"
"All right. I've warned you," went on the sailor, and
then, motioning to Tom and his father to follow, he went
below.
"Well, what's to be done?" asked Mr. Swift when they were
seated in the living-room, and had informed the others of
the presence of the rival submarine.
"The only thing I see to do is to sneak away unobserved,
go as deep as possible, and make all haste for the wreck,"
advised the captain. "They will depend on us, for they have
evidently no chart of the wreck, though of course the
general location of it may be known to them from reading the
papers. I hoped I had thrown them off the track by the false
chart I dropped, but it seems they were too smart for us."
"Have they a right to follow us?" asked Tom.
"Legally, but not morally. We can't prevent them, I'm
afraid. The only thing to do is to get there ahead of them.
It will be a race for the sunken treasure, and we must get
there first."
"What do you propose doing, captain?" asked Mr. Damon.
"Bless my shirt-studs, but can't we pull their ship up on
the island and leave it there?"
"I'm afraid such high-handed proceedings would hardly
answer," replied Mr. Swift. "No, as Captain Weston says, we
must get there ahead of them. What do you think will be the
best scheme, captain?"
"Well, there's no need for us to forego our plan to get
fresh water.
Pages:
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132