Appleton, Victor – Tom Swift Jr 23 – And His Aquatomic Tracker

Then he gave me this token to convince you he wasn’t just a faker.”

Sandy opened her purse and took out a small piece of yellow metal. It appeared to be pure gold!

“Wow!” Bud exclaimed, wide-eyed. “I’ll bet it was cut off one of those gold ingots from the liner!”

CHAPTER XIV

THE SECRET CRYPT

TOM examined the piece of gold. “We’d have to have this assayed to be sure it matched the stolen gold, but it does seem as if this sample might be from that Centurion bullion. How am I supposed to contact this fellow, Sandy?”

“He’ll call you at the Hotel Crillon at four.”

“Okay. Let’s go.”

The four young people found a taxi and sped away from the airport. Soon they were driving down wide, tree-lined boulevards into the center of Paris. When they arrived at the Hotel Crillon, Tom introduced himself to the desk clerk. Then they settled down in the lobby to await the call.

Presently the clerk signaled with his hand. Tom hurried over to one of the lobby telephones.

“Tom Swift Jr. speaking.”

“Ah, thank you, monsieur. I hardly hoped to reach you so quickly.” The caller spoke with a heavy accent. “Are the police listening in?”

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THE SECRET CRYPT 121

Tom assured him that they were not.

“Tres bien! You are a gentleman, monsieur -I trust you. Will you keep secret what I say?”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t guarantee that,” Tom said.

“Can you guarantee me a ten-thousand-dollar reward if I give you information which will help to get back the gold and the famous statue stolen from the S.S.

Centurion?”

Tom was amazed. “Stolen-from the sunken ship?” he stalled. When the caller said nothing, Tom went on cautiously, “I might-I’ll have to find out first.