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diff --git a/old/1284-h/1284-h.htm b/old/1284-h/1284-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cc1a77d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1284-h/1284-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9039 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of Tom Swift and his Air Scout, +by Victor Appleton +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.finis { text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Tom Swift and his Air Scout, by Victor Appleton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Tom Swift and his Air Scout + or, Uncle Sam's Mastery of the Sky + +Author: Victor Appleton + +Posting Date: July 17, 2008 [EBook #1284] +Release Date: April, 1998 +[Last updated: July 12, 2013] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR SCOUT *** + + + + +Produced by Anthony Matonac + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR SCOUT +</H1> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +or +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +Uncle Sam's Mastery of the Sky +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +by +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +Victor Appleton +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%" summary=""> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAPTER</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">A SKY RIDE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">A NEW IDEA</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">THE BIG OFFER</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">MR. DAMON'S WHIZZER</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">TOM'S PROJECT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">MAKING PLANS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">A PROBLEM IN SOUND</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">THROUGH THE ROOF</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">AFTER A SPY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">A BIG SPLASH</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">A NIGHT TRIP</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">THE CRY FOR HELP</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">SOMETHING QUEER</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">THE TELEPHONE CALL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">A VAIN SEARCH</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">THE LONG NIGHT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">SILENT SAM</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">SUSPICIONS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">ANOTHER FLIGHT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">QUEER MARKS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap21">THE DESERTED CABIN</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap22">CLEWS AT LAST</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap23">THE GOVERNMENT TEST</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap24">IN THE MOONLIGHT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap25">THE GOLD TOOTH</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR SCOUT +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A SKY RIDE +</H3> + +<P> +"Oh Tom, is it really safe?" +</P> + +<P> +A young lady—an exceedingly pretty young lady, she could be +called—stood with one small, gloved hand on the outstretched wing of +an aeroplane, and looked up at a young man, attired in a leather, +fur-lined suit, who sat in the cockpit of the machine just above her. +</P> + +<P> +"Safe, Mary?" repeated the pilot, as he reached in under the hood of +the craft to make sure about one of the controls. "Why, you ought to +know by this time that I wouldn't go up if it wasn't safe!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, I know, Tom. It may be all right for you, but I've never been +up in this kind of airship before, and I want to know if it's safe for +me." +</P> + +<P> +The young man leaned over the edge of the padded cockpit, and clasped +in his rather grimy hand the neatly gloved one of the young lady. And +though the glove was new, and fitted the hand perfectly, there was no +attempt to withdraw it. Instead, the young lady seemed to be very glad +indeed that her hand was in such safe keeping. +</P> + +<P> +"Mary!" exclaimed the young man, "if it wasn't safe—as safe as a +church—I wouldn't dream of taking you up!" and at the mention of +"church" Mary Nestor blushed just the least bit. Or perhaps it was that +the prospective excitement of the moment caused the blood to surge into +her cheeks. Have it as you will. +</P> + +<P> +"Come, Mary! you're not going to back out the last minute, are you?" +asked Tom Swift. "Everything is all right. I've made a trial flight, +and you've seen me come down as safely as a bird. You promised to go +up with me. I won't go very high if you don't like it, but my +experience has been that, once you're off the ground, it doesn't make +any difference how high you go. You'll find it very fascinating. So +skip along to the house, and Mrs. Baggert will help you get into your +togs." +</P> + +<P> +"Shall I have to wear all those things—such as you have on?" asked +Mary, blushing again. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you'll be more comfortable in a fur-lined leather suit," +asserted Tom. "And if it does make you look like an Eskimo, why I'm +sure it will be very becoming. Not that you don't look nice now," he +hastened to assure Miss Nestor, "but an aviation suit will be +very—well, fetching, I should say." +</P> + +<P> +"If I could be sure it would 'fetch' me back safe, Tom—" +</P> + +<P> +"That'll do! That'll do!" laughed the young aviator. "One joke like +that is enough in a morning. It was pretty good, though. Now go on in +and tog up." +</P> + +<P> +"You're sure it's safe, Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +"Positive! Trot along now. I want to fix a wire and—" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, is anything broken?" and the girl, who had started away from the +aeroplane, turned back again. +</P> + +<P> +"No, not broken. It's only a little auxiliary dingus I put on to make +it easier to read the barograph, but I think I'll go back to the old +system. Nothing to do with flying at all, except to tell how high up +one is." +</P> + +<P> +"That's just what I don't care to know, Tom," said Mary Nestor, with a +smile. "If I could imagine I was sailing along only about ten feet in +the air I wouldn't mind so much." +</P> + +<P> +"Flying at that height would be the worst sort of danger. You leave it +to me, Mary. I won't take you up above the clouds on this sky ride; +though, later, I'm sure you'll want to try that. This is only a little +flight. You've been promising long enough to take a trip with me, and +now I believe you're trying to back out." +</P> + +<P> +"No, really I'm not, Tom! Only, at the last minute, the machine looks +so small and frail, and the sky is so—big—" +</P> + +<P> +She glanced up and seemed to shiver just a trifle. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't be thinking of those things, Mary!" laughed Tom Swift. "Trot +along and get ready. The motor never worked better, and we may break a +few speed records this morning. No traffic cops to stop us, either, as +there might be if we were in an auto." +</P> + +<P> +"There you go, Mary!" exclaimed Tom, as if struck with a new thought. +"You've ridden in an auto with me many a time, and you never were a bit +afraid, though we were in more danger than we'll be this morning." +</P> + +<P> +"Danger, Tom, in an auto? How?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, danger of a wheel collapsing as we were going full speed; or the +steering knuckle breaking and sending us into a tree; danger of running +into a stone wall or a ditch; danger of some one running into us, or of +us running into some one else. There isn't one of these dangers on a +sky ride." +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Mary slowly. "But there's the danger of falling." +</P> + +<P> +"One against twenty. That's the safety margin. And, if we do fall, it +will be like landing in a feather bed! There, don't wait any longer. Go +and get ready." +</P> + +<P> +Mary sighed, and then, seeming to summon her nerve to her aid, she +smiled brightly, waved her hand to Tom, and hastened toward his home, +where Mrs. Baggert the matronly housekeeper, was waiting to help the +girl attire herself in a flying-suit of leather. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Nestor, who had a very warm place in the heart of Tom Swift, had, +as he stated, some time since promised to take a trip in the air with +the young inventor. But she had kept putting it off, for one reason or +another, until Tom began to despair of ever getting her to accompany +him. To-day, however, when she had called to inquire about his father, +who had been slightly ill, Tom had, after the social visit, insisted on +the promise being kept. +</P> + +<P> +He had his mechanic get out one of the safest, though a speedy, double +machine, and, with Mary to watch, Tom had taken a trial flight, just to +show her how easy it was. It was not the first time she had seen him +take to the air, but now she watched with different emotions, for she +was vitally interested. +</P> + +<P> +Tom had sailed down from aloft, making a landing in the aviation field +he had constructed near his home, and then he had insisted that Mary +should keep her promise to take a sky ride with him. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't be too long now!" called Tom to the girl, as she hurried toward +the house. "Never mind about your hair, or whether your hat's on +straight. You're going to wear a cap, anyhow, and tuck your hair up +under that. It's hot down here, but it will be cold up above; so tell +Mrs. Baggert to see that you're warmly dressed." +</P> + +<P> +"All right," and gaily she waved her hand to him. Now that she had made +her decision, and was really going up, she was not half so frightened +as she had been in the contemplation of it. +</P> + +<P> +As Tom climbed out of the machine, to give it a careful inspection, +though he was certain there was nothing wrong, an aged colored man +shuffled toward him. +</P> + +<P> +"Yo'—yo'll be mighty careful ob Miss Nestor now, won't yo', Massa +Tom?" asked the man. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course I will, Eradicate," was the young inventor's answer. +</P> + +<P> +"Case we ain't got many laik her no mo', an' dat's de truf, Massa Tom," +went on the old man. "So be mighty careful laik!" +</P> + +<P> +"That's what I will, Rad! And, while I'm up in the air, don't you and +Koku have any trouble." +</P> + +<P> +"Ho! Trouble wif dat onery no-'count giant! I guess not!" and the +colored man limped off, highly indignant. +</P> + +<P> +Satisfied, from an inspection of his machine, that it was as nearly +mechanically perfect as it was possible to be, Tom Swift finished his +trip around it and stood near the big propeller, waiting for Mary +Nestor to reappear. Presently she did so, and Tom gaily waved his hand +to her. +</P> + +<P> +"You're a picture!" he cried, as he saw how particularly "fetching" she +looked in the aviator's costume which was like his own. Because of the +danger of entanglement, Miss Nestor had doffed her skirts, and wore the +costume of all aviators—men and women. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish I had my camera!" cried Tom. "You look—stunning!" +</P> + +<P> +"I hope that isn't any comment on how I'm going to feel if we have to +make a—forced landing, I believe you call it," she retorted. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I'll take care of that!" exclaimed Tom. "Now up you go, and we'll +start," and he helped her to climb into the padded seat of the cockpit, +behind where he was to sit. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Tom! Don't be in such a hurry!" expostulated Mary. "Let me get my +breath!" +</P> + +<P> +"No!" laughed the young inventor. "If I did you might back out. Get +in, fasten the strap around you and sit still. That's all you have to +do. Don't be afraid, I'll be very careful. And don't try to yell at me +to go slower or lower once we're up in the air. +</P> + +<P> +"Why not?" Mary wanted to know, as she settled herself in her seat. +</P> + +<P> +"Because I can't very well hear you, or talk to you. The motor makes so +much noise, you know. We can do a little talking through this speaking +tube," and he indicated one, "but it isn't very satisfactory. So if you +have anything to say—" +</P> + +<P> +"In the language of the poets," interrupted Mary, "if I have words to +spill, prepare to spill them now. Well, I haven't! Now I'm here, go +ahead! I shall probably be too frightened to talk, anyhow." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no you won't—after the first little sensation," Tom assured her. +"You'll be crazy about it. Come on, Jackson!" he called to the +mechanician. "Start the ball rolling!" +</P> + +<P> +Tom was in his place, his goggles and cap well down over his face, and +he was adjusting the switch as the mechanic prepared to spin the +propellers. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly a man came running from the Swift house, waving his arms not +unlike the blades of an aircraft propeller, he also shouted, but Tom, +whose ears were covered with his fur cap, could not hear. However, +Jackson did, and stopped whirling the blades, turning about to see what +was wanted. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, it's Mr. Damon!" exclaimed Tom, as he caught sight of the excited +man. "Hello, what's the matter?" the youth asked, pulling aside one +flap of his head-covering so he might hear the answer. +</P> + +<P> +"Tom! Wait a minute! Bless my mouse trap!" exclaimed Mr. Damon, "I want +to speak to you!" He was panting from his run across the field. "I just +got to your house—saw your father—he said you were going up with Miss +Nestor, but—bless my dog biscuit—" +</P> + +<P> +"Can't stop now, Mr. Damon!" answered Tom, with a laugh. "I have only +just succeeded, by hard work, in getting Mary to a point where she has +consented to take a sky ride. If I stop now she'll back out and I'll +never get her in again. See you when I come back," and Tom pulled the +covering over his ear once more. +</P> + +<P> +"But, Tom, bless my shoe laces! This is important!" +</P> + +<P> +"So's this!" answered Tom, with a grin. He saw, by the motion of Mr. +Damon's lips, what the latter had said. +</P> + +<P> +Around swung the propeller blades. The gasoline vapor in the cylinders +was being compressed. +</P> + +<P> +"Contact!" called Tom sharply, as he pressed the switch to give the +igniting spark at the proper moment. The mechanic had stepped back out +of the way, in case there should be a premature starting of the +powerful engine, in which event the blades would have cut him to pieces. +</P> + +<P> +"Wait, Tom! Wait! This is very important! Bless my collar button, Tom +Swift, but this is—" +</P> + +<P> +Bang! Bang! Bang! +</P> + +<P> +With a series of explosions, like those of a machine gun, the motor +started, and further talk was out of the question. Tom turned on more +gas. The propellers became almost invisible blades of light and shadow, +and the aeroplane began moving over the grassy field. The mechanic had +sprung out of the way, pulling Mr. Damon with him. +</P> + +<P> +"Come back! Come back! Wait a minute, Tom Swift! Bless my pansy +blossoms, I want to tell you something!" cried the little man. +</P> + +<P> +But Tom Swift was away and out of hearing. He had started on his sky +ride with Mary Nestor. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A NEW IDEA +</H3> + +<P> +Any one who has taken a flight in an aeroplane or gone up in a balloon, +will know exactly how Mary Nestor felt on this, her first sky ride of +any distance. For a moment, as she looked over the side of the machine, +she had a distinct impression, not that she was going up, but that some +one had pulled the earth down from beneath her and, at the same time, +given her a shove off into space. Such is the first sensation of going +aloft. Then the rush of air all about her, the slightly swaying motion +of the craft, and the vibration caused by the motor took her attention. +But the sensation of the earth dropping away from beneath her remained +with Mary for some time. +</P> + +<P> +This sensation is much greater in a balloon than in an aeroplane, for a +balloon, unless there is a strong wind blowing, goes straight up, while +an aeroplane ascends on a long slant, and always into the teeth of the +wind, to take advantage of its lifting power on the underside of the +planes. The reason for this sensation—that of the earth's dropping +down, instead of one's feeling, what really happens, that one is +ascending—is because there are no objects by which comparison can be +made. If one starts off on the earth's surface at slow, or at great +speed, one passes stationary objects—houses, posts, trees, and the +like—and judges the speed by the rapidity with which these are left +behind. +</P> + +<P> +Going up is unlike this. There is nothing to pass. One simply cleaves +the air, and only as it rushes past can one be sure of movement. And as +the air is void of color and form, there is no sensation of passing +anything. +</P> + +<P> +So Mary Nestor, as she shot into the air with Tom Swift, had a +sensation as though the earth were dropping from beneath her. For a +moment she felt as though she were in some vast void—floating in +space—and she had a great fear. Then she calmed herself. She looked at +Tom sitting in front of her. Of course, all she could see was his back, +but it looked to be a very sturdy back, indeed, and he sat there in the +aircraft as calmly as though in a chair on the ground. Then Mary took +courage, and ceased to grasp the sides of the cockpit with a grip that +stiffened all her muscles. She was beginning to "find herself." +</P> + +<P> +On and on, and up and up, went Mary and Tom, in this the girl's first +big sky ride. The earth below seemed farther and farther away. The +wide, green fields became little emerald squares, and the houses like +those in a toy Noah's ark. +</P> + +<P> +Down below, Mr. Wakefield Damon, who had hurried over from his home in +Waterfield to see Tom Swift, gazed aloft at the fast disappearing +aeroplane and its passengers. +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my coal bin!" cried the eccentric man, "but Tom is in a hurry +this morning. Too bad he couldn't have stopped and spoken to me. It +might have been greatly to his advantage. But I suppose I shall have to +wait." +</P> + +<P> +"You want to see Master?" asked a voice behind Mr. Damon, and, turning, +he beheld a veritable giant. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Koku, I did," Mr. Damon answered, and he did not appear at all +surprised at the sight of the towering form beside him. "I wanted to +see Tom most particularly. But I shall have to wait. I'll go in and +talk to Mr. Swift." +</P> + +<P> +"Yaas, an' I go talk to Radicate," said the giant. "Him diggin' up +ground where Master told me to make garden. Radicate not strong enough +for dat!" +</P> + +<P> +"Huh! there's trouble as soon as those two get to disputing," mused Mr. +Damon, as he went toward the house. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, Mary was beginning to enjoy herself. The sensation of moving +rapidly through the air in a machine as skillfully guided as was the +one piloted by Tom Swift was delightful. Up and up they went, and then +suddenly Mary felt a lurch, and the plane, which was now about a +thousand feet high, seemed to slip to one side. +</P> + +<P> +Mary screamed, and began reaching for the buckle of the safety belt +that fastened her to her seat. She saw that something unusual had +occurred, for Tom was working frantically at the mechanism in front of +him. +</P> + +<P> +But, in spite of this, he seemed aware that Mary was in danger, not so +much, perhaps, from what might happen to the machine, as what she might +do in her terror. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! Oh!" cried the girl, and Tom heard her above the terrific noise of +the motor, for she was speaking with her lips close to the tube that +served as a sort of inter-communicating telephone for the craft. "Oh, +we are falling! I'm going to jump!" +</P> + +<P> +"Sit still! Sit still for your life!" cried Tom Swift. "I'll save you +all right! Only sit still! Don't jump!" +</P> + +<P> +Mary, her red cheeks white, sank back, and the young inventor redoubled +his efforts at the controls and other mechanisms. +</P> + +<P> +And that Tom was perfectly qualified to make a safe landing, even with +engine trouble, Mary Nestor well knew. Those of you who have read the +previous books of this series know it also, but, for the benefit of my +new readers, I shall state that this was by no means Tom's first ride +in an aeroplane. +</P> + +<P> +He had operated and built gasoline engines ever since he was about +sixteen years old. As related in the initial volume of this series, +entitled, "Tom Swift and His Motorcycle," he became possessed of this +machine after it had started to climb a tree with Mr. Damon on board. +After that experience the eccentric man—blessing everything he could +think of—had no liking for the speedy motorcycle and sold it to Tom at +a low price. +</P> + +<P> +That was the beginning of a friendship between the two, and also +started Tom on his career as an inventor and a possessor of many +gasoline craft. For he was not content with merely riding the repaired +motorcycle. He made improvements on it. +</P> + +<P> +Tom lived with his father in the town of Shopton, their home being +looked after, since the death of Mrs. Swift, by Mrs. Baggert. Mr. +Wakefield Damon lived in the neighboring town of Waterfield, and spent +much time at Tom's home, often going on trips with him in various +vehicles of the land, sea or air. +</P> + +<P> +As related in the various volumes of this series, Tom was not content +to remain on earth. He built a speedy motor boat, and then secured an +airship, following that with a submarine. He also made an electric +runabout that was the speediest car on the road. Sending wireless +messages, having thrilling experiences among the diamond makers, +journeying to the caves of ice, and making perilous trips in his sky +racer took up part of the young inventor's time. +</P> + +<P> +With his electric rifle he did some wonderful shooting, and in the +"City of Gold" made some strange discoveries, part of the fortune he +secured enabling him to build his sky racer. It was in a land of giants +that Tom was made captive, but he succeeded in escaping, and brought +two giants, of whom Koku was one, away with him. +</P> + +<P> +Following this achievement Tom invented a wizard camera and a great +searchlight, which, with his giant cannon, was purchased by the United +States Government. Work on his photo-telephone and his aerial warship, +the problem of digging a big tunnel, and then traveling to the land of +wonders, kept Tom Swift very busy, and he had just completed a +wonderful piece of work when the present story opens. +</P> + +<P> +This last achievement was the perfecting of a machine to aid in the +great World War and you will find the details set down in the volume +which immediately precedes this. "Tom Swift and His War Tank," it is +called, and in that is related how he not only invented a marvelous +machine, but succeeded in keeping its secret from the plotters who +tried to take it from him. In this Tom was helped by the inspiration of +Mary Nestor, whom he hoped some day to marry, and by Ned Newton, a +chum, who, though no inventor himself, could admire one. +</P> + +<P> +Ned and Tom had been chums a long while, but Ned inclined more to +financial and office matters than to machinery. At times he had managed +affairs for Tom, and helped him finance projects. Ned was now an +important bank official, and since the United States had entered the +war had had charge of some Red Cross work, as well as Liberty Bond +campaigns. +</P> + +<P> +Somehow, as she sat there in the craft which seemed disabled, Mary +Nestor could not help thinking of Tom's many activities, in some of +which she had shared. