CHAPTER XI The Spy!

PEERING intently through the water Dick watched every move of Weddigen. The latter had knelt on the sandy bottom and was tinkering with the steel chest. His back was turned to the Brighton youth and he, to all intents, had no knowledge of the proximity of the latter.

And then Dick made an astounding discovery. Weddigen had unfastened the extra air hose from his belt, turned on the air and was digging a hole in the sand some ten or fifteen yards away from the submarine. A cloud of sediment was stirred up by the air which for the time served the purpose of hiding the diver at his work.

Dick's first impulse was to move forward hastily and make known his presence, thinking perhaps Weddigen was having trouble lugging the chest and needed assistance. But then, it occurred to him, why would Carl be digging a hole with the air line when he had already salvaged the precious box? Why had he not gripped it with a steel cable and sent it aloft to the Nemo?

"By jove! I know what he's doing," exclaimed Dick to himself. "He's trying to lose those plans under the floor of the sea rather than give them back to the government!"

The youth saw red on the instant. A traitor to America! An enemy of the United States Government who, rather than return the plans that he had found, was trying to cover them up where he might return later and dig for them at his leisure.

Just for an instant Dick was undecided whether to return at once to the Nemo and report what he had seen or stay and see it through to the limit. To grapple with Weddigen here under the sea was next to impossible. Heavily accoutred as he was with diving paraphernalia and weighed down by additional anchors, he could hope to gain nothing by forcibly encountering the big diver in front of him.

He decided to wait until Weddigen had stopped digging and the water cleared again. In the meantime he moved closer, thinking perhaps when Weddigen found that he was being observed he would switch his tactics and order the steel chest with its precious documents hoisted away. It was a trying moment for the lad and he bit his lip to think that he had no submarine weapon of any kind that would enable him to challenge the traitor and compel him to desist. But it was a time for quick thinking and direct action, and he firmly resolved to make the best of the situation.

Before long the stirring of the sands ceased and the water began to clear. Dick by now was no further away from Weddigen than ten or fifteen feet. But Weddigen was still crouched with his back to the newcomer and all unmindful of Dick's presence. And then, in one quick glance, Dick discerned that Weddigen had dug his hole, and was dragging the steel chest into it, preparatory to covering it up.

"The dirty dog!" hissed the Brighton youth, instinctively clenching his fists.

On the instant Dick was minded to grapple with the fellow at all hazards and wrestle with him for possession of the steel box. The only thing in the way of a weapon that he carried was a short, slender crowbar that he had used to facilitate walking, while at the feet of Weddigen lay the various tools that he had brought along to force his way into the U-boat.

And then Dick saw his opportunity! Weddigen was still unmindful of the presence of another diver, so intent was he on getting the treasure box buried. Why not steal up behind Carl, grasp his signal lines and signal for the emergency lift before the scheming diver could interfere? Up he would go, leaving the unattached strong box behind him!

"I'll do it, so help me!" the youth exclaimed in sheer delight.

Stealthily he approached, taking every precaution not to stir up any more of the sea bottom than he could help in order not to apprise Weddigen that he was so close at hand. The latter by now had the box in position and was prepared to swing the air hose in action. In a moment or two the precious plans would be gone again—covered up by a dastardly enemy of America!

Dick was almost on top of Weddigen before the latter wheeled suddenly to find that he had company. But as Carl swung round in his heavy shoes Dick took one desperate lunge through the water in the direction of Weddigen's helmet. His aim was true and his momentum despite his weights sufficient to carry him to the mark. Eagerly he clutched the signal lines over Carl's head.

Weddigen saw the move and divined the intent—but all too late. As Dick's fingers closed over the conspirator's signal lines he gave one mighty tug and instantly released his hold, knowing full well what would happen. And happen it did! Yanked off his feet by willing hands on the deck of the Nemo the hapless Carl Weddigen was carried swiftly up through the swirling currents, leaving the salvage that he had recovered and tried to lose again behind him at the feet of Dick Monaghan.

It had been Dick's only play and he had seized his opportunity, just as at Brighton he had recovered many a fumble on the football field by quick thinking.

"Thank heaven!" he murmured in prayerful gratitude.

Dick now was free to make fast the strong box and hoist it away. Taking a short length of chain from his belt he trussed up the box securely, affixed one of his cables and gave the signal to raise away. Up went the chest over his head, and then he gathered the abandoned tools that Weddigen had left behind him, strapping them to his sides.

"Now for the Nemo and the story of Mr. Carl Weddigen and his despicable infamy before he makes a getaway."

Presently Dick was back again on the deck of the Nemo, still fresh in body and spirit and none the worse for his rather long stay on the sea bottom.

So impatient was the lad to be released from his diving armor that he could scarce contain himself. Glancing through the eye ports of his helmet he noted that Weddigen was being relieved of his armor, and that he was scowling fiercely at those who were assisting him.

Captain Austin and Jay Thacker were standing close by Dick, waiting only his release to congratulate him on the recovery of the government formulas and charts from the sunken U-boat. They had no idea as yet, of course, as to how they had been reclaimed, for Weddigen had given them no tangible story. Instead he had proved evasive.

