“There is about five tons of detachable lead ballast in the bottom,” he cried, joyously. “We can take it out, and put gold in its place--two million dollars’ worth. If you will wait here. I’ll go and tell the others. Maybe they are tired enough to listen to reason now.” They were! Howard found them all sitting glumly on the deck of the galleon, glaring despairingly at the great pile of gold bars they had extracted from the hold. One by one they had dropped their loads and sank down where they stood, when, with increasing weariness, the situation had at last dawned upon them. When Howard approached, they did not heed him further than to cast savage glances in his direction. Then they returned to contemplation of the gold. Howard understood the situation without words. “You oughtn’t to have worked so hard,” he observed, in a matter-of-fact tone. “You, especially, Joyce. And you, Mrs. Joyce. You’ll feel this to-morrow. But now that you have gotten all the gold up here, I’m glad to tell you that I’ve got a boat outside that will carry us, and just about this much gold besides--say a third of a million for each of us. The rest, I’m afraid, we’ll have to abandon.” [Illustration: IT TOOK ONLY ABOUT TWO HOURS TO DUMP THE LEAD OUT OF THE SUBMARINE AND REPLACE IT WITH THE GOLD.] XVII FIVE tons of gold, worth about three million dollars, is not near so hard to move as five tons of coal, for instance, especially when it is put in seventy-five pound bars and there is plenty of tackle handy. It took Jackson, Joyce, and Willoughby only about two hours to dump the lead out of the submarine and replace it with the gold--surely the richest ballast the world ever saw. Meanwhile Howard, after stationing Dorothy and Mother Joyce in elevated positions where they could watch for the possible approach of Forbes and his men, had set to work to get the submarine into order, oiling the machinery, testing the engines and all the various pumps and motors, and finally starting the gas-engine, which discharged the double duty of driving the boat while on the surface, and of charging the electric accumulators for use below. All this took time, and was not finished until after the last bar of gold had been stored away in place. Then Howard called the others around him. “Before we start,” he said, “I have something to tell you. Until now I have kept it to myself, because I did not want to rouse any false hopes. Joyce, did you ever hear of wireless telegraphy?” Joyce scratched his head. “And what’s that, sor?” he demanded.