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[Illustration: FRANK READE WEEKLY MAGAZINE Containing Stories of
Adventures on Land, Sea & in the Air]
_Issued Weekly—By Subscription $2.50 per year. Application made for
Second-Class Entry at N. Y. Post-Office._
No. 35. NEW YORK, JUNE 26, 1903. Price 5 Cents.
[Illustration]
It did not take the professor long
to get to work with his hammer. In a
very short time he had chipped off
enough of the quartz to reveal a
curious yellow vein, which seemed to
extend an indefinite distance into
the ledge.
FRANK READE
WEEKLY MAGAZINE.
CONTAINING STORIES OF ADVENTURES ON LAND, SEA AND IN THE AIR.
_Issued Weekly—By Subscription $2.50 per year. Application made for
Second Class entry at the New York, N. Y., Post Office. Entered
according to Act of Congress in the year 1903, in the office of the
Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C., by Frank Tousey, 24 Union
Square, New York._
=No. 35.= NEW YORK, JUNE 26, 1903. =Price 5 Cents.=
Lost in the Atlantic Valley;
OR,
FRANK READE, JR., AND HIS WONDER, THE “DART.”
By “NONAME.”
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I. WHICH INTRODUCES OUR CHARACTERS AND THE SUBMARINE BOAT.
CHAPTER II. THE EXPEDITION STARTS.
CHAPTER III. ADVENTURES OF THE CAPTAIN AND THE PROFESSOR.
CHAPTER IV. IN THE ATLANTIC VALLEY.
CHAPTER V. THE SUNKEN WRECK.
CHAPTER VI. IMPRISONED IN A WRECK.
CHAPTER VII. A CLOSE CALL.
CHAPTER VIII. THE EARTHQUAKE.
CHAPTER IX. THE SUNKEN CITY.
CHAPTER X. BURIED UNDER THE SEA.
CHAPTER XI. ON THE REEF.
CHAPTER XII. A FEARFUL SITUATION.
CHAPTER XIII. THE END.
CHAPTER I.
WHICH INTRODUCES OUR CHARACTERS AND THE SUBMARINE BOAT.
Readestown, U. S. A., is a smart, flourishing little city upon a certain
river which runs down to the sea, and it owes its founding and success
to a family of wonderful inventors by the name of Reade.
Frank Reade, Jr., the latest representative of the wonderful family, is
a young man whose name is a household word the world over.
He is the inventor of so many wonderful machines, for traveling in the
air, under water, or anywhere else that the people of this great country
were by no means greatly surprised at the announcement which one day
went forth that the young inventor had perfected a new submarine boat,
and in conjunction with a famous scientist was about to make a trip of
exploration through the great Atlantic valley, which is under the sea.
But they were interested if not surprised, and everybody was agog to
know just when the expedition was to start.
And all the people would await with great interest the outcome of the
new and wonderful enterprise.
Some predicted a calamity.
It did not seem an easy matter to remain under water in a submarine boat
for days and weeks, living upon artificial air and deprived of heaven’s
light.
But those who knew Frank Reade, Jr., had no doubt of his success.
Particularly Prof. Von Bulow, the distinguished German scientist, who
was to accompany Frank.
This gentleman was very enthusiastic over the enterprise.
He had dined with the young inventor in the cabin of the Dart, and had
spent some hours in its trial under the surface of the river at
Readestown.
Therefore he was able to vouch for its efficiency and practicability.
“I will take my chances,” he said, with a broad smile; “it will be no
danger, I am very well assured.”
The professor was especially anxious to study phenomena of the deep sea,
and also the topography of the Atlantic Valley.
All that was known of this mighty depression had been gained by deep sea
soundings.
Certain specimens of its bottom had been brought up by the lead. Various
forms of animal life unknown to science had thus been discovered.
But it was only guess work after all. Here, however, was a mighty
opportunity to explore the ocean depths literally.
In his great machine shops at Readestown, Frank had constructed the
Dart.
Every detail of its draughting and plans had been made by him in his
secret model room.
The machinists had done the work under his directions. In this manner
the famous Dart was built.
In shape it was not unlike the model of a pleasure yacht.
There was a hull of thinly rolled but strongest steel. It was provided
with dead eye windows of convenient number, water-tight and provided
with slides.
Above the hull was an outer deck provided with a guard rail which
extended from stem to stern.
Then above this deck was a cylindrical body with windows, of toughest
plate glass, and doors in its ends.
This was the cabin of the Dart, and it was divided into various
compartments, which we will describe separately.
In the middle of the cabin cylinder was a section of straight plate
glass, so that the travelers sitting in the cabin were in constant view
of the sea and its depths.
Two masts rose fore and aft, and forward was a pilot-house where were
the nautical apparatus and the steering gear, as well as the electric
keyboard.
For the propelling and lighting power of the Dart was furnished by
electricity. Over the pilot-house was a most powerful electric
searchlight.
With this the bottom of the sea was made as plain as broad daylight, and
was a mighty advantage.
This is a meager description of the exterior of the Dart. The interior
was magnificent beyond description.
Frank had spared no expense in the fittings of the Dart, so that it was
a veritable floating palace.
The first cabin was richly furnished; the second cabin contained half a
dozen fine staterooms.
Beyond was the dining cabin, and then one came to the cook’s galley.