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, if he falls now, and is killed!" she thought. "Oh, what will +happen to us?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's all right, Mary! Don't worry! It's all right!" cried Tom, through +the speaking tube. +</P> + +<P> +"What's that? I can't hear you very well!" she called back. +</P> + +<P> +"No wonder, with the racket this motor is making," he answered. "Why +can't something be done so you can talk in an aeroplane as well as in a +balloon? That's an idea! If I could tell you what was the matter now +you wouldn't be a bit frightened, for it isn't anything. But, as it +is—" +</P> + +<P> +"What are you saying, Tom? I can't hear you!" cried Mary, still much +frightened. +</P> + +<P> +"I say it's all right—don't get scared. And don't jump!" Tom shouted +until his ears buzzed. "It's all nonsense—having a motor making so +much noise one can't talk!" he went on, irritatedly. +</P> + +<P> +A strange idea had come to the young inventor, but there was no time to +think of it now. Mentally he registered a vow to take up this idea and +work on it as soon as possible. But, just now, the aeroplane needed all +his attention. +</P> + +<P> +As he had told Mary, there was really nothing approaching any great +danger. But it was rather an anxious moment. If Tom had been alone he +would have thought little of it, but with Mary along he felt a double +responsibility. +</P> + +<P> +What had happened was that the craft had suddenly gone into an "air +pocket" or partial vacuum, and there had been a sudden fall and a slide +slip. In trying to stop this too quickly Tom had broken one of his +controls, and he was busily engaged in putting an auxiliary one in +place and trying to reassure Mary at the same time. +</P> + +<P> +"But it's mighty hard trying to do that through a speaking tube with a +motor making a noise like a boiler factory," mused the young inventor. +Tom worked quickly and to good purpose. In a few moments, though to +Mary they seemed like hours, the machine was again gliding along on a +level keel, and Tom breathed more easily. +</P> + +<P> +"And now for my great idea!" he told himself. +</P> + +<P> +But it was some time before he could give his attention to that. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE BIG OFFER +</H3> + +<P> +Working with all the skill he possessed, Tom had got the aeroplane in +proper working order again. As has been said, the accident was a +trivial one, and had he been alone, or with an experienced aviator, he +would have thought little of it. Then, very likely, he would have +volplaned to earth and made the repairs there. But he did not want to +frighten Mary Nestor, so he fixed the control while gliding along, and +made light of it. Thus his passenger was reassured. +</P> + +<P> +"Are we all right?" asked Mary through the tube, as they sailed along. +</P> + +<P> +"Right as a fiddle," answered Tom, shouting through the same means of +communication. +</P> + +<P> +"What's that about a riddle?" asked Mary, in surprise at his seeming +flippancy at such a time. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't say anything about a riddle—I said we are as fit as a +fiddle!" cried Tom. "Never mind. No use trying to talk with the racket +this motor makes, and it isn't the noisiest of its kind, either. I'll +tell you when we get down. Do you like it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I like it better than I did at first," answered Mary, for she had +managed to understand the last of Tom's questions. Then he sailed a +little higher, circled about, and, a little later, not to get Mary too +tired and anxious, he headed for his landing field. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll take you home in the auto," he cried to his passenger. "We could +go up to your house this way—in style—if there was a field near by +large enough to land in. But there isn't. So it will have to be a +plain, every-day auto." +</P> + +<P> +"That's good enough for me," said Mary. "Though this trip is +wonderful—glorious! I'll go again any time you ask me." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'll ask you," said Tom. "And when I do maybe it won't be so +hard to hold a conversation. It will be more like this," and he shut +off the motor and began to glide gently down. The quiet succeeding the +terrific noise of the motor exhaust was almost startling, and Tom and +Mary could converse easily without using the tube. +</P> + +<P> +Then followed the landing on the soft, springy turf, a little glide +over the ground, and the machine came to a halt, while mechanics ran +out of the hangar to take charge of it. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll just go in and change these togs," said Mary, as she alighted and +looked at her leather costume. +</P> + +<P> +"No, don't," advised Tom. "You look swell in em. Keep 'em on. They're +yours, and you'll need 'em when we go up again. Here comes the auto. +I'll take you right home in it. Keep the aviation suit on. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder what Mr. Damon could have wanted," remarked Tom, as he drove +Mary along the country road. +</P> + +<P> +"He seemed very much excited," she replied. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, he almost always is that way—blessing everything he can think of. +You know that. But this time it was different, I'll admit. I hope +nothing is the matter. I might have stopped and spoken to him, but I +was afraid if I did you'd back out and wouldn't come for a sky ride." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I might have. But now that I've had one, even with an accident +thrown in, I'll go any time you ask me, Tom," and Mary smiled at the +young inventor. +</P> + +<P> +"Shucks, that wasn't a real accident!" he laughed. "But I do wonder +what Mr. Damon wanted." +</P> + +<P> +"Better go back and find out, Tom," advised Mary, as they stopped in +front of her house. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I want to come in and talk to you. Haven't had a chance for a good +talk today, that motor made such a racket." +</P> + +<P> +"No, go along now, but come back and see me this afternoon if you like." +</P> + +<P> +"I do like, all right! And I suppose Mr. Damon will be fussing until he +sees me. Well, glad you liked your first ride in the air, Mary—that +is, the first one of any account," for Mary had been in an aeroplane +before, though only up a little way—a sort of "grass-cutting stunt," +Tom called it. +</P> + +<P> +Waving farewell to the pretty girl, the young aviator turned the auto +about and speeded for his home and the shops adjoining it. His father +had not been well, of late, and Tom was a bit anxious about him. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Damon may bother him, though he wouldn't mean to," thought Tom. +"He seemed to have his mind filled with some new idea. I wonder if it +is anything like mine? No, it couldn't be. Well, I'll soon find out," +and, putting his foot on the accelerator, Tom sent the machine along at +a pace that soon brought him within sight of his home. +</P> + +<P> +"Is father all right?" he asked Mrs. Baggert, who was out on the front +porch, as though waiting for him. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, Tom, he's all right," the housekeeper answered. +</P> + +<P> +"Is Mr. Damon with him?" +</P> + +<P> +"No." +</P> + +<P> +"He hasn't gone home, has he?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, he's around somewhere. But some one else is with your father. Some +visitors." +</P> + +<P> +"Any relations?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; strangers. They came to see you, and they're rather impatient. I +came out to see if you were in sight. Your father sent me." +</P> + +<P> +"Are they bothering him—talking business that I ought to attend to +when he's ill? That mustn't be." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I suppose it is business that the strangers are talking over +with your father, Tom," said Mrs. Baggert, "for I heard sums of money +spoken of. But your father seems to be all right, only a trifle anxious +that you should come." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm here now and I'll attend to things. Where are the strangers, +and who are they?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," answered the housekeeper. "I never saw them before, but +they're in the library with your father. Do you think they'll stay to +dinner? If you do, I'll have Eradicate or Koku catch and kill a +chicken." +</P> + +<P> +"If you let one do it don't tell the other about it," said Tom with a +laugh, "or you'll have a chicken race around the yard that will make +the visitors sit up and take notice." +</P> + +<P> +There was great rivalry between Eradicate Sampson, the aged colored +man, and Koku, the giant, and they were continually disputing. Each one +loved and served Tom in his own way, and there was jealousy between +them. Koku, the giant Tom had brought with him from the land where the +young inventor had been made captive, was a big, powerful man, and +could do things the aged colored servant could not attempt. But "Rad," +as he was often called, and his mule "Boomerang" had long been fixtures +on the Swift homestead. But old age crept on apace with Eradicate, +though he hated to admit it, and Koku did many things the colored man +had formerly attended to, and Rad was always on the lookout not to be +supplanted. Hence Tom's warning to Mrs. Baggert about letting the two +be entrusted with the same mission of catching a chicken for the pot. +</P> + +<P> +"Better get the fowl yourself and say nothing to either of them about +it," Tom advised the housekeeper. "Mr. Damon will stay to dinner, as he +always does when he comes, and as it's near twelve now, and as I may be +delayed talking business to these strangers, you'd better get up a +bigger meal than usual." +</P> + +<P> +"I will, Tom," promised Mrs. Baggert. And then the young inventor, +having seen that one of the men took the automobile to the garage, went +into the house. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, here you are!" was his father's greeting, as he came out into the +hall from the library. "I've been waiting anxiously for you, my boy. I +couldn't think what was keeping you." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I had a little trouble with the air machine—nothing serious." +</P> + +<P> +A moment later Tom was standing before two well-dressed, +prosperous-looking business men, who smiled pleasantly at him. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Thomas Swift?" interrogated one, the elder, as he held out his +hand. +</P> + +<P> +"That's my name," answered Tom, pleasantly. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm Peton Gale, and this gentleman is Boland Ware," went on the man +who had taken Tom's hand. "I'm president and he's treasurer of the +Universal Flying Machine Company, of New York." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes," said Tom, as he shook hands with Mr. Ware. "I have heard of +your concern. You are doing a lot of government work, are you not?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; war orders. And we're up to our neck in them. This war is going +to be almost as much fought in the air as on the ground, Mr. Swift." +</P> + +<P> +"I can well believe that," agreed Tom. "Won't you have a chair?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we didn't come to stay long," said Mr. Gale with a laugh, which, +somehow or other, grated on Tom and seemed to him insincere. "Our +business is such a rushing one that we don't spend much time anywhere. +To get down to brass tacks, we have come to see you to put a certain +proposition before you, Mr. Swift. You are open to a business +proposition, aren't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes," answered Tom. "That's what I'm here for." +</P> + +<P> +"I thought so. Well, now I'll tell you, in brief, what we want, and +then Mr. Ware, our treasurer, can elaborate on it, and give you facts +and figures about which I never bother myself. I attend to the +executive end and leave the details to others," and again came that +laugh which Tom did not like. +</P> + +<P> +"You came here to make me an offer?" asked the young inventor, +wondering to which of his many machines the visitors had reference. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," went on Mr. Gale, "we came here to make you a big offer. In +short, Mr. Swift, we want you to work for our company, and we are +willing to pay you ten thousand dollars a year for the benefit of your +advice and your inventive abilities. Ten thousand dollars a year! Do +you accept?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MR. DAMON'S WHIZZER +</H3> + +<P> +Characteristic it was of Tom Swift that he did not seem at all +surprised at what most young men would call a liberal offer. Certainly +not many youths of Tom's age would be sought out by a big manufacturing +concern, and offered ten thousand dollars a year "right off the reel," +as Ned Newton expressed it later. But Tom only smiled and shook his +head in negation. +</P> + +<P> +"What!" cried Mr. Gale, "you mean you won't accept our offer?" +</P> + +<P> +"I can't," answered Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"You can't!" exclaimed the treasurer, Mr. Ware. "Oh, I see. Mr. Gale, a +word with you. Excuse us a moment," he added to Tom and his father. +</P> + +<P> +The two men consulted in a corner of the library for a moment, and +then, with smiles on their faces, once more turned toward the young +inventor. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, perhaps you are right, Tom Swift," said Mr. Gale. "Of course, we +recognize your talents and ability, but you cannot blame us for trying +to get talent, as well as material for our airships, in the cheapest +market. But we are not hide-bound, nor sticklers for any set sum. We'll +make that offer fifteen thousand dollars a year, if you will sign a +five-year contract and agree that we shall have first claim on anything +and everything you may patent or invent in that time. Now, how does +that strike you? Fifteen thousand dollars a year—paid weekly if you +wish, and our Mr. Ware, here, has a form of contract which can be fixed +up and signed within ten minutes, if you agree." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I don't like to be disagreeable," said Tom with a smile; "but, +really, as I said before, I can't accept your very kind offer. I may +say liberal offer. I appreciate that." +</P> + +<P> +"You can't accept!" cried Mr. Gale. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you sure you don't mean 'won't'?" asked Mr. Ware, in a half growl. +</P> + +<P> +"You may call it that if you like," replied Tom, a bit coolly, for he +did not like the other's tone, "Only, as I say, I cannot accept. I have +other plans." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you—" began the brusk treasurer, but Mr. Gale, the president of +the Universal Flying Machine Company, stopped his associate with a +warning look. +</P> + +<P> +"Just a moment, Mr. Swift," begged the president. "Don't be hasty. We +are prepared to make you a last and final offer, and I do not believe +you can refuse it." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I certainly will not refuse it without hearing it," said Tom, +with a smile he meant to make good-natured. Yet, truth to tell, he did +not at all like the two visitors. There was something about them that +aroused his antagonism, and he said later that even if they had offered +him a sum which he felt he ought not, in justice to himself and his +father, refuse, he would have felt a distaste in working for a company +represented by the twain. +</P> + +<P> +"This is our offer," said Mr. Gale, and he spoke in a pompous manner +which seemed to say: "If you don't take it, why, it will be the worse +for you." He looked at his treasurer for a confirmatory nod and, +receiving it, went on. "We are prepared to offer and pay you, and will +enter into such a contract, with the stipulation about the inventions +that I mentioned before—we are prepared to pay you—twenty thousand +dollars a year! Now what do you say to that, Tom Swift? +</P> + +<P> +"Twenty-thousand-dollars-a-year!" repeated Mr. Gale unctuously, rolling +the words off his tongue. "Twen-ty-thou-sand-dol-lars-a-year! Think of +it!" +</P> + +<P> +"I am thinking of it," said Tom Swift gently, "and I thank you for your +offer. It is, indeed, very generous. But I must give you the same +answer. I cannot accept." +</P> + +<P> +"Tom!" exclaimed his aged father. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Swift!" exclaimed the two visitors. +</P> + +<P> +Tom smiled and shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I know very well what I am saying, and what I am turning down," he +said. "But I simply cannot accept. I have other plans. I am sorry you +have had your trip for nothing," he added to the visitors, "but, +really, I must refuse." +</P> + +<P> +"Is that your final answer?" asked Mr. Gale. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you want to take a day or two to think it over?" asked the +treasurer. "Don't be hasty. Remember that very few young men can +command that salary, and I may say you will find us liberal in other +ways. You would have some time to yourself." +</P> + +<P> +"That is what I most need," returned Tom. "Time to myself. No, thank +you, gentlemen, I cannot accept." +</P> + +<P> +"Be careful!" warned Mr. Gale, and it sounded as though there might be +a threat in his voice. "This is our last offer, and your last chance. +We will not renew this. If you do not accept our twenty thousand +dollars now, you will never get it again." +</P> + +<P> +"I realize that," said Tom, "and I am prepared to take the consequences. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well, then," said Mr. Gale. "There seems nothing for us to do, +Mr. Ware, but to go back to New York. I bid you good-day," and he bowed +stiffly to Tom. "I hope you will not regret your refusal of our offer." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope so myself," said Tom, lightly. +</P> + +<P> +When the visitors had gone Mr. Swift turned toward his son, and, +shaking his head, remarked: +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, you know your own business best, Tom. Yet I cannot but feel +you have made a mistake." +</P> + +<P> +"How?" asked Tom. "By not taking that money? I can easily make that in +a year, with an idea I have in mind for an improvement on an airship. +And your new electric motor will soon be ready for the market. Besides, +we don't really need the money." +</P> + +<P> +"No, not now, Tom, but there is no telling when we may," said Mr. +Swift, slowly. "This big war has made many changes, and things that +brought us in a good income before, hardly sell at all, now." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, don't worry, Dad! We still have a few shots left in the locker—in +other words, the bank. I'm expecting Ned Newton over any moment now, to +give us the annual statement of our account, and then we'll know where +we stand. I'm not afraid from the money end. Our business has done +well, and it is going to do better. I have a new idea." +</P> + +<P> +"That's all very well, Tom," said Mr. Swift, who seemed oppressed by +something. "As you say, money isn't everything, and I know we shall +always have enough to live on. But there is something about those two +men I do not like. They were very angry at your refusal of their offer. +I could see that. Tom, I don't want to be a croaker, but I think you'll +have to watch out for those men. They're going to be your enemies—your +rivals in the airship field," and Mr. Swift shook his head dolefully. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, rivalry, when it's clean and above board, is the spice of trade +and invention," returned Tom, lightly. "I'm not afraid of that." +</P> + +<P> +"No, but it may be unfair and underhand," said Mr. Swift. "I think it +would have been better, Tom, to have accepted their offer. Twenty +thousand a year, clear money, is a good sum." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but I may make twice that with something that occurred to me only +a little while ago. Forget about those men, Dad, and I'll tell you my +new idea. But wait, I want Mr. Damon to hear it, too. Where is he?" +</P> + +<P> +"He was here a little while ago. He went out when those two men came +and—" +</P> + +<P> +At that moment, from the garden at the side of the library, the sound +of voices in dispute could be heard. +</P> + +<P> +"Now yo' all g'wan 'way from yeah!" exclaimed some one who could be +none other than Eradicate Sampson. "Whut fo' yo' all want to clutter up +dish yeah place fo'? Massa Tom said I was to do de garden wuk, an' I'se +gwine to do it! G'wan 'way, Giant!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ho! You want me to get out, s'pose you put me, black face!" cried a +big voice, that of Koku, the giant. +</P> + +<P> +"There they go! At it again!" cried Tom with a smile. "Might have known +if I told Rad to do anything that Koku would be jealous. Well, I'll +have to go out now and give that giant something to do that will tax +his strength." +</P> + +<P> +But as Tom was about to leave the room another voice was heard in the +garden. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, boys, be nice," said some one soothingly. "The garden is large +enough for you both to work in. Rad, you begin at the lower end and +spade toward the middle. Koku, you begin at the upper end and work +down. Whoever gets to the middle first will win." +</P> + +<P> +"Ha! Den I'll show dat giant some spade wuk as is spade wuk!" cried the +colored man. "Garden wuk is mah middle name." +</P> + +<P> +"Be careful, Rad!" laughed Mr. Damon, for he it was who was trying to +act as peacemaker. "Remember that Koku is very strong." +</P> + +<P> +"Yas, sah! He may be strong, but he's clumsy!" chuckled Eradicate. "You +watch me beat him!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ho! Black man get stuck in mud!" challenged Koku. "I show him!" +</P> + +<P> +Then there was silence, and Tom and his father, looking out, saw the +two disputants beginning to spade the soil while Mr. Damon, satisfied +that he had, for the time being, stopped a quarrel, turned toward the +house. +</P> + +<P> +"I was just coming to look for you," said Tom. "Sorry I had to go off +in such a hurry and leave you, but I had promised to take Mary for a +ride, and as it was her first one, for a distance, I didn't want her to +back out." +</P> + +<P> +"That's all right, Tom, that's all right!" said Mr. Damon genially. +"Ladies first every time. But I do want to see you, and it's about +something important." +</P> + +<P> +"No trouble, I hope?" queried Tom, for the manner of the eccentric man +was rather grave. +</P> + +<P> +"Trouble? Oh, no! Bless my frying pan, no trouble, Tom! In fact, it may +be the other way about. Tom, I have an idea, and there may be millions +in it! That's it—millions!" +</P> + +<P> +"Good!" cried the young inventor. "Might as well bite off a big lump +while you're at it. So you have a new idea! Well, I have myself, but +I'll listen to yours first. What is it, Mr. Damon?