"There's the gold!" he exclaimed. "We've found the treasure!"
"They tried to take some of it with them," said one of the submarine officers, pointing to some opened boxes which were floating near the cabin ceiling. They were caught on some projections which had prevented them from being washed out.
"Maybe they looted the whole safe," suggested Tom. "We'd better have a look."
He tried to pull out one of the many boxes set in tiers in the safe, but it was beyond his strength.
"Me do!" murmured Koku.
It was easy for the giant to pry out one of the boxes with his iron bar, and with another blow from his bar he opened the cover.
"Gold!" cried Ned, as he saw a gleam of yellow showing in the glow from his torch. "There's the gold!"
There was a table in the purser's cabin, made fast to the floor so it had not floated away. At a sign from Tom, the giant turned the box bottom side up on this table.
And then a murmur of wonder came from all who saw the result. For aside from the top layer of gold pieces, the box was filled with iron disks cut to the size of twenty-dollar gold pieces. In an instant it was borne to all what this meant.
"A fake!" exclaimed Tom Swift. "If all the boxes are like this there isn't enough gold on the treasure ship to pay the expenses of this trip! Somebody has been fooled! Open another box, Koku!"