CHAPTER XXI BACK TO BRIGHTON Several days had elapsed since the capture of the mysterious pirate ship and her motley crew. The _Jules Verne_ had remained on the job at Martha's Vineyard while her divers carefully combed the interior of the old sunken British liner _Dominion_ to find whether any of the gold bullion still remained in her hold. Relentless search, however, had disclosed no more of the precious booty--all of it had been ferreted out by the arch-conspirator, Carl Weddigen, diver extraordinary, adventurer, spy and piratical chief. But all of it in turn had been reclaimed from the interior of the _Monterey_, the fast auxiliary that Weddigen had commanded. The fight on the _Monterey_ had been short and sweet. Taken unexpectedly by the surprise attack of Captain Fowler and his men from the U. S. revenue cutter _Marblehead_, the men of the _Monterey_, deprived of the leadership of Weddigen, who was a captive on the _Jules Verne_, had given up at the first show of strength on the part of the government forces. Two huge motor launches, armed with two-pounders and machine guns, had come swooping down upon the _Monterey_. Although the crew of the _Monterey_ were well armed with modern rifles and ammunition, they had hastily thrown down their arms at the first withering fire from the launches of the _Marblehead_. This fire had swept the decks of the pirate craft, killing two of her crew and wounding others. Immediately the _Monterey_ had been searched. Just as Jay Thacker, diver aboard the _Jules Verne_, had related to Captain Austin and to Captain Fowler, of the _Marblehead_, the gold bars--a dozen and more crates of them--had been found aboard the pirate craft. Thousands of dollars' worth of precious metal that would have been spirited off by Weddigen and his crew unless the resourceful salvagers from Bridgeford had intervened. "Lucky thing you called us in time," Captain Fowler declared. "Yes, and a lucky thing you were near," said Captain Austin. Which was true, indeed, considering that the _Jules Verne_ and her crew could hardly have hoped to prevent the escape of the pirates. And then came the unfolding of the story of Carl Weddigen. Yes, it was Carl himself; the same ingenious plotter who had first entered the service of the Bridgeford Salvage Company with the idea of gaining information as to where treasure ships were submerged; the same intriguer who had hoped to profit through his own thefts while ostensibly working for Superintendent Brown and Captain Austin; the same despicable traitor who had been thwarted in the act of stealing valued U. S. Government plans taken from the lost U-boat at Cape May.