ound 'em, Captain Britten!"

"Easy!" protested Tom from the depths. "Don't shout like that so near
the phone! Yes, the men are O.K. A big fish had 'em--don't know what it
was, as I never heard of anything like it. But a couple of shots from
the rifle killed it."

[Illustration: "A Big Fish Had 'Em!"]

"Tell Captain Britten to send down some heavy chains. We've found the
meteorite!"

The now jubilant crew, who had feared their companions lost, scurried
about. In a few minutes the stout chain was snaking its way down through
the blue-green ocean.

"Seems to me they're taking a mighty long time about it," said Ned to
Captain Britten after an hour had passed with no word from the three
divers.

[Illustration: A Chain Snaked Its Way Down]

"You're right," agreed the other. "Working at that depth it's decidedly
unsafe to stay below so long. I'll warn Tom."

"Can't be done!" was that young man's decisive answer to the old salvage
expert's warning. "This is a tougher job than I thought, for the bottom
of the stone seems to be sinking slowly. If we can't finish our job now
I'm afraid we'll lose our prize. But don't worry. We ought to be through
in another twenty minutes."

[Illustration: "This Is a Tough Job."]

The twenty minutes passed, and another like period was nearly run
through before Tom announced himself and the other two ready to come to
the surface.

To avoid the dreaded "bends," an affliction suffered by divers drawn to
the surface too rapidly, they made their ascent as slowly as their
descent. Thus it was that the great meteorite reached the top long
before Tom and the two natives did.

[Illustration: They Made Their Ascent Slowly]

"What in the name o' tarnation did he want with that?" demanded
Captain Britten as the giant stone was lowered cautiously to the deck.
Weighing many tons, it had tilted the barge far over to one side as the
powerful derrick drew it up. "It looks like some old rock a man might
pick up 'most any place."

"Oh, Tom Swift usually has a good reason for everything he does," smiled
Ned noncommittally. "I'm no scientist, but he is, so perhaps he wants to
experiment with this stone from another planet."

[Illustration: The Powerful Derrick Drew It Up]

At last the three divers reached the surface and were hauled rapidly
up to the deck of the barge. All of them appeared exhausted, but Tom's
eyes expressed the greatest satisfaction when he saw the meteorite
safely aboard.

At