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's a new kind of airship, Tom. I haven't got it all worked out yet, +but I can give you a rough outline. On my way over I got to thinking +about balloons, aeroplanes and the like, and it occurred to me that the +present principles are all wrong." +</P> + +<P> +"So I evolved a new type of machine. I'm going to call it the Damon +Whizzer. Maybe Demon Whizzer would be more appropriate, but we won't +decide on that now. Anyhow, it's going to be a whizzer, and I want to +talk to you about it. There is an entirely new principle of elevation +and propulsion involved in my Whizzer, and I—" +</P> + +<P> +At that moment there came a crash and clatter of steel and wood from +the garden, out of sight of which Tom and Mr. Damon had walked while +talking. Then followed a jangle of words. +</P> + +<P> +"They're at it again!" cried Tom, as he ran toward the side of the +house. "I guess it's a fight this time!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TOM'S PROJECT +</H3> + +<P> +Curious was the sight that met the gaze of Tom Swift and Mr. Wakefield +Damon as they rounded the corner of the house and looked into the newly +spaded garden. There stood the giant, Koku, holding aloft in the air, +by one hand, the form of the struggling colored man, Eradicate Sampson. +And Eradicate was vainly trying to get at his enemy and rival, but was +prevented by the long-distance hold the giant had on him. +</P> + +<P> +"Yo' let me go, now! Yo' let me go, big man," cried Eradicate. "Ef yo' +don't I'll bust yo' wide open, dat's whut I'll do! An' 'sides, I'll +tell Massa Tom on yo', dat's whut I'll do!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ho! You tell—I let you fall!" threatened Koku. +</P> + +<P> +His threat was dire enough, for such was his size and strength that he +held the colored man nearly nine feet from the ground, and a fall from +that distance would seriously jar Eradicate, if it did nothing else. +The colored man's eyes opened wide as he heard what Koku said, and then +he cried: +</P> + +<P> +"Let me down! Let me down, an' I won't say nuffin!" +</P> + +<P> +"An' you let me scatter dirt?" asked Koku, for such was the giant's +idea of working in the garden. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yo' kin scatter de dirt seben ways from Sunday fo' all I keers!" +conceded Eradicate. Then, as he was lowered to the ground, he and the +giant turned and saw Mr. Damon and Tom approaching. +</P> + +<P> +"What's wrong?" asked the young inventor. +</P> + +<P> +"'Scuse me, Massa Tom," began Eradicate, "but didn't yo' tell me to +spade de garden?" +</P> + +<P> +"I guess I did," admitted Tom Swift. +</P> + +<P> +"An' you tell me help—yes?" questioned Koku. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I thought it would be a little too much for you, Rad," said Tom, +gently. "I thought perhaps you'd like help." +</P> + +<P> +"Hu! Not him, anyhow!" declared the colored man in great disgust. "When +I git so old dat I cain't spade a garden, den me an' Boomerang, we-all +gwine to die, dat's all I got to say. I was a-spadin' my part ob de +garden, Massa Tom, same laik Mr. Damon done tole me to, an' dish yeah +big mess ob bones steps on my side ob de middle an—" +</P> + +<P> +"Him too slow. Koku scatter dirt twice times so fast!" declared the +giant, whose English was not much better than Eradicate's. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I see," said Tom. "You are so strong, Koku, that you finished +your part before Eradicate did. Well, it was good of you to want to +help him." +</P> + +<P> +At this the giant grinned at his rival. +</P> + +<P> +"At the same time," went on Tom, winking an eye at Mr. Damon, +"Eradicate knows a little more about garden work, on account of having +done it so many years." +</P> + +<P> +"Ha! Whut I tell yo', Giant!" boasted the colored man. It was his turn +to smile. +</P> + +<P> +"And so," went on Tom, judicially, "I guess I'll let Rad finish spading +the garden, and you, Koku, can come and help me lift some heavy engine +parts. Mr. Damon wants to explain something to me." +</P> + +<P> +"Ha! Nothing what so heavy Koku not lift!" boasted the giant. +</P> + +<P> +"Go on! Lift yo'se'f 'way from heah!" muttered Eradicate as he picked +up his dropped spade. And then, with a smile of satisfaction, he fell +to work in the mellow soil while Tom led Koku to one of the shops where +he set him to lifting heavy motor parts about in order to get at a +certain machine that was stored away in the back of one of the rooms. +</P> + +<P> +"That will keep him busy," said the young inventor. "And now, Mr. +Damon, I can listen to you. Do you really think you have a new idea in +airships?" +</P> + +<P> +"I really think so, Tom. My Whizzer is bound to revolutionize travel in +the air. Let me tell you what I mean. Now cast your mind back. How many +ways are now used to propel an airship or a dirigible balloon through +the air? How many ways?" +</P> + +<P> +"Two, as far as I know," said Tom. "At least there are only two that +have proved to be practical." +</P> + +<P> +"Exactly," said Mr. Damon. "One with the propeller, or propellers, in +front, and that is the tractor type. The other has the propeller in the +rear, and that is the pusher type. Both good as far as they go, but I +have something better." +</P> + +<P> +"What?" asked Tom with a smile. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a Whizzer," said the eccentric man. "Bless my gold tooth! but +that is the best name I can think of for it. And, really, the propeller +I'm thinking of inventing does whiz around." +</P> + +<P> +"But are you going to use a tractor or pusher type?" Tom wanted to know. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a combination of both," answered Mr. Damon. "As it is now, Tom, +you have to get an aeroplane in pretty speedy motion before it will +rise from the ground, don't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, of course. That's the principle on which an aeroplane rises and +keeps aloft, by its speed in the air. As soon as that speed stops it +begins to fall, or volplane, as we call it." +</P> + +<P> +"Exactly. Now, instead of having to depend on the speed of the +aeroplane for this, why not depend on the speed of the propeller—in +other words, the whizzer?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we do," said Tom, a bit puzzled as to what his friend was trying +to get at. "If the propeller didn't move the airship wouldn't +rise—that is, unless it's of the balloon type." +</P> + +<P> +"What I mean," said Mr. Damon, "is to have an aeroplane that will move +in the air the same as a boat moves in the water. You don't have to get +the propeller of a boat racing around at the rate of a million +revolutions a minute, more or less, before your boat will travel, do +you? If the engine turns the screw, or propeller, just over say fifty +times a minute you would get some motion of the boat, wouldn't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, yes, some," admitted Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"And what causes it?" asked Mr. Damon, anticipating a triumph. +</P> + +<P> +"The resistance of the water to the blades of the screw, or propeller," +answered Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"Exactly! And it's the resistance of the air to the blades of an +airship propeller that sends the craft along, isn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. And because of the difference in density between air and water it +becomes necessary to revolve an aeroplane propeller many times faster +than a boat propeller. It's the density that makes the difference, Mr. +Damon. If air were as dense as water we could have comparatively +slow-moving motors and propellers and—" +</P> + +<P> +"Ha! There you have it, Tom! And there is where my Whizzer—Wakefield +Damon's Whizzer—is going to revolutionize air travel!" cried the +eccentric man. "The difference in density! If air were as dense as +water the problem would be solved. And I have solved it! I'm going to +turn the trick, Tom! One more question. How can air be made as dense as +water, Tom Swift?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, by condensation or compression, I suppose," was the rather slow +answer. "You know they have condensed, or compressed, air until it is +liquid. I've done it myself, as an experiment." +</P> + +<P> +"That's it, Tom! That's it!" cried Mr. Damon in delight. "Compressed +air will do the trick! Not compressed to a liquid, exactly, but almost +so. I'm going to revolve the propellers of my new airship in compressed +air, so dense that they will not have to have a speed of more than +seven hundred revolutions a minute. What's that compared to the three +to ten thousand revolutions of the propellers now used? The propellers +of Damon's Whizzer will be of the pusher type, and will revolve in +dense, compressed air, almost like water, and that will do away with +high speed motors, with all their complications, and make traveling in +the clouds as simple as taking out a little one-cylinder motor boat. +How's that, Tom Swift? How's that for an idea?" +</P> + +<P> +To Mr. Damon's disappointment, Tom was not enthusiastic. The young +inventor gazed at his eccentric friend, and then said slowly: +</P> + +<P> +"Well, that's all right in theory, but how is it going to work out in +practice?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's what I came to see you about, Tom," was the reply. "Bless my +tall hat! but that's just why I hurried over here. I wanted to tell you +when I saw you going off on a trip with Miss Nestor. That's my big +idea—Damon's Whizzer—propellers revolving in compressed air like +water. Isn't that great?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sorry to shatter your air castle," said Tom; "but for the life of +me I can't see how it will work. Of course, in theory, if you could +revolve a big-bladed propeller in very dense, or in liquid, air, there +would be more resistance than in the rarefied atmosphere of the upper +regions. And, if this could be done, I grant you that you could use +slower motors and smaller propeller blades—more like those of a motor +boat. But how are you going to get the condensed air?" +</P> + +<P> +"Make it!" said Mr. Damon promptly. "Air pumps are cheap. Just carry +one or two on board the aeroplane, and condense the air as you go +along. That's a small detail that can easily be worked out. I leave +that to you." +</P> + +<P> +"I'd rather you wouldn't," said Tom. "That's the whole +difficulty—compressing your air. Wait! I'll explain it to you." +</P> + +<P> +Then the young inventor went into details. He told of the ponderous +machinery needed to condense air to a form approximating water, and +spoke of the terrible pressure exerted by the liquid atmosphere. +</P> + +<P> +"Anything that you would gain by having a slow-speed motor and smaller +propeller blades, would be lost by the ponderous air-condensing +machinery you would need," Tom told Mr. Damon. "Besides, if you could +surround your propellers with a strata of condensed air, it would +create such terrible cold as to freeze the propeller blades and make +them as brittle as glass. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, I have taken a heavy piece of metal, dipped it into liquid air, +and I could shatter the steel with a hammer as easily as a sheet of +ice. The cold of liquid air is beyond belief. +</P> + +<P> +"Attempts have been made to make motors run with liquid air, but they +have not succeeded. To condense air and to carry it about so that +propellers might revolve in it, would be out of the question." +</P> + +<P> +"You think so, Tom?" asked Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sure of it!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, dear! That's too bad. Bless my overshoes, but I thought I had a +new idea. Well, you ought to know. So Damon's Whizzer goes on the scrap +heap before ever it's built. Well, we'll say no more about it. You +ought to know best, Tom. I wasn't thinking of it so much for myself as +for you. I thought you'd like some new idea to work on." +</P> + +<P> +"Much obliged, Mr. Damon, but I have a new idea," said Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"You have? What is it? Tell me—that is, if it isn't a secret," went on +the eccentric man, as much delighted over Tom's new plan as he had been +over his own Whizzer, doomed to failure so soon. +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't a secret from you," said Tom. "I got the idea while I was +riding with Mary. I wanted to talk to her—to tell her not to jump out +when we had a little accident—but I had trouble making myself +understood because of the noise of the motor." +</P> + +<P> +"They do make a great racket," conceded Mr. Damon. "But I don't suppose +anything can be done about it." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see why there can't!" exclaimed Tom. "And that's my new +idea—to make a silent aircraft motor—perhaps silent propeller blades, +though it's the motor that makes the most noise. And that's what I'm +going to do—invent a silent aeroplane. Not because I want so much to +talk when I take passengers up in the air, but I believe such a motor +would be valuable, especially for scouting planes in war work. To go +over the enemy's lines and not be heard would be valuable many times. +</P> + +<P> +"And that's what I'm going to do—work on a silent motor for Uncle Sam. +I've got the germ of an idea and now—" +</P> + +<P> +"Excuse me," said a voice behind Mr. Damon and Tom, and, turning, the +young inventor beheld the form of Mr. Peton Gale, president of the +Universal Flying Machine Company. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MAKING PLANS +</H3> + +<P> +Tom Swift had drawn pencil and paper from his pocket, and, as he and +Mr. Damon were sitting on the steps of one of the shops, the young +inventor was about to demonstrate by a drawing part of his new project, +when the interruption came in the shape of one of the men who had, an +hour before, made a business offer to Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"Excuse me," went on Mr. Peton Gale, "but Mr. Ware and I got to talking +it over on our way to the station—the matter of having you in our +company, Mr. Swift—and we concluded that it was worth twenty-five +thousand dollars a year for us to have you. So I came back—" +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't of the slightest use, Mr. Gale, I assure you," said Tom, a +bit heatedly, for he did not like the persistency of this man, nor did +he like his coming on the factory grounds unannounced and in this +secret manner. "I told you I could not accept your offer. It is not +altogether a matter of money. My word was final." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh very well, if you put it that way," said Mr. Gale stiffly, "of +course there is nothing more to say. But I thought perhaps you did not +consider we had offered you enough and—" +</P> + +<P> +"Your offer is fair enough from a financial standpoint," said Tom; "but +I simply cannot accept it. I have other plans. Jackson!" he called to +one of his mechanics who was passing, "kindly see Mr. Gale to the gate, +and then let me know how it was any one came in here without a permit." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir," said the mechanic, as he stood significantly waiting. +</P> + +<P> +"There was no one at the gate when I came in," said Mr. Gale, and his +manner was antagonizing. "I wanted to speak to you—to ask you to +reconsider your offer—so I came back." +</P> + +<P> +"It is against the rules to admit strangers to the shop grounds," said +Tom. "Good-day!" +</P> + +<P> +The president of the Universal Flying Machine Company did not respond, +but there was a look on his face as he turned away that, had Tom seen +it, might have caused him some uneasiness. But he did not see. Instead, +he resumed his talk with Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"Tom, your idea is most interesting," declared the eccentric man. "I +hope you will be able to work it out!" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to try," said the young inventor. "I hope that man—Mr. +Gale—didn't hear anything of what I was saying. He sneaked up on us +before I was aware any one was near but ourselves." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't imagine he heard very much, Tom," said Mr. Damon. "He may have +heard you mention a silent motor—" +</P> + +<P> +"That's just what I wish he hadn't heard," broke in Tom. "That's the +germ of the idea, and once it becomes known that I am working on that— +Well, there's no use crying over spilled milk," and he smiled at the +homely proverb. "I'll have to work in secret, once I've started." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think the government would use it, Tom?" asked his friend. +</P> + +<P> +"I should think it would be glad to. Consider what a wonderful part +airships are playing in the present war. It really is a struggle to see +which will be the master of the sky—the Allies or the Germans—and, up +to recently, the Huns had the advantage. Then the Allies, recognizing +how vital it was, began to forge ahead, and now Uncle Sam with his +troops under General Pershing is leading everything, or will lead +shortly. We have been a bit slow with our aircraft production, but now +we are booming along. Uncle Sam will soon have the mastery of the sky." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope so," sighed Mr. Damon. "We must beat the Germans!" +</P> + +<P> +Briefly, Tom spoke of what Pershing's men were doing with their +aeroplanes in France, and mention was made of what the French and +British had done prior to the entrance of the United States into the +World War. +</P> + +<P> +"While we were yet neutral, Americans had made gallant names for +themselves flying for France, and with my silent motor they ought to do +better," declared Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"Is silence its chief recommendation?" asked Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," replied Tom. "Or rather, it will be when I have it perfected. +Aeroplane motors now are about as compact and speedy as they can be +made. It is only the terrific noise that is a handicap. It is a +handicap to the pilots and observers in the craft, as they cannot +communicate except through a special speaking tube, and this is not +always satisfactory or sure. Then, too, the noise of an airship +proclaims its approach to the enemy, sometimes long before it can be +seen. +</P> + +<P> +"With a silent motor all this would be done away with. With my new +craft, in case I can perfect it, the enemy's lines can be approached as +silently as the Indians used to approach the log cabins of the white +settlers. That will be its great advantage—not that conversation can +be more easily carried on, for that is, after all, an unimportant +detail. But to approach the enemy's lines in the silence of the night +would be a distinct gain." +</P> + +<P> +"I believe it would, Tom!" exclaimed Mr. Damon. "And I should think, +too, that Uncle Sam would be glad to get such a motor," he added. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, he'll have one to take if he wants it, if I can make my plans a +success," declared Tom. "That is, unless those other fellows get ahead +of me." +</P> + +<P> +"What other fellows?" asked Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"Gale, Ware and their crowd," was the answer. "I fancy they are +provoked because I wouldn't agree to work for them, and now, that Gale +overheard—as he must have—what I propose working on, they may try +that game themselves." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean try to turn out a silent motor?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. It would be a big feather in their cap for their company, so far, +hasn't been very successful on government orders. That's why they came +to me, I guess." +</P> + +<P> +"I shouldn't be surprised, Tom," conceded Mr. Damon. "Since the +government accepted your giant cannon and your great searchlight, you +have come into greater prominence than ever before. And those two +things are a wonderful success." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," admitted Tom, modestly enough, "the big electric light seems to +have been of some benefit on the European battle front, and though they +haven't been able to make and transport as many of my giant cannons as +I'd like to see over there, it is progressing, I understand." +</P> + +<P> +And this is true. For the details of these two inventions of Tom +Swift's I refer my readers to the books bearing those titles. +Sufficient to state here that the government was using these two +inventions, and there had been no necessity for commandeering them +either, since Tom had freely offered them at the declaration of war +with Germany. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, since I can't help you with my 'Whizzer,'" said Mr. Damon, with +a smile, "let me do what I can toward your silent motor, Tom. What are +you going to call it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I don't know—hadn't thought of a name. I guess 'Air Scout' would +be as good as any. That's what it will be—a machine for silently +scouting in the air. And now to get down to brass tacks, as the poet +says, I believe I will—" +</P> + +<P> +"Gentleman to see you, Mr. Swift," interrupted Jackson. +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my penwiper!" cried Mr. Damon. "More visitors! I hope it isn't +Gale or Ware come back to see what they can spy on!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A PROBLEM IN SOUND +</H3> + +<P> +Tom Swift looked up with a distinct appearance of being annoyed that +was unusual with him, for he was, nearly always, good-natured. But the +frown that had replaced the pleasant look on his face while he was +talking to Mr. Damon about the projected new air scout was at once +wiped away as he looked at the card Jackson held out to him. +</P> + +<P> +"Bring him in right away!" he ordered. "He needn't have stood on that +ceremony." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, he said it was a business call," returned the mechanician with a +cheerful grin, "and he said he wanted it done according to form. So he +gave me his card to bring you." +</P> + +<P> +"Who is it?" asked Mr. Damon, with the privilege of an old friend. +</P> + +<P> +"It's Ned Newton," Tom answered; "though why he's putting on all this +formality I can't fathom." +</P> + +<P> +Jackson went back to the main gate and told the man on guard there to +admit Ned, who had so formally sent in his card. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, Mr. Swift, I believe?" began the bank employee with that suave, +formal air which usually precedes a business meeting. +</P> + +<P> +"That is my name," said Tom, with a suppressed grin, and he spoke as +stiffly as though to a perfect stranger. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Tom Swift, the great inventor?" went on Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, then I am at the right place. Just sign here, please, on the +dotted line," and he held out a blank form, and a fountain pen to Tom, +who took them half mechanically. +</P> + +<P> +"Huh? What's the big idea, Ned?" asked the young inventor, unable +longer to carry on the joke. "Is this a warrant for my arrest, or +merely a testimonial to you. If it's the latter, and concerns your +nerve, I'll gladly sign it." