁 Mr. Damon had named Dixwell Hardley. "Hold on, if you please. There's a limit to it, you know, and already you've said enough about me to—"

" Bless 祝福 my ink 墨水 bottle, Tom, I haven't said half enough!" interrupted the little, eccentric 偏心 man. "Wait until you hear what he has done, Mr. Hardley. Then, if you don't say he's the very chap 皴裂 for your wonderful 精彩 scheme 方案, I'm mighty 威武 much mistaken 错误! And shake hands with Ned Newton, too. He's Tom's financial 金融 manager, and of course he'll have something to say. Though when he hears how you are going to turn over a couple of million dollars or more, why, I know he'll be on our side."

Ned's eyes sparkled 火花 at the mention of the money. In truth he dealt deal in dollars and cents for the benefit 效益 of Tom Swift. Ned shook hands with Mr. Hardley and Tom motioned Mr. Damon and his friend to chairs.

"Now, Tom," went on the strange little man, "I know you're busy. Bless 3 my adding machine, I never saw you when—"

At that moment there arose arise in the corridor 走廊 outside Tom's private office a discord of voices, in which one could be heard exclaiming 喊叫:

"Now yo' clear out oh heah! Massa Tom done tole me to sweep dish 盘 yeah 是啊 place, an' ef yo' doan let me alone, why—why—"

"Huh! Radicate him big stiff 严厉的—dat's what! Big stiff! Too stiff for sweep Master's floor. Koku sweep one hand!"

"Oh, yo' t' ink 墨水 'case yo' is sich a big giant 巨人, yo' kin 亲属 git de best ob ole black Rad! But I'll show yo' dat—"

" Excuse 原谅 me a moment," said Tom, with a smile to his guests as he arose. "Eradicate and Koku are at it again, I'm sorry 对不起的 to say. I'll have to go out and arbitrate the strike," and he left the room.

While he is settling the differences between his faithful 可信 old black servant 仆人 and Koku, the giant 巨人, I will take the opportunity of telling my new readers 读者 something about Tom Swift.

Those who are familiar with the previous 以前 books of this series 系列 may skip 跳跃 this part. But it will give my new audience a better insight 眼光 into this story if they will bear with me a moment and peruse these few lines.

As related in the first book, "Tom Swift and His Motor Cycle 周期," the hero 英雄 seemed born bear an inventive 发明的 genius 天才. It was this inventive 发明的 faculty 学院 which enabled 启用 him to take the motor cycle 周期 that tried to climb a tree with Mr. Wakefield Damon on it and make the wreck into a service‧able 服务‧能够的 bit 一点 of mechanism 机制. Thus Tom became acquainted 认识 with Mr. Damon, who among other eccentricities, was always " blessing 祝福" something personal 个人.

Tom Swift lived in the city of Shopton with his father and their faithful 可信 house‧keep 管家, Mrs. Baggert. It was so named because the Swift shops were an important industry there. Tom's father, as well as Tom himself, was an inventor 4 of note, and employed many men in building machines of various kinds. During the Great War the services of Tom and his father had been dedicated 奉献 to the government.

There are a number of books dealing with Tom's activities, the list of titles of which may be found at the beginning of this volume 卷.

Sufficient 足够 to say here, that Tom invented and operated motor boats, airships, and submarines 潜艇. In addition 加成 he traveled on many expeditions 远征 with Mr. Damon, Ned, and others. He went among the diamond 钻石 makers and it was when he escaped from captivity 囚禁 that he managed to bring away Koku, the giant 巨人, with him. Since then Koku and Eradicate Sampson, the faithful 可信 colored man, had periodic 定期 quarrels 争吵 as to who should serve the young inventor 5.

Besides inventing and using many machines of motive 动机 power, Tom Swift engaged 从事 in other industries. He helped dig 挖 a big tunnel 隧道, he constructed 构造 a photo 照片，像片-telephone, a great search‧light 搜寻‧光；灯 and a monster 怪物 cannon 大炮. Occasionally 偶尔，间或；有时 he had searched for treasure 金银财宝, once under the sea, with consider‧able 大量 success.

Of late his and his father's industries had become so important that a number of new buildings had been constructed 构造 and the plant greatly enlarged 放大. Ned Newton, who had once worked in a Shopton bank, became financial 金融 manager for Tom and his father, and plenty of work he found with which to occupy 占据 himself.

Just prior 先 to the opening of this story Tom had perfected a noise‧less 噪音‧少 aeroplane—or one so nearly silent as to justify 为…辩护；证明…正当；是…的正当理由 the name. The details of it will be found in the book called "Tom Swift and His Air Scout." In this mechanism 机制 of the air Tom had had some wonderful 精彩 experiences, and they had not been at home more than a few weeks when New Newton broached the subject of under‧sea 在…下面‧海 wealth.

The talk of Tom and his financial 金融 manager was interrupted by the arrival 到达 of Mr. Damon and the stranger he had introduced as Mr. Hardley.

Eradicate, or "Rad," and Koku, have been mentioned. Rad was an ancient colored man who once owned a mule 马骡 named Boomerang. Sampson was the colored servant 仆人's last name, and he declared he had chosen choose the one "Eradicate" because in his younger days he was a great cleaner and white‧wash 撇清, "eradicating 根除" the dirt, so to speak.

Boomerang had, some time since, gone where all good mules 马骡 go, though Eradicate declared he would get another and call him Boomerang II. But, so far, he had not done so.

Rad, though too old to do heavy work, still believed he was indispensable 不可缺少 to the welfare 津贴，福利 of Tom and his father; and as the giant 4 Koku, who was physically 物理 an immense 极大的 man, held the same view, it followed there were frequent clashes 冲突 between the two, as on the occasion just mentioned.

"What was the matter, Tom?" asked Ned, when the young inventor came back into the room.

"Oh, the same old story," replied Tom. "Rad wanted to sweep the hall, and Koku insisted 咬定 he was to do it."

"What'd you do, Tom?" asked Mr. Damon.

"I settled it by having Rad sweep this hall and sending Koku to do another—a bigger one I told him. He likes hard work, so he was pleased. Now we'll have it quiet for a little while. Did I understand you to say, Mr. Damon, that—er—Mr. Hardley I believe the name is—had a pro‧position 主张 to make to me?"

"That's exactly it, my dear Mr. Swift!" broke break in the man in question. "I have a wonderful 精彩 offer to make you, and I'm sure you will admit that it will be well worth your while to consider and accept it. There will be at least a million in it—"

"Bless my check book, I thought you said several millions!" exclaimed 喊叫 Mr. Damon.

"So I did," was the rather nettled answer. "I was about to say, Mr. Damon, that there will be at least a million in it for Mr. Swift, and another million for myself 我. There may be more, but I want to be conservative 保守."

"Talking in millions, and calling himself conservative 保守," mused 沉思 Ned Newton. "Somehow or other I don't just cotton 棉 to this fellow!"

"When our mutual 相互 friend, Mr. Damon, told me about you, my dear Mr. Swift," went on Mr. Hardley, "I at once came to the conclusion 结论 that you were the very man I wanted to do business with. I'm sure it will be to our mutual 相互 advantage."

Tom Swift said nothing. He was willing to let the other talk, while he waited to see how far he would go. And, as Tom said after‧ward 之后, he, as had Ned, took an instinctive dislike 反感 to Mr. Hardley. He could not say definitely 无疑 what it was, but that was his feeling. That he might be mistaken 错误, he admitted frankly 坦率地说. Time alone could tell.

"Have you a half hour to give me while it explain matters?" asked Mr. Hardley. "I may go farther and say I need consider‧able 大量 time to go into all the details. May I speak now?"

To tell the truth Tom Swift had many important matters to consider, and, in addition 加成, Ned Newton was prepared to go over some financial 金融 ends of the business with Tom. But the young inventor felt that, in justice to his friend Mr. Damon, who had brought Mr. Hardley, he could do no less than give the stranger a hearing. But only the introduction 介绍 by Mr. Damon brought this about.

"I shall be glad 高兴的 to hear what you have to say, Mr. Hardley," said Tom, as courteously as he could. "I will not go so far as to say that my time is unlimited 无限, but I will listen to you now if you care to go into details."

"That's good!" exclaimed 喊叫 the visitor 访问者. "I'm sure that when you have listened you will agree with me."

"He's a little bit 一点 too sure!" mused 沉思 Ned.

"Bless my pocket‧book 口袋‧书, Tom, but there are millions in it!" exclaimed 喊叫 Mr. Damon. "Literally 按照字面 millions, Tom!"

Mr. Hardley settled himself comfort‧able 舒服 in his chair and looked from Tom to Ned.

"May I speak freely here?" he asked, with obvious 明显 intent 意图.

"You may," the young inventor answered. "Mr. Newton is my financial 金融 manager, and I do nothing of importance without consulting 咨询；请教；查阅 him. You may regard him as a member of the firm, in fact, as he does own some stock. My father is practically retired, and I do not trouble him with unimportant 不重要 details. So Mr. Newton and I are prepared to listen to you."

"Very well, Mr. Swift, I'm going to ask you a question. Have you all the money you want?"

Tom laughed.

"I suppose any man would answer that question in the negative 负," he replied. "Frankly, I could use more money, though I am not poor."

"So I have heard. Well, would a million dollars clear profit appeal 上诉 to you?"

"It certainly would," was the answer.

"Then I am prepared to offer you that sum 和," went on Mr. Hardley. "But there are certain conditions, and I may say that this vast 广大 wealth is not easy to come at. However, with your inventive 发明的 genius 天才, I am sure you will be able to solve 解决 the mystery of the sea. Now then as to details. There lies, on the floor of the ocean—"

"Hark!" exclaimed 喊叫 Tom, raising a hand to enjoin silence. "I think I hear some one coming." At that moment there was a knock 敲 at the door.

CHAPTER III

THINKING IT OVER

"Father, is that you?" asked Tom. "Father hasn't been feeling well, of late," he said to the assembled 集合 company, "and I told him to go to lie down. But he's hard to manage, and he won't rest more than ten 十 minutes at a time. My father, I might explain, Mr. Hardley," Tom went on, "is actively associated 关联 with me in business."

"So I have understood understand," said the man who had been introduced by Mr. Damon.

"Dis Koku!" came the guttural voice of the giant 5 from the other side of the door. "Koku want more work. Hall, him all clean. Maybe I help dat no-good Rad now."

"No you don't, Koku!" exclaimed 喊叫 the young inventor, with a laugh. "You keep away from Rad. You'll get to disputing 争议 again and interrupt 打断 me, and I have business on hand. Here, wait a minute. I'll find something for you to do," he went on, opening the door to disclose 透露 the immense 极大的 man standing outside, a broom 扫帚 in his hand seeming like a toy 玩具.

" Excuse 原谅 me one moment," went on Tom to his friends. Taking up his desk telephone he called one of the shops, asking: "Have you any heavy work on hand this morning; lifting big castings 种姓, or anything like that? You have? Good! I'll send Koku right over."

Turning to the giant who apparently 据…所知；看来；据说；听说 had not paid much attention to the talk over the wire, Tom said:

"Koku, go over to shop number ten 十, ask for the fore‧man 领班, and he'll keep you busy. There are some five-hundred 百-pound castings 种姓 that need assembling 集合, and you can help him."

"Good!" exclaimed 喊叫 the giant, with a cheerful 快乐 grin 微笑. "Koku like big work—no like sweep. Good for women and Rad, but not for Koku!"

"He spoke the truth there," remarked Ned Newton, as the giant stalked 茎 down the hall. "I never saw such a strong man. I'm afraid to shake hands with him, for fear I'll be minus 减去 a couple of fingers in the operation."

"Well, he's disposed 部署 of," remarked Tom, as he closed the door. "And now, Mr. Hardley, I'm at your service, as far as listening to your pro‧position 主张 is concerned."

"Thank you. I shall endeavor 努力 to be brief 简要," remarked the visitor 访问者. "Am I correct in assuming 承担 that you have had some experience in submarine 潜艇 work? I believe Mr. Damon mentioned something of that sort."

"Submarine work? Bless my hydrometer, I should say so!" exclaimed 喊叫 the eccentric 偏心 man. "And not only in submarine 潜艇, but in aeroplane! but you don't need any aeroplanes, my dear Mr. Hardley. It's the submarine 潜艇 end of it that you are interested in, as far as Tom Swift is concerned. Now go ahead and tell him what you told me, and how many millions there are in it."

"Very well," assented 同意 the visitor. "Have you ever had any experience in recovering 恢复 treasure 3 from sunken wrecks?" he asked Tom.

"Yes," was the answer. "And it is curious that you should ask me that, for my friend here, Ned Newton, and I were just talking about that very matter. Here's what brought it up," and Tom showed the page from the Sunday paper.

"Hum! Yes!" musingly remarked Mr. Hardley. "That's all very well. Part of it is true; but I imagine most of it is the work of imagination 想像力 of some enterprising 企业 reporter. Of course there is no question but that there are untold millions on the bottom of the ocean. The only trouble, as I think you will agree with me, Mr. Swift, is in coming at the money."

"Exactly," said Tom.

