Part 34 (1/2)

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

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

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

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

Therefore I determined to prosecute my search in other channels.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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