“That’s true enough,” assented Benton, “but the point is that with all these latter-day advantages it doesn’t take as long to learn the business as it used to. Another thing that adds to his safety and facilitates his work is a telephone wire that is attached to the cable by which he is lowered and pulled up, by means of which he can keep in constant communication with his helpers above.
“Still, although the work has been made so much easier and safer than it used to be, there is still a certain amount of actual experience that one has to have before he can carry it on effectively. If we had to work at great depths, there’d be nothing left for us but to take a diver along. But from what the old pirate said about the soundings and the fact that the Sea Rover’s masts would show above the water after she sank if they had not been snapped off by the hurricane, I figure that the depth won’t be much more if any than about fifty feet.
“Now if we had to take a diver with us, he’d have to know all about the treasure, and that might lead to all sorts of complications. What occurred to me was this. There’s a good deal of dredging being done in the vicinity of San Domingo, and in my off hours I used to watch it being done and got quite chummy with one of the divers. He’s a regular fellow, and I’m sure he’d be glad to do me a favor. When we get down to San Domingo, I’ll hunt him up and ask him to take one of us and give him some practical lessons in the diver’s business. We’ll have to be there several weeks perhaps, while we’re getting our stores and chartering our boat, and in that time it ought to be possible to get enough experience for the work we have to do. We’ll pay him well of course for his trouble, and he probably won’t bother us much with curious questions. If he does, it will be easy enough to evade them.”
“Count me in as a volunteer,” broke in Phil. “The thing has always had a wonderful fascination for me, and it would be a great experience to find one’s self walking on the bottom of the sea.”
“How about me?” asked Tom.
“And me too,” chimed in Dick. “Don’t forget your uncle Dick.” Benton smiled at their enthusiasm.
“I can see that you fellows need the brake rather than the spur,” he said. “You’d all perhaps better have a taste of it, but in the limited time we’ll have it would be better to single out one and let him have the main part of the experience. But that’s a matter of detail and we’ll have plenty of time to settle that later.”
“Of course, we’ll take a radio set along,” suggested Phil.
“That goes without saying,” replied Benton. “We’ll want it on our boat and we’ll want it when we get to the island. There may be times when it’ll be the only thing that’ll stand between us and death. It’ll keep us in constant touch with civilization. If Robinson Crusoe had had a radio set, he wouldn’t have had to stay long on his island. There are always United States naval ships in the waters of the Caribbean, and if we got into trouble they’d come to our help in a jiffy.”
For several hours they discussed their plans, and when at last Benton arose to go they felt that they had overlooked little and had marked out a pretty complete program.