"Yes," agreed his chum. "You were right, Tom."
"If you don't mind explaining," began Mr. Damon, "I should like to know—"
"We're trying to determine the drift of the ocean currents in this locality," Tom said.
"So we'll know better where to look for the Pandora," added Ned.
"Oh, so you haven't given up the hunt, then?" asked the eccentric man.
"By no means!" exclaimed Tom. "It's this way, Mr. Damon. We went down at as nearly the exact spot where the treasure-ship was sunk as we could determine by means of calculations. She wasn't there, nor could we find her by going around in circles. Then it occurred to me, and to some of the others also, including Ned, that the ocean currents might have shifted the position of the craft after she had sunk. There are powerful currents in the ocean, as you know, the Gulf Stream being one and the Japan Current another. Now there may be smaller ones in these waters that would produce a local effect.
"So Ned and I have been dropping bits of cork of different shapes into the water and watching which way they drifted. Our conclusion is that the currents here have a decided set toward the north."
"And what does that indicate?" asked Mr. Damon.
"That we should have begun our search some distance north of the point where we actually did begin," answered Tom.
"How far north?" the eccentric man wanted to know.