"And will you bear me out when I say that if the wreck of a treasure ship could be exactly located 定位 in water that is not too deep, half the trouble would be solved 解决?" asked Mr. Hardley.

"A good share of it would," answered Tom. "That is usually the chief difficulty—locating 定位 the wreck. Nearly always they are any‧where 任何地方 from one to five miles from where the persons seeking 寻求 them think they are. And five miles, or even half a mile, is a good distance on the bottom of the ocean."

"Exactly," echoed 回声 Mr. Hardley. "Then if I could give you the exact location 位置 of a sunken treasure ship, and prove to you that the owners 所有者 had given up the search for it, leaving it open to salvage 打捞 on the part of who‧ever 无论谁 wished to try—would that be any inducement to you to make an attempt, Mr. Swift?"

"I should want to hear more about it before I gave an answer," replied Tom. "As perhaps Mr. Damon has told you, I once went on a hunt for treasure in my submarine 潜艇. We found it, but only after consider‧able 大量 trouble, and then I declared I'd never again engage 从事 in such a search. There wasn't enough net 网 profit in it."

"But there are millions in this, Tom! Bless my gold tooth, but there are millions!" cried the excitable Mr. Damon. "Hurry up and tell him!" he urged his friend.

"I will," assented 同意 Mr. Hardley. "I can readily believe," he went on, "that the cost of hunting for under‧sea 在…下面‧海 treasure is great. I have taken that into consideration 考虑. Now, in brief 简要, my plan is this. I will join forces with you, and bear half the expense if I am allowed to share half the proceeds 继续. That's fair, isn't it?" he asked Tom.

"So far, yes," replied the young inventor.

"Now then, to business!" exclaimed 喊叫 the visitor. "Will you join with me in searching for some of the wealth-laden 载货 wrecks that are rotting 腐烂 at the bottom of the sea, Mr. Swift?"

"Do you mean make an indiscriminate search for any one of a number of wrecks?" Tom wanted to know.

"I should want the understanding broad enough to include all wrecks we might discover," was the answer, "but I have in mind one in particular now. It is the wreck of the steamer 蒸汽 Pandora which was sunk off the coast of one of the West Indian Islands about a year ago."

Ned Newton quickly caught catch up the page of the Sunday supplement 补充 and scanned 扫描 the list of wrecks given there.

"No mention of the Pandora here," he said.

"No," agreed Mr. Hardley, "the story of this wreck is not generally known, and the story of the treasure she carried is hardly known at all. As a matter of fact, this money, mostly in gold, was to finance 金融 a South American revolution 革命, and such matters are generally kept quiet. That is why nothing much appeared in the papers about the Pandora. But I happen to know that she carried over two million dollars in gold, and I know—"

"Think of that, Tom! Think of that!" cried Mr. Damon. "Two million dollars in gold! Why bless my—bless my—"

But the eccentric 偏心 man could think of nothing adequate 足够的；合格的；合乎需要的 to bless under the circumstances 环境, and he sub‧side 塌陷 with a murmur 私语.

" Excuse 原谅 me for interrupting 打断 you," he said to his new friend. "But I just couldn't help it."

"That's all right," Mr. Hardley remarked, with a smile that showed two rows 行 of very even, white teeth. "I don't blame 指责 you for getting excited. Does that interest you?" he asked Tom. "Two million dollars in gold, besides a quantity 量 of silver—just how much I don't know."

"It certainly sounds interesting," replied Tom, with a smile. "But are you sure of your facts?"

"Absolutely," was the answer. "I was a passenger 乘客 on the Pandora when she was wrecked 破坏；使遇难 in a storm 暴风雨. I saw the gold put on board. It was not taken off, and is on her now as she lies at the bottom of the sea."

"And the location 位置?" queried 询问 Tom.

"I know that, too!" said Mr. Hardley eagerly 渴望的. "I was with the captain just before we had to abandon 放弃 ship, and I heard the exact nautical location 位置 given him by an officer who made the calculation 计算. I have it written down to the second—latitude 纬度 and longitude. That will be a help in locating 定位 the wreck, won't it?"

"Why, yes," Tom had to agree, "it will be, but if you know it, then the captain and others must know it. And what is to prevent them from making a search for the Pandora if they have not already done so?"

"The best reason in the world," was the answer. "The boat containing the captain and the officer who gave him the ship's position was sunk, and all on board lost. The boat I was in was the only one picked up, and I believe I am the only one who knows exactly where the Pandora lies.

"Now, here is my offer, Mr. Swift," went on the seeker 导引头 after the ocean's hidden hide wealth. "I will bear half the expense of fitting out a submarine 潜艇, or for any other kind of expedition 远征 to go in search of the wreck of the Pandora. I will furnish you with the exact nautical location 位置, as I have it. And when the wealth is found and brought to the surface, I will give you half—in other words at least a million dollars! Does that appeal 上诉 to you?"

"I must say it is a fair, though perhaps strange, offer," conceded 承认 Tom. "And a million dollars is not made every day nor every year. But what about the title to this money? After we have recovered 恢复 it—provided we are successful 成功—will not some person or some government lay claim to it?"

"None can successfully 顺利," declared Mr. Hardley. "As I told you, the money was to finance 金融 a revolution 革命. It was raised for an unlawful 非法的 purpose, so to speak, and no one has a valid 有效 claim to it under the circumstances 环境, so lawyers whom 谁 I have consulted 咨询；请教；查阅 have told me. But if that is not enough, I have papers to prove that those who might be called the owners 所有者 have given up the search for it. More than a year has elapsed 过去, and though I don't know just how long it takes to outlaw 取缔 an under-ocean claim, I feel sure that we would have a legal 法律 and moral right to take this gold if we could find it."

"I should want to be satisfied on that point before I undertook the search," said Tom.

"Then you will under‧take 承担 it?" eagerly exclaimed 喊叫 Mr. Hardley.

"I will think it over," Tom answered quietly—so quietly that distinct 不同 disappointment 失望 showed on the face of the visitor.

CHAPTER IV

AGAINST HIS WILL

For a moment it seemed that Mr. Damon, as well as Mr. Hardley, felt disappointment 失望 at Tom's answer, for the eccentric 偏心 man exclaimed 喊叫:

"Bless my leather 皮 belt 腰带, Tom, but you aren't very keen 热切的 on making a million dollars!"

"Oh, yes, I like to make money," the young inventor answered. "I guess you know that, as well as any one, for you've been with me on several trips. And I don't mind hard work, nor danger."

"I'll say you don't!" added Ned, as he thought of some of Tom's perilous voyages 旅行, among the diamond 钻石 makers and in the caves 洞穴 of ice 冰.

"Well, if you are anxious 焦急的 to make money, as I admit I am," said Mr. Hardley, "why can't you give me an answer now?"

"Because," answered Tom, "there are many things to be considered. Hunting for a treasure on the floor of the Atlantic isn't like going to some location 位置 on land, however wild or inaccessible 人迹罕至 it might be. Do you realize, Mr. Hardley, what a large difference in miles a small error 错误 in nautical calculations makes? We might go to the exact spot where you thought the wreck of the Pandora lies, only to find that we would have to hunt around a long time.

"I must think of that, and also think of my other business affairs. Then, too, there is my father. He is getting old, and while he is still active in the affairs of the company, particularly when it comes to taking up new lines of work, I do not like to think of leaving him, as I should have to, in case I went on this trip."

"Take him along!" exclaimed 喊叫 Mr. Damon. "He's gone with us before, Tom."

"He's too old now," said the young inventor a bit sadly 悲哀的. "Father will never make another extended trip. But I will let you have my answer as soon as I can, Mr. Hardley, and I will give the matter consider‧able 大量 thought."

"I'm sure I hope you will, and also that you will consent 同意 to go," was the answer. "A million is not easily to be come at in these days after the Great War."

"I realize that," agreed Tom with a smile. "And you shall have my answer as soon as possible."

With this the visitor was forced to be content, and a little later he withdrew with Mr. Damon, the latter telling Tom that he would see him again soon.

"Well, that was queer 奇怪, wasn't it?" remarked Ned, when he and Tom were alone again.

"What was?" asked Tom, as though his mind was far away, as indeed it was.

"That this man should come in with his project 项目 to search for a sunken treasure wreck just as we were talking about how many millions were on the bottom of the ocean."

"Yes, it was quite a coincidence 巧合," Tom admitted.

"What do you think of it—and him?" asked Ned.

"Well, to tell you the truth, I didn't take a great fancy 想像 to Mr. Hardley," Tom said. "I think he's altogether 全部地 too cock‧sure 公鸡‧确信的, and takes too much for granted 发放. Still I may misjudge him. Certainly he doesn't have a chance at a million dollars every day."

"Do you think you could get the treasure out of this wreck, Tom, if you could locate 定位 her?"

"Why, it's possible; yes. We proved that with the Boldero."

"Would you use the same submarine 潜艇?"

"No, I think I'd have to rebuild 重建 it, or make an altogether 全部地 new one. Possibly I might get one of Uncle 叔叔 Sam's and add some improvements 起色 of my own."

"Yes, you could do that," agreed Ned. "You've done so much for the government that it couldn't refuse you something reasonable, now that the war is over. Then do you think you'll go?"

"Really, Ned, I can't make up my mind yet. Now let's forget the Pandora and all the millions and get down to business. This Criterion 标准 company seems to me to want altogether 全部地 too much, We'll have to trim 修剪 their request down a bit. They owe 欠…债 the money and ought to pay it."

"Yes, I'll get after them," said Ned, and then he and his chum, as well as employer, plunged 跳水 into a mass of business details.

It was the next afternoon, when Tom, following a strenuous 费劲 morning of work, leaned lean back in his chair at his desk, that Mr. Damon was announced 宣布.

"Tell him to come in," ordered Tom, always glad to see his friend. "Wait a minute, though!" he called to the messenger 信使. "Is any one with him?"

"No, sir 先生; he is alone."

"Good! Then show him right in. I was afraid," said Tom to Ned, who was also in the office, "that he had Hardley with him. I'm not quite ready to see him yet."

"Then you haven't made up your mind about going for the treasure?"

"Not exactly. I shall, perhaps, this week."

"Bless my match‧box 比赛；火柴‧盒；耳光, Tom, but I'm glad to see you!" cried Mr. Damon, as he hastened 加速 forward with outstretched hand. "I was afraid you might be out. Now look here! What about my friend Hardley? He's very anxious 焦急的 to know your decision about going for that treasure, and I said I'd come over and sound you. I don't mind saying, Tom, that if you go I'm going too; if you'll take me, of course."

"Well, Mr. Damon, you know you'll always be welcome, as far as I am concerned," said the young inventor; "but, as a matter of fact, I don't believe I'm going."

"What? Not going to pick up a million dollars off the floor of the ocean, Tom? Bless my bank balance! but that's foolish 傻, it seems to me."

"Perhaps it is, but I can't help it."

"What's your principal 主要 objection 反对?" asked the eccentric 偏心 man. "It isn't that you don't want the money, is it?"

"Not exactly."

"Then it must be that you object to Mr. Hardley personally 亲自." went on Mr. Damon. "I began to suspect 怀疑；嫌疑犯 that, Tom, and I want to say that you are wrong. Mr. Hardley is a friend of mine—a good friend. I have not known him long, but he strikes me as being all right. He had some good letters of introduction 介绍, and I believe he has money."

"Where'd he get it?" asked Tom.

"I don't know, exactly. Seems to me I heard him mention silver mines, or it may have been gold. Anyhow 总之, it had something to do with getting wealth out of the ground grind. Now, Tom, I don't mind saying that I stand to make a little money in case this thing goes through."

"How's that, Mr. Damon?" asked the young scientist 科学家 in surprise.

"Why, I agreed to bear part of the expense," was the answer. "I thought this was a pretty good scheme 方案, and when Mr. Hardley came to me and told me of the possibilities 可能性 I agreed to help him finance 金融 the expenses. That is, I have taken shares in the company he formed to raise his half of the expense money.

"Of course I thought of you at once when he spoke of having to search out a sunken wreck, and I proposed your name. He'd heard of you, he said, but didn't know you. So I brought you together and now—bless my apple 苹果 pie 馅饼, Tom! I hope you aren't going to turn down a chance to make a million and, incidentally 顺便, help an old friend."

"Well," remarked Tom, slowly, "I must admit, Mr. Damon, that I didn't think you'd go into a thing like this. Not that it is more risky 有风险 than other schemes 方案, but I thought you didn't care for speculation 推测."

"Well, this sort of appealed 上诉 to me Tom. You know—sunken wreck under the ocean, down in a diving bell perhaps, and all that! There's romance 浪漫 to it."

"Yes, there is romance 浪漫," agreed Tom. "And hard work, too. If I undertook this it would mean an extra 额外的 lot of work getting ready. I suppose I could use my own submarine 潜艇. I could get her in commission 佣金, and make improvements 起色 more quickly than on any other."

"Then you'll go?" quickly cried the eccentric 偏心 man.

"Well, since you tell me you are interested financially 经济, I believe I will," assented 同意 Tom, but he spoke reluctantly 勉强. "As a matter of fact, I am going against my better judgment 判断. Not that I fear we shall be in danger," he hastened to add; "but I think it will prove a failure. However, as Mr. Hardley will bear half the expense, and as by using my own submarine 潜艇 that will not be much, I'll go!"