Below decks, however, was the region of wonder and mystery.
Here was all the wonderful and secret electrical machinery.
Also the mighty automatic reservoirs by which the Dart was made to sink
or rise at the will of the inventor.
Forward was the chemical room, where in tanks was stored the compressed
air, and also manufactured the same, with which the travelers were
enabled to live beneath the surface of the ocean.
Tubes went to every part of the cabin with this chemical product, and
there was also an apparatus for consuming the vitiated air or gases.
So that the air supply was always of the purest and best.
Truly, the submarine Dart was a wonderful product of the inventor’s
skill and ingenuity.
Few, however, could appreciate it more fully than Prof. Von Bulow, who
was fairly captivated with it.
“It is a most wonderful thing,” he declared earnestly. “There is nothing
in the kaiser’s land like it. You Americans are a wonderful people.”
Frank was besieged with hundreds of applications for various purposes.
Hosts of cranks applied for permission to accompany him. Some letters
were beseeching, some threatening.
One mildly insane woman wanted him to recover her son from the clutches
of an octopus.
Another asked that her husband might be brought back from the realm of
old Neptune.
But one applicant, at least, received consideration at Frank’s hands.
He was a bearded sea captain, who told of the sinking of a pirate ship
in a certain latitude with a vast treasure aboard.
Here was a reasonable request, and Frank agreed to look for it.
He took the bearings as given him by Captain Bell and said:
“If possible I will find your sunken treasure. It may be, though, that
time and the action of the tides have buried it so deep that I will not
be able to reclaim it.”
“I think not, sir,” said Captain Bell, eagerly. “It occurred, to be
sure, forty years ago, but I think it is upon a reef not so very far
beneath the surface.”
Then Captain Bell went on to tell the story of the lost treasure.
“I was quite a young man, then,” he said, “and was in the navy, as
captain of a small sloop-of-war, called the Utopia.
“Reports were coming in thick and fast of Captain Longboots, the pirate,
who was so venturesome as to penetrate within one hundred miles of New
York City in quest of a prize.
“His ship, the Vestal Virgin, odd name for a pirate, was a fast sailer,
and most of our war vessels could not keep in sight of her.
“The pirate captain’s real name nobody could learn, but he was called
Captain Longboots from the immensely long boots which he wore at all
times.
“But there was a suspicion in the navy department that he was really
Isaac Van Dorn, once a captain in the service, and who had become
disgruntled on account of a reprimand from a superior officer, and
sought revenge upon the Government by starting out upon a tour of
piracy.
“Well, the Secretary of the Navy selected me and the Utopia to go in
chase of the pirate.
“Just at this time there came a report that an English steamer had been
overhauled, and a million dollars in American gold had been seized by
Longboots.
“This settled the question. I was at once in receipt of sailing orders.
“We left Annapolis one bright day, and sailing down the river, soon
reached the open sea.
“I had nothing to guide me but my nose. I followed it, however, for five
hundred miles out to sea, and in the direction of Bermuda.
“My plan was not to attempt to overhaul the Vestal Virgin.
“I caused the Utopia to be rigged up like a merchant vessel. The
gunports were closed and painted, and everything warlike about her was
concealed.
“Then I lay in the track of foreign-going vessels for weeks. My game
worked.
“It was some while before the pirate showed up; but she did eventually,
and bore down upon us.
“We made a show of running away, but she overhauled us like the wind. We
did not have any trouble in letting her overtake us.
“She sent some hot shot across our bows and we hove to. We were all
ready for a fight.
“Behind our high bulwarks crouched our men all ready for boarding. The
false ports could be knocked out in ten seconds, and an instant
broadside given from ten guns.
“Nearer drew the Vestal Virgin. When she was a hundred yards distant,
Longboots himself appeared in the shrouds. I spoke to one of my men:
“‘Pick that villain off; let it be a signal for the broadside.’
“The order went along. Every man was ready. The gunner I had spoken to
was a dead shot.
“He fired, and Longboots dropped to the deck. Then open flew our ports
and we sent solid shot into her hull.
“She went down instantly. We had just time to get away from the vortex.
Only one of her men was saved.
“He made a clean breast of all, and declared that there was fully a
million and a half in treasure aboard the Vestal Virgin. We had some
thoughts then of recovering it.
“But the soundings were too deep. No diver could live at that depth. We
turned our course homeward.
“And this is how it comes that the Vestal Virgin and her mighty treasure
lies at the bottom of the sea.”
Frank had been deeply interested at this recital. As Captain Bell
finished he said:
“I will make every endeavor, be sure, to recover that treasure. If I do,
a fair share of it is yours.”
Captain Bell gripped Frank’s hand.
“I hope you will succeed,” he said; “and I feel quite sure you will.”
Then Frank showed the captain over the submarine boat.
He was delighted.
“Upon my word, skipper,” he cried. “I’m an old sea dog and reckoned
never to leave the surface of the ocean while in life. But I’d give a
good deal to take this v’yage with you.”
Frank was thoughtful a moment.
He had taken a great liking to Captain Bell.
“Do you mean that?” he asked.
“With all my heart,” replied the old skipper, eagerly. “And if I don’t
work and earn my passage you can put me off at the first port. Shall I
go with you?”
“Yes,” replied Frank; “you may.”