. Baggert, when he entered
the kitchen, dripping water at every step. "Is it raining outside? I
didn't hear any storm."

"It was raining where I was," replied Tom angrily. "I fell in the
brook. It was so hot I thought I'd cool off."

"With your best suit on!" ejaculated the housekeeper.

"It isn't my best," retorted the lad. "But I went in before I thought.
It was an accident; I fell," he added, lest Mrs. Baggert take his
joking remarks seriously. He did not want to tell her of the chase.

The chief concern of the lad now was to look at the charm and, as soon
as Mrs. Baggert's attention was attracted elsewhere, Tom glanced at the
object he still held tightly clenched in his hand. As the light from
the kitchen fell upon it he could hardly repress an exclamation of
astonishment.

For the charm that he held in his hand was one he had seen before
dangling from the watch chain of Addison Berg, the agent for Bentley &
Eagert, submarine boat builders, which firm had, as told in "Tom Swift
and His Submarine," tried unsuccessfully to secure the gold treasure
from the sunken wreck. Berg and his associates had even gone so far as
to try to disable the Advance, the boat of Tom and his father, by
ramming her when deep down under the ocean, but Mr. Swift's use of an
electric cannon had broken the steering gear of the Wonder, the rival
craft, and from that time on Tom and his friends had a clear field to
search for the bullion held fast in the hold of the Boldero. "Addison
Berg," murmured Tom, as he looked at the watch charm. "What can he be
doing in this neighborhood? Hiding, too, as if he wanted to overhear
something. That's the way he did when we were building our submarine,
and now he's up to the same trick when I'm constructing my electric
car. I'm sure this charm is his. It is such a peculiar design that I'm
positive I can't be mistaken. I thought, when I was chasing after him,
that it would turn out to be Andy Foger, or some of the boys, but it
was too big for them. Addison Berg, eh? What can he be doing around
here? I must not tell Dad, or he'd worry himself sick. But I must be on
my guard."

Tom examined the charm closely. It was a compass, but made in an odd
form, and was much ornamented.

The young inventor had noticed it on several occasions when he had been
in conversation with Mr. Berg previous to the attempt on the part of
the owners of the rival submarine to wreck Tom's boat. He felt that he
could not be mis