"Then I'll tell him!" exclaimed 喊叫 Mr. Damon. "Hurray! This is great! I haven't had an exciting trip for a long while! Don't tell my wife about it," he begged 乞讨 Tom and Ned. "At least not until just before we start. Then she can't object in time. I'll have a wonderful 精彩 experience, I know. This will be good news to Dixwell Hardley!"

And as Mr. Damon hastened away to acquaint 认识 his new friend with Tom's decision, the young inventor remarked to Ned:

"I'll go; but, somehow, I have a feeling that something will happen."

"Something bad?" asked the financial 金融 manager. "No, I wouldn't go so far as to say that. But I believe we'll have trouble. I'll start on the search for the sunken millions, but rather against my better judgment 判断. However, maybe Mr. Damon's luck and good nature will pull us through!"

CHAPTER V

BUSY DAYS

Once Tom Swift had made up his mind to do a thing he did it—even though it was against his better judgment 判断. His word, passed, was his bond 键.

In conformity 一致性 then with his decision to take Mr. Damon and the latter's friend, Mr. Hardley, on an under‧sea 在…下面‧海 search for treasure, Tom at once proceeded 继续 to make his preparations 制备. Ned, too, had his work to do, since the decision to make what might be a long trip would necessitate 必要 a change in Tom's plans. But, as in everything he did, he threw throw himself into this whole-heartedly and with enthusiasm 热情.

Not once did Tom Swift admit to himself that he was going into this scheme 方案 because he thought well of it. It was all for Mr. Damon, after Tom had learned learn that his friend had invested 投资 consider‧able 大量 money in a company Mr. Hardley had formed to pay half the expenses of the trip.

Tom even tried to buy Mr. Damon off, by offering the latter back all the money the eccentric 偏心 man had invested 投资 with his new friend. But Mr. Damon exclaimed 喊叫:

"Bless my gasolene tank 容器, Tom! I'm in this thing as much for the love of adventure 冒险活动, as I am for the money. Now let's go on with it. You will like Hardley better when you know him better."

"Perhaps," said Tom dryly, but he did not think so.

The young inventor insisted 咬定, before making any preparations 制备 for the trip, that all the cards be laid on the table. That is, he wanted to be sure there had been such a ship as the Pandora, that she was laden 载货 with gold, and that she had sunk where Mr. Hardley said she had. The latter was perfectly willing to supply all needful proofs 证明, even though some were difficult, because of the nature of the voyage 旅行 of the treasure craft 手艺. As a filibuster she was not trading openly.

"Here are all the records," said Mr. Hardley to Tom one day, when the young inventor, Ned, and Mr. Damon were gathered in Tom's office. "You may satisfy your‧self 你自己."

And, with Ned's help, Tom did.

There was no question but what the Pandora had sailed 航行；帆 from a certain port 港口 on a certain date. The official reports proved that. And that she did carry a consider‧able 大量 treasure in gold was also established 建立 to the satisfaction 满足 of Tom Swift. Because the gold was to be used for furthering ends against one of the South American governments, the gold shipment 装船 was not insured 保证 and, in consequence 后果, no recovery 失而复得 could be made.

"Then you are satisfied, are you, Mr. Swift, that the ship, set out with over two millions in gold on board?" asked Mr. Hardley. "Yes, that seems to be proved," Tom admitted, and Ned nodded 点头. "The next thing to prove is that she foundered 创办人 in a storm 3 about the position I am going to tell you," went on Mr. Damon's friend.

"He doesn't tell you the exact location 位置 now, Tom," explained Mr. Damon, "because it might leak 泄漏 out. He'll disclose 透露 it to us as soon as we are out of sight of land in the submarine 潜艇."

"I'm willing to agree to that pro‧position 主张," Tom said. "But I want to be sure she really did sink 淹没."

This was proved to him by official records. There was no question but that the Pandora had gone down in a big storm. And Mr. Hardley was on board. He proved that, too, a not very difficult task 任务, since the official passenger 乘客 list was open to inspection 检查.

Mr. Hardley repeated his story about having over‧hear 偷听 the exact location 位置 of the ship a few minutes before she sank, and he also told of the captain and several members of the ship's company having been drowned 淹死. This, too, was confirmed 确认.

"Then," went on Mr. Hardley, "all that remains for me to do is to deposit 留下 at some bank my half of the expenses and await 等待 your word to go aboard 船上 the submarine 潜艇."

"I believe that is all," returned Tom. "But, on my part, it will take some little time to fit the submarine 潜艇 out as I want to have her. There are some special appliances 器具 I want to take along which will aid 援助 us in the search for the gold, if we find the place where the Pandora is sunk."

"Oh, we'll find that all right," declared Mr. Hardley, "if you will only follow my directions."

Tom looked slightly incredulous, but said nothing.

Then followed busy days. The submarine 潜艇 Advance, which had made several successful 成功 trips, as related in the book bearing the title, "Tom Swift and His Submarine Boat," was hauled 运输 into dry dock 码头 and the work of over‧haul 翻修 her begun. Tom put his best men to work, and, after a consultation 会诊 with his father, decided on some radical 很不同的，革命性的 changes in the craft 手艺.

"Tom, my boy," said the aged Mr. Swift, "I wish you weren't going on this trip."

"Why, Dad 爸?" asked the young inventor.

"Because I fear something will happen. We don't really need this money, and suppose—suppose—"

"Oh, I'm not worrying, Dad 爸," was the answer. "I've taken worse risks than this, many a time. I'm really doing it as a favor to Mr. Damon. He's got too much money invested 投资 to let him lose it. And we can use a million dollars ourselves 我们自己. It will enable 启用 me to put in operation a plan to pension 养老金 our workmen. I've long had that in mind, but I've never had enough capital to carry it out."

"Well, of course, Tom, that's a worthy 值得 object, and I won't make any further objections 反对. But take my advice 劝告, and strengthen 加强 the submarine 潜艇."

"Why, Dad 爸?" asked Tom in some surprise. "Because you'll find the water there of a greater depth than you think," was the answer. "I know you have the official hydrographic charts 图表, but there's a mistake, I'm sure. I once made a study of that part of the ocean, and there are currents there at certain seasons of the year that no one suspects 怀疑；嫌疑犯, and deep caverns that aren't charted 图表. If the Pandora lies in one of these you'll need a great strength of walls to your submarine 潜艇 to with‧stand 经受 the pressure of deep water."

The craft 手艺 Tom Swift proposed to use in searching for the treasure ship Pandora was of the regular cigar 雪茄-shape, but inside it had many special features 特征. It was more comfort‧able 舒服；自在 than the usual submarine 潜艇, not being intended for fighting, though it did carry guns and a torpedo 鱼雷 tube 管. Tom intended renaming 改名 the craft 手艺, which had been called Advance, and one day, when there had been some discussion as to what the under‧sea 在…下面‧海 craft 手艺 ought to be called, Ned explained:

"Why don't you name it after her?"

"After whom 谁?" inquired 打听 Tom, in some surprise, looking up from a letter he was writing.

"Your friend and future wife, Mary Nestor," answered Ned. "I'm sure she'd appreciate 欣赏 it."

"That isn't such a bad idea," conceded 承认 Tom musingly. "The only thing about it is that I don't want Mary's name bandied about that way."

"Use her initials 初始, then," suggested Ned.

"How do you mean?"

"Why not call it the M. N. 1.? Isn't that a good name?"

"The M. N. 1." mused 沉思 Tom. "Not so bad. If the N. C. 4 flew fly over the ocean the M. N. 1 ought to be able to navigate 导航 under it. I think I'll do that, Ned."

So the Advance, rebuilt and refitted in many ways, was christened the M. N. 1, and a wonderful 精彩 craft 手艺 she proved to be. Mary Nestor was quite pleased when Tom told her what he had done. She appreciated 欣赏 the delicate 微妙的；纤弱的 compliment 赞扬 he had paid her.

Busy and more busy were the days that passed. As the M. N. 1 had to be refitted some miles from Tom's home, where it was feasible 可行 to launch 发射 her for the trip, he had to make the journey 旅行 between the dry‧dock 干燥‧码头 and his shop either by auto‧mobile 汽车 or aeroplane. Often he choose the latter, since he had a number of small, speedy 迅速 craft 手艺 in his hangars. Sometimes Ned or Mr. Damon went with him, but Mr. Hardley could never be induced 促使 to ride in an air‧ship 天空‧船.

"I'll travel on the ocean or under it," he said, "but I'm not going to take a chance in the air. I'm too afraid of falling."

"Tom, what's this?" asked Ned one day, when he and Tom had come to see how the work of remodeling 改装 the submarine 潜艇 was getting along. "It looks like something you used when you dug 挖:dig your big tunnel 隧道."

"That's a new kind of diving bell," Tom answered. "You know it isn't easy to get treasure out of a sunken ship. It isn't like picking it off the bottom of the ocean. We've got to get it out from inside—perhaps from inside a strong box or a safe. This bell may come in useful 有用."

"Can't you use the special diving suits that you always used to carry?" the financial 金融 manager wanted to know.

"We might, if the water isn't too deep," replied Tom. "But you know there is a limit to how far down a man in even my kind of diving dress can go. With this diving bell a much greater depth can be reached. And this diving bell is not like any you have ever seen or read about. My father gave me the idea for it. I'll demonstrate 演示 it to you some day."

A diving bell is shaped like its name. A common glass tumbler 下跌 thrust 推力 down into a pail of water, with the open side down, will show exactly the principle 原理 on which a diving bell works. It illustrates 说明 the fact that two things cannot occupy 占据 the same place at the same time.

Pushing the tumbler 下跌, open end down, into the pail of water, leaves a space in the upper end of the tumbler 下跌 which the water cannot fill, because it is already occupied 占据 with air. Imagine a big tumbler 下跌, made of thick steel 钢, lowered into the water. Air pumped into the upper part not only keeps the water from entering, but also enables 启用 a man inside to breathe 呼吸 and to move about inside the bell which may be lowered to the floor of the ocean. But, as Tom told Ned, his diving bell was a big improvement 起色 over those commonly used.

The two young men inspected 检查 the progress made in refitting the submarine 潜艇, and Tom expressed himself as satisfied.

"How soon do you think you can start?" asked Ned.

"In about two weeks," was the answer. "I'll want to get to the West Indies before the fall storms start. Not only will it be impossible to make a search then, but the very location 位置 of the sunken wreck may be changed."

"How so?" asked Ned.

"Because of under‧sea 在…下面‧海 currents. They are strong enough, not only to sweep a wreck away from the place where it may have settled, but they may cover it with sand 沙, and then it is hope‧less 绝望 to try to dig 挖 it out. So we've got to go soon, if we go at all."

"Well, I'm with you!" exclaimed 喊叫 Ned. " Hello 哈喽! here's some one looking for you, I guess," he added, as a boy came hurrying down to the dock 码头 from the temporary 临时 office Tom had set up there.

"You're wanted on the telephone, Mr. Swift," said the messenger 信使. "It's important, too."

"All right. I'll come at once," was the answer. "Hope it isn't bad news," mused 沉思 Ned, as his chum hurried on in advance. "Maybe Hardley has found out he hasn't a right to search for that sunken gold after all. That would be too bad for Mr. Damon!"

CHAPTER VI

MARY'S ODD STORY

" Hello 哈喽! Hello 4! Yes, this is Tom Swift. What's that? You've had an accident 意外事件? Great Scott, Mary! I hope you aren't hurt 损害."

Ned over‧hear 偷听 these words as he stood outside the temporary 临时 office, from inside which Tom Swift was telephoning.

"There's been an accident!" thought the financial 金融 manager. "I wonder if I can help?"

He was about to hurry in to offer his services when he heard Tom laugh, and then he knew it was all right. He heard his chum say:

"I'll be right over and get you. Just where are you?"

Then followed a period of listening on the part of Tom, to be broken break by the words:

"All right, I'll be right with you. Lucky 幸运 I have my Air Scout with me. You aren't afraid to ride in that, are you? No, that's good! I'll be right over. Ned is here with me, and I'll have him telephone to your father and mother."

With that Tom hung up the receiver and joined his chum.

"Mary had a slight auto‧mobile 汽车 accident about five miles from here," Tom told his chum. "Some green driver ran into her and dished 盘 one of her wheels. No one hurt 损害, but she hasn't a spare 节省；多余的；备用件 wheel and can't navigate 导航. She called me up at the house, not wishing to alarm 警告 her father, and Mrs. Baggert told her you and I had come down to the dock 码头, so she reached me here. I'll go in the small aeroplane and get her. Luckily I left it here the last time I made a trip. Will you call up Mary's home and let them know she's all right and that I'll soon be home with her? They might hear an exaggerated 夸大 account of the accident."

