hem
slip one by one back into place. Again and again the boy dived his hands
into the yellow mass of metal. He raised handfuls of coin to look at them
a moment, then let them drop from his grasp.

"Good Night!" he ejaculated at length, turning a round-eyed face to the
man who stood smiling beside the group. "Why, you must have enough here
to buy a farm and build a fence clear around it!"

"Quite likely I have!" declared the other quietly. "But there are two or
three other wrecked vessels that I wish to visit before I stop. I have
the exact locations charted and have examined the interiors."

"Why didn't you take the gold away with you, then?"

"For the very simple reason that I found one pair of hands not enough to
perform the task. I could have taken the gold away from the sunken
wrecks, but the matter of getting it ashore was another thing!"

"Why, what's to prevent?" asked Ned wonderingly.

"Several things!" declared the other. "In the first place the peculiar
phase of human nature that makes every man mad when he sees a lot of
money would operate against my plan of taking the gold ashore. Who could
I hire to move the heavy stuff with any assurance of their honesty if
they once found out what might be in the packages?"

"That's so!" admitted Ned thoughtfully. "Human nature is crooked!"

"My plan has been to find some one who needs the money and who would work
on a percentage basis--share and share alike. We can then get the money
ashore, negotiate the older coins that possess more than their face
value, bank the current coins and be prepared to use the wealth exactly
as we see fit. So long as it remains under water it is safe."

"But I can't understand how you get it aboard!" declared Jimmie.

"I have a tank of compressed air fixed to the back of a special diving
suit," explained the man. "There's also a search light and a small
storage battery provided. In this suit I step out through the air lock
onto the wreck. The rest is easy. I return with the load of gold the same
way I went out. The submarine is anchored. The whole thing is simple!"

"Sure enough!" exclaimed Jimmie. "Why didn't I remember our arrangement
on the Sea Lion? And then, too, we saw you walking about on the decks of
the Wanderer! I guess I'm going daffy!"

"What do you say, boys, will you join the expedition?"

"We don't stand much chance of getting home right away," stated Ned. "I
guess we might as well--" what he would say was cut sho