"Good work, boy," Dick heard Captain Austin say, as his helmet was lifted. A proffered hand was extended him.

"Gee, chum, I sure am proud of you," Jay was smiling—all smiles.

But not so Dick. Anger blazed in his eyes and he emerged from his diving accoutrements with something like the ferocity of a beast of prey released from its trap.

While the captain of the Nemo and Diver Thacker looked on dumbfounded Dick fairly leaped across the deck in the direction of Weddigen and shook a fist under that diver's nose.

"You dirty dog of a traitor; don't think you will get away with it this time."

Weddigen recoiled under the fury of the verbal attack, his own teeth showing like a whipped cur that has been backed in a corner by a giant mastiff.

Instantly there was a great hubbub on deck, members of the crew jostling about just as a crowd collects on a public thoroughfare at the least sign of a commotion. It was not the first time that Diver Weddigen was thus confronted by one of the Brighton boys. Sailors of the Nemo recalled on the instant the scene after the recovery of the diamonds from the Dominion.

"You are a spy in the service of the German secret service and a cowardly villain to the very core of your heart."

Dick Monaghan was fairly railing at the cowering diver. By now Captain Austin had edged up closer with Jay Thacker right at his heels.

"Captain Austin, this man Weddigen recovered that chest of government plans from the U-boat; but he was trying to get rid of them again. He knew that Jay Thacker and I would stay here as long as you would let us in an attempt to reclaim them, and that in the event of our failure to salvage them the U. S. Navy would have persisted until it had gotten them back again. And so he tried to do away with them when he realized that it was impossible now ever to get these plans out of this country."

Captain Austin stepped away aghast with rage.

"What! Do you mean——"

Like a human machine gun Dick rattled off the story of what had happened on the floor of the ocean; how he had come upon Weddigen tugging away at the chest; how he had stood watch while the diver made ready to bury the precious documents, and how he had intervened just in the nick of time.

Through the whole recital Weddigen cringed like an animal afraid. His face was ghastly white, but with it all he endeavored to keep quiet and self-possessed, ready to take advantage of any opening.

"I've suspected him from the very beginning," Dick was saying. "The first day you broached this proposition to us, Mr. Thacker found him spying at the keyhole of your office. Only yesterday, when Mr. Thacker was telling you how he planned to get into the U-boat, this chap Weddigen bobbed up unexpectedly."

Captain Austin was nodding in a knowing way.

At this juncture some one else took a hand in the proceedings. Jay Thacker stepped forward.

"Captain Austin, I'm neither a quitter nor a squealer," he began. Just for a moment he paused, and then resumed.

"You recall the scene on the day that we came back with the diamonds from the Dominion—or rather, when Weddigen came back with the diamonds. Weddigen was accused by Larry Seymour of having stolen some of the glittering gems and secreted them in a slit pocket in the side of his diving suit. Weddigen explained that the chest had come open and that he had slipped some of the jewels into his pocket only when they were in danger of being lost."

The captain of the Nemo remembered it all.

"Very well, captain, I had intended always to keep silent," continued Jay. "You seemed satisfied to take his word for it; and I did not feel like speaking out for fear you and some of the fellows would think I was only jealous because Weddigen had gotten the diamonds and I had not. But now I'm going to speak out and tell the truth."

Jay looked full into the face of Weddigen, fearlessly and intently. In return he was met with a bitter look of scorn.

Pointing his finger directly at the big diver, Jay said:

"Weddigen stole those diamonds. By the light of his own flash I saw him break open the chest in the captain's cabin of the Dominion and transfer some of those sparklers to his pockets. As God is my judge, I saw this man take those diamonds."

The hubbub increased. The crew of the Nemo seemed about to leap on the accused diver.

"Since he didn't get away with the theft because of the alertness of Seymour," Jay continued, "I decided to let the matter go by. But now that he's been caught again, and this time in a dastardly effort against the country that we all love, I'm telling the whole story. He's a thief and a traitor, and Dick Monaghan and I have the goods on him."

Jay's dramatic climax in high-pitched voice with an extended hand that shook with rage aroused the crew of the Nemo to a wild frenzy of rage. With one accord they moved toward the indicted diver. A traitor to the United States! More yet, an emissary of the vaunted German secret service working right in their very midst!

"String him up! Give him his due! Kill him!" the cries were intermingled with the hoarse guttural exclamations of the Nemo's crew. They were minded on the moment to mete out justice themselves—the mob-rule spirit when it has been whetted to white heat passion.

In this trying situation, Captain Austin, exponent of law and order, took a hand. Enraged as he was at the revelations concerning Weddigen, he was determined there should be no informal lynching party aboard his craft. Better to make a prisoner of the man and turn him over to the United States Government for a trial that would bring out interesting information and certainly result in punishment of a fitting nature being visited upon this miserable spy.

Whipping out his revolver the captain advanced through the crowd to the side of the dismayed diver.

"He's my prisoner, boys; I'll just lock him up and take him back to Bridgeford with us, where we'll turn him over to Uncle Sam."

As for Dick and Jay, they were thinking not so much of the fate of the discomfited diver, but of the precious government plans and formulas that had been saved from falling into the hands of foreign and unfriendly powers! Weddigen had overheard and knew all the time!