Ned promised to do this, and at once put in a call for the home of his chum's fiancee, while Tom had one of his men run out the Air Scout. This was an aeroplane recently perfected by the young inventor which slipped through space with scarcely 缺乏的 a sound. So silent was it that the craft 手艺 had been dubbed 配音 "Silent Sam," and it stood Tom in good stead as those of you know who have read the volume 卷 just before the present book. This sky glider 滑行 Tom would now use in going to the rescue 营救 of Mary Nestor was not, however, the same large craft 手艺 that figured in the previous 以前 story. That air‧ship 天空‧船 had been given to the United States government for war purposes. But Tom had built himself a smaller one for his own use. It had the advantage of enabling 启用 him to carry on a conversation with his passenger 乘客 when he took one aloft.

About a week before Tom and Ned had flown fly from Shopton to the dry dock 码头 where the submarine 潜艇 was being reconstructed 重建 in this small air‧ship 天空‧船. Engine trouble had developed after they had landed, and they had gone back by auto‧mobile 汽车, leaving the Air Scout to be repaired 修理. This had been done, and now Tom intended to use it in going to Mary's rescue 营救.

Now, when the Air Scout had been run out of the hangar, Tom climbed into it.

" Sorry 对不起的 I can't take you along," he called to Ned, who had finished telephoning to Mary's home, "but, under the circumstances 环境—"

"Two's company and three's a crowd!" laughed Ned. "I know!"

"No, I didn't mean that," Tom said. "You know Mary likes you, but this will carry only two."

"I know!" answered his chum. "On your way!"

And with an almost noise‧less 噪音‧少 throb 搏动 of her engine and a whirr of her propeller 推进, the aeroplane rolled swiftly 如飞 over the level starting ground and took the air like a swan 天鹅 leaving its lake.

Tom did not rise to a great height 高度, as he would need only a few minutes to reach the place where Mary was stalled 摊子 by the accident to her machine. Soon he was hovering 徘徊 over a level field, one of several that lined the country high‧way 公路 in that section 部分. A small crowd on the turnpike gathered about an evidently 明显地 disabled 禁用 auto‧mobile 汽车 gave Tom the clew he needed, and presently he made a landing. Instantly the throng 人群 of country people who had gathered to look at the auto‧mobile 汽车 crash 碰撞 deserted 沙漠；抛弃 that for a view of something more sensational 轰动的—an air‧ship 天空‧船.

Cautioning the boys who gathered about not to " monkey 猴" with any of the mechanism, Tom hastened over to where Mary was standing near her car.

"Are you sure you aren't hurt?" he asked her anxiously 焦急的.

"Oh, yes, very sure," she replied, smiling at him. "It isn't much of an accident—only one wheel smashed 粉碎. We were both going slowly."

"But it was all my fault 缺点!" insisted 咬定 a young fellow who had been driving the car that crashed 碰撞 into Mary's. "I'm all kinds of sorry, and of course I'll pay all damages 损害. I wanted this young lady to let me drive her home and then send a garage 车库 man to tow 拖 her car, but she said she had other plans. I don't blame 指责 her for not wanting to ride in my jitney bus 公共汽车 when I see what kind of car you have," and he looked over toward Tom's aeroplane.

"Thank you, just the same," murmured 私语 Mary. "I'm not quite sure that it was all your fault 缺点. But if you will be so good as to send a man after my machine I'll go back with Mr. Swift. Wait until I get my bag 袋," she added, and she extracted 提取 it from the seat in her auto‧mobile 汽车. "There'll be room for this, won't there?" she asked. "I've been shopping."

"You must have made some large purchases 采购," laughed Tom, looking critically 危重 at the small bag. "Yes, there'll be room for that, all right."

He made a brief 简要 examination 检查 of Mary's machine, ascertaining 探明 that the dished wheel was the main damage 损害, and then, having given the young man who caused the accident directions for the garage 车库 attend‧ant 服务员, Tom led his pretty companion 同伴 across the field to the waiting air‧ship 天空‧船.

Of course a crowd gathered to see them start off, and this was not long delayed 延迟, as Tom was not fond 喜欢的 of curiosity 好奇心 seekers 导引头. In a few minutes he and Mary were soaring 翱翔 aloft.

"Well, how are you?" he asked Mary, when they were alone well above the earth.

"Fine and dandy," she answered, smiling at him, for they were riding side by side and could con‧verse 交谈 with little difficulty owing 欠…债 to the silent running of Tom's latest invention 发明. "I'm sorry to have called you away from your work," she added, "but when Mrs. Baggert told me you were at the submarine 潜艇 dock 码头 I thought perhaps you could run out and get me in your machine. I didn't expect you to fly to me."

"I'm always ready to do that!" exclaimed 喊叫 Tom, as he shot shoot upward 向上 to avoid a bank of low-lying clouds. "Were you frightened 使惊恐 at the crash 碰撞 in the machine?"

"Not greatly. I saw it coming, and knew it was unavoidable 不免. That chap 皴裂 hasn't been running autos 汽车 very long, I imagine, and he lost his head in the emergency 急. But I had my brakes 制动 on and he just coasted into me. I was lucky 幸运 in that it wasn't worse."

"I should say so! Do you want to get right home?"

"I think I'd better. Mother and father may be a little worried about me. And they've had trouble enough of late."

"Trouble!" exclaimed 喊叫 Tom, in a questioning voice. "Anything serious?"

"No, just family financial 金融 matters. Not ours," she hastened to add, as she saw Tom look quickly at her. "A relative. I shouldn't have mentioned it, but father and mother are a little worried, and I don't want to add to it."

"Of course not," agreed Tom. "If there's anything I can do?"

"Oh, I expected you to say that!" laughed Mary. "Thanks. If there is we'll call on you. But it may all be straightened 变直 out. Father was expecting a message from Uncle 叔叔 Barton today. So, though I'd like to take a cloud-ride with you, I think I'd better get home."

"All right," agreed Tom. "I told Ned to telephone that you were all right, so they won't worry. And now try to enjoy your‧self 你自己."

"I'll try," promised Mary, but it was obvious 明显, even from the quick glances 一瞥 Tom gave her, that she was worried about something. Mary was not her usual, spontaneous 自发, jolly 欢乐 self 自己, and Tom realized it.

"Well, here we are!" he announced 宣布 a little later, as they soared 翱翔 above a level field not far from her home. "Sorry I can't let you down right on your roof, but it isn't flat enough nor big enough."

"Oh, I don't mind a little walk, especially as I didn't have to hike 远足 it all the way in from Bailey Corners," she said, referring to the place of the auto‧mobile 汽车 accident. "I suppose the time will come when everybody who now has an auto 汽车 will have an air‧ship 天空‧船 and a landing place, or a starting place, for it at his own door," she added.

"Either that, or else we'll have airships so compact 紧凑 that they can set off and land in as small a space as an auto 汽车 now requires," said Tom. "The latter would be the best solution, as one great disadvantage 坏处 of airships now is the manner of starting and stopping. It's too big."

Tom left his Air Scout in a field owned by Mr. Nestor, where he had often landed before, and walked up to the house with Mary.

"Oh, I'm glad you're back!" exclaimed 喊叫 Mrs. Nestor, when she saw the two coming up the steps.

"You weren't worried, were you, after Ned telephoned?" asked Tom.

"Not exactly worried, but I thought perhaps he was making light of it. Do tell me what happened, Mary!"

Thereupon the girl related all the circumstances 环境 of the smash 粉碎, and Tom added his share of the story.

"Did father hear anything from Uncle Barton?" asked Mary, after her mother's curiosity 好奇心 had been satisfied.

"Yes," was the answer, in rather despondent tones 音, "he did, but the news was not encouraging. The papers cannot be found."

"It's mother's brother we're talking about," Mary explained to Tom. "Barton Keith in his name. Perhaps you remember him?"

"I've heard you speak of him," Tom admitted.

"Well," resumed 恢复 Mary, "Uncle Barton is in a peck 啄 of trouble. He was once very rich, and he invested 投资 heavily 很大，沉重地 in oil lands, in Oklahoma, I believe."

"No, in Texas," corrected Mrs. Nestor.

"Yes, it was Texas," agreed Mary. "Well he bought buy, or got, somehow, shares in some valuable 贵重的 oil lands in Texas, and expected to double his for‧tune 命运. Now, instead, he's probably lost it all."

"That's too bad!" exclaimed 喊叫 Tom. "How did it happen?"

"In rather an odd 奇 way," went on Mary. "He really owns the lands, or at least half of them, but he cannot prove his title because the papers he needs were taken from him, and, he thinks, by a man he trusted. He's been trying to get the documents 文件 back, and every day we've been expecting to hear that he has them, but mother says there has been no result."

"No," said Mrs. Nestor. "My brother thought sure he had a trace 跟踪 of the man he believes has the papers, or who had them, but he lost track 小路 of him. If we could only find him—"

At that moment a maid 女佣 came into the room to announce 宣布 that Tom Swift was wanted at the telephone.

CHAPTER VII

THE TRIAL TRIP

"This is my busy day!" announced 宣布 the young inventor as he went into the Nestor sitting room, where the telephone was installed 安装.

"Perhaps it is some one else who wants you to come to their rescue 营救," suggested Mary.

But it was not, as Tom related a little later when he had finished his talk over the wire.

"Just a business matter," he announced 宣布 to Mary and her mother, when he rejoined 归队 them. "A gentle‧man 先生 with whom 谁 I expect to make a submarine 潜艇 trip is at the house, and wants to consult 咨询；请教；查阅 with me about details. He is getting anxious 焦急的 to start. Mr. Damon is there, too."

"Blessing every thing he lays eyes on, I suppose," remarked Mrs. Nestor, with a smile.

"Yes, and some things he doesn't see," agreed Tom. "He is going with us on this submarine 潜艇 trip."

"Oh, Tom, are you going to under‧take 承担 another of those dangerous 危险 voyages?" asked Mary, in some alarm 警告.

"Well, I don't know that they are particularly dangerous 危险," replied Tom, with a smile. "But we expect to make a search for a sunken treasure ship in a submarine 潜艇. That's the vessel 容器 I'm working on now," he added. "We're rebuilding 重建 the Advance, you know, making her more up-to-date, and adding some new features 特征, including her name—M. N. 1."

"I suppose Mr. Damon's friend is getting anxious 3 to make a start, particularly as he has already invested 投资 several thou‧sand 千 dollars in the project 项目," went on the young inventor. "He formed a company to pay half the expenses of the search, and they will share in the treasure—if we find it," Tom said. "I wish Mr. Damon, who holds most of the shares the promoter 启动 let out of his own hands, had not gone into it, but, since he has, I'm going to do the best I can for him."

"Then aren't you friendly with the other man?" asked Mary.

"I don't especially care for him," the young inventor admitted. "He isn't just my style 样式—too fond 喜欢的 of himself, and all that. Still I may be misjudging him. However, I'm in the game now, and I'm going to stick. I'll have to be traveling on," he said. "Mr. Damon and his friend are at my house, and they've been telephoning all over to find me. I guess this was one of the first places they tried," he said with a smile, referring to the fact that he spent spend consider‧able 大量 time at Mary's home.

"Well, I'm glad they found you, but I'm sorry you have to go," Mary said with a smile.

A little later Tom Swift, with Ned, for whom 4 he called, was on his way back home in his Air Scout, having said good‧bye 再见 to Mary and her mother and expressing the hope that Mr. Keith would soon be over his business troubles.

"Oil wells are queer 奇怪, anyhow 总之," mused 沉思 Tom.

Then Tom got to thinking about Dixwell Hardley: "I don't like the man, and the more I see of him the less I like him. But I'm in for it now, and I'll stick to the finish. I only wish I could locate 定位 the treasure ship, give him his share, and get back to my work. I'm going to try to turn out an air‧ship 天空‧船 that a man can use as handily 便利 as he does a flivver now."

Musing on the possibilities 可能性 in this field, Tom, having left Ned at the latter's home, soared 翱翔 down from aloft, and a little later, having told Koku to look after the Air Scout, much to the delight of the giant and the discomfiture of Rad, the young inventor was closeted 壁橱 with Mr. Damon and Dixwell Hardley.

"Bless my straw 稻草 hat, Tom!" exclaimed 喊叫 the eccentric 偏心 man, "but we just couldn't wait any longer. How are you coming on, and when can we start on this treasure-hunting trip? I declare it makes me feel young again to think about it!"

"Well, it won't be long now," was the answer. "The men are working hard to get the submarine 潜艇 in shape, and I should say that in another week, or two weeks at the most, we could set off!"

"Good!" exclaimed 喊叫 Mr. Hardley. "I have received additional 额外 information," he went on, "to the effect that the amount of gold on board the Pandora was even greater than we at first thought."

"That sounds encouraging," replied Tom. "It only remains to find the sunken ship now. But what interests me greatly is whether, after we have gotten this gold, supposing we are successful 成功, we shall be allowed to keep it."

"Bless my bank book! why not?" asked Mr. Damon. "Isn't it wealth abandoned 放弃 at the bottom of the sea, and isn't finding keeping?"

"Not always," answered Tom. "There are certain rules and laws about treasure, and it might happen that after we got this—if we do—it could be taken away from us."

"I think there will be no difficulty on this score 得分了," said Mr. Hardley. "In the first place, two attempts were made to get this wealth, and were unsuccessful 不成功. Then it was practically abandoned 放弃, and I believe under the law the persons who now find it will be entitled 使有资格，允许 to keep it. Besides the persons who gathered it together did so for an unlawful 非法的 purpose—that of starting a revolution 革命 in a friendly country—and they would not dare 敢 claim it for fear of giving their secret away."

