ts from carbines fired from the San Paulo.
Then came a violent tossing of the Advance; the waves were becoming
higher as they caught the full force of the hurricane. It took but an
instant to sever, from within, the cable attached to the anchor, which
was one belonging to the warship. The Advance began drifting.

"Open the tanks, Mr. Sharp!" cried Tom. "Captain Weston and I will
steer. Once below we'll start the engines."

Amid a crash of thunder and dazzling flashes of lightning, the
submarine began to sink. Tom, in the conning tower had a sight of the
San Paulo as it drifted nearer and nearer under the influence of the
mighty wind. As one bright flash came he saw Admiral Fanchetti and
Lieutenant Drascalo leaning over the rail and gazing at the Advance.

A moment later the view faded from sight as the submarine sank below
the surface of the troubled sea. She was tossed about for some time
until deep enough to escape the surface motion. Waiting until she was
far enough down so that her lights would not offer a mark for the guns
of the warship, the electrics were switched on.

"We're safe now!" cried Tom, helping his father to his cabin. "They've
got too much to attend to themselves to follow us now, even if they
could. Shall we go ahead, Captain Weston?"

"I think so, yes, if I may be allowed to express my opinion," was the
mild reply, in strange contrast to the strenuous work in which the
captain had just been engaged.

Tom signaled to Mr. Sharp in the engine-room, and in a few seconds the
Advance was speeding away from the island and the hostile vessel. Nor,
deep as she was now, was there any sign of the hurricane. In the
peaceful depths she was once more speeding toward the sunken treasure.

Chapter Twenty-Two

At the Wreck

"Well," remarked Mr. Damon, as the submarine hurled herself forward
through the ocean, "I guess that firing party will have something else
to do to-morrow morning besides aiming those rifles at us."

"Yes, indeed," agreed Tom. "They'll be lucky if they save their ship.
My, how that wind did blow!"

"You're right," put in Captain Weston. "When they get a hurricane down
in this region it's no cat's paw. But they were a mighty careless lot
of sailors. The idea of leaving the ladder over the side, and the boat
in the water."

"It was a good thing for us, though," was Tom's opinion.

"Indeed it was," came from the captain. "But as long as we are safe now
I think we'd better tak