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it's something like that!" laughed Ned. "That's your application +for another block of Liberty Bonds, Tom, and I want you, as a personal +favor to me, as a business favor to the bank, and as your plain duty to +Uncle Sam, to double your last subscription." +</P> + +<P> +Tom looked at the sum Ned had filled in on the blank form, and uttered +a slight whistle of surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"That's all right now," said Ned, with the air of a professional +salesman. "You can stand that and more, too. I'm letting you off easy. +Why, I got Mary's father—Mr. Nestor—for twice what he took last time, +and Mary herself—hard as she's working for the Red Cross—gave me a +nice application. So it's up to you to—" +</P> + +<P> +"Nuff said!" exclaimed Tom, sententiously, as he signed his name. "I +may have to reconsider my recent refusal of the offer of the Universal +Flying Machine Company, though, if I haven't money enough to meet this +subscription, Ned." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you'll meet it all right! Much obliged," and Ned folded the +Liberty Bond subscription paper and put it in his pocket. "But did you +turn down the offer from those people?" +</P> + +<P> +"I did," answered Tom. "But how did you know about it, Ned?" +</P> + +<P> +"First let me say that I'm glad you decided to have nothing to do with +them. They're a rich firm, and have lots of money, but I wouldn't trust +'em, even if they have some government contracts. The way I happened +to know they were likely to make you an offer is this," continued Ned +Newton. +</P> + +<P> +"They do business with one of the New York banks with which my +bank—notice the accent on the my, Tom—is connected. The other day I +happened to see some correspondence about you. These flying machine +people asked our bank to find out certain things about you, and, as a +matter of business, we had to give the information. Sort of a +commercial agency report, you know, nothing unusual, and it isn't the +first time it's been done since your business got so large. But that's +how I happened to know these fellows contemplated dickering with you." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know Gale or Ware?" Tom asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Not personally. But in a business way, Tom, I'd warn you to look out +for them, as they're sharp dealers. They put one over on the government +all right, and there may be some unpleasant publicity to it later. But +they're putting up a big bluff, and pretending they can turn out a lot +of flying machines for use in Europe. Why don't you get busy on that +end of the game, Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +"I know you've more than done your bit, with Liberty Bonds, +subscriptions to the Y. M. C. A. and other war work, besides your war +tank and other inventions. But you're such a shark on flying machines I +should think you'd offer your factory to the government for the +production of aeroplanes." +</P> + +<P> +"I would in a minute, Ned, and you know it; but the fact of the matter +is my shops aren't equipped for the production of anything in large +numbers. We do mostly an experimenting business here, making only one +or two of a certain machine. I have told the government officials they +can have anything I've got, and you know they wouldn't let me enlist +when I was working on the war tank." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I remember that," said Ned. "You're no slacker! I wanted to +shoulder a rifle, too, but they keep me at this Liberty Loan work. +Well, Uncle Sam ought to know." +</P> + +<P> +"That's what I say," agreed Tom, "and that's why I haven't gone to the +front myself. And now, as it happens, I've got something else in mind +that may help Uncle Sam." +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" +</P> + +<P> +"A silent flying machine for scout work on the battle front," Tom told +his friend, and then he gave a few details, such as those he had been +telling Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I don't wonder you turned down the offer of the Universal +people," remarked Ned, at the conclusion of the recital. "This will be +a heap more help to the government, Tom, than working for those people, +even at twenty-five thousand dollars a year. And if you get short, and +can't meet your newest Liberty Bond payments, why, I guess the bank +will stretch your credit a little." +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks!" laughed Tom, "but I'll try not to ask them." +</P> + +<P> +The friends talked together a little longer, and then Ned had to take +his departure to solicit more subscriptions, while Mr. Damon went with +him, the eccentric man saying he would go home to Waterfield. +</P> + +<P> +"But, bless my overshoes, Tom!" he exclaimed, as he departed, "don't +forget to let me know when you have your silent motor working. I want +to see it." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll let you know," was the promise given by the young inventor. +</P> + +<P> +"And watch out for those Universal people," warned Ned. "I'm not +telling you this as a bank official, for I'm not supposed to, but it's +personal." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be on the watch," said Tom. And, as he went into his private +workshop, he wondered why it was his father and Ned had both warned him +not to trust Gale and Ware. +</P> + +<P> +The next few days were busy ones for Tom Swift. Once he had made up his +mind to go to work seriously on a silent motor, all else was put aside. +He sent a note to Mary Nestor, telling her what he was going to do, +and, asking her to say nothing about it, which, of course, Mary agreed +to. +</P> + +<P> +"Come and see me when you can," she sent back word, "but I know you +won't have much chance when you're experimenting with your invention. +And I shall be working so hard for the Red Cross that I sha'n't get +much chance to entertain you. But the war can't last forever." +</P> + +<P> +"No," agreed Tom with a sigh, as he put away her letter, "and thank +goodness that it can't!" +</P> + +<P> +The young inventor threw himself into the perplexing work of inventing +a silent motor with all the fervor he had given to the production of +his war tank, his giant cannon, his wonderful searchlight and other +machines. +</P> + +<P> +"And," mused Tom, as he sat at his work table with pencil and paper +before him, "since this is a problem in acoustics, I had best begin I +suppose by going back to first principles, and after determining what +makes an aeroplane engine noisy, try to figure out how to make it +quiet. Now as to the first, the principle causes of noise are—" +</P> + +<P> +And at that instant there broke on Tom's ears a succession of +discordant sounds which seemed to be a combination of an Indian's war +whoop and a college student's yells at a football game. +</P> + +<P> +"Now I wonder what that is!" mused the young inventor as he hastily +arose. "Better solve that problem before I tackle the aeroplane motor." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THROUGH THE ROOF +</H3> + +<P> +Tom rushed from his private office, and when he reached the outer door +he heard with more distinctness the sounds that had alarmed him. They +seemed to come from a small building given over to electrical +apparatus, and which, at the time, was not supposed to be in use. It +had been Tom's workroom, so to speak, when he was developing his +electric runabout and rifle, but of late he had not spent much time in +it. +</P> + +<P> +"Somebody's in there!" reflected the young inventor, as he heard yells +coming from the open door of the place. "And if it isn't Koku and +Eradicate I miss my guess! Wonder what they can be doing there." +</P> + +<P> +He crossed the yard between his private office and the electrical shop +in a few rapid strides, and, as he entered the latter place, he was +greeted with a series of wild yells. +</P> + +<P> +"Good volume of sound here, at all events," mused Tom. "Almost as much +as my motor made when I was trying to talk to Mary. Hello there! What's +going on? Is any one hurt? What's the matter?" he cried, for, at first, +he could see no one in the dim light of the place. The interior was a +maze of electrical apparatus. +</P> + +<P> +"Who's here?" demanded Tom, as he advanced. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Master! Come quick! Koku 'most dead an' no can let go!" was the +cry. +</P> + +<P> +"Yo' jest bet yo' cain't let go!" chimed in the voice of Eradicate. "I +done knowed yo would git into trouble ef yo' come heah, an' I'se glad +ob it! So I is!" +</P> + +<P> +"What is it, Rad? What has happened to Koku?" cried Tom, running +forward, for though no very powerful current could be turned on in the +electrical shop at this period of unuse, there was enough to be very +painful. "What is it, Rad?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, dat big foolish giant, Koku, done got his se'f into trouble!" +chuckled the colored man. "He done got holt ob one ob dem air +contraptions, Massa Tom, an' he cain't let go! Ha! Ha! Golly! Look at +him squirm!" and Rad laughed shrilly, which accounted for some of the +sounds Tom had heard. +</P> + +<P> +Then came yells of rage and pain from the giant, and they were so loud +and vigorous, mingling with Eradicate's as they did, that it was no +wonder Tom was startled. The sounds were heard in the other shops, and +men came running out. But before then Tom had put an end to the trouble. +</P> + +<P> +One look showed him what had happened. Just how or why Koku and +Eradicate had entered the electrical shop Tom did not then stop to +inquire. But he saw that the giant had grasped the handles of one of +the electric machines, designed for charging Leyden jars used in Tom's +experiments, and the powerful, though not dangerous, current had so +paralyzed, temporarily, the muscles of the giant's hands and arms that +he could not let go, and there he was, squirming, and not knowing how +to turn off the current, and unable to ease himself, while Eradicate +stood and laughed at him, fairly howling with delight. +</P> + +<P> +"Ha! Guess yo' won't do no mo' spadin' in' Massa Tom's garden right +away, big man!" taunted Eradicate. +</P> + +<P> +"Be quiet, Rad!" ordered Tom, as he reached up and pulled out the +switch, thus shutting off the current. "This isn't anything to laugh +at." +</P> + +<P> +"But he done look so funny, Massa Tom!" pleaded the colored man. "He +done squirm laik—" +</P> + +<P> +But Eradicate did not finish what he intended to say. Once free from +the powerful current, the giant looked at his numb hands, and then, +seeming to think that Eradicate was the cause of it all, he sprang at +the colored man with a yell. But Eradicate did not stay to see what +would happen. With a howl of terror, he raced out of the door, and, old +and rheumatic as he was, he managed to gain the stable of his mule, +Boomerang, over which he had his humble but comfortable quarters. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I guess he's safe for a while!" laughed Tom, as he saw the giant +turn away, shaking his fist at the closed door, for Koku, big as he +was, stood in mortal terror of the mule's heels. +</P> + +<P> +Tom locked the door of the electrical shop and went back to his +interrupted problem. From Jackson he learned that Koku and Eradicate +had merely happened to stroll into the forbidden place, which had been +left open by accident. There, it appeared, Koku had handled some of the +machinery, ending by switching on the current of the machine the +handles of which he later unsuspectingly picked up. Then he received a +shock he long remembered, and for many days he believed Eradicate had +been responsible for it, and there was more than the usual hostile +feeling between the two. But Eradicate was innocent of that trick, at +all events. +</P> + +<P> +"Though," said Tom, telling his father about it later, "Rad would have +turned on the current if he had known he could make trouble for Koku by +it. I never saw their like for having disagreements!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but they are both devoted to you, Tom," said the aged inventor. +"But what is this you hinted at—a silent motor you called it, I +believe? Are you really serious in trying to invent one?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Dad, I am. I think there's a big field for an aeroplane that +could travel along over the enemy's lines—particularly at night—and +not be heard from below. Think of the scout work that could be done. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, yes, it could be done if you could get a silent motor, or +propellers that made no noise, Tom. But I don't believe it can be done." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, maybe not, Dad. But I'm going to try!" and Tom, after a further +talk with his father, began work in earnest on the big problem. That it +was a big one Tom was not disposed to deny, and that it would be a +valuable invention even his somewhat skeptical father admitted. +</P> + +<P> +"How are you going to start, Tom?" asked Mr. Swift, several days after +the big idea had come to the young man. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to experiment a bit, at first. I've got a lot of old motors, +that weren't speedy enough for any of my flying machines, and I'm going +to make them over. If I spoil them the loss won't amount to anything, +and if I succeed—well, maybe I can help out Uncle Sam a bit more." +</P> + +<P> +As Tom had said he would do, he began at the very foundation, and +studied the fundamental principles of sound. +</P> + +<P> +"Sound," the young inventor told Ned Newton, in speaking about the +problem, "is a sensation which is peculiar to the ear, though the +vibrations caused by sound waves may be felt in many parts of the body. +But the ear is the great receiver of sound." +</P> + +<P> +"You aren't going to invent a sort of muffler for the ears, are you, +Tom?" asked Ned. "That would be an easy way of solving the problem, but +I doubt if you could get the Germans to wear your ear-tabs so they +wouldn't hear the sound of the Allied aeroplanes." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I'm not figuring on doing the trick that way," said Tom with a +laugh. "I've really got to cut down the sound of the motor and the +propeller blades, so a person, listening with all his ears, won't hear +any noise, unless he's within a few feet of the plane." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I can tell you, right off the reel, how to do it," said the bank +employee. +</P> + +<P> +"How?" asked Tom eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"Run your engine and propellers in a vacuum," was the prompt reply. +</P> + +<P> +"Hum!" said Tom, musingly. "Yes, that would be a simple way out, and +I'll do it, if you'll tell me how to breathe in a vacuum." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I didn't agree to do that," laughed Ned. +</P> + +<P> +But he had spoken the truth, as those who have studied physics well +know. There must be an atmosphere for the transmission of sound, which +is the reason all is cold and silent and still at the moon. There is no +atmosphere there. Sound implies vibration. Something, such as liquid, +gas, or solid, must be set in motion to produce sound, and for the +purpose of science the air we breathe may be considered a gas, being +composed of two. +</P> + +<P> +Not only must the object, either solid, liquid, or gaseous, be in +motion to produce sound, but the air surrounding the vibrating body +must also be moving in unison with it. And lastly there must be some +medium of receiving the sound waves—the ear or some part of the body. +Totally deaf persons may be made aware of sound through the vibrations +received through their hands or feet. They receive, of course, only the +more intense, or largest, sound waves, and can not hear notes of music +nor spoken words, though they may feel the vibration when a piano is +played. And, as Ned has said, no sound is produced in a vacuum. +</P> + +<P> +"But," said Tom, "since I can't run my aeroplane in a vacuum, or even +have the propellers revolve in one, it's up to me to solve the problem +some other way. The propellers don't really make noise enough to worry +about when they're high in the air. It's the exhaust from the motor, +and to get rid of that will be my first attempt." +</P> + +<P> +"Can it be done?" asked Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," was Tom's frank answer. +</P> + +<P> +"They do it on an automobile to a great extent," went on Ned. "Some of +'em you cant hardly hear." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but an aeroplane engine runs many, many times faster than the +motor of an auto," said Tom, "and there are more explosions to muffle. +I doubt if the muffler of an auto would cut down the sound of an aero +engine to any appreciable extent. But, of course, I'll try along those +lines." +</P> + +<P> +"They have mufflers or silencers for guns and rifles," went on Ned. +"Couldn't you make a big one of those contraptions and put it on an +aeroplane?" +</P> + +<P> +"I doubt it," said Tom, shaking his head. "Of course it's the same +principle as that in an auto muffler, or on a motor boat—a series of +baffle plates arranged within a hollow cylinder. But all such devices +cut down power, and I don't want to do that. However, I'm going to +solve the problem or—bust!" +</P> + +<P> +And Tom came near "busting," Ned remarked later, when he and his friend +talked over the progress of the invention. +</P> + +<P> +Two weeks had passed since the start of his evolution of his new idea, +and following the visiting of the representatives of the Universal +Flying Machine Company. Since then neither Gale nor Ware had +communicated with Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"But I must be on the watch against them," thought the young inventor. +"I'm pretty sure Gale heard me mention what I was going to try to +invent, and he may get ahead of me, and put a silent motor on the +market first. Not that I'm afraid of being done out of any profits, but +I simply don't want to be beaten." +</P> + +<P> +The details of Tom's invention cannot be gone into, but, roughly, it +was based on the principle of not only a muffler but also of producing +less noise when the charges of gasoline exploded in the cylinders. It +is, of course, the explosion of gasoline mixed with air that causes an +internal combustion engine to operate. And it is the expulsion of the +burned gases that causes the exhaust and makes the noise that is heard. +</P> + +<P> +Tom was working along the well-known line of the rate of travel of +sound, which progresses at the rate of about 1090 feet a second when +air is at the freezing point. And, roughly, with every degree increase +in the atmosphere's temperature the velocity of sound increases by one +foot. Thus at a temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit, or 68 degrees +above freezing, there would be added to the 1090 feet the 68 feet, +making sound travel at 100 degrees Fahrenheit about 1158 feet a second. +</P> + +<P> +Tom had set up in his shop a powerful, but not very speedy, old +aeroplane engine, and had attached to it the device he hoped would help +him toward solving his problem of cutting down the noise. He had had +some success with it, and, after days and nights of labor, he invited +his father and Ned, as well as Mr. Damon, over to see what he hoped +would be a final experiment. +</P> + +<P> +His visitors had assembled in the shop, and Eradicate was setting out +some refreshments which Tom had provided, the colored man being in his +element now. +</P> + +<P> +"What's all this figuring, Tom?" asked Mr. Damon, as he saw a series of +calculations on some sheets of paper lying on Tom's desk. +</P> + +<P> +"That's where I worked out how much faster sound traveled in hydrogen +gas than in the ordinary atmosphere," was the answer. "It goes about +four times as fast, or nearly four thousand two hundred feet a second. +You remember the rule, I suppose. 'The speed of sonorous vibrations +through gases varies inversely as the squares of the weights of equal +volumes of the gases,' or, in other words—" +</P> + +<P> +"Give it to us chiefly in 'other words,' if you please, Tom!" pleaded +Ned, with a laugh. "Let that go and do some tricks. Start the engine +and let's see if we can hear it." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you can hear it all right," said Tom, as he approached the motor, +which was mounted on a testing block. "The thing isn't perfected yet, +but I hope to have it soon. Rad! Where is that black rascal? Oh, there +you are! Come here, Rad!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yaas sah, Massa Tom! Is I gwine to help yo' all in dish yeah job?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. Just take hold of this lever, and when I say so pull it as hard +as you can." +</P> + +<P> +"Dat's whut I will, Massa Tom. Golly! ef dat no 'count giant was heah +now he'd see he ain't de only one whut's got muscle. I'll pull good +an' hard, Massa Tom." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, that's what I want you to. Now I guess we're all ready. Can you +see, Dad—and Ned and Mr. Damon?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," they answered. They stood near the side wall of the shop, while +Tom and Eradicate were at the testing block, on which the motor, with +the noise-eliminating devices attached, had been temporarily mounted. +</P> + +<P> +"All ready," called the young inventor, as he turned on the gas and +threw over the electrical switch. "All ready! Pull the starting lever, +Rad, and when it's been running a little I'll throw on the silencer and +you can see the difference." +</P> + +<P> +The motor began to hum, and there was a deafening roar, just as there +always is when the engine of an aeroplane starts. It was as though half +a dozen automobile engines were being run with the mufflers cut out. +</P> + +<P> +"Now I'll show you the difference!" yelled Tom, though such was the +noise that not a word could be heard. "This shows you what my silencer +will do." +</P> + +<P> +Tom pulled another lever. There was at once a cessation of the +deafening racket, though it was not altogether ended. Then, after a +moment or two, there suddenly came a roar as though a blast had been +let off in the shop. +</P> + +<P> +Tom and Eradicate were tossed backward, head over heels, as though by +the giant hands of Koku himself, and Mr. Damon, Ned, and Tom's father +saw the motor fly from the testing block and shoot through the roof of +the building with a rending, crashing, and splintering sound that could +be heard for a mile. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AFTER A SPY +</H3> + +<P> +Curious as it may seem, Eradicate, the oldest and certainly not the +most energetic of the party assembled in the experiment room, was the +first to recover himself and arise. Tottering to his feet he gave one +look at the testing block, whence the motor had torn itself. Then he +looked at the prostrate figures around him, none of them hurt, but all +stunned and very much startled. Then the gaze of Eradicate traveled to +the hole in the roof. It was a gaping, ragged hole, for the motor was +heavy and the roof of flimsy material. And then the colored man +exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Good land ob massy! Did I do dat?" +</P> + +<P> +His tone was one of such startled contrition, and so tragic, that Tom +Swift, rueful as he felt over the failure of his experiment and the +danger they had all been in, could not help laughing. +</P> + +<P> +"I take it, hearing that from you, Tom, that we're all right," said Ned +Newton, as he recovered himself and brushed some dirt off his coat. Ned +was a natty dresser. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, we seem to be all right," replied Tom slowly. "I can't say what +damage the flying motor has done outside, but—" +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my insurance policy! but what happened?" asked Mr. Damon. "I saw +Eradicate pull on that lever as you told him to, Tom, and then things +all went topsy-turvy! Did he pull the wrong handle?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, it wasn't Rad's fault at all," said Tom. "The trouble was, as I +guess I'll find when I investigate, that I put too much power into the +motor, and the muffler didn't give any chance for the accumulated +exhaust gases to expand and escape. I didn't allow for that, and they +simply backed up, compressed and exploded. I guess that's the whole +explanation." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm inclined to agree with you, Son," said Mr. Swift dryly. "Don't +try to get rid of all the noise at once. Eliminate it by degrees and it +will be safer." +</P> + +<P> +"I guess so," agreed Tom. +</P> + +<P> +By this time a score of workmen from the other shops had congregated +around the one though the roof of which the motor had been blown. Tom +opened the door to assure Jackson and the others that no one was hurt, +and then the young inventor saw the exploded motor had buried in the +dirt a short distance away from the experiment building. +</P> + +<P> +"Lucky none of us were standing over it when it went up," said Tom, as +he made an inspection of the broken machine. "We'd have gone through +the roof with it." +</P> + +<P> +"She certainly went sailing!" commented Ned. "Must have been a lot of +power there, Tom." +</P> + +<P> +And this was evidenced by the bent and twisted rods that had held the +motor to the testing block, and by the cylinders, some of which were +torn apart as though made of paper instead of heavy steel. But for the +fact that all the force of the explosion was directly upward, instead +of at the sides, none might have been left alive in the shop. All had +escaped most fortunately, and they realized this. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," queried Ned, as Tom gave orders to have the damaged machine +removed and the roof repaired, "does this end the wonderful silent +motor, Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +"End it! What do you mean—" +</P> + +<P> +"I mean are you going to experiment any further?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, of course! Just because I've had one failure doesn't mean that +I'm going to give up. Especially when I know what the matter was—not +leaving any vent for the escaping gases. Why this isn't anything. When +I was perfecting my giant cannon I was nearly blown up more than once, +and you remember how we got stuck in the submarine." +</P> + +<P> +"I should say I did!" exclaimed Ned with a shudder. "I don't want any +more of that. But as between being blown through a roof and held at the +bottom of the sea, I don't know that there's much choice." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, perhaps not," agreed Tom. "But as for ending my experiments, I +wouldn't dream of such a thing! Why, I've only just begun! I'll have a +silent motor yet!" +</P> + +<P> +"And a non-explosive one, I hope," added Mr. Damon dryly. "Bless my +shoe buttons, Tom, but if my wife knew what danger I'd been in she'd +never let me come over to see you any more." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, the next time I invite you to a test I'll be more careful," +promised the young inventor. +</P> + +<P> +"There isn't going to be any next time as far as I'm concerned!" +laughed Ned. "I think it's safer to sell Liberty Bonds." +</P> + +<P> +And, though they joked about it, they all realized the narrow escape +they had had. As for Eradicate, once he knew he had not been the one +who caused the damage, he felt rather proud of the part he had taken in +the mishap, and for many days he boasted about it to Koku. +</P> + +<P> +True to his determination, Tom Swift did not give up his experimental +work on the silent motor. The machine that had been blown through the +roof was useless now, and it was sent to the scrap heap, after as much +of it as possible had been salvaged. Then Tom got another piece of +apparatus out of his store room and began all over again. +</P> + +<P> +He worked along the same lines as at first—providing a chamber for the +escaping gases of the exhaust to expend their noise and energy in, at +the same time laboring to cut down the concussion of the explosions in +the cylinder without reducing their force any. And that it was no easy +problem to do either of these, Tom had to admit as he progressed. All +previous types of mufflers or silencers had to be discarded and a new +one evolved. +</P> + +<P> +"Jackson, I need some one to help me," said Tom to his chief +mechanician one day. "Haven't you a good man who is used to +experimental work that you can let me take from the works?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, yes," was the answer. "Let me see. Roberts is busy on the new +bomb you got up, but I could take him off that—" +</P> + +<P> +"No, don't!" interposed Tom. "I want that work to go on. Isn't there +some one else you can let me have?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, there's a new man who came to me well recommended. I took him on +last week, and he's a wonderful mechanic. Knows a lot about gas +engines. I could let you have him—Bower his name is. The only thing +about it, though, is that I don't like to give you a man of whom I am +not dead certain, when you're working on a new device." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, that will be all right," said Tom. "There won't be any secrets he +can get, if you mean you think he might be up to spy work." +</P> + +<P> +"That's what I did mean, Tom. You never can tell, you know, and you +have some bitter enemies." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but I'll take care this man doesn't see the plans, or any of my +drawings. I only want some one to do the heavy assembling work on the +experimental muffler I'm getting up. We can let him think it's for a +new kind of automobile." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, then I guess it will be all right. I'll send Bower to you." +</P> + +<P> +Tom rather liked the new workman, who seemed quiet and efficient. He +did not ask questions, either, about the machine on which he was +engaged, but did as he was told. As Tom had said, he kept his plans and +drawing under lock and key—in a safe to be exact—and he did not think +they were in any danger from his new helper. +</P> + +<P> +But Tom Swift held into altogether too slight regard the powers of +those who were opposed to him. He did not appreciate the depths to +which they would stoop to gain their ends. +</P> + +<P> +He had been working hard on his new device, and had reached a point +further along than when the other motor had exploded. He began to see +success ahead of him, and he was jubilant. Whether this made him +careless does not matter, but the fact was that he left Bower more to +himself, and alone in the experimental shop several times. +</P> + +<P> +And it was on one of these occasions, when Tom had been for some time +in one of the other shops, where he and Jackson were in consultation +over a new machine, that as he came back to the test room unexpectedly, +he saw Bower move hastily away from in front of the safe. Moreover, Tom +was almost certain he had heard the steel door clang shut as he +approached the building. +</P> + +<P> +And then, before he could ask his helper a question, Tom looked from a +window and saw a stranger running hastily along the side of the +building where his trial motor was being set up. +</P> + +<P> +"Who's that? Who is that man? Did he come in here? Was he tampering +with my safe?" cried Tom. He saw Bower hesitate and change color, and +Tom knew it was time to act. +</P> + +<P> +The window was open, and with one bound the young inventor was out and +running after the stranger he had seen departing in such a hurry. The +man was but a short distance ahead of him, and Tom saw he was stuffing +some papers into his pocket. +</P> + +<P> +"Here! Come back! Stop!" ordered Tom, but the man ran on the faster. +</P> + +<P> +"That's a spy as sure as guns!" reflected Tom Swift. "And Bower is in +with him!" he added. "I've got to catch that fellow!" and he speeded +his pace as he ran after the fellow. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A BIG SPLASH +</H3> + +<P> +There was no question in the mind of Tom Swift but that the man he was +running after was guilty of some wrong-doing. In the first place he was +a stranger, and had no right inside the big fence that surrounded the +Swift machine plant. Then, too, the very fact that he ran away was +suspicious. +</P> + +<P> +And this, coupled with the confusion on the part of Bower, and his +proximity to the safe, made Tom fear that some of his plans had been +stolen. These he was very anxious to recover if this strange man had +them, and so he raced after him with all speed. +</P> + +<P> +"Stop! Stop!" called Tom, but the on-racing stranger did not heed. +</P> + +<P> +The cries of the young inventor soon attracted the attention of his +men, and Jackson and some of the others came running from their various +shops to give whatever aid was needed. But they were all too far away +to give effective chase. +</P> + +<P> +"Bower might have come with me if he had wanted to help," thought Tom. +But a backward glance over his shoulder did not show that the new +helper was engaging in the pursuit, and he could have started almost on +the same terms as Tom himself. +</P> + +<P> +The runaway, looking back to see how near the young inventor was to +him, suddenly changed his course, and, noting this, Tom Swift thought: +</P> + +<P> +"I've got him now! He'll be bogged if he runs that way," for the way +led to a piece of swampy land that, after the recent rains, was a +veritable bog which was dangerous for cattle at least; and more than +one man had been caught there. +</P> + +<P> +"He can't run across the swamp, that's sure," reflected Tom with some +satisfaction. "I'll get him all right!" +</P> + +<P> +But he wanted to capture the man, if possible, before he reached the +bog, and, to this end, Tom increased his speed to such good end that +presently, on the firm ground that bordered the swamp, Tom was almost +within reaching distance of the stranger. +</P> + +<P> +But the latter kept up running, and dodged and turned so that Tom could +not lay hands on him. Suddenly, turning around a clump of trees the +fleeing man headed straight for a veritable mud hole that lay directly +in his path. It was part of the swamp—the most liquid part of the bog +and a home of frogs and lizards. +</P> + +<P> +Too late, the man, who was evidently unaware of the proximity of the +swamp, saw his danger. His further flight was cut off by the mud hole, +but it was too late to turn back. Tom Swift was at his heels now, and +seeing that it was impossible to grab the man, Tom did the next best +thing. He stuck out his foot and tripped him, and tripped him right on +the edge of the mud hole, so that the man fell in with a big splash, +the muddy water flying all around, some even over the young inventor. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment the man disappeared completely beneath the surface, for +the mud hole was rather deep just where Tom had thrown him. Then there +was another violent agitation of the surface, and a very woebegone and +muddy face was raised from the slough, followed by the rest of the +figure of the man. Slowly he got to his feet, mud and water dripping +from him. He cleared his face by rubbing his hands over it, not that it +made his countenance clean, but it removed masses of mud from his eyes, +nose, and mouth, so that he could see and speak, though his first +operation was to gasp for breath. +</P> + +<P> +"What—what are you doin'?" he demanded of Tom, and as the man opened +his mouth to speak Tom was aware of a glitter, which disclosed the +'fact that the man had a large front tooth of gold. +</P> + +<P> +"What am I doing?" repeated Tom. "I think it's up to you to answer that +question, not me. What are you doing?" +</P> + +<P> +"You—you tripped me into this mud hole!" declared the man. +</P> + +<P> +"I did, yes; because you were trespassing on my property, and ran away +instead of stopping when I told you to," went on Tom. "Who are you and +what are you doing? What were you doing with Bower at my shop?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothin'! I wasn't doin' nothin'!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we'll inquire into that. I want to see what you have in your +pockets before I believe you. Come on out!" +</P> + +<P> +"You haven't any right to go through my pockets!" blustered the +stranger. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, haven't I? Well, I'm going to take the right. Jackson—Koku—just +see that he doesn't get away. We'll take him back and search him," and +Tom motioned to his chief machinist and the giant, who had reached the +scene, to take charge of the man. But Koku was sufficient for this +purpose, and the mud-bespattered stranger seemed to shrink as he saw +the big creature approach him. There was no question of running away +after that. +</P> + +<P> +"Bring him along," ordered Tom, and Koku, taking a tight grip on the +man by the slack of his garments behind, walked him along toward the +office, the mud and water splashing and oozing from his shoes at every +step. +</P> + +<P> +"Now you look here!" the gold-toothed man cried, as he was forced +along, "you ain't got any right to detain me. I ain't done nothin'!" +And each time he spoke the bright tooth in his mouth glittered in the +sun. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know whether you've done anything or not," said Tom. "I'm +going to take you back and see what you and Bower have to say. He may +know something about this." +</P> + +<P> +"If he does I don't believe he'll tell," said Jackson. +</P> + +<P> +"Why not?" asked Tom, quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"Because he's gone." +</P> + +<P> +"Gone! Bower gone?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," answered Jackson. "I saw him running out of the experiment shop +as we raced along to help you. I didn't think, at the time, that he was +doing more than go for aid, perhaps. But I see the game now." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you mean—him?" and Tom pointed to the dripping figure. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Jackson in a low voice, as Koku went on ahead with his +prisoner. "If, as you say, this man was in league with Bower, the +latter has smelled a rat and skipped. He has run away, and I only hope +he hasn't done any damage or got hold of any of your plans." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll soon know about that," said Tom. "I wonder who is at the bottom +of this?" +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe those men you wouldn't work for," suggested the machinist. +</P> + +<P> +"You mean Gale and Ware of the Universal Flying Machine Company?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I don't believe they'd stoop to any such measures as this—sending +spies around," replied Tom. "But I can't be too careful. We'll +investigate." +</P> + +<P> +The first result of the investigation was to disclose the fact that +Bower was gone. He had taken his few possessions and left the Swift +plant while Tom was racing after the stranger. A hasty examination of +the safe did not reveal anything missing, as Tom's plans and papers +were intact. But they showed evidences of having been looked over, for +they were out of the regular order in which the young inventor kept +them. +</P> + +<P> +"I begin to see it," said Tom, musingly. "Bower must have managed to +open the safe while I was gone, and he must have made a hasty copy of +some of the drawings of the silent motor, and passed them out of the +window to this gold-tooth man, who tried to make off with them. Did you +find anything on him?" he asked, as one of the men who had been +instructed to search the stranger came into the office just then. +</P> + +<P> +"Not a thing, Mr. Swift! Not a thing!" was the answer. "We took off +every bit of his clothes and wrapped him in a blanket. He's in the +engine room getting dry now. But there isn't a thing in any of his +pockets." +</P> + +<P> +"But I saw him stuffing some papers in as he ran away from me," said +Tom. "We must be sure about this. And don't let the fellow get away +until I question him." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, he's safe enough," answered the man. "Koku is guarding him. He +won't get away." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I'll have a look at his clothes," decided Tom. "He may have a +secret pocket." +</P> + +<P> +But nothing like this was disclosed, and the most careful search did +not reveal anything incriminating in the man's garments. +</P> + +<P> +"He might have thrown away any papers Bower gave him," said Tom. "Maybe +they're at the bottom of the mud hole! If they're there they're safe +enough. But have a search made of the ground where this man ran." +</P> + +<P> +This was done, but without result. Some of the workmen even dragged the +mud hole without finding anything. Then Tom and his father had a talk +with the stranger, who refused to give his name. The man was sullen and +angry. He talked loudly about his innocence and of "having the law on" +Tom for having tripped him into the mud. +</P> + +<P> +"All right, if you want to make a complaint, go ahead," said the young +inventor. "I'll make one against you for trespass. Why did you come on +my grounds?" +</P> + +<P> +"I was going to ask for work. I'm a good machinist and I wanted a job." +</P> + +<P> +"How did you get in? Who admitted you at the gate?" +</P> + +<P> +"I—I jest walked in," said the man, but Tom knew this could not be +true, as no strangers were admitted without a permit and none had been +issued. The man denied knowing anything about Bower, but the latter's +flight was evidence enough that something was wrong. +</P> + +<P> +Not wishing to go to the trouble of having the man arrested merely as a +trespasser, Tom let him go after his clothes had been dried on a boiler +in one of the shops. +</P> + +<P> +"Take him to the gate, and tell him if he comes back he'll get another +dose of the same kind of medicine," ordered Tom to one of the guards at +the plant, and when the latter had reported that this had been done, he +added in an earnest tone: +</P> + +<P> +"He went off talking to himself and saying he'd get even with you, Mr. +Swift." +</P> + +<P> +"All right," said Tom easily. "I'll be on the watch." +</P> + +<P> +The young inventor made a thorough examination of his experiment shop +and the test motor. No damage seemed to have been done, and Tom began +to think he had been too quick for the conspirators, if such they were. +His plans and drawings were intact, and though Bower might have given a +copy to the stranger with the gold tooth, the latter did not take any +away with him. That he had some papers he wished to conceal and escape +with, seemed certain, but the splash into the mud hole had ended this. +</P> + +<P> +No trace was found of Bower, and an effort Tom made to ascertain if the +man was a spy in the employ of Gale and Ware came to naught. The +machinist had come well recommended, and the firm where he was last +employed had nothing but good to say of him. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it's a mystery," decided Tom. "However, I got out of it pretty +well. Only if that gold-tooth individual shows up again he won't get +off so easily." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A NIGHT TRIP +</H3> + +<P> +Taking a lesson from what had happened, Tom was very much more careful +in the following experiments on his new, silent motor. He made some +changes in his shop, and took Jackson in to help on the new machine, +thus insuring perfect secrecy as the apparatus developed. +</P> + +<P> +Tom also changed the safe in which he kept his plans, for the one he +had used previous to the episode in which Bower and the stranger who +took the mud bath figured, was one the combination of which could +easily be ascertained by an expert. The new safe was more complicated, +and Tom felt that his plans, specifications, and formulae which he had +worked out were in less danger. +</P> + +<P> +"I can just about figure out what happened," said Ned Newton to Tom, +when told of the circumstances. "These Universal people were provoked +because you wouldn't give them the benefit of your experience on their +flying machines, and so they sent a spy to get work with you. They, +perhaps, hoped to secure some of your ideas for their own, or they may +have had a deeper motive." +</P> + +<P> +"What deeper motive could they have, Ned?"</p> + +<p>"They might have hoped to +disable you, or some of your machines, so that you couldn't compete +with them. They're unscrupulous, I hear, and will do anything to +succeed and make money. So be on your guard against them." +</P> + +<P> +"I will," Tom promised. "But I don't believe there's any more danger +now. Anyhow, I have to take some chances." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but be as careful as you can. How is the silent motor coming on?" +</P> + +<P> +"Pretty good. I've had a lot of failures, and the thing isn't so easy +as I at first imagined it would be. Noise is a funny thing, and I'm +just beginning to understand some of the laws of acoustics we learned +at high school. But I think I'm on the right track with the muffler and +the cutting down of the noise of the explosions in the cylinders. I'm +working both ends, you see—making a motor that doesn't cause as much +racket as those now in use, and also providing means to take care of +the noise that is made. It isn't possible to make a completely silent +motor of an explosive gas type. The only thing that can be done is to +kill the noise after it is made." +</P> + +<P> +"What about the propeller blades?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, they aren't giving me any trouble. The noise they make can't be +heard a hundred feet in the air, but I am also working on improvements +to the blades. Take it altogether, I'll have an almost silent aeroplane +if my plans come out all right." +</P> + +<P> +"Have you said anything to the government yet?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; I want to have it pretty well perfected before I do. Besides, I +don't want any publicity about it until I'm ready. If these Universal +people are after me I'll fool 'em." +</P> + +<P> +"That's right, Tom! Well, I must go. Another week of this Liberty Bond +campaign!" +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose you'll be glad when it's over." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I don't know," said Ned slowly. "It's part of my small +contribution to Uncle Sam. I'm not like you—I can't invent things." +</P> + +<P> +"But you have an awful smooth line of talk, Ned!" laughed his chum. "I +believe you could sell chloride of sodium to some of the fishes in the +Great Salt Lake—that is if it has fishes." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know that it has, Tom. And, anyhow, I'm not posing as a salt +salesman," and Ned grinned. "But I must really go. Our bank hasn't +reached its quota in the sale of Liberty Bonds yet, and it's up to me +to see that it doesn't fall down." +</P> + +<P> +"Go to it, Ned! And I'll get busy on my silent motor." +</P> + +<P> +"Getting busy" was Tom Swift's favorite occupation, and when he was +working on a new idea, as was the case now, he was seldom idle, night +or day. +</P> + +<P> +"I have hardly seen you for two weeks," Mary Nestor wrote him one day. +"Aren't you ever coming to see me any more, or take me for a ride?