"Well, perhaps you are right," assented 同意 Tom. "We'll make a try for it, anyhow 3."

"You say the submarine 潜艇 is nearly ready?" asked Mr. Hardley.

"She will be ready for a trial trip at the end of this week," said Tom, "and be fitted up for the voyage 旅行 within another seven 七 days, I hope. Then for the great adventure 冒险活动!" and he laughed, though, truth to tell, he had no real liking for his task 任务. The more he saw of Mr. Hardley the less he liked him.

"I shall begin getting my affairs in shape," said the latter, as he gathered up some papers he had brought to attempt to prove to Tom that the wealth of the Pandora was greater than had been supposed. "I have many large interests," he went on, rather pompously, "and they need looking after; especially if I under‧take 承担 anything so extra 额外的 hazardous 危险 as a submarine 潜艇 trip."

"Yes, there always is some danger," admitted Tom. "But then there is danger walking along the street."

"Oh, there's no danger with Tom Swift!" exclaimed 喊叫 Mr. Damon. "I've been under the sea and above the clouds with him, and, bless my rain‧bow 彩虹! he always brought us safe home."

"And I'll try to do the same this time," said the young inventor.

Busy days followed for Tom Swift and his friends. The force at work on the submarine 潜艇 turned night into day to rush 仓促 her completion, and in due season she was set afloat in the dry dock 码头 basin 盆 and formally rechristened the M. N. 1.

Mary blushed 脸红 as she gave the boat her new name, and there was a little cheer 欢呼 from the group of workmen gathered at the dock 码头. There was no launching 发射 in the real sense of the word, since as the Advance that ceremony 典礼 had been gone through with for the under‧sea 在…下面‧海 craft 手艺.

She had been greatly changed interiorly 室内 and outwardly 向外的. Her skin 皮, or plates 盘子, having been doubled and strengthened 加强. For Tom proposed to go to a much greater depth than ever before.

In addition 加成 to using the submarine 潜艇 her‧self 她自己 in a search for the gold on the Pandora, Tom had installed 安装 on board some new kinds of diving apparatus 仪器 and also a diving bell. If one would not serve, the other might, he reasoned.

"Well, Tom," remarked his aged father the night before they were to start on the trial trip, "I understand you have practically rebuilt the Advance."

"Yes; and I think she's a much better craft 手艺, too, Father."

"Glad to hear that, Tom. Of course you kept the gyroscope rudder feature 特征?"

"No, I didn't," replied Tom. "If I had left that installed 安装 it would have meant carrying a smaller diving bell, and I think that last will be more useful 有用 than the gyroscope. I put in a set of double-acting depth rudders instead."

Mr. Swift shook his head.

"I'm sorry for that, Tom," he remarked. "There's nothing like the gyroscope rudder in a tight 紧的 pinch 捏—say when there's a storm. And for holding the boat steady, if you have to make a sudden turn under water, to avoid an obstruction 梗阻 you come upon unexpectedly 不料, a gyroscope can't be improved on. It holds you steady and prevents your turning turtle 龟."

"I've put side fin 鳍-keels to correct that," Tom explained.

But still his father was not satisfied.

"I'd rather you had kept the gyroscope," he said, and the time was to come when Tom Swift wished that himself.

But it was too late to make the change now, and so, with more than usual confidence 信心 in his own designing abilities, the next day the young inventor and his friends went aboard 船上 the M. N. 1 for the trial trip.

"You don't easily get sea‧sick 海‧病；恶心, do you?" Tom asked Mr. Hardley, as they descended 下来 the hatch‧way 孵化‧路；方法 into the interior 室内 of the craft 手艺.

"No, I'm considered a good sailor 水手."

"Well, you'll need to be," went on Tom, with a smile. "Not that we are likely to strike any rough water now, though the reports say a stiff 3 breeze 微风 is blowing in the bay. But when we once start for the West Indies you are likely to experience a new sensation 感觉. I've known sailors who never had any qualms, even in terrible storms, to get ill 生病 in a submarine 潜艇 when she went through only a small blow. The motion is different from that on a surface boat."

"I can imagine so," returned Mr. Hardley. "But I'll be thinking of the millions in gold on the Pandora, and that will keep my mind off being sea‧sick 海‧病；恶心."

"Let us hope so," murmured 私语 Tom.

He gave the word, they all descended, the hatch 孵化 covers were closed down, and the M. N. 1 was ready to start on a trial trip.

CHAPTER VIII

THE MUD BANK

"What's that noise 噪音?" asked Mr. Hardley.

Mr. Hardley, Tom Swift, Mr. Damon, Ned Newton, Koku, and one or two navigating 导航 officers of the craft 手艺, were gathered in the operating cabin 舱 of the M. N. 1.

"That's water being pumped into the tanks 容器," explained Tom. "We are now going down. If you'll watch the depth gauge 测量 you can note our progress."

"Going down, are we?" remarked Mr. Hardley. "Well, it's interesting to say the least," and he observed the gauge 测量, which showed them to be twenty 二十 feet under the surface.

"Bless my hydrometer, but he's got nerve 神经 for a first trip in a submarine 潜艇! He's all right, isn't he?" whispered 低声说 Mr. Damon to Tom.

"Well, I'm glad to see he isn't nervous 担心的," remarked Tom, honest 诚实的 enough to give his visitor credit 信用 for what was due him. And indeed many a person is nervous going down in a submarine 潜艇 for the first time. "Still we can't go more than thirty 三十 feet down in this water," went on Tom. "A better test will be when we get about five hundred 百 feet below the surface. That's a real test, though as far as knowing it is concerned, a person can't tell ten 十 feet from ten 十 hundred 百 in a submarine 潜艇 under water, unless he watches the gauge 测量."

"Well, I think you'll find Mr. Hardley all right," said Mr. Damon, who seemed to have taken a strong liking to his new friend.

Certainly the latter showed no signs of nervousness 神经紧张 as the craft 手艺 slowly settled to the proper depth. He asked number‧less 数字‧少 questions, showing his interest in the operation of the M. N. 1, but he showed not the least sign of fear. However, as Tom said, that might come later.

"We are going down now," Tom explained, as he pointed out to Mr. Hardley the various controlling wheels and levers 杠杆, "by filling our ballast tanks with water. We can rise, when needful, by forcing out this water by means of compressed 压缩 air. When we are on the ocean we can go down by using our diving rudders, and in much quicker time than by filling our tanks."

"How is that?" asked the seeker 导引头 after the Pandora's gold.

"Filling the tanks is slow work in itself 本身," replied Tom, "and they have to be filled very carefully 小心 and evenly, so we don't stand on our stern 严肃 or bow 弓 in going down. We want to sink 淹没 on an even keel, and sometimes this is hard to accomplish 完成；实现；达到；做到. But we are doing it now," and he called attention to an indicator 指示符 which told how much the M. N. 1 might be listing to one side or to one end or the other.

A submarine 潜艇, as everyone knows, is essentially 基本的 a water- tight 紧的 tank 容器, shaped like a cigar 雪茄, with a propeller 推进 on one end. It can sink below the surface and move along under water. It sinks 淹没 because rudders force it down, and water taken into tanks in its interior 室内 hold it to a certain depth. It can rise by ejecting 喷射 this extra water and by setting the rudders in the proper position.

A submarine 潜艇 moves under water by means of electric motors, the current of which is supplied by storage 存储 batteries 电池. On the surface when the hatches 孵化 can be opened, oil or gasolene engines are used. These engines cannot be used under water because they depend on a supply of air, or oxygen 氧, and when the submarine 潜艇 is tightly 紧的 sealed 封上，海豹 all the air possible is needed for her crew 全体工作人员；全体船员 to breathe 呼吸. While cruising 巡航 on the surface a submarine 潜艇 recharges her storage 存储 batteries 电池 to give her motive 动机 power when she is submerged 淹没.

There are many types of submarines 潜艇, some comparatively 比较 simple and small, and others large and complex 复杂. In some it is possible for the crew to live many days without coming to the surface.

Tom Swift's reconstructed 重建 craft 手艺 compared favor‧able 有利 with the best and largest ever made, though she was not of exceptional 优秀 size. She was very strong, however, to allow her to go to a great depth, for the farther down one goes below the surface of the sea, the greater the pressure until, at, say, six miles, the greatest known depth of the ocean, the pressure is beyond belief. And yet is possible that marine 海洋 monsters 怪物 may live in that pressure which would flat‧ten 变平 out a block of solid steel into a sheet as thin as paper.

"Well, we are as deep down as it is safe to go in the river," announced 宣布 Tom, as the gauge 测量 showed a distance below the surface of a little less than twenty 二十-nine 九 feet. "Now we'll move into the bay. How do you like it, Mr. Hardley?"

"Very well, so far. But it isn't very exciting yet."

"Bless my accident policy!" exclaimed 喊叫 Mr. Damon, "I hope you aren't looking for excitement 激动."

"I'm used to it," was the answer. "The more there is the better I like it."

"Well, you may get your wish," said Tom.

He turned a lever 杠杆, and those on board the submarine 潜艇 became conscious of a forward motion. She was no longer sinking.

She trembled 发抖 and vibrated 颤动 as the powerful 强大 electric motors turned her propellers, and Tom, having seen that all was running smoothly in the main engine room, called Mr. Damon, Ned, and Mr. Hardley to him.

"We'll go into the forward pilot 飞行员 house and give Mr. Hardley a view under water," he announced 宣布. "Of course, you'll see nothing like what you'll view when we're in the ocean," added the young inventor, "but it may interest you."

The four were soon in the forward compartment 隔室 of the craft 手艺. She could be directed and steered 驾驶 from here when occasion arose, but now Tom was letting his navigator 航海家 direct the craft 手艺 from the controls in the main engine room. A conning CON tower 塔, rising just above the deck 甲板 of the craft 手艺, gave the pilot 飞行员 the necessary view.

"Here you are!" exclaimed 喊叫 Tom, as he switched 开关 out the lights in the cabin 舱. For a moment they were in darkness 黑暗, and then, with a click 点击, steel plates, guarding heavy plate 盘子 glass bull 公牛's-eyes, moved back, and Mr. Hardley for the first time looked out on an under‧water 水下 scene. He saw the murky 模糊 waters of river down which they were proceeding 继续 to the bay moving past the glass windows. Now and then a fish swam 游泳:swim up, looking in, and, with a swirl 漩涡 of its tail 尾, shot away again, apparently frightened well-nigh to death.

"Bless my shoe laces 花边, Tom!" exclaimed 喊叫 Mr. Damon, "this isn't a marker compared to some of the sights we've seen, is it?"

"I can imagine not," said Mr. Hardley. "But it is interesting. I shall be anticipating 预期 more wonderful 精彩 sights."

"And you'll get them!" exclaimed 喊叫 Ned. "Do you remember, Tom, the time the big octopus tried to hold us back?"

"Yes, indeed," answered the young inventor. "That gave us a scare 惊恐 for the time being."

Steadily the M. N. 1 kept on her way under water. Her path 小路 was illuminated 照亮 to a consider‧able 大量 degree by a broad, diffused 扩散 beam 梁 of light from a powerful 强大 search‧light 搜寻‧光；灯 that was fixed just back of the conning CON tower 塔, giving the helmsman a certain degree of vision 视力. This light also served to illuminate 照亮 the water, so that those in the forward cabin 舱 could see what was going on around them.

"There isn't much of interest in the river," said Tom. "No big fish, or anything else of moment. Even in the bay we won't see much to attract 吸引 our attention. But I want to make sure everything is working smoothly before we start for the West Indies."

"That's right!" agreed Mr. Hardley. "We want to make a success of this trip."

He remained at the glass bull 公牛's-eyes, now and then exclaiming 喊叫 as some shad or other fair-sized fish came into view. Suddenly, however, his exclamation was sharper than usual.

"Look!" he exclaimed 喊叫. "There's part of a wreck!"

Ned, Mr. Damon, and Tom looked out and saw, sweeping past them, the ribs 肋骨 and worm 虫-eaten timbers 木材 of some craft 手艺, lying on the bottom of the river.

"Yes, that's the remains of an old brick 砖 scow," the young inventor explained. "That's one of our water-marks, so to speak. It is at the bend of the river. We turn now, and head for the bay."

As he spoke they all became aware 知道的 of a sudden swerve in the course of the submarine 潜艇. The helmsman had, doubt‧less 毫无疑问，, noted the "water-mark," as Tom termed it, and as an automobilist on land might swing at the cross-roads, the steersman was changing the course of his craft 手艺.

"We'll go deeper," said Tom a moment later, as the wreck passed out of view. "We can go about fifty 五十 feet down now. Yes, he's sinking her," he added, as a gauge 测量 showed the craft 手艺 to be descending 下来. "Nelson knows his business all right."

"He is your captain?" asked Mr. Hardley.

"One of the best, yes. He'll go with us on the search for the Pandora."

They talked of various matters, Tom relating to Mr. Hardley how a tug 拖船 had rammed 随机存取存储器 the brick 砖 scow some years ago, and sunk it in the river.

