“A good idea,” decided Cranston, blandly, “but let’s proceed in a leisurely manner. Suppose we go over to the park and hire ourselves a barouche or whatever they call those open carriages. You can read the report while we take a drive.”
Fifteen minutes later, the clatter of a horse’s hoofs formed the obligato to Margo’s monotone rendition of the shorthand notes.
The details were pretty much as Cranston knew them, particularly as Farnsworth’s summary was honest and impartial. Condensed, it ran as follows:
The history of the Good Wind, sunk off Skipper’s rock with the treasure brought back by Master Glanvil, pirate pro tem, was well authenticated, in fact verified by the records that concerned the visits of the sloop Rover, owner Caleb Albersham, to the moored brig.
Perennially, treasure seekers had visited Skipper’s Rock in hope of reclaiming the sunken wealth that should have been the property of Thales Van Woort, last and only member of the Association of Adventurers. If the treasure had ever been brought ashore, it would have become Van Woort’s, or a legacy to his heirs; but sunk at sea, it belonged to anyone who could execute a successful salvage.
No one could, because the Good Wind was sunk too deep.
Thus the treasure situation had remained static while the world progressed until Niles Ronjan, an inventor of peculiar genius, had devised his articulated tube, a water-tight tube that could descend to submarine depths and allow access to sunken vessels.
It sounded simple, this business of shoving a pliable pipe-line down to the bottom of the sea, but the actual process produced complications. Money was needed to finance the undertaking; this, Craig Farnsworth had provided.
In so doing, Farnsworth had invited others to share in the undertaking; Farnsworth’s reason was that he wanted to be sure the project was a sound one. At the same time, economy was the watchword and Ronjan had agreed to abide by it. When the sectional tube neared its goal, Ronjan had hired Dom Yuble, an accomplished Caribbean diver, to go down and steer the creeping tunnel into place.
Dom Yuble should have been hired earlier.