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Page 11
Mr. Berg is Astonished
Following his father and the stranger whom the aged
inventor had addressed as Mr. Berg, Tom and Mr. Sharp
entered the house, the lad having first made sure that
Garret Jackson was on guard in the shop that contained the
sub marine.
"Now," said Mr. Swift 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?" almost shouted the agent for
Bentley & Eagert. "Why, the idea! You ought to compete. It
is good for the trade. We think we have a very fine craft,
and probably we would beat you in the tests, but--"
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