The submarine 潜艇 was now about forty 四十-eight 八 feet below the surface, and suddenly they all became aware 知道的 that her speed had increased.

"Guess he's going to give the motors a good try-out," observed Tom. "I think I'll go back to the engine room. You may remain here, if you like, and you'll probably see—"

A cry from Mr. Damon interrupted him.

"Bless my rubber 橡胶 boots 靴；鞋, Tom! Look!" cried the eccentric 偏心 man. "We're going to ram 随机存取存储器 a mud 泥 bank!"

As he spoke they all became aware 知道的 of a solid black mass looming 织布机 in front of the bull 公牛's-eye window. An instant 瞬间 later the submarine 潜艇 came to a jarring 罐 stop, as if she had struck strike some soft, yielding substance 物质. There was a confused 使困窘 shouting through‧out 始终 the craft 手艺, the noise 噪音 of machinery, a trembling 发抖 and vibration 振动, and then ominous 不祥的 quiet.

CHAPTER IX

READY TO START

Characteristic 特性 it was of Tom Swift to act calmly in times of stress 强调 and danger, and he ran true to form now. Only for an instant 瞬间 did he show any sign of perturbation. Then with calmness and deliberation 审议 the young inventor quickly did a number of things to the controls within his reach.

First of all he signaled to the engine room that he was going to take charge of the boat. This meant that the navigator 航海家 in the conning CON tower 塔 was to keep his hands off the various levers 杠杆 and wheel-valves 阀. It was possible to operate the M. N. 1 from three positions, but Tom wanted no triplicate handling of his craft 手艺 now.

Almost the instant Tom signaled that he would take charge back came flashing 使闪光 the electrical 电动 signal from the conning CON tower 3 that his orders were understood. The next thing that those aboard 船上 the craft 手艺 became aware 知道的 of was a tremor 震 that seemed to run through the whole under-sea ship. The quiet had changed to a subdued 征服 humming 哼, and the ominous 不祥的 lack of motion was succeeded by violent 猛烈 vibration 振动.

"Backing her up, Tom?" asked Ned, in a low voice.

"Trying to," was the answer. "But I'm afraid her nose has gone in pretty deep. I've reversed 反向；倒转 the propellers."

For perhaps a minute this vibration 振动 continued, showing that the powerful 强大 electric motors were turning over the twin 双胞胎之一 propellers at the blunt 钝 stern 严肃 of the craft 手艺. But she did not change her position.

With a touch of his hand, and still almost as cool as the proverbial cucumber 黄瓜 (though why they should be cool it is hard to say), Tom stopped the motors. Once again the craft 手艺 was quiet, but now, instead of the occupants 占有者 being able to see clearly from the thick, glass windows in the forward cabin 舱, the water showed muddy 浑 and murky 模糊 in the glare 强光 of the under‧water 水下 search‧light 搜寻‧光；灯.

"Bless my post‧age 邮资 stamps 邮票, Tom! what has happened?" exclaimed 喊叫 Mr. Damon. "Has a giant squid attacked us, as one did some time ago, and is he roiling up the water?"

"No, it isn't a squid, Mr. Damon," replied the young inventor easily; "though the water does look as if a squid had spilled 溢出:spill a lot of his ink 墨水 in it. This is just the effect of mud 泥 stirred 搅动 up by our propellers. There may be more of it."

Ned looked toward Mr. Hardley to see how he was taking it. The seeker 导引头 after gold apparently had good control of his nerves 神经, or else he was ignorant 愚昧 of what was going on. For he asked, casually 胡乱；漫不经心 enough:

"Have we stopped?"

"We have," answered Tom. "I thought I'd give you a view of the scenery 风景."

Perhaps he spoke sarcastically 讽刺的；挖苦的, but, if he did, Mr. Damon's friend did not seem to be aware 知道的 of it. Coolly enough he replied:

"Well, if this is a fair sample of under‧water 水下 scenery I prefer something up above, though I appreciate 欣赏 that this may be needful."

"We'll soon be traveling along," announced 宣布 Tom. "Koku," he added to the giant, who had been calmly sitting during the excitement 激动, "go to the engine room and help with the big levers 杠杆."

"Yes, Master," was the answer. Koku had implicit 含蓄 faith in Tom.

Waiting a moment for his faithful 可信 servant 仆人 to reach the post assigned 分配 to him, Tom again signaled to his helpers 帮手 and then quickly turned a wheel which produced startling 惊吓 results. For all within the submarine 潜艇 suddenly slid slide forward across the cabin 舱 floor.

"Bless my hammock hooks 钩, Tom! are you standing her on her head?" cried Mr. Damon.

"That's exactly what I'm doing," was the answer. "I've started to empty one of the after ballast tanks, and that, naturally 自然地, raises the stern 严肃 while the nose is held down."

The submarine 潜艇 was indeed in a peculiar 奇怪的 position. She was on a slant 倾斜 in the water, her nose held fast in the soft mud bank, and it was Tom's idea that by making the stern 严肃 buoyant it might help to pull her free.

To this end he also gave what assistance 帮助 the propellers were cap‧able 能 of adding by starting the motors again, so that the craft 手艺 once more trembled and vibrated 颤动.

But it all seemed to no purpose. Aside from the slanting 倾斜 position, there was no change in the M. N. 1. Ned, looking out into the murky 模糊 water, which had cleared slightly, saw that the craft 手艺 was still held fast. And then, for the first time, Mr. Hardley seemed to become aware 知道的 that something serious was the matter. Up to now he seemed to think that all that had occurred 发生 was done for the purpose of testing the newly 最近，新近 outfitted 配备 underseas boat.

"Is there anything wrong?" he asked sharply of Tom. "Why are we in this position, and why don't we go on out to the open ocean and make a test at consider‧able 大量 depth? We'll have to go down deeper than this if we find the Pandora!"

"I suppose so," agreed Tom. "But we have had an accident, and—"

"An accident!" interrupted the gold-seeker 导引头, and then Ned saw him turn pale. "Do you mean to say this is not part of the test?"

"We have run into a mud bank," said Tom. "The steersman must have become confused, or else, since we last used the submarine 潜艇, there has been a shift 转移 of the mud banks in this river and one exists where there was none before. At any rate, we ran our nose deep into it, and here we are—stuck stick!"

"Can't we get loose—go up to the surface?" demanded Mr. Hardley.

"I'm trying to bring that about," announced 宣布 Tom calmly. "So far her engines haven't been able to pull her loose."

"But Great Scott, man, we can't stay here!" cried the now excited adventurer 冒险活动. "We'll be drowned like rats 鼠 in a trap 陷阱；诱骗! Let me out! Isn't there some way? I'll be shot through a torpedo 鱼雷 tube 管, if necessary! I must get out! I can't stay here to be drowned! I have too much at stake 赌注!"

"Now wait a minute!" calmly advised Tom Swift. "You haven't any more at stake 赌注 than the rest of us. None of us wants to be drowned, and there is only a remote 远程 possibility 可能性 that we shall be. I haven't played all my cards yet. We can live on this boat for a week, if need be."

"You mean under water as we are now?" asked Mr. Hardley.

"Yes. I always keep the boat provisioned 规定 and with plenty of air and water for a long stay, if need be," replied Tom. "And I did not over‧look 俯瞰 the fact that we might have an accident on the trial trip."

"I don't see how you let an accident happen before we even got started," complained 抱怨 the gold-seeker 导引头. "I should think your steersman would have been more careful 小心."

"He is very careful 小心," explained Tom. "But we have not used the craft 手艺 for some time, and, mean‧while 同时, there have been changes in the river, due, I suppose, to heavy tides 潮汐. But we may get out of the grip 握 of the mud bank soon."

"And if we don't, what then?" asked Mr. Hardley.

"Then there is always the torpedo 鱼雷 tube," said Tom calmly. "And we are not very deep down. I think I can save you all."

"I certainly hope so!" was the fretful comment 评论 of the adventurer. "I have too much at stake 赌注 to be drowned like a rat 鼠 in a trap 陷阱；诱骗! You must send me up first if it becomes necessary to use the tube."

Tom did not answer. But as he looked out of the observation 意见 windows to see if possible the con‧formation CON‧结构；形状；形成方式；组成方式 of the mud bank, the young inventor whispered to Ned one word. And that word was:

"Yellow!"

"You said it!" was Ned's whispered rejoinder.

Tom Swift arrived at a sudden determination 决心. Once again the motors were stopped, and the boat gradually 逐步地 assumed 承担 an even keel.

"What are you going to try, Tom?" asked Ned.

"I'm going to shove 推 her farther into the mud bank," announced 宣布 the young inventor. "I think that's the only way to get her loose."

"Bless my apple 苹果 pie 馅饼, Tom!" cried Mr. Damon, "doesn't that seem a foolish 傻 thing to do?"

"It's the only thing to do, I believe," was the answer. "This mud is of a peculiar 奇怪的 sticky 黏 and holding kind. The sub 子's nose is in it like a peg 衣夹 in a hole. What I propose to do now is to enlarge 放大 the hole, and then our nose will come loose—I hope."

"But you haven't any right to shove 推 our nose further in!" cried Mr. Hardley. "I won't allow it! I demand to be put on the surface! I won't be drowned down here before I get the gold that's coming to me—the gold and—"

"Now look here!" suddenly cried Tom. "I'm in command of this boat, and you'll do as I say. I'll gladly 高兴的 set you on the surface if I can, and this is the only way it can be brought about—it's the only way to save all of us. I'm going to enlarge 放大 the mud hole so we can pull out. Please keep still!"

Mr. Hardley stared at the young inventor a moment, seemed about to say something, and then changed his mind.

"Hold fast, everybody!" suddenly called Tom. The next moment the M. N. 1 began behaving 表现 in a most peculiar manner.

She appeared to be acting like a cork‧screw 软木塞‧螺丝钉. While her bow 弓 was comparatively 比较 steady, her stern 严肃 described a circle in the water which was churned 搅动 to mud by the two propellers, each being revolved 围绕 in a different direction.

"I'm trying to make the hole bigger just as an amateur 业余 carp‧enter 木匠 makes a nail 钉子 hole bigger, so he can pull out the nail, by twisting 扭成一束 it around," explained Tom. "The motion may be a bit unpleasant 不愉快, but it is needful."

And indeed the motion was unpleasant 不愉快. Tom, veteran 老将 airman and sailor 水手 that he was, began to feel a trifle 琐事 sea‧sick 海‧病；恶心, and Mr. Hardley was in very evident 明显 distress 苦难.

Suddenly, however, something happened. The M. N. 1 gave a lurch 困境 to one side and then shot upward 向上 so quickly that Ned and Mr. Damon lost their balance and slumped 暴跌 over on the bench 长凳 that ran around three sides of the room.

"Are we free?" cried Mr. Hardley.

"We have come loose from the mud bank," said Tom quietly. "By boring into it the hole was enlarged 放大 sufficiently 充分地 to enable 启用 us to pull loose. There is no more danger!"

His announcement 公告 was received in momentary 短暂的 silence, and then Ned exclaimed 喊叫:

"Hurray!"

"Bless my accident policy!" voiced Mr. Damon.

Mr. Hardley appeared dazed 迷乱, and then, as the submarine 潜艇 was again moving through the water, seemingly 似乎 none the worse for the accident, the gold seeker 导引头 approached Tom Swift.

"I want to apologize 道歉；认错；谢罪, Mr. Swift, for my actions and words," said Mr. Hardley frankly 坦率地说. "I admit that I lost my head. But it's my first trip in a submarine 潜艇."

"I realize that," said Tom, equally frank 坦率, "and we'll forget all about it. It was a strain 压力 on you—on all of us—though there really was no very great danger. Now, are you game enough to continue the trip?"

"Try me!" exclaimed 喊叫 the adventurer. "You won't find me acting so like a baby again."

Nor did he, even when the craft 手艺 reached the open ocean and went down to a consider‧able 大量 depth, where, had any accident occurred 发生, there would have been grave 坟墓；严重的 danger to all. But Mr. Hardley seemed to enjoy it.

"Maybe I've misjudged him," Tom said to Ned, when they were getting ready to go back.

"It's possible," agreed the financial 金融 manager. This trial, which so nearly ended disastrously 惨重, was only one of several. No damage 损害 resulted from the collision 碰撞 with the river mud bank, and that trip and the ones following gave Tom some new ideas in interior 室内 construction 施工 which he followed out.

About a month later all was ready for the trip to the West Indies to look for the ill 生病-fated 命运 Pandora. Tom's affairs were put in shape, the submarine 潜艇 was laden 载货 with stores and provisions 规定, the new diving bell and other wonderful 精彩 apparatus 仪器 were put aboard 船上, and the crew 全体工作人员；全体船员 and officers picked. Ned, Mr. Damon, Koku, and Tom were, of course, together, and though Mr. Hardley was a stranger, he seemed to become more friendly as the days passed.

"Well, we start in the morning," said Tom to Ned one evening. "I'm going over to tell Mary good‧bye 再见."

"Give her my regards," requested Ned, and Tom said he would.

