CHAPTER XVIII
A SEPARATION
"Mr. Hardley," began Tom calmly, as he took a seat in the main cabin,"when we started this search I told you that hunting for something onthe bottom of the sea was not like locating a building at theintersection of two streets."
"Well, what if you did?" snapped the gold-seeker. "You're supposed todo the navigating, not I! You said if I gave you the latitude andlongitude, down to seconds, as well as degrees and minutes, which Ihave done, that you could bring your submarine to that exact point."
"I said that, and I have done it," declared Tom. "When we computed ourposition the other day we were at the exact location you gave me asbeing the spot where the Pandora foundered."
"Then why isn't she here?" demanded the unpleasant adventurer. "Wewent down to the bottom at the exact spot, and we've been cruisingaround it ever since, but there isn't a sign of the wreck. Why is it?"
"I'm trying to explain," replied Tom, endeavoring to keep his temper."As I said, finding a place on the open sea is not like going to theintersection of two streets. There everything is in plain sight. Buthere our vision is limited, even with my big searchlight. And being afew feet out of the way, as one is bound to be in making nauticalcalculations, makes a lot of difference. We may have been close to thewreck, but may have missed it by a few yards."
"Then what's to be done?" asked Mr. Hardley.
"Keep on searching," Tom answered. "We have plenty of food andsupplies. I came out equipped for a long voyage, and I'm notdiscouraged yet. Another thing. The ship may have moved on severalfathoms, or even a mile or two, after her last position was takenbefore she went down. In that case she'd be all the harder to find. Andeven granting that she sank where you think she did, the ocean currentssince then may have shifted her. Or she may be covered by sand."
"Covered by sand!" exclaimed the gold-seeker.
"Yes," replied Tom. "The bottom of the ocean is always changing andshifting. Storms produce changes in currents, and currents wash thesand on the bottom in different directions. So that a wreck which mayhave been exposed at one time may be covered a day or so later. We'llhave to keep on searching. I'm not ready to give up."
"Maybe not. But I am!" snapped out Mr. Hardley.
"What do you mean?" asked the young inventor.
"Just what I said," was the quick answer. "I'm not going to stay downhere, cruising about without knowing where I'm going. It looks to meas if you were hunting for a needle in a haystack."
"That's just about what we are doing," and Tom tried to speakgood-naturedly.
"Then do you know what I think?" the gold-seeker fairly shot forth.
"Not exactly," Tom replied.
"I think that you don't understand your business, Swift!" was theinstant retort. "You pretend to be a navigator, or have men who are,and yet when I give you simple and explicit directions for finding asunken wreck you can't do it, and you cruise all around looking for itlike a dog that has lost the scent! You don't know your business, in myestimation!"
"Well, you are entitled to your opinion, of course," agreed Tom, andboth Mr. Damon and Ned were surprised to see him so calm. "I admit wehaven't found the wreck, and may not, for some time."
"Then why don't you admit you're incompetent?" cried Mr. Hardley.
"I don't see why I should," said Tom, still keeping calm. "But sinceyou feel that way about it, I think the best thing for us to do is toseparate."
"What do you mean?" stormed the other.
"I mean that I will set you ashore at the nearest place, and that allarrangements between us are at an end."
"All right then! Do it! Do it!" cried Mr. Hardley, shaking his fist,but at no one in particular. "I'm through with you! But this is yourown decision. You broke the contract--I didn't, and I'll not pay a centtoward the expenses of this trip, Swift! Mark my words! I won't pay acent! I'll claim the money I deposited in the bank, and I won't pay acent!"
"I'm not asking you to!" returned Tom, with a smile that showed how hehad himself in command. "You put up a bond, secured by a deposit, toinsure your share of the expenses--yours and Mr. Damon's. Very well,we'll consider that bond canceled. I won't charge you a cent for thistrip. But, mark this, Hardley: What I find from now on, is my own! Youdon't share in it!"
"You mean that--"
"I mean that if I discover the wreck of the Pandora and take the goldfrom her, that it is all my own. I will share it with Mr. Damon,provided he remains with me--"
"Bless my silk hat, Tom, of course I'll stay with you!" broke in theeccentric man.
"But you don't share with me," went on the young inventor, lookingsternly at the gold-seeker. "What I find is my own!"
"All right--have it that way!" snapped the adventurer. "Set me ashoreas soon as you can--the sooner the better. I'm sick of the way you dobusiness!"
"Nothing like being honest!" murmured Ned. But, as a matter of fact, hewas glad the separation had come. There had been a strain ever sinceHardley came aboard. Mr. Damon, too, looked relieved, though a trifleworried. He had considerable at stake, and he stood to lose the moneyhe had invested with Dixwell Hardley.
"This is final," announced Tom. "If we separate we separate for good,and I'm on my own. And I warn you I'll do my best to discover thatwreck, and I'll keep what I find."
"Much good may it do you!" sneered the other. "Perhaps two can playthat game."
No one paid much attention to his words then, but later they wererecalled with significance.
"Get ready to go up!" Tom called the order to the engine room.
"Where are you going to land me?" asked Mr. Hardley. "I have a right toknow that?"
"Yes," conceded Tom, "you have. I'll tell you in a moment."
He consulted a chart, made a few calculations and then spoke.
"I shall land you at St. Thomas," answered the young inventor. "I donot wish to bring my submarine to a place that is too public, as toomany questions may be asked. From St. Thomas you can easily reach PortoRico, and from there you can go anywhere you wish."
"Very well," murmured the malcontent. "But I don't consider that I oweyou a cent, and I'm not going to pay you."
"I wouldn't take your money," Tom answered. "And don't forget what Isaid--that what I find is my own."
The other answered nothing. Nor from then on did he hold muchconversation with Tom or any others in the party. He kept to himself,and a day later he was landed, at night, at a dock, and if he said"good-bye" or wished Tom and his friends a safe voyage, they did nothear him.
They were steaming along on the surface the next day, and at noon thesubmarine suddenly halted.
"What's on now, Tom?" asked Ned, as he saw his chum prepare to go up ondeck with some of the craft's officers.
"We're going to 'shoot the sun' again," was the answer. "I want to makesure that we were right in our former calculations as to the positionof the Pandora. The least error would throw us off."
Using the sextant and other apparatus, some of which Tom had inventedhimself, the exact position of the submarine was calculated. As thelast figure was set down and compared with their previous location, oneof the men who had been doing the computing gave an exclamation.
"What's the matter?" asked Tom.
"Look!" was the answer, and he pointed to the paper. "There's where amistake was made before. We were at least two miles off our course."
"You don't say so!" exclaimed Tom, and, taking the sheet, he wentrapidly over the results.