f using a new kind of diving bell, invented by an
American, it seems. The inventor claims that in his machine he can go
down deeper than ever man went before, and bring up a lot of this lost
ocean wealth."

"Well, every so often an inventor, or some one who calls himself that,
crops up with a new proposal for cleaning up the untold millions on the
floor of the Atlantic or the Pacific," replied Tom. "Mind you, I'm not
saying it isn't there. Everybody knows that hundreds of ships carrying
gold and silver have gone down in storms or been sunk in war. And some
of the gold and silver has been recovered by divers--I admit that. In
fact, if you recall, my father and I perfected a new style diving dress
a few years ago that was successfully used in getting down to a wreck
off the Cuban coast. A treasure ship went down there, and I believe
they recovered a large part of the gold bullion--or perhaps it was
silver.

"But this diving bell stunt isn't new, and it hasn't been successful.
Of course a man can go down to a greater depth in a thick iron diving
bell than he can in a diving suit. That's common knowledge. But the
trouble with a diving bell is that it can't be moved about as a man can
move about in a diving suit. The man in the bell can't get inside the
wreck, and it's there where the gold or silver is usually to be found."

"Can't they blow the wreck apart with dynamite, and scatter the gold on
the bottom of the ocean?" asked Ned.

"Yes, they could do that, but usually they scatter it so far, and the
ocean currents so cover it with sand, that it is impossible ever to get
it again. I admit that if a wreck is blown apart a man in a diving bell
can perhaps get a small part of it. But the limitations of a diving
bell are so well recognized that several inventors have tried adjusting
movable arms to the bell, to be operated by the man inside."

"Did they work?" asked Ned.

"After a fashion, yes. But I never heard of any case where the gold and
silver recovered paid for the expenses of making the bell and sending
men down in it. For it takes the same sort of outfit to aid the man in
the diving bell as it does the diver in his usual rubber or steel suit.
Air has to be pumped to him, and he has to be lowered and raised."

"Well, isn't there any way of getting at this gold on the floor of the
ocean?" asked Ned, his enthusiasm a little cooled by the practical
"cold water" Tom had thrown.

"Oh, yes, of course there is, in a