CHAPTER X

STARTLING REVELATIONS

"Oh, Tom! And so you are really ready to start on that perilous trip!" exclaimed 喊叫 Mary Nestor, a little later that same evening, when Tom called at Mary's house in his speedy 迅速 electric run‧about 跑‧关于, a car in which he had once made a sensational 轰动的 ride.

"Perilous? I don't know why you call it that!" exclaimed 喊叫 the young inventor.

"Didn't you tell me you were stuck in a mud bank away down under the river and had hard work to get loose?" asked the young lady, as she made a place for Tom on the sofa 沙发 beside her.

"Oh, that! Why, that wasn't anything!" he declared.

"It would have been if you hadn't come up."

"Ah, but we did come up, Mary."

"Suppose you get in a similar 类似 position when you find the wreck of the Pandora? You won't get up so easily, will you?"

"No. But there aren't any mud banks in that part of the Atlantic, so I can't be stuck in one," answered Tom.

For some time Tom Swift and Mary talked of mutual 相互 friends and happenings in which they were both interested. Mr. and Mrs. Nestor stepped into the room for a minute, to wish the young inventor good luck on his voyage 旅行, and when they had gone out, promising to see Tom before he left for the night, the latter remarked to Mary:

"Did your uncle ever find the oil-well papers and get his affairs straightened out?"

"No," was the answer, "he never did. And we feel very sorry for him. Just think, he had a for‧tune 命运 in his grasp 把握, and now it is slipping away."

"Just what happened?" asked Tom, hoping there might be some way in which he could aid 援助 Mary's uncle. Of course, Tom wanted to help Mary, and this was one of the ways.

"Well, I don't exactly understand it all," she replied. "Father says I'll never have a head for business. But as nearly as I can tell, my uncle, Barton Keith, went into partner‧ship 合伙 with a man to prospect 展望 for oil in Texas. My uncle has been in that business before, and he was very successful 成功. He supplied the working knowledge about oil wells, I believe, and the other man put up the money. My uncle was to have a half share in whatever oil wells he located 定位, and his partner 伙伴 supplied the cash 现金 for putting down the pipe 管子, or whatever is done."

"I believe putting down a pipe is the proper term," said Tom.

"Well, anyhow," went on Mary, "my uncle spent many weary 厌倦 months prospecting 展望 in Texas. In fact, he made himself ill, being out in all sorts of weather, looking after the drilling 钻头. At last they struck oil, as I believe they call it. They drilled 钻头 down until they brought in what my uncle called a 'gusher 喷,' and there was a chance of him and his partner 伙伴 getting rich."

"Why didn't he?" asked Tom. "A gusher 喷, I believe, is one of the best sort of oil wells. Why didn't your uncle clean up a for‧tune 命运, to use a slang 俚语 term?"

"Because he lost the papers showing that he had a right to half the oil well," answered Mary. "At least my uncle thinks he lost them, but he was so ill, directly after the well proved a success, that he says he isn't sure what happened. At any rate, his partner claims everything and my uncle can do nothing. He has been hoping he might find the papers somewhere, or that something would happen to prove the rights of his claim."

"And nothing has?" inquired Tom.

"Not yet. My father and mother have been trying to help him, and dad 爸 engaged 从事 a lawyer, but he says nothing can be done unless my uncle recovers 恢复 the partner‧ship 合伙 and other papers. As it stands now, it is my uncle's word against the word of his partner, and both are equally good in a court of law. But if Uncle Barton could find the documents 文件 everything would come out all right. He could claim his half of the oil well then."

"Is it still producing?" Tom questioned.

"Yes, better than ever. But that's all the good it does my uncle. He is ill, discouraged 不鼓励, and despondent. All his fortune 3 was eaten up in prospecting 展望, and he depended on the gusher 喷 to make him rich again. And now, because of a rascally partner, he may be doomed 厄运 to die a poor man. Of course we will always help him, but you know what it is to be dependent on relatives."

"I can imagine," conceded 承认 Tom. "It is tough 坚强的 luck! I wish I could help, and perhaps I can after I get back from this trip."

"The only way you or any one could help, would be to get back my uncle's missing papers," said Mary. "And as he himself isn't sure what became of them, it seem hope‧less 绝望."

"It does," Tom agreed. "But wait until I get back."

"I wish you weren't going," sighed 叹 Mary.

"So do I—more than a little," was Tom's remark. "I'm sorry I ever let Mr. Damon persuade 说服 me to go into this deal with Dixwell Hardley!"

Mary sat sit bolt 螺栓 upright 直立的 on the couch 长椅.

"What name did you say?" she cried.

"Dixwell Hardley," repeated Tom. "That's the name of the man who claims to know where the wreck of the Pandora lies. He says she has two millions or more in gold on board, and I'm to get half."

"Well!" exclaimed 喊叫 Mary, with spirit, "if you don't get any bigger share out of the wreck than my uncle got out of the oil well, you won't be doing so very nicely, Tom."

"What do you mean?" asked the young inventor. "What has the oil well to do with recovering 恢复 gold from the wreck?"

"A good deal, I should say," answered the girl, "seeing that the same man is mixed up in both."

"What same man?"

"Dixwell Hardley!"

"Is he the man who cheated 欺骗 your uncle?" cried Tom.

"I won't say that he cheated him," said Mary. "But Dixwell Hardley is the man who furnished the money when my uncle went into partner‧ship 合伙 with him to locate 定位 oil wells in Texas. The oil wells were located 定位, Mr. Hardley got his share, and my uncle got nothing. And just because he can't prove there was a legal 法律 partner‧ship 合伙! I hope you won't have the same experience with Mr. Hardley, Tom."

"Whew!" whistled 吹口哨 the young inventor. "This is news to me! I can say one thing, though. Mr. Hardley doesn't take a dollar out of that wreck unless I get one to match it. I think I hold the best cards on this deal. But, Mary, are you sure it's the same man?"

"Pretty sure. Wait, I'll call my father and make certain," she answered, and as she went from the room to summon 召唤 Mr. Nestor, Tom felt a vague 模糊 sense of uneasiness.

CHAPTER XI

BARTON KEITH'S STORY

"What's this Mary tells me, Tom?" asked Mr. Nestor, as he followed his daughter back into the room.

"You mean about Dixwell Hardley?"

"Yes. Do you suppose he can be the same man who has so meanly treated my brother-in-law?"

"I wouldn't want to say, Mr. Nestor, until you describe to me the Mr. Hardley you know. Then I can better tell. But from what little I have seen of the man to whom 5 I was introduced by my friend Mr. Damon, I'd say, off hand, that he was cap‧able 能 of such action."

"Does Mr. Damon know this Mr. Hardley well?" asked Mrs. Nestor, who accompanied 陪 her husband.

"I wouldn't say that he did," Tom replied. "I don't know just how Mr. Damon met this chap 皴裂—I think it was in a financial 金融 way, though."

"Well, if it's the same Mr. Hardley, I'll say he has some queer 奇怪 financial 金融 ways," said Mr. Nestor. "Now let's see if we can make the two jibe. Describe him, Tom."

This the young inventor did, and when this description had been compared with one given of the Mr. Hardley with whom Mr. Keith once was associated 关联, Mrs. Nestor said:

"It surely is the same man! The Mr. Hardley who wants you to get wealth from the bottom of the ocean, Tom, is the same fellow who is keeping my brother out of the oil well property! I'm sure of it!"

"It does seem so," Tom agreed. "Dixwell Hardley is not a usual name; but we must be careful 小心. In spite 恶意 of its unusualness there may be two very different men who have that name. I think the only way to find out for certain is to see Mr. Keith. He'd know a picture of the Dixwell Hardley who, he claims, cheated him, wouldn't he?"

"Indeed he would!" exclaimed 喊叫 Mrs. Nestor. "But where could we get a picture of your Mr. Hardley? I call him that, though I don't suppose you own him, Tom," and she smiled at her future son-in-law.

"No, I don't own him, and I don't want to," was Tom's answer. "But I happen to have a picture of him. I made him furnish me with proofs that he was on the Pandora at the time she foundered 创办人 in a gale 大风, and among the documents 文件 he gave was his pass‧port 护照. It has his picture on. I have it here."

Tom drew draw the paper from his pocket 口袋. In one corner was pasted 粘贴；面团 a photograph 照片 of the man who had been introduced to Tom by Mr. Damon.

"It looks like the same man my brother described," said Mrs. Nestor, "but of course I couldn't be sure."

"There is only one way to be," Tom stated, "and that is to show this picture to Mr. Keith. Where is he?"

"Ill at his home in Bedford," answered Mrs. Nestor.

"Then we'll go there and see him!" declared Tom.

"But it's a hundred 百 miles from here!" exclaimed 喊叫 Mary. "And you are leaving on your submarine 潜艇 trip the first thing in the morning, Tom!"

"No, I'm not leaving until I settle this matter," declared the young inventor. "I'm not going on an under‧sea 在…下面‧海 voyage 3 with a man who may be a cheater 欺骗. I want this matter settled. I'll postpone 使延期 this trip until I find out. A day's delay 延迟 won't matter."

"But it will take longer than that," said Mr. Nestor. "Bedford is a small place, and there's only one train a day there. You'll lose at least three days Tom, if you go there."

"Not necessarily," was the quick answer. "I can go by air‧ship 天空‧船, and make the trip in a little over an hour. I can be back the same day, perhaps not in time to start our submarine 潜艇 trip, as Mr. Keith may be too ill to see me. But I won't lose much time in my Air Scout.

"Mary, will you go with me to see your uncle? We'll start the first thing in the morning and I'll show him this picture. Will you go?"

"I will!" exclaimed 喊叫 the girl.

"Good!" cried Tom. "Then I'll make preparations 制备. I don't want to form any rash 皮疹 judgment 判断, so we'll make certain; but it wouldn't surprise me a bit to have it turn out that the Dixwell Hardley who wants me to help him recover 恢复 the Pandora treasure is the same one who is trying to cheat 欺骗 Mr. Keith."

Early the next morning, when Tom arose in his own home, he met Mr. Damon and Mr. Hardley, both of whom were guests at the Swift house, pending the beginning of the under‧sea 在…下面‧海 trip.

"Well, Tom," began the eccentric 偏心 man, "we have good weather for the start. Bless my rubber 3 boots! Not that it much matters, though, what sort of weather we have when we're in the submarine 潜艇. But I always like to start in the sun‧shine 阳光."

"So do I," agreed Mr. Hardley. "I suppose we'll get off early this morning," he added.

"We'll go to the dock 码头 in the auto 汽车, as usual, shall we not?" he asked.

"We aren't going to start this morning," said Tom, as he sat down to break‧fast 早餐.

"Not going to start this morning!" exclaimed 喊叫 Mr. Hardley. "Why—why—"

"Bless my alarm 警告 clock 钟!" voiced Mr. Damon, "has anything happened, Tom? No accident to the M. N. 1 is there? You aren't backing out now, at the last minute, are you?"

"Oh, no," was the easy answer. "We'll go, as arranged, but not today. I had some unexpected 意外 news last night which necessitates 必要 making a trip this morning. I expect to be back tonight 今晚, if all goes well, and we'll start tomorrow morning instead of this. It's a matter of important business."

"Well, I don't know that we can find fault 缺点 with Mr. Swift for attending to business," said Mr. Hardley, with a short laugh. "Business is what keeps the world moving. And we are a little ahead of our schedule 时间表, as a matter of fact. May I ask where you are going, Mr. Swift?"

"To Bedford, to call on a Mr. Barton Keith," answered Tom quickly, looking the adventurer straight in the eyes.

Mr. Hardley was a good actor 演员, or else he was a perfectly innocent 无辜 man, for he showed not the least sign of perturbation.

"Oh, Bedford," he remarked. "Don't know that I ever heard of the place."

"Or Mr. Keith, either?" asked Tom, a bit sharply.

"No, certainly not. Why should I?" he asked, boldly 胆大的；醒目的.

"I didn't know," Tom replied. "I'm sorry to postpone 使延期 our trip, but it's necessary," he added. "I'll be back as soon as I can. Everything is in readiness 准备就绪, so there will be no delay 延迟."

Tom made a hurried meal 餐, and then, giving Ned a hint 暗示 of what was in the wind, but cautioning 小心 him to say nothing about it, Tom had the small Air Scout brought out, and in that he flew over to Mary's home.

He found her waiting for him, and, after being duly 适时地 cautioned 小心 by her mother to "be careful 小心," though whether that was of any value or not is possibly debatable, the small, speedy 迅速 craft 手艺 again took the air.

"You haven't heard anything from your uncle since last night, have you?" asked Tom, as they flew along.

"Yes," answered Mary, "mother had a letter. He is worse, if anything, and the doctor says the only thing that will save him is the knowledge that the oil-well matter has turned out right and that my uncle will get his share of the wealth."

"That's too bad!" sympathized 同情 Tom. "I hope we can make it turn out that way. If the two Dixwell Hardley chaps 皴裂 are the same it may be that I can do something for your uncle. If not—we'll have to wait and see."

It was not difficult for Tom and Mary to talk while in the aeroplane, as it was almost noise‧less 噪音‧少. In due time, Bedford was reached without mishap, and Tom and Mary were soon at the home of her uncle.

