t to the newcomer, "I am at your service. What is
it you wish?"

"In the first place, let me apologize for having startled you and your
friends," began the man. "I had no idea of sneaking into your workshop,
but I had just arrived here, and seeing the doors open I went in. I
heard no one about, and I wandered to the back of the place. There I
happened to stumble over a board--"

"And I heard you," interrupted Tom.

"Is this one of your employees?" asked Mr. Berg in rather frigid tones.

"That is my son," replied Mr. Swift.

"Oh, I beg your pardon." The man's manner changed quickly. "Well, I
guess you did hear me, young man. I didn't intend to hark my shins the
way I did, either. You must have taken me for a burglar or a sneak
thief."

"I have been very much bothered by a gang of unscrupulous men," said
Mr. Swift, "and I suppose Tom thought it was some of them sneaking
around again."

"That's what I did," added the lad. "I wasn't going to have any one
steal the secret of the submarine if I could help it."

"Quite right! Quite right!" exclaimed Mr. Berg. "But my purpose was an
open one. As you know, Mr. Swift, I represent the firm of Bentley &
Eagert, builders of submarine boats and torpedoes. They heard that you
were constructing a craft to take part in the competitive prize tests
of the United States Government, and they asked me to come and see you
to learn when your ship would be ready. Ours is completed, but we
recognize that it will be for the best interests of all concerned if
there are a number of contestants, and my firm did not want to send in
their entry until they knew that you were about finished with your
ship. How about it? Are you ready to compete?"

"Yes," said Mr. Swift slowly. "We are about ready. My craft needs a few
finishing touches, and then it will be ready to launch."

"Then we may expect a good contest on your part," suggested Mr. Berg.

"Well," began the aged inventor, "I don't know about that."

"What's that?" exclaimed Mr. Berg.

"I said I wasn't quite sure that we would compete," went on Mr. Swift.
"You see, when I first got this idea for a submarine boat I had it in
mind to try for the Government prize of fifty thousand dollars."

"That's what we want, too," interrupted Mr. Berg with a smile.

"But," went on Tom's father, "since then certain matters have come up,
and I think, on the whole, that we'll not compete for the prize after
all."

"Not compete for the prize?" alm