Dorothy had tired of the gold and was standing on the deck, looking wonderingly around. Howard called her, and together they descended to the lower deck of the galleon, and, slipping out through a port opposite to that by which they had entered, stepped easily out upon the deck of the submarine, which floated high in the water. With trembling fingers, Howard pushed back the bolts that held the manhole cover in place, lifted it off, and peered into the darkness of the interior. “I’ll be back in a moment,” he promised, glancing up at Dorothy as he swung himself downward.
Soon he was back again with radiant features. “She’s in perfect condition, so far as I can tell without starting the engines,” he announced, “and I guess they are all right. She’s almost the latest type in submarines—gas-engine for running at the surface, and an electric motor for use below. Her oil-tanks are full, and she has an extra supply in glass jars and plenty of other necessary stores. Unless there’s something wrong about her that I can’t see, she’ll get us all to land without the least difficulty.”
“Where did she come from?”
“Straight from heaven, I guess. At least, I can’t imagine how else she got into the sea. No, stop! I believe— Yes, by George, that’s it. Maybe you remember that a Spanish cruiser was lost at sea two or three years ago—disappeared in a big storm and was never heard of again? If I remember rightly, she had a submarine on board. This may be it. Yes! See! Here’s its name—Tiburon; that’s Spanish for Seashark. That cruiser must have drifted in here with it on board.”
“But where is she? How did this boat get here—to this very place?”
“I don’t know, but I can guess. Forbes must have brought it here. He threw out hints about such a boat the first time I talked with him. Yes, he must have brought it here. How he managed it I don’t know, and I don’t much care. The boat is ours now by that same law of salvage by which he claimed the Queen and her contents. What’s sauce for the goose will do for the gander. But think how marvellous it is that we should have come here, straight as a homingbird—to here! the exact place where he had left his gold and his boat. And, yet, after all, it is not quite so marvellous as it seems, since he could hardly have kept her anywhere except up this channel, and we have been following the line of it for miles.”
“Can we get away on her?”
“Certainly! All of us, and more, too, if necessary.”
“But how will we get through the weed?”
“We won’t go through it. We’ll go under it. The weed isn’t thick, you know—only a few feet at most; it grows on top of the water, which is two miles deep here, and we’ll simply dive under it.”