Chapter Four
Tom is Imprisoned
"Well, I must say he's a cool one," remarked Tom, as the
echoes of Mr. Berg's steps died away. "The idea of thinking
his boat better than ours! I don't like that man, dad. I'm
suspicious of him. Do you think he came here to steal some
of our ideas?"
"No, I hardly believe so, my son. But how did you discover
him?"
"Just as you saw, dad. I heard a noise and went back there
to investigate. I found him sneaking around, looking at the
electric propeller plates. I went to grab him just as he
stumbled over a hoard. At first I thought it was one of the
old gang. I'm almost sure he was trying to discover
something."
"No, Tom. The firm he works for are good business men, and
they would not countenance anything like that. They are
heartless competitors, however, and if they saw a legitimate
chance to get ahead of me and take advantage, they would do
it. But they would not sneak in to steal my ideas. I feel
sure of that. Besides, they have a certain type of submarine
which they think is the best ever invented, and they would
hardly change at this late day. They feel sure of winning
the Government prize, and I'm just as glad we're not going
to have a contest."
"Do you think our boat is better than theirs?"
"Much better, in many respects.
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