An explanation 说明 to the house‧keep 管家 and an inspection 检查 on the part of the nurse 护士, brought forth per‧mission 允许 for Tom to see the patient. Though he had never known Mr. Keith he could see that the man's health was indeed fast waning 没落.

Wasting little time in preliminaries 初步, the object of the visit was told and Tom showed the pass‧port 护照 photograph 照片 of Dixwell Hardley.

"Is that the man who cheated you on the oil-well deal?" asked the young inventor.

"I won't admit he has yet cheated me, but he is trying to!" exclaimed 喊叫 Mr. Keith, with something of a return of his former spirit. "If I ever get off my back I'm going to fight him tooth and nail 钉子. But that's the same scoundrel! He got me to locate 定位 the wells, and when they panned 平底锅 out big—bigger than either of us dreamed dream—he turned me out cold. He denied 拒绝 he had ever offered to share with me, and said I was only working for monthly wages! Why, sometimes I didn't get even that!"

"How did he get the best of you?" asked Tom.

"By making away with or hiding the papers by which I could prove our partner‧ship 合伙 and my right to half a share in all the wells," answered Mary's uncle. "Yes, that's the same man all right. I'd know his face any‧where 任何地方, and he has the same name."

"He isn't going under a false 虚伪的 name, that's sure," agreed Tom. "He must be a bold 胆大的；醒目的 chap 皴裂."

"He is— bold and unscrupulous! That's what makes him so successful 成功 in his own way!" declared Mr. Keith. "And so you are working with him! Well, I'm sorry for you."

"I'm not exactly working with him," replied Tom. "As a matter of fact, I'm sorry I ever agreed to look for this wreck."

He told the details of the pending treasure-trove expedition 远征, and mentioned it as his belief that Mr. Damon had been mistaken 错误 in his estimate 估计 of Mr. Hardley.

"But, so far, Mr. Damon is quite taken with him," Tom went on. "Now, Mr. Keith, if it isn't too much for you, I should like to hear all the particulars."

Thereupon Mary's uncle told his story. It was a long one. After many hard‧ship 苦 in life, which Mr. Keith related in some detail to Tom, the oil-well prospector at last fell fall in with Dixwell Hardley. Then followed the combination 组合 of interests.

"We are actually partners 伙伴," declared Mr. Keith. "I agreed to do the work, and he agreed to furnish the money. I must say this for him, that he kept to that end of the bar‧gain 讨价还价；交易. He supplied the money to locate 定位 and drill 钻头 the wells, but I got very little of it personally 亲自. And I fulfilled 履行 my end of it. I discovered the wells. Then, when the break came, and I wanted to be rid 使摆脱 of the man—for I caught him in some crooked 弯曲 trans‧action 交易—he surprised me by telling me to get out. I asked for my share of the oil-well stock, and was told I was not entitled to any.

"I put up a fight, naturally 自然地, and took the matter to court. But when it came to trial Dixwell Hardley did not appear, and, though I won a technical 技术 victory over him, I never got any money."

"Where was he during the trial?" asked Tom.

"At sea, I believe."

"At sea?"

"Yes, he was mixed up in some South American revolution 革命, I heard."

"A South American revolution 革命!" exclaimed 喊叫 Tom, and a great light came to him.

"Yes," went on Mary's uncle. "He was always that kind—mixing up in anything he thought would produce money. He didn't make out very well in the revolution 革命 business, so I understood. The revolutionary 革命的 party was beaten beat, or they lost their shipment 装船 of arms, or something like that. At any rate, Dixwell Hardley had a narrow escape with his life when a ship went down, and from then on I've been trying to get him to restore 修复；使复位；使复职 my rights to me."

"Did he have the papers that would prove you were entitled to a half share in the oil wells?" asked Tom.

"He certainly did!" said the sick man, who was obviously 明显 being weakened 柔弱的:weak by this long and exhausting 排气 talk. "At first I was not sure of what happened, but now I am positive 正 he stole the papers and took them to sea with him. What happened to them after that I don't know. But if I had Dixwell Hardley here—now—I—I'd—"

Mr. Keith fell back in a faint 微弱的 on the bed, and, in great alarm 警告, Tom summoned 召唤 the nurse 护士.

CHAPTER XII

IN DEEP WATERS

Mary Nestor, as well as Tom Swift, felt great alarm 4 over the condition of Mr. Keith. But the nurse, after reviving 复活 him, said:

"He is in no special immediate danger. Talking about his trouble overstrained him, but in the end it may do him good."

"Then will he get well?" asked Mary.

"He may," was the noncommittal answer. "His recovery 失而复得 would be hastened, however, if his mind could be relieved 解除. He keeps worrying about the loss of his papers that proved his share in the Texas oil wells. Until they can be given back to him he is bound 必定；跳 to suffer mentally 精神上, and of course that effects him physically 物理."

"Oh, if we only could do something!" murmured 私语 Mary.

"Perhaps we can," said Tom in a low voice. "I've learned something these last few hours. I don't want to promise too much, but I think I begin to see how matters lie. There, he's rousing 唤醒. Speak to him, Mary."

Mr. Keith opened his eyes, and smiled at his niece 外甥女.

"Did I dream it," he asked in a low voice, "or was there some young man with you, Mary, my dear, to whom I was telling my troubles about the oil-well papers?"

"You didn't dream it, Uncle," Mary answered. "You were talking to Tom Swift. Here he is," and Tom came forward.

"Oh, yes, I remember now," said Mr. Keith passing his hand wearily 厌倦 over his eyes. "I thought, for a moment, that he had recovered 恢复 my papers for me. But that was a dream, I'm sure."

"It may not be, Mr. Keith!" exclaimed 喊叫 Tom.

"May not be? What do you mean?"

"I mean," replied the young inventor, "that I am much interested in what you have told me. Now that I have proved that the Dixwell Hardley who is to sail 航行；帆 with me is the same one who has treated you so shabbily 破旧, I think I understand the truth. I don't want to make a promise that I may not be able to carry out, but I am going to watch this man while he's on the submarine 潜艇 with me."

"Then you are going on with the voyage, Tom?" asked Mary.

"I shall have to," he said. "I have entered into an agreement 协议 with this man and I'm not going to break my contract 合同, no matter what he does. But I think I know what his game is. Mr. Keith, I'm going to ask you to keep quiet about this matter until I come back from the treasure search. I may then have some news for you."

"I hope you do, young man, I hope you do!" exclaimed 喊叫 the oil contractor 承包商, with more energy 能源 than he had previously 先前 shown. "It means a lot, at my age, to lose a small fortune. If I were well and strong I'd tackle 滑车 this Dixwell Hardley myself 我, and make him give up the papers I'm sure he has hidden hide away. He has them, I'm positive 正."

"Well, he may not have them, but perhaps he knows where they are," said Tom. "And I'm going to make it my business to watch him and see if I can find out his secret. I won't let him know I've heard from you. I'll apply the old saying of giving him plenty of rope 粗绳, and I'll watch what happens.

"Now, Mr. Keith, take care of your‧self 你自己. Mary and I must be getting back. Try not to worry, and I'll do my best for you," Tom concluded 得出结论.

Mary added a few words of comfort and encouragement 鼓励 to her uncle, and then she and Tom took leave of him, flying back to Shopton in the speedy 迅速 Air Scout.

"What are you going to do, Tom?" asked Mary, as he left her at her home, having told Mr. and Mrs. Nestor his part in the visit to Barton Keith.

"I'm going to start on the submarine 潜艇 voyage tomorrow," was the answer of the young inventor.

"Do you really believe there is a treasure ship?"

"Well, I've satisfied myself 我 that a ship named the Pandora sunk about where Hardley says it did, and she had some treasure on board. Whether it's just the kind he has told me it was I don't know. But I'm going to find out."

"Then you'll be saying good‧bye 再见 for a long time," observed Mary, rather wistfully.

"Oh, it may not be for so very long," and Tom tried to speak cheerfully 乐意. "I'll bring you back some souvenirs 纪念品 from the bottom of the sea," he added with a laugh.

"Bring me back—your‧self 你自己!" said Mary in a low voice, and then she hurried away.

By appointment 约定 Tom met Mr. Damon and Mr. Hardley at the submarine 潜艇 dock 码头 the next morning. Everything had been made ready for the start, postponed 使延期 from the day before. Mr. Hardley's estimated 估计 share of the expenses had been deposited 留下 in a bank, to be paid over later.

"Well, are we really going this time, or are you going to delay again?" asked the gold seeker 导引头, and his voice lacked a pleasant tone 音.

"Oh, we're going this time!" exclaimed 喊叫 Tom. "And I hope everything turns out the way I want it to," he added meaningly.

"We'll find the treasure on the ship all right, if we can find the ship," said Mr. Hardley. "That part is your job, Mr. Swift."

"And I'll find her if she's where you say she went down," answered Tom. "Now then, as soon as Ned comes we'll start."

Ned Newton had been intrusted with some last-moment messages, but he arrived a little later, and hurried on board the M. N. 1 which lay at her dock 码头, just afloat.

"All aboard 船上!" called Tom, when he saw his financial 金融 manager coming down the pier 码头. "We're ready to start now."

"Bless my fountain 喷泉 pen 笔!" exclaimed 喊叫 Mr. Damon, "but we ought to do something, Tom—sing a song, make a speech or something, oughtn't we?"

"We'll sing a song of victory when we come back," replied Tom, with a laugh. "Everything all right at home, Ned?" he asked, for his chum had just come on from Shopton.

"Yes; your father sent send his regards, but he told me to make a last appeal 上诉 to you to install 安装 a gyroscope rudder."

"It's too late for that now," said Tom. "He attaches 连接, I think, too much importance to that device 设备. I shan't need it with the improvements 起色 I have made to the craft 手艺. Get aboard 船上!"

Ned climbed down the hatch‧way 孵化‧路；方法, which, however, was not closed, as it was decided to navigate 导航 the craft 手艺 on the surface until it was necessary to submerge 淹没 her because of too rough water, or when the vicinity 附近 of the wreck was reached.

"Though we will go down to the bottom when we get to the Atlantic for the purpose of testing her in deep water," decided Tom. "Most of the time we'll steam 蒸汽 on the surface, for we'll save our batteries 电池 that way, and it's more comfort‧able 舒服；自在 breathing 呼吸 natural 自然 air."

So, with part of her deck 甲板 above the surface, the M. N. 1 began her voyage, sent on her way by the cheers 欢呼 of the small force of Tom's workmen at the submarine 潜艇 plant. The general public was not admitted, for the object of the quest 寻求 was kept secret from all save those immediately interested.

"Rad, him be plenty mad 疯狂的 he not come," said Koku to Tom, as the giant moved about the cabin 舱, putting things to rights.

"Well, don't start crowing 乌鸦 over him until we get back," warned the young inventor. "He may have the laugh on us."

"Rad no laugh," declared Koku. "Rad him too mad dat I come on trip."

"A submarine 潜艇 voyage is no place for old, faithful 可信 Eradicate," murmured 私语 Tom. "He's better off looking after my father."

The first part of the trip was without incident 事件 of moment. No mishap attended the voyage of the M. N. 1 down the river, out into the bay, and so on to the great Atlantic.

Fairly good time was made, as there was no particular object in speeding, and on the second day after leaving the dock 码头 Tom gave orders for the hatch 孵化 to be closed, the deck 甲板 cleared, and everything made tight and fast.

"What's up?" asked Ned, hearing the instructions 指令 passed around.

"We're approaching deep water," was the answer. "I'm going to submerge 淹没."

A little later, by means of her diving rudders, aided 助手 also by the tanks, the M. N. 1 began to sink. Down, down, down she went.

"Now I'll be able to show you some pretty sights, Mr. Hardley," said Tom, as he and his friends entered the forward compartment 隔室, while the steel shutters 快门 were rolled back from the heavy glass windows. "We'll be in deep waters presently."

Ten 十 minutes later the depth gauge 测量 showed that they were down about three hundred 百 feet, and that is pretty deep for a submarine 潜艇. But Tom's boat was cap‧able 能 of even greater depths than that.

At first there was nothing much to observe save the opal-tinted 着色 water illuminated 照亮 by the powerful 强大 lights of the submarine 潜艇. Small, and evidently 明显地 frightened, fish darted 镖 to and fro 来来往往, but there was nothing especially to attract 吸引 the attention of Tom and his friends, who had made much more sensational 轰动的 trips than this under water.

Mr. Hardley, however, was fascinated 深深吸引；迷住, and kept close to the observation 意见 windows.

"Are there any wrecks around here?" he asked Tom.

"Possibly," was the answer. "Though they do not contain any treasure, I imagine— brick 砖 schooners or cargo 货物 boats would be about all."

The submarine 潜艇 went deeper, plowing 犁 her way through the Atlantic at a depth of more than three hundred 百 and fifty 五十 feet, for Tom wanted to subject her to a good test.

Suddenly Mr. Hardley, who was now alone at the window on the port 港口 side, uttered 说出 a cry of alarm 5.

"Look! Look!" he fairly shouted. "We're surrounded by a school of sharks 鲨鱼! What monsters 怪物! Are we in danger?"