Tom Swift and His Submarine Boat | Page 6

had seen the account of the sunken treasure. Slowly
he read it through. Then he passed it to Mr. Sharp.
"What do you think of it?" he asked of the aeronaut
"There's a possibility," remarked the balloonist "We might try for it.
We can easily go three miles down, and it doesn't lie as deeply as that,
if this account is true. Yes, we might try for it. But we'd have to omit
the Government contests."
"Will you, dad?" asked Tom again.
Mr. Swift considered a moment longer.

"Yes, Tom, I will," he finally decided. "Going after the treasure will be
likely to afford us a better test of the submarine than would any
Government tests. We'll try to locate the sunken Boldero."
"Hurrah!" cried the lad, taking the paper from Mr. Sharp and waving it
in the air. "That's the stuff! Now for a search for the submarine
treasure!"

Chapter Two
Finishing the Submarine
"What's the matter?" cried Mrs. Baggert, the housekeeper, hurrying in
from the kitchen, where she was washing the dishes. "Have you seen
some of those scoundrels who robbed you, Mr. Swift? If you have, the
police down here ought to--"
"No, it's nothing like that," explained Mr. Swift. "Tom has merely
discovered in the paper an account of a sunken treasure ship, and he
wants us to go after it, down under the ocean."
"Oh, dear! Some more of Captain Kidd's hidden hoard, I suppose?"
ventured the housekeeper. "Don't you bother with it, Mr. Swift. I had a
cousin once, and he got set in the notion that he knew where that
pirate's treasure was. He spent all the money he had and all he could
borrow digging for it, and he never found a penny. Don't waste your
time on such foolishness. It's bad enough to be building airships and
submarines without going after treasure." Mrs. Baggert spoke with the
freedom of an old friend rather than a hired housekeeper, but she had
been in the family ever since Tom's mother died, when he was a baby,
and she had many privileges.
"Oh, this isn't any of Kidd's treasure," Tom assured her. "If we get it,
Mrs. Baggert, I'll buy you a diamond ring."
"Humph!" she exclaimed, as Tom began to hug her in boyish fashion.

"I guess I'll have to buy all the diamond rings I want, if I have to
depend on your treasure for them," and she went back to the kitchen.
"Well," went on Mr. Swift after a pause, "if we are going into the
treasure-hunting business, Tom, we'll have to get right to work. In the
first place, we must find out more about this ship, and just where it was
sunk."
"I can do that part," said Mr. Sharp. "I know some sea captains, and
they can put me on the track of locating the exact spot. In fact, it might
not be a bad idea to take an expert navigator with us. I can manage in
the air all right, but I confess that working out a location under water is
beyond me."
"Yes, an old sea captain wouldn't be a bad idea, by any means,"
conceded Mr. Swift. "Well, if you'll attend to that detail, Mr. Sharp,
Tom, Mr. Jackson and I will finish the submarine. Most of the work is
done, however, and it only remains to install the engine and motors.
Now, in regard to the negative and positive electric plates, I'd like your
opinion, Tom."
For Tom Swift was an inventor, second in ability only to his father, and
his advice was often sought by his parent on matters of electrical
construction, for the lad had made a specialty of that branch of science.
While father and son were deep in a discussion of the apparatus of the
submarine, there will be an opportunity to make the reader a little better
acquainted with them. Those of you who have read the previous
volumes of this series do not need to be told who Tom Swift is. Others,
however, may be glad to have a proper introduction to him.
Tom Swift lived with his father, Barton Swift, in the village of Shopton,
New York. The Swift home was on the outskirts of the town, and the
large house was surrounded by a number of machine shops, in which
father and son, aided by Garret Jackson, the engineer, did their
experimental and constructive work. Their house was not far from Lake
Carlopa, a fairly large body of water, on which Tom often speeded his
motor

In the first volume of this series, entitled "Tom Swift and His
Motor-Cycle," it was told how be became acquainted with Mr.
Wakefield Damon, who suffered an accident while riding one of the
speedy machines. The accident disgusted Mr. Damon with
motor-cycles,