Now, are you game enough to
continue the trip?"
"Try me!" exclaimed the adventurer. "You won't find me acting
so like a baby again."
Nor did he, even when the craft reached the open ocean and went
down to a considerable depth, where, had any accident occurred,
there would have been grave danger to all. But Mr. Hardley seemed
to enjoy it.
"Maybe I've misjudged him," Tom said to Ned, when they were
getting ready to go back.
"It's possible," agreed the financial manager. This trial,
which so nearly ended disastrously, was only one of several. No
damage resulted from the collision with the river mud bank, and
that trip and the ones following gave Tom some new ideas in
interior construction which he followed out.
About a month later all was ready for the trip to the West
Indies to look for the ill-fated Pandora. Tom's affairs were put
in shape, the submarine was laden with stores and provisions, the
new diving bell and other wonderful apparatus were put aboard,
and the crew and officers picked. Ned, Mr. Damon, Koku, and Tom
were, of course, together, and though Mr.
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