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," Tom wrote back. "I'll be over soon. And perhaps on the next ride +we take I won't have to shout at you through a speaking tube because +the motor makes so much noise." +</P> + +<P> +From this it may be gathered that Tom was on the verge of success. +While not altogether satisfied with his progress, the young inventor +felt that he was on the right track. There were certain changes that +needed to be made in the apparatus he was building—certain refinements +that must be added, and when this should be done Tom was pretty certain +that he would have what would prove to be a very quiet aeroplane, if +not an absolutely silent one. +</P> + +<P> +The young inventor was engaged one day with some of the last details of +the experiment. The new motor, with the silencer and the changed +cylinders, had been attached to one of Tom's speedy aeroplanes, and he +was making some intricate calculations in relation to a new cylinder +block, to be used when he started to make a completely new machine of +the improved type. +</P> + +<P> +Tom had set down on paper some computations regarding the cross-section +of one of the cylinders, and was working out the amount of stress to +which he could subject a shoulder strut, when a shadow was cast across +the drawing board he had propped up in his lap. +</P> + +<P> +In an instant Tom pulled a blank sheet over his mass of figures and +looked up, a sudden fear coming over him that another spy was at hand. +But a hearty voice reassured him. +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my rice pudding!" cried Mr. Damon, "you shut yourself up here, +Tom, like a hermit in the mountains. Why don't you come out and enjoy +life?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hello! Glad to see you!" cried Tom, joyfully. "You're just in time!" +</P> + +<P> +"Time for what—dinner?" asked the eccentric man, with a chuckle. "If +so, my reference to rice pudding was very proper." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, yes, I imagine there must be a dinner in prospect somewhere, Mr. +Damon," said Tom with a smile. "We'll have to see Mrs. Baggert about +that. But what I meant was that you're just in time to have a ride with +me, if you want to go." +</P> + +<P> +"Go where?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, up in cloudland. I have just finished my first sample of a silent +motor, and I'm going to try it this evening. Would you like to come +along?" +</P> + +<P> +"I would!" exclaimed Mr. Damon. "Bless my onion soup, Tom, but I would! +But why fly at night? Isn't it safer by daylight?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, that doesn't make much difference. It's safe enough at any time. +The reason I'm going to make my first flight after dark is that I don't +want any spies about." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I see! Are they camping on your trail?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not exactly. But I can't tell where they may be. If I should start out +in daylight and be forced to make a landing— Well, you know what a +crowd always collects to see a stranded airship." +</P> + +<P> +"That's right, Tom." +</P> + +<P> +"That decided me to start off after dark. Then if we have to come down +because of some sort of engine trouble or because my new attachment +doesn't work right, we sha'n't have any prying eyes." +</P> + +<P> +"I see! Well, Tom, I'll go with you. Fortunately I didn't tell my wife +where I was going when I started out this afternoon, so she won't worry +until after it's over, and then it won't hurt her. I'm ready any time +you are." +</P> + +<P> +"Good! Stay to dinner and I'll show you what I've made. Then we'll take +a flight after dark." +</P> + +<P> +This suited the eccentric man, and a little later, after he had eaten +one of Mrs. Baggert's best meals, including rice pudding, of which he +was very fond, Mr. Damon accompanied Tom to one of the big hangars +where the new aeroplane had been set up. +</P> + +<P> +"So that's the Air Scout, is it, Tom?" asked Mr. Damon, as he viewed +the machine. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, that's the girl. 'Air Scout' is as good a name as any, until I +see what she'll do." +</P> + +<P> +"It doesn't look different from one of your regular craft of the skies, +Tom." +</P> + +<P> +"No, she isn't. The main difference is here," and Tom showed his friend +where a peculiar apparatus had been attached to the motor. This was the +silencer—the whole secret of the invention, so to speak. +</P> + +<P> +To Mr. Damon it seemed to consist of an amazing collection of pipes, +valves, baffle-plates, chambers, cylinders and reducers, which took the +hot exhaust gases as they came from the motor and "ate them up," as he +expressed it. +</P> + +<P> +"The cylinders, too, and the spark plugs are differently arranged in +the motor itself, if you could see them," said Tom to his friend. "But +the main work of cutting down the noise is done right here," and he put +his hand on the steel case attached to the motor, the case containing +the apparatus already briefly described. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm ready when you are, Tom," said Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll go as soon as it's dark," was the reply. "But first I'll give +you a demonstration. Start the motor, Jackson!" Tom called to his chief +helper. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Damon had ridden in aeroplanes before, and had stood near when Tom +started them; so he was prepared for a great rush of air as the +propellers whirled about, and for deafening explosions from the engine. +</P> + +<P> +The big blades, of new construction, were turned until the gas in the +cylinders was sufficiently compressed. Then Jackson stepped back out of +danger while Tom threw over the switch. +</P> + +<P> +"Contact!" cried the young inventor. +</P> + +<P> +Jackson gave the blades a quarter pull, and, a moment later, as he +leaped back out of the way, they began to revolve with the swiftness of +light. There was the familiar rush of air as the wooden wings cut +through the atmosphere, but there was scarcely any noise. Mr. Damon +could hardly believe his ears. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not running her at full speed," said Tom. "If I did she'd tear +loose from the holding blocks. But you can see what little racket she +makes." +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my fountain pen!" cried Mr. Damon. "You are right, Tom Swift! +Why, I can hear you talk almost as easily as if no engine were going. +And I don't have to shout my head off, either." +</P> + +<P> +This was perfectly true. Tom could converse with Mr. Damon in almost +ordinary tones. The exhaust from the motor was nearly completely +muffled. +</P> + +<P> +"Out in the air it will seem even more quiet," said Tom. "I'll soon +give you a chance to verify that statement." +</P> + +<P> +He ran the engine a little longer, the aeroplane quivering with the +vibrations, but remaining almost silent. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm anxious to see what she'll do when in motion," said Tom, as he +shut off the gas and spark. +</P> + +<P> +Soon after supper, when the shades of evening were falling, he and Mr. +Damon took their places in the first of the Air Scouts, to give it the +preliminary test in actual flying. +</P> + +<P> +Would Tom's hopes be justified or would he be disappointed? +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE CRY FOR HELP +</H3> + +<P> +"All ready, Mr. Damon?" asked Tom, as he looked to see that all the +levers, wheels, valves, and other controls were in working order on his +Air Scout. +</P> + +<P> +"As ready as I ever shall be, Tom," was the answer. "I don't know why +it is, but somehow I feel that something is going to happen on this +trip." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense!" laughed Tom. "You're nervous; that's all." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose so. Don't think I'm going to back out, or anything like +that, but I wish it were successfully over with, Tom Swift, I most +certainly do." +</P> + +<P> +"It will be in a little while," returned Tom, as he settled himself +comfortably in his seat and pulled the safety strap tight. "You've gone +up in this same plane before, when it didn't have the silent motor +aboard." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I know I have. Oh, I dare say it will be all right, Tom. And +yet, somehow, I can't help feeling—" +</P> + +<P> +But Tom Swift felt that the best way to set Mr. Damon's premonitions to +rest was to start the motor, and this he gave orders to have done, +Jackson and some others of the men from the shops congregating about +the craft to see the beginning of the night flight. Mr. Swift was there +also, and Eradicate. Mary Nestor had been invited, but her Red Cross +work engaged her that evening, she said. Ned Newton was away from town +on Liberty Bond business, and he could not be present at the test. +</P> + +<P> +However, as Tom expected to have other trials when his motor was in +even better shape, he was not exactly sorry for the absence of his +friends. +</P> + +<P> +"Contact!" called the young inventor, when Jackson had stepped back, +indicating it was time to throw over the switch. +</P> + +<P> +"Let her go!" cried Tom, and the next moment the motor was in +operation, but so silently that his voice and that of Mr. Damon's could +easily be heard above the machinery. +</P> + +<P> +"Good, Tom! That's good!" cried Mr. Swift, and Tom easily heard his +father's voice, though under other, and ordinary, circumstances this +would have been impossible. +</P> + +<P> +True, the hearing of Tom and Mr. Damon was muffled to a certain extent +by the heavy leather and fur-lined caps they wore. But Tom had several +small eyelet holes set into the flaps just over the opening of the +ears, and these holes were sufficient to admit sounds, while keeping +out most of the cold that obtains in the upper regions. +</P> + +<P> +The aeroplane moved swiftly along the level starting ground, and away +from the lighted hangars. Faster and faster it swung along as Tom +headed it into the wind, and then, as the speed of the motor increased, +the Air Scout suddenly left the earth and went soaring aloft as she had +done before. +</P> + +<P> +But there was this difference. She moved almost as silently as a great +owl which swoops down out of the darkness—a bit of the velvety +blackness itself. Up and up, and onward and onward, went the Air Scout. +Tom Swift's improved, silent motor urged it onward, and as the young +inventor listened to catch the noise of the machinery, his heart gave a +bound of hope. For he could detect only very slight sounds. +</P> + +<P> +"She's a success!" exulted Tom to himself. "She's a success, but she +isn't perfect yet," he added. "I've got to make the muffler bigger and +put in more baffle-plates. Then I think I can turn the trick." +</P> + +<P> +He swung the machine out over the open country, and then, when they +were up at a height and sailing along easily, he called back to Mr. +Damon in the seat behind him: +</P> + +<P> +"How do you like it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Great!" exclaimed the eccentric man. "Bless my postage stamp, but it's +great! Why, there's hardly a sound, Tom, and I can hear you quite +easily." +</P> + +<P> +"And I can hear you," added Tom. "I don't believe, down below there," +and he nodded toward the earth, though Mr. Damon could not see this, as +the airship, save for a tiny light over the instrument board, was in +darkness, "they know that we're flying over their heads." +</P> + +<P> +"I agree with you," was the answer. "Tom, my boy, I believe you've +solved the trick! You have produced a silent aeroplane, and now it's up +to the government to make use of it." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not quite ready for that yet," replied the young inventor. "I +have several improvements to make. But, when they are finished, I'll +let Uncle Sam know what I have. Then it's up to him." +</P> + +<P> +"And you must be careful, Tom, that some of your rivals don't hear of +your success and get it away from you," warned Mr. Damon, as Tom guided +the Air Scout along the aerial way—an unlighted and limitless path in +the silent darkness. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, they'll have to get up pretty early in the morning to do that!" +boasted Tom, and afterward he was to recall those words with a bit of +chagrin. +</P> + +<P> +On and on they sailed, and as Tom increased the speed of the motor, and +noted how silently it ran, he began to have high hopes that he had +builded better than he knew. For even with the motor running at almost +full speed there was not noise enough to hinder talk between himself +and Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +Of course there was some little sound. Even the most perfect electric +motor has a sort of hum which can be detected when one is close to it. +But at a little distance a great dynamo in operation appears to be +silence itself. +</P> + +<P> +"I can go this one better, though," said Tom as he sailed along in the +night. "I see where I've made a few mistakes in the baffle plate of the +silencer. I'll correct that and—" +</P> + +<P> +As he spoke the machine gave a lurch, and the motor, instead of +remaining silent, began to cough and splutter as in the former days. +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my rubber boots, Tom! what's the matter?" cried Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"Something's gone wrong," Tom answered, barely able to hear and make +himself heard above the sudden noise. "I'll have to shut off the power +and glide down. We can make a landing in this big field," for just then +the moon came out from behind a cloud, and Tom saw, below them, a great +meadow, not far from the home of Mary Nestor. He had often landed in +this same place. +</P> + +<P> +"Something has broken in the muffler, I think, letting out some of the +exhaust," he said to Mr. Damon, for, now that the motor was shut off, +Tom could speak in his ordinary tones. "I'll soon have it fixed, or, if +I can't, we can go back in the old style—with the machine making as +much racket as it pleases." +</P> + +<P> +So Tom guided the machine down. It went silently now, of course, +making, with the motor shut off, no more sound than a falling leaf. +Down to the soft, springy turf in the green meadow Tom guided the +machine. As it came to a stop, and he and Mr. Damon got out, there was +borne to their ears a wild cry: +</P> + +<P> +"Help! Help!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SOMETHING QUEER +</H3> + +<P> +"Did you hear that?" asked Tom Swift of his companion. +</P> + +<P> +"Hear it? Bless my ear drums, I should say I did hear it! Some one is +in trouble, Tom. Caught in a bog, most likely, the same as that spy +chap who was at your place. That's it—caught in a bog!" +</P> + +<P> +"There isn't any bog or swamp around here, Mr. Damon. If there was I +shouldn't have tried a landing. No, it's something else besides that. +Hark!" +</P> + +<P> +Again the cry sounded, seeming to come from a point behind the landing +place of the silent airship. It was clear and distinct: +</P> + +<P> +"Help! Help! They are—" +</P> + +<P> +The voice seemed to die away in a gurgle, as though the person's mouth +had been covered quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"He's sinking, Tom! He's sinking!" cried Mr. Damon. "I once heard a man +who almost drowned cry out, and it sounded exactly like that!" +</P> + +<P> +"But there isn't any water around here for any one to drown in," +declared Tom. "It's a big, dry meadow. I know where we are." +</P> + +<P> +"Then what is it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know, but we're going to find out. Some one attacked by some +one else—or something, I should say," ventured the young inventor. +</P> + +<P> +"Something! do you mean a wild beast, Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, for there aren't any of those here any more than there is water. +Though it may be that some farmer's bull or a savage dog has got loose +and has attacked some traveler. But, in that case I think we would hear +bellows or barks, and all I heard was a cry for help." +</P> + +<P> +"The same with me, Tom. Let's investigate;" +</P> + +<P> +"That's what I intend doing. Come on. The airship will be all right +until we come back." +</P> + +<P> +"Better take a light—hadn't you? It's dark, even if the moon does show +now and then," suggested Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess you are right," agreed Tom. Aboard his airship there were +several small but powerful portable electric lights, and after securing +one of these Tom and Mr. Damon started for the spot whence the call for +help had come. As they walked along, their feet making no noise on the +soft turf, they listened intently for a repetition of the call for aid. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't hear anything," said Tom, after a bit. +</P> + +<P> +"Nor I," added Mr. Damon. "We don't know exactly which way to go, Tom." +</P> + +<P> +"That's right. Guess we'd better give him a hail; whoever it is." +</P> + +<P> +Tom came to a halt, and raising his voice to a shout called: +</P> + +<P> +"Hello there! What's the matter? We'll help you if you can tell us +which way to come!" +</P> + +<P> +They both listened intently, but no voice answered them. At the same +time, however, they were aware of a sound as of hurrying feet, and +there seemed to be muttered imprecations not far away. Tom and Mr. +Damon looked in the direction of the sound, and the young inventor +flashed his light. But there was a clump of bushes and trees at that +point and the electrical rays did not penetrate very far. +</P> + +<P> +"Some one's over there!" exclaimed Tom in a whisper. "We'd better go +and see what it is." +</P> + +<P> +"All right," agreed Mr. Damon, and he, too, spoke in a low voice. +</P> + +<P> +Why they did this when their previous talk had been in ordinary tones, +and when Tom had shouted so loudly, they did not stop to reason about +or explain just then. But later they both admitted that they whispered +because they thought there was something wrong on foot—because they +feared a crime was being committed and they wanted to surprise the +perpetrators if they could. +</P> + +<P> +And it was this fact of their whispering that enabled the two to hear +something that, otherwise, they might not have heard. And this was the +sound of some vehicle hurrying away—an automobile, if Tom was any +judge. The cries for help had been succeeded by stifled vocal sounds, +and these, in turn, by the noise of wheels on the ground. +</P> + +<P> +"What does it all mean?" asked Mr. Damon in a whisper. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," answered Tom, resolutely, "but we've got to find out. +Come on." +</P> + +<P> +They advanced toward the dark clump of trees and low bushes. There was +no need to be especially cautious in regard to being silent, as their +feet made little, if any, sound on the deep grass. And, as Tom walked +in advance, now and then flashing his light, Mr. Damon suddenly caught +him by the coat. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" asked the young inventor. +</P> + +<P> +"Look! Just over the top of that hill, where the moon shines. Don't +you see an automobile outlined?" +</P> + +<P> +Tom looked quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"I do," he answered. "There's a road from here, just the other side of +those trees, to that hill. The auto must have gone that way. Well, +there's no use in trying to follow it now. Whoever it was has gotten +away." +</P> + +<P> +"But they may have left some one behind, Tom. We'd better look in and +around those trees." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose we had, but I don't believe we'll find anything. I can +pretty nearly guess, now, what it was." +</P> + +<P> +"What?" asked Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, some chauffeur was out for a ride in his employer's car without +permission. He got here, had an accident—maybe some friends he took +for a ride were hurt and they called for help. The chauffeur knew if +there was any publicity he'd be blamed, and so he got away as quickly +as he could. Guess the accident—if that's what it was—didn't amount +to much, or they couldn't have run the car off. We've had our trouble +for our pains." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, maybe you're right, Tom Swift, but all the same, I'd like to +have a look among those trees," said Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh. we'll look, all right," assented Tom, "but I doubt if we find +anything." +</P> + +<P> +And he was right. They walked in and about the little grove, flashing +the light at intervals, but beyond marks of auto wheels in the dust of +the road, which was near the clump of maples, there was nothing to +indicate what had happened. +</P> + +<P> +"Though there was some sort of fracas," declared Tom. "Look where the +dust is trampled down. There were several men here, perhaps skylarking, +or perhaps it was a fight." +</P> + +<P> +"Some one must have been hurt, or they wouldn't have cried for help," +said Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, that's so. But perhaps it was some one not used to riding in +autos, and he may have imagined the accident was worse than it was, and +called for help involuntarily. There is no evidence of any serious +accident having happened—no spots of blood, at any rate," and Tom +laughed at his own grimness. "It was a new car, too, or at least one +with new tires on." +</P> + +<P> +"How do you know?" asked Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell by the plain marks of the rubber tread in the dust," was the +answer. "Look," and Tom pointed to the wheel marks in the focus of his +electric lamp. "It's a new tire, too, with square protuberances on the +tread instead of the usual diamond or round ones. A new kind of tire, +all right." +</P> + +<P> +He and Mr. Damon remained for a few minutes looking about the place +whence had come the calls for help, and then the eccentric man remarked: +</P> + +<P> +"Well, as long as we can't do anything here, Tom, we might as well +travel on; what do you say?" +</P> + +<P> +"I agree with you. There isn't any use in staying. We'll get the Air +Scout fixed up and travel back home. But this was something queer," +mused Tom. "I hope it doesn't turn out later that a crime has been +committed, and we didn't show enough gumption to prevent it." +</P> + +<P> +"We couldn't prevent it. We heard the cries as soon as we landed." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but if we had rushed over at once we might have caught the +fellows. But I guess it was only a slight accident, and some one was +more frightened than hurt. We'll have to let it go at that." +</P> + +<P> +But the more he thought about it the more Tom Swift thought there was +something queer in that weird cry for help on the lonely meadow in the +darkness of the night. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE TELEPHONE CALL +</H3> + +<P> +The defect in the motor which had caused Tom Swift to shut off the +power and drift down to earth was soon remedied, once the young +inventor began an examination of the craft. One of the oil feeds had +become choked and this automatically cut down the gasoline supply, +causing one or more cylinders to miss. It was a safety device Tom had +installed to prevent the motor running dry, and so being damaged. +</P> + +<P> +Once the clogged oil feed was cleared the motor ran as before, and just +as silently, though, as Tom had said, he was not entirely satisfied +with the quietness, but intended to do further work toward perfecting +it. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll start the propellers now, Mr. Damon," said Tom, when the trouble +had been remedied. "You know how to throw the switch, don't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I guess so," was the answer. Mr. Damon and Tom had traveled so often +together in gasoline craft that the young inventor had taught his +friend certain fundamentals about them, and in an emergency the +eccentric man could help start an aeroplane. This he now did, taking +charge of the controls which could be operated from his seat as well as +from Tom's. Tom whirled the propellers, and soon the motor was in +motion. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Damon, once the big wooden blades were revolving, slowed down the +apparatus until Tom could jump aboard, after which the latter took +charge and soon speeded up the machine, sending it aloft. +</P> + +<P> +As the green meadow, dimly seen in the light of the moon, seemed to +drop away below them, and the clump of trees vanished from sight, both +Tom and Mr. Damon wondered who it was that had called for help, and if +the matter were at all serious. They were inclined to think it was not, +but Tom could not rid himself of a faint suspicion that there might +have been trouble. +</P> + +<P> +However, thoughts of his new silent Air Scout soon drove everything +else from his mind, and as he guided the comparatively silent machine +on its quiet way toward his own home he was thinking how he could best +improve the muffler. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, here we are again, safe and sound," remarked Tom, as he brought +the craft to a stop in front of the hangar, and Jackson and his +helpers, who were awaiting the return, hurried out to take charge. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, everything seems to point to success, Tom," agreed Mr. Damon. +"That is, unless the slight accident we had means trouble." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no, that had nothing to do with the operation of the silencer. But +I'm going to do better yet. Some day I'll take you for a ride in a +silent machine which will make so little noise that you can hear a pin +drop." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," remarked Mr. Damon' with a laugh, "I don't know that listening +to falling pins will give me any great amount of pleasure, Tom, but I +appreciate your meaning." +</P> + +<P> +"Everything all right?" asked Mr. Swift, as he came out to hear the +details from his son. "Do you think you have solved the problem?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not completely, but I'll soon be able to write Q. E. D. after it. Some +refinements are all that are needed, Dad." +</P> + +<P> +"Glad to hear it. I was a bit anxious." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Swift questioned his son about the technical details of the trip, +asking how the motor had acted under the pressure caused by so +completely muffling the exhaust, and for some minutes the two +inventors, young and old, indulged in talk which was not at all +interesting to Mr. Damon. They went into the house, and Tom asked to +have a little lunch, which Mrs. Baggert set out for him. +</P> + +<P> +"It's rather late to eat," said the young inventor, "but I always feel +hungry after I test a new machine and find that it works pretty well. +Will you join me in a sandwich or two, Mr. Damon?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, bless my ketchup bottle, I believe I will." +</P> + +<P> +And so they ate and talked. Tom was on the point of telling his father +something of the queer cry for help they had heard on the lonely meadow +when Mrs. Baggert produced a letter which she said had come for Tom +that afternoon, but had been mislaid by a new maid who had been engaged +to help with the housework. +</P> + +<P> +"She took it to the shop after you had left, and only now told me about +it," explained Mrs. Baggert. "So I sent Eradicate for it." +</P> + +<P> +"How long ago was that?" asked Tom, as he took the missive. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, an hour ago," answered Mrs. Baggert, with a smile. "But don't +blame poor Rad for that. He wanted to deliver the letter to you +personally, and so did Koku. The result was your giant kept after Rad, +trying to get the letter from him, and Rad kept hiding and slinking +about for a chance to see you himself until I saw what was going on, a +little while ago, and took the letter myself. Else you might never have +gotten it, so jealous are those two," and Mrs. Baggert laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess it isn't of much importance," Tom said, as he tore open the +envelope. "It's from the Universal Flying Machine Company, of New York, +and I imagine they're trying to get me to reconsider my refusal to link +up with them." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he went on, as he read the missive, "that's it. They've raised +the amount to thirty thousand a year now, Dad, and they say they feel +sure I shall regret it if I do not accept. +</P> + +<P> +"This is a bit queer, though," went on the young inventor. "This +letter was written three days ago, but it reached Shopton only to-day. +And it says that unless they hear from me at once they will have to +take steps that will cause me great inconvenience. They have nerve, at +any rate, and impudence, too! I won't even bother to answer. But I +wonder what they mean, and why this letter was delayed?" +</P> + +<P> +"The mails are all late on account of the transportation congestion +caused by moving troops to the camps," said Mr. Damon. "Some of my +letters are delayed a week. But, as you say, Tom, these fellows are +very impudent to threaten that way." +</P> + +<P> +"It's all bluff," declared Tom. "I'm not worrying. And now, Dad, since +I've almost reached the top of the hill with my Air Scout, I may be +able to help you on that new electric motor you're puzzling over." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish you would, Tom. I am trying to invent a new system of +interchangeable brush contacts, but so far I've been unable to make +them work. However, there is no great hurry about that. If you are +going to offer your silent machine to the government finish that first. +We need all the aircraft we can get. The battles on the other side seem +to be all in favor of the Germans, so far." +</P> + +<P> +"We haven't got into our stride yet," declared Mr. Damon. "Once Uncle +Sam gets the boys over there in force, there'll be a different story to +tell. I only wish—" +</P> + +<P> +At that moment the telephone set up an insistent ringing, breaking in +on Mr. Damon's remarks. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll answer," said Tom, as Mrs. Baggert moved toward the instrument, +which was an extension from the main one. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello!" called the young inventor into the transmitter, and as he +received an answer a look of pleasure came over his face. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Mary, this is Tom," he said. He remained silent a moment, while +it was evident he was listening to the voice at the other end of the +wire. Then he suddenly exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"What's that? Tell him to come home? Why, he isn't here. I just came in +and—what—wait a minute!" +</P> + +<P> +With a rather strange look on his face Tom covered the mouth-piece of +the instrument with his hand, and, turning to his father, asked: +</P> + +<P> +"Is Mr. Nestor here?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," replied Mr. Swift slowly, "He was here, though. He came a little +while after you and Mr. Damon started off in the Air Scout. But he +didn't stay. Said he wanted to see you about something and would call +again." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," remarked the young man. "I didn't know he had been there." +</P> + +<P> +"I meant to tell you," said Mrs. Baggert; "but getting the lunch made +me forget it, I guess." +</P> + +<P> +Tom uncovered the transmitter of the telephone again, and spoke to Mary +Nestor. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello," he said. "I was wrong, Mary. Your father was here, but he left +when he found I wasn't at home. How long ago? Wait a minute and I'll +inquire. +</P> + +<P> +"How long ago did Mr. Nestor leave?" asked the young inventor of the +housekeeper. "Nearly an hour," he said into the instrument, after he +had received the answer. Then, after listening a moment, he added: +"Yes, I guess he'll be home soon now. Probably stopped down town to see +some of his friends. Yes, Mr. Damon and I tried out the Air Scout. Yes, +she worked pretty well, for a starter, but there is something yet to be +done. Oh, yes, now I'll have time to come over to see you, and take you +for a ride too. We won't have to talk through a speaking tube, either. +Tell your father I am sorry I was out when he called. I'll come to see +him to-morrow, if he wants me to. Yes—yes. I guess so!" and Tom +laughed, it being evident that his remarks at the end of the +conversation had to do with personal matters. +</P> + +<P> +"A telegram has come for Mr. Nestor and they were anxious that he +should get it," Tom explained to his little audience as he hung up the +receiver and put aside the telephone. "I wonder what he wanted to see +me about?" +</P> + +<P> +"He didn't say," replied Mrs. Baggert. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Damon, Tom, and his father remained in conversation a little while +longer, and the eccentric man was thinking that it was about time for +him to return home, when the telephone rang again. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello," answered Tom, as he was nearest the instrument. "Oh, yes, +Mary, this is he. What's that? Your father hasn't reached home yet? And +your mother is worried? Oh tell her there is no cause for alarm. As I +said, he probably stopped on his way to see some friends." +</P> + +<P> +Tom listened for perhaps half a minute to a talk that was inaudible to +the others in the room, and they noticed a grave look come over his +face. Then he said: +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be right over, Mary. Yes, I'll come at once. And tell your mother +not to worry. I'm sure nothing could have happened. I'll be with you +in a jiffy!" +</P> + +<P> +As Tom Swift hung up the receiver he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Nestor hasn't reached home yet, and as he promised to return at +once in case he didn't find me, his wife is much worried. I'll go over +and see what I can do." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll come along!" volunteered Mr. Damon. "It isn't late yet." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, do come," urged Tom. "But I suppose when we get there we'll find +our friend has arrived safely. We'll go over in the electric runabout." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A VAIN SEARCH +</H3> + +<P> +Tom Swift's speedy little electric car was soon at the door in +readiness to take him and Mr. Damon to the Nestor home. The electric +runabout was a machine Tom had evolved in his early inventive days, and +though he had other automobiles, none was quite so fast or so simple to +run as this, which well merited the name of the most rapid machine on +the road. In it Tom had once won a great race, as has been related in +the book bearing the title, "Tom Swift and His Electric Runabout." +</P> + +<P> +"Mary didn't telephone again, did she?" Tom asked his father, as he +stopped at the house to get Mr. Damon, having gone out to see about +getting the electric runabout in readiness. +</P> + +<P> +"No," was the answer. "The telephone hasn't rung since." +</P> + +<P> +"Then, I guess, Mr. Nestor can't have arrived home," said Tom. "It's a +bit queer, his delay, but I'm sure it will be explained naturally. Only +Mary and her mother are alone and, very likely, they're nervous. I'll +telephone to let you know everything is all right as soon as I get +there," Tom promised his father and Mrs. Baggert as he drove off down +the road, partly illuminated by the new moon. +</P> + +<P> +Rapidly and almost as silently as his Air Scout Tom Swift drove the +speedy car down the highway. It was about three miles from his home to +that of Mary Nestor, and though the distance was quickly covered, to +Tom, at least, the space seemed interminable. But at length he drove +up to the door. There were lights in most of the rooms, which was +unusual at this time of night. +</P> + +<P> +The sound of the wheels had not ceased echoing on the gravel of the +drive before Mary was out on the porch, which she illuminated by an +overhead light. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Tom," she cried, "he hasn't come yet, and we are so worried! Did +you see anything of father as you came along?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," was Tom's answer. "But we didn't look for him along the road, as +we came by the turnpike, and he wouldn't travel that way. But he will +be along at any moment now. You must remember it's quite a walk from my +house, and—" +</P> + +<P> +"But he was on his bicycle," said Mary. "We wanted him to go in the +auto, but he said he wanted some exercise after supper, and he went +over on his wheel. He said he'd be right back, but he hasn't come yet." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, he will!" said Tom reassuringly. "He may have had a puncture, or +something like that. Bicyclists are just as liable to them as +autoists," he added with a laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm sure I hope it will be all right," sighed Mary. "I wish you +could convince mother to that effect. She's as nervous as a cat. Come +in and tell us what to do." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, he'll be all right," declared Mr. Damon, adding his assurances to +Tom's. +</P> + +<P> +They found Mrs. Nestor verging on an attack of hysteria. Though Mr. +Nestor often went out during the evening, he seldom stayed late. +</P> + +<P> +"And he said he'd be right back if he found you weren't at home, Tom," +said Mrs. Nestor. "I'm sure I don't know what can be keeping him!" +</P> + +<P> +"It's too soon to get worried yet," replied the young inventor +cheerfully. "I'll wait a little while, and then, if he doesn't come, +Mr. Damon and I will go back over the road and look carefully. He may +have had a slight fall—sprained his ankle or something like that—and +not be able to ride. We came by the turnpike, a road he probably +wouldn't take on his wheel. He's all right, you may be sure of that." +</P> + +<P> +Tom tried to speak reassuringly, but somehow, he did not believe +himself. He was beginning to think more and more how strange it was +that Mr. Nestor did not return home. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll wait just a bit longer before setting out on a search," he told +Mary and her mother. "But I'm sure he will be along any minute now." +</P> + +<P> +They went into the library, Mary and her mother, Tom and Mr. Damon. And +there they sat waiting. Tom tried to entertain Mary and Mrs. Nestor +with an account of his trial trip in the Air Scout, but the two women +scarcely heard what he said. +</P> + +<P> +All sat watching the clock, and looking from that to the telephone, +which they tried to hope would ring momentarily and transmit to them +good news. Then they would listen for the sound of footsteps or bicycle +wheels on the gravel walk. But they heard nothing, and as the seconds +were ticked off on the clock the nervousness of Mrs. Nestor increased, +until she exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"I can stand it no longer! We must notify the police—or do something!" +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't notify the police just yet," counseled Tom. "Mr. Damon and +I will start out and look along the road. If it should happen, as will +probably turn out to be the case, that Mr. Nestor has met with only a +simple accident, he would not like the notoriety, or publicity, of +having the police notified." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I am sure he would not," agreed Mary. "Tom's way is best, Mother." +</P> + +<P> +"All right, just as you say, only find my husband," and Mrs. Nestor +sighed, and turned her head away. +</P> + +<P> +"Even if Mr. Nestor had had a fall," reasoned Tom, "he could call for +help, and get some one to telephone, unless—" +</P> + +<P> +And as he reasoned thus Tom Swift gave a mental start at his own use of +the word "help." +</P> + +<P> +That weird cry on the lonely meadow came back to him with startling +distinctness. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on, Mr. Damon!" cried Tom, in a voice he tried to make cheerful. +"We'll find that Mr. Nestor is probably walking along, carrying his +disabled bicycle instead of having it carry him. We'll soon have him +safe back to you," he called to the two women. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish I could go with you, and help search," observed Mary. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I couldn't bear to be left alone!" exclaimed her mother. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll telephone as soon as we find him," called Tom to Mrs. Nestor, as +he and Mr. Damon again got into the runabout and started away from the +place. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think of it, Tom?" asked the eccentric man, when they were +once more on the road. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, nothing much—as yet," Tom said. "That is, I think nothing more +than a simple accident has happened, if, indeed, it is anything more +than that he has delayed to talk to some friends." +</P> + +<P> +"Would he delay this long?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know." +</P> + +<P> +"And then, Tom—bless my spectacles! what of that cry we heard? Could +that have been Mr. Nestor?" +</P> + +<P> +There! It was out! The suspicion that Tom had been trying to keep his +mind away from came to the fore. Well, he might as well race the issue +now as later. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been thinking of that," he told Mr. Damon. "It might have been +Mary's father calling for help." +</P> + +<P> +"But we looked, Tom, near the trees, and couldn't discover anything. If +he had been calling for help—" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Damon did not finish. +</P> + +<P> +"He may have fallen from his wheel and been hurt," said Tom, as he +turned the electric runabout into the highway that Mr. Nestor would, +most likely, have taken on his way from Shopton. "Then he may have +called for help, and some autoists, passing, may have heard and taken +him away." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but where, Tom? Whoever called for help was taken away, that's +sure. But where?" +</P> + +<P> +"To some hospital, I suppose." +</P> + +<P> +"Then hadn't we better inquire there? There are only two hospitals of +any account around here. The one in Shopton and the one in Waterfield. +My wife is on the board of Lady Managers there. We could call that +hospital up and—" +</P> + +<P> +"We'll look along the road first," said Tom. "If we begin to make +inquiries at the hospitals there will be a lot of questions asked, and +a general alarm may be sent out. Mr. Nestor wouldn't like that, if he +isn't in any danger. And it may turn out that he has met an old friend, +and has been talking with him all this while, forgetting all about the +passage of time." +</P> + +<P> +They were now driving along the highway that led from the little suburb +where Mr. Nestor lived, to the main part of Shopton, just beyond which +was Tom's home. This section was country-like, with very few houses and +those placed at rather infrequent intervals. The road was a good one, +though not the main-traveled one, and Mr. Nestor, as was known, +frequently used it when he rode his bicycle, an exercise of which he +was very fond. +</P> + +<P> +As Tom and Mr. Damon drove along, they scanned, as best they could in +the light from the young moon and the powerful lamps on the runabout, +every part of the highway. They were looking for some dark blot which +might indicate where a man had fallen from his wheel and was lying in +some huddled heap on the road. But they saw nothing like this, much to +their relief. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know, Tom," said Mr. Damon, when they were nearing the town, +and their search, thus far, had been in vain, "I think we're going at +this the wrong way." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, so?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because Mr. Nestor may have fallen, and been hurt, and have been +carried into any one of a dozen houses along the road. In that case we +wouldn't see him. We've passed over the most lonely part of the journey +and haven't seen him. If the accident occurred near the houses his +cries would have brought some one out to help him. He is well known +around here, and, even if he were unconscious and couldn't tell who he +was, he could be identified by papers in his pockets. Then his family +would be notified by telephone." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps you are right, Mr. Damon. We may be wasting time this way. +What do you suggest?" asked Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"That we don't delay any longer, but call up the hospitals at once. If +he isn't in either of those he must be in some house, and in such +condition that his identity cannot be established. In that event it is +a case for the police. We haven't found him, and I think we had better +give the alarm." +</P> + +<P> +Tom Swift thought it over for a moment. Then he came to a sudden +decision. +</P> + +<P> +"You're right!" he told Mr. Damon. "We mustn't waste any more time. He +isn't along the road he ought to have traveled in coming from my house +to his home—that's sure. But before I call up the hospitals I want to +try out one more idea." +</P> + +<P> +"What's that, Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +"I want to go to the place where we heard that cry for help." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think that could have been Mr. Nestor?" +</P> + +<P> +"It may have been. We'll go and take another look around there. Some +man was evidently hurt there, and was taken away. We may get a clew. +The lights on the runabout will give us a better chance to look around +than we had by the little pocket lamp. We'll try there, and, if we +don't find anything, then I'll call up the hospitals." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE LONG NIGHT +</H3> + +<P> +With the speedy runabout it did not take Tom Swift and Mr. Damon long +to reach the place where the Air Scout had been grounded a few hours +before, and where they had heard the cry for help. All was as dark and +as silent as when they had been there before. +</P> + +<P> +But, as Tom had said, the lights from his electric runabout would give +a brilliant illumination, and these he now directed toward the clump of +trees whence the cry for help had seemed to come. +</P> + +<P> +"Doesn't appear to have been visited by any one since we were here," +remarked Tom, as he observed the marks of the new automobile tire in +the dust. "Now we'll look about more carefully." +</P> + +<P> +This they did, but they were about to give up in despair and start for +the nearest telephone to call up the hospitals, when Mr. Damon gave an +exclamation. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" asked Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"Something bright and shining!" said his companion. "I saw it gleam in +the light of the lamps. You nearly put your foot on it, Tom. Just step +back a moment." +</P> + +<P> +Tom did so, and the eccentric man, with another exclamation, this time +of satisfaction, reached down and picked something up from the dusty +road. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a watch!" he exclaimed. "A gold watch! And it's been stepped on, +evidently, or run over by an auto. Not much damaged, but the case is a +bit bent and scratched. It's stopped, too!" he added as he held it to +his ear. +</P> + +<P> +"What time does it show?" asked Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"Eight forty-seven," answered Mr. Damon, as he consulted the dial. +"Why, Tom, that was just about when we heard the cries for help!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it must have been. Let me see that watch." +</P> + +<P> +No sooner had the young inventor taken the timepiece into his hands +than he, too, uttered a cry of amazement. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you recognize it?" asked Mr. Damon, in great excitement. +</P> + +<P> +"It's Mr. Nestor's watch!" cried Tom. "He must have fallen here, and +been hurt. It was Mr. Nestor who cried for help, and who was taken away +by the autoists. They've probably taken him to some hospital. There's +been an accident all right." +</P> + +<P> +Tom and Mr. Damon were of one mind now in thinking that Mr. Nestor had +met with some mishap on the road—an automobile accident most +likely—and that he was the person who had called for help. +</P> + +<P> +"If they had only answered when we hallooed at them," said Tom, "we +wouldn't be in all this stew now. We could have told the strangers who +came to his aid who he was, and we might even have taken him to the +hospital in the airship." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it's too late to think of that now," returned Mr. Damon. "We +had better get into communication with him as soon as we can, and then +send word to his wife and daughter. I hope he isn't badly hurt." +</P> + +<P> +Tom hoped so, too, with all his heart. +</P> + +<P> +There was nothing to do but to get back in the runabout and make all +speed for the nearest telephone, and Tom Swift lost little time in +doing this. They found a drug store which was open a little later than +usual, and at once Tom went into the booth and called up the Shopton +hospital. He was well known there, as he and his father were liberal +supporters of the institution, which was a private affair. Many of +Tom's men were treated at the dispensary, and, as accidents were of +more or less frequent occurrence at the works, the young inventor had +frequent occasions to call up the place. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Nestor would ask to be taken there, as it's nearest his home—that +is, if he was able to speak," Tom said to Mr. Damon, who agreed with +him. There was a little delay in getting the hospital on the wire, but +when Tom had it, and was talking to the superintendent, he was rather +surprised, to tell the truth, to be told that Mr. Nestor had not been +brought in. +</P> + +<P> +"We haven't had any accident cases all day, nor to-night, Mr. Swift," +the superintendent reported. "Was this some one special you were +inquiring about?" +</P> + +<P> +For Tom, determining not to give Mr. Nestor's name, except as a last +resort, had merely inquired whether any recent accident cases had been +brought in. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll let you know later, Mr. Millard," he told the superintendent, not +exactly answering the question. He hung up the receiver, and, opening +the door of the booth, said to Mr. Damon: "He isn't there." +</P> + +<P> +"Then try Waterfield," was the suggestion; and Tom did so, though he +could not imagine why an injured man, such as Mr. Nestor might prove to +be, should be taken as far as Waterfield, when the hospital at Shopton +was nearer. +</P> + +<P> +"Unless," he told Mr. Damon, "the people which ran down Mary's father +didn't know about our hospital." +</P> + +<P> +The reply from the institution in Mr. Damon's home town was just as +discouraging as had been the answer from Shopton. At first, when Tom +inquired, the head nurse had said there was an accident case at that +moment being brought in. Tom was all excitement until she went to +inquire the name and circumstances, and then he learned that it was the +case of a little boy who had fallen downstairs at his home and broken a +leg. There was no record of any one answering the description of Mr. +Nestor having been brought in that evening. +</P> + +<P> +"Hum! This is getting to be mysterious," mused Tom, as he came out of +the booth. "What shall we do—go back and tell Mrs. Nestor and Mary, or +communicate with the police?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why not try the Alexian Hospital?" asked Mr. Damon. "That's away over +in Centerford, to be sure, but it's more likely to be known to +passing tourists than either of our institutions around here, +especially if the autoists were strangers." +</P> + +<P> +"That's so," agreed Tom. The Alexian Hospital was operated under the +direction of the Brothers of that faith, and was well known in that +part of the state. Often cases of persons who had been injured by +passing automobiles had been taken there for treatment, for, as Mr. +Damon had said, it was well known, and Centerford was the nearest large +city. +</P> + +<P> +"I can just about see how it happened," said Tom. "They ran Mr. Nestor +down, and stopped to pick him up after they heard his cries for help. +And the Alexian Hospital was the first one they thought of. We should +have called that up first." +</P> + +<P> +But once more disappointment awaited the young inventor and his friend. +Word came back over the wire that no accident case, which bore any +resemblance to Mary's father, had been brought in. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm stumped!" exclaimed Tom. "What shall we do now, Mr. Damon?" +</P> + +<P> +"Much as I dislike it," said the eccentric man who was too much +worried, now, to do any "blessing," which was his favorite expression, +"I think we ought to communicate with Mrs. Nestor. She will be very +anxious." +</P> + +<P> +"I guess we'll have to," said Tom. "But wait! I'll call up my house +first, and see if he has gone back there." +</P> + +<P> +But Mr. Nestor had not done this, and Mrs. Baggert, who answered the +telephone, said Mary had been calling frantically for Tom, as her +mother was now on the verge of complete collapse. +</P> + +<P> +"No help for it," said Tom, ruefully. "We've got to tell 'em we have no +news, and can't find him." +</P> + +<P> +And, hearing this, Mrs. Nestor did collapse, and a doctor was called in. +</P> + +<P> +Thereupon Tom, who with Mr. Damon had gone back to the Nestor home, +took charge of matters, sending for Mrs. Nestor's sister to come and +stay with her and take charge of the house. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll need some one to stay with you," he told Mary. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I shall," she admitted, trying bravely not to give way to her +emotion. "Oh, Tom, I wish you could stay, too. I'm sure something +dreadful must have happened to poor father. Please stay and help us +find him!" +</P> + +<P> +"I will," Tom promised. "As soon as your aunt comes I'll take Mr. Damon +home, and then I'll give the rest of my time to you." +</P> + +<P> +And this Tom did, sending word home that he would remain at the +Nestor's all night and part of the next day. +</P> + +<P> +Tom got but little sleep that night. He communicated with the police +and saw to it that a general alarm was sent out. He called up all +hospitals within a radius of fifty miles, but could get no trace of any +injured man whose description resembled that of Mr. Nestor. +</P> + +<P> +"What can have happened?" asked Mary tearfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, the way I figure it out is this," said Tom. "Your father left my +house soon after Mr. Damon and I did in the Air Scout. Mr. Nestor was +riding his bicycle, and he must have been run into by an automobile. +That is how his watch was damaged and that was when Mr. Damon and I +heard the cries for help." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, do you think he was badly hurt?" asked Mary. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I don't," and Tom answered truthfully. "The voice sounded as +though he was in pain, certainly, but it was strong and vigorous, and +not at all as though he was dangerously hurt." +</P> + +<P> +"And what do you think happened to him after he was hurt?" asked Mary. +</P> + +<P> +"The autoists took him away," decided Tom. "In fact, we heard the +machine go, but of course we never connected the call for help and what +followed with your father. The autoists took him away." +</P> + +<P> +"Where?" +</P> + +<P> +"I should say to some hospital. Perhaps a private one of which we know +nothing, and which may be near here. I'll get a full list from the +Board of Health to-morrow. Or it may be that the autoists, seeing the +damage they had done, took your father to the home of one of +themselves, and summoned a doctor there." +</P> + +<P> +"Why would they do that?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, they may have been so frightened they didn't realize what they +were doing, or they may have thought he would get better treatment in a +private house, if he were not badly injured, than if he should be taken +to a hospital. It may have been that one of the persons in the auto was +a physician, and wished to try his own skill on the man he had hurt." +</P> + +<P> +"You make me feel more comfortable, Tom," said Mary. "But, even +supposing all this, why couldn't they telephone to us that my father +was all right? He always carries an identification card with him, and +if he were unconscious it could be ascertained who he was." +</P> + +<P> +"That's what I can't understand," said Tom frankly. "It puzzles me. But +we'll find him—never fear!" +</P> + +<P> +And so he kept on with his telephone inquiries, while a physician and +her sister ministered to Mrs. Nestor. The night was very, very long, +and no good news came in. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SILENT SAM +</H3> + +<P> +Slowly the dawn broke through the mists of darkness, and made the earth +light. The sun came straggling in through cracks in the shutters in the +home of Mr. Nestor, the gradually increasing gleam paling the electric +lights, in the glare of which Tom Swift, Mary, and her aunt sat, +waiting for some word of the missing man. But none came. +</P> + +<P> +"What shall we do now?" asked Mary, as she looked at Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, there's lots to do," he said, trying to make his voice sound +cheerful. "We'll be busy all day. I sent word to have one of my touring +cars ready to hurry to any part of the country the moment we should get +word from your father." +</P> + +<P> +"And do you think we shall get word, Tom?" the girl went on wistfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course we shall!" he cried. "Word may come in at any time. Now get +ready, eat a good breakfast, and then you can go with me as soon as we +hear anything definite. Come, we'll have breakfast!" +</P> + +<P> +"I can't eat a thing!" protested Mary. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes you can," said her aunt, who was a cheerful sort of person. +"I'll see about getting something for you and Mr. Swift, and see that +your mother is all right." +</P> + +<P> +She left the room to give orders to the servant about the meal, and +returned to say that Mrs. Nestor was sleeping quietly. She had been +given a sedative. Mary managed to eat a little, and she gave Tom the +address of several friends who were called up in the vain hope that, +somehow, Mr. Nestor might have gone to see them. +</P> + +<P> +"Tom, what do you really think has happened?" asked Mary again, as they +sat facing one another in the library, during a respite from the +telephone. +</P> + +<P> +Tom Swift repeated, to the girl his theory of what had happened with an +assumption of confidence he did not altogether feel. +</P> + +<P> +His prediction of a speedy end to the suspense did not come true that +day, nor for many days. No news was heard of Mr. Nestor. After the +first day, when there was no information and when no reports came of +any one of his description having been hurt in an automobile accident +or having been taken to any hospital, the police started an energetic +search. +</P> + +<P> +The authorities in all near-by cities were notified, and all thought of +keeping from the public what had happened was given over. Tom's story, +of how he and Mr. Damon had heard the cry for help on the lonely +meadow, was printed in the papers, though the young inventor did not +say that he had been out trying his new aeroplane. That was a detail +not needed in the finding of Mr. Nestor. +</P> + +<P> +But Mary's father was not found. The mystery regarding his +disappearance deepened, and there was no trace of him after he had left +Tom's house that eventful evening. Persons living along the roads he +might have taken in riding his bicycle were questioned, but they had +seen nothing of him, nor were they aware of any accident. Tom's +testimony and that of Mr. Damon was all the clew there was. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't believe he's dead!" stoutly declared the young inventor, when +this dire possibility had been hinted at. "I believe the persons who +were responsible for the accident are afraid to reveal his whereabouts +until he recovers from possible injuries. You'll see! Mr. Nestor will +come back safe!" +</P> + +<P> +And, somehow, though her mother was skeptical, Mary believed what Tom +said. +</P> + +<P> +The search was kept up, but without result, and Tom aided all he could. +But there was not much he could do. The police and other authorities +were at a total loss. +</P> + +<P> +In the intervals of visiting Mary and her mother, and doing what he +could for them, Tom worked on his new motor. He knew that he was on the +right track and that all that was needed now was to make certain +refinements and adjustments in the apparatus he had already +constructed, so that it would operate more quietly. +</P> + +<P> +"Absorbing the vibrations from the exhaust, caused by the exploded +gases in the cylinders, does the trick," Tom told his father. +</P> + +<P> +"But there is enormous pressure to overcome, Tom. You must be sure your +muffler will stand the strain. Otherwise she is going to blow out a +gasket some day, when you least expect it. Then the sudden resumption +of pressure outside the cylinders is going to cause a change in the +equilibrium, and you may turn turtle in the air." +</P> + +<P> +"I've thought of that," said Tom. "At worst it can't be any more than +looping the loop. But I'll make the muffler doubly strong." +</P> + +<P> +"Better provide an auxiliary chamber to take care of part of the +exhaust in case your main apparatus breaks," advised the older +inventor, and Tom said he would. He did, too, for he valued his +father's expert advice. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile he was busy fitting one of his latest aeroplanes with the new +motor. The motor he and Mr. Damon had used in their flight was one +patched up from an old one. But now Tom was working on a complete new +one, made after his revised model, and in which the silencer was an +integral part, instead of being built on. +</P> + +<P> +While giving Mary and her mother all the assistance in his power, Tom +still found time to work on his new, pet scheme. He had matters now +where he did not fear any tampering with his plans, for he had filed +away his papers in a safe place, and was making his new machine from +memory. +</P> + +<P> +"But if some one got in and had a look at the inside of your silencer +he could see how it is constructed, couldn't he?" asked Ned Newton. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," assented Tom, "But they're not going to get in very easily. Koku +sleeps in the experiment shop now, and my machine is there." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, well that explains your confidence. I feel sorry for the burglar +who makes the attempt, once Koku wakes up. Heard anything more from +those Universal people?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, not directly. I understand they are working hard on some new type +of plane for army use, but I haven't bothered my head about them. I'm +too much occupied with my own affairs and trying to help Mary." +</P> + +<P> +"Very strange about Mr. Nestor, isn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Worse than strange," said Tom. "If this keeps on, and he isn't heard +from, it will be tragic pretty soon." +</P> + +<P> +"He must be held a prisoner somewhere," declared Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"It begins to look that way," assented Tom. "Though who would have an +object in that I can't understand. He had no enemies, as far as is +known, and his business affairs were in excellent shape. Unless, as I +said, the persons who ran him down are, through fear, keeping him +hidden until he recovers, I can't imagine what has become of him." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it certainly is a puzzle," said Ned. And Tom agreed with his +chum. +</P> + +<P> +It was about a week after the disappearance of Mr. Nestor that Mr. +Damon came over to see Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my shoe laces, Tom!" exclaimed the eccentric man, "but you are +as busy as ever." For he found the young inventor in the experiment +shop, surrounded by a mass of papers and all sorts of mechanical +devices. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I'm working a little," said Tom. "But you are just in time. Come +on out, I want to introduce you to Silent Sam." +</P> + +<P> +"'Silent Sam!'" exclaimed Mr. Damon. "Have you been taking a new trip +to the Land of Wonders? Have you brought back some new kind of servant?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not exactly a servant," said Tom with a laugh, "though I hope Silent +Sam will serve me well." +</P> + +<P> +"'Silent Sam?' What does it mean? Is that a joke?" asked the puzzled +Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"I hope it doesn't turn out a joke," replied Tom. "But come on, I'll +introduce you to him, Mr. Damon." +</P> + +<P> +He led the way to one of the big hangars where his various machines of +the air were housed. On the way Mr. Damon asked about news of Mr. +Nestor, but was told there was none. +</P> + +<P> +Tom Swift opened the big, swinging doors and pulled aside an enveloping +canvas curtain. There stood revealed a big aeroplane, of somewhat new +pattern, the wings gleaming like silver from the varnish that had been +applied. In shape it was not unlike the machines already in use, except +that the propellers were of somewhat different design. +</P> + +<P> +The engine was mounted in front, and even with his slight knowledge of +mechanics Mr. Damon could tell that it was exceedingly powerful. But it +was certain devices attached to the engine that attracted his +attention, for they were totally different from any on any other +aeroplane, though they bore some resemblance to apparatus on the plane +in which Tom and the eccentric man had made the night flight. +</P> + +<P> +"Is this your new machine, Tom?" asked Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I don't see anything of that fellow you spoke of—Silent Sam." +</P> + +<P> +"This is Silent Sam," returned Tom, with a laugh. "I've named my new +noiseless aeroplane—my Air Scout—I've named that Silent Sam. Wait +until you hear it, or rather, don't hear it, and I think you'll agree +with me. Silent Sam for Uncle Sam!" +</P> + +<P> +"Good!" cried Mr. Damon. "Bless my dictionary, but that's a good name! +Does it sail silently, Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll let you judge presently. Silent Sam is all ready for his first +trial, and I'll be glad to have you with me. Now, I'll just—" +</P> + +<P> +Tom suddenly ceased speaking and held up a hand to enjoin silence. +Then, while Mr. Damon watched, the young inventor began moving +noiselessly toward the rear of the big shed, inside which was his new +machine. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SUSPICIONS +</H3> + +<P> +"Who's there?" suddenly called Tom, and in such a sharp voice that Mr. +Damon started, ready as he was for something unusual. +</P> + +<P> +There was no answer and Tom suddenly switched on all the lights in the +shed. Up to then there had been only a few glowing—just enough for him +to show the new Air Scout to his friend. +</P> + +<P> +"Who's there?" asked Tom again, sharply. +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my opera glasses, Tom!" cried Mr. Damon, "but are you seeing +things?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; but I'm hearing them," answered Tom with a short laugh. "Did you +think you heard some one moving around near the rudders of Silent Sam, +Mr. Damon?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I can't say that I did. Everything seems to me to be all right." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it doesn't to me," went on Tom grimly. "I think there is an +intruder in this shed, though how any one could get in when the doors +have been locked all day, is more than I can figure out. But I'm going +to have a look." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll help you," offered Mr. Damon, and, in the bright glare from many +electric lights, the two began a search of the big hangar where the new +craft was kept. +</P> + +<P> +But though the young inventor and his friend went around to the rear of +the aeroplane, walking in opposite directions, they saw no one, nor did +any one try to escape past them. +</P> + +<P> +"And yet I was sure I heard some one in here," declared Tom, when a +search had revealed nothing. "It sounded as if some one were scuffling +softly about in rubber-soled shoes, trying to hide." +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my suspenders!" cried Mr. Damon, "who do you think it could have +been, Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +"Who else but some spy trying to get possession of my secrets?" was the +answer. "But I guess I was too quick for them. They couldn't learn much +from looking at the outside of my muffler, and it hasn't been +disturbed, as far as I can see." +</P> + +<P> +"Who would want to gain a knowledge of it in that unlawful way?" asked +Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps some of the Universal crowd. They may have been disappointed +in perfecting a silent motor themselves, and think stealing my idea +would be the easiest way out of it." +</P> + +<P> +"Do they know you are working on such a model as this Silent Sam of +yours, Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I imagine they do. One of the firm members, as you recall, +overheard something, I think, that gave them a hint as to what my plans +were, though, thanks to the time I fooled the spy, they haven't any +real data to go by, I believe." +</P> + +<P> +"Let us hope not," said Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +Tom and he made a thorough search of the big shed, but found no one, +nor was there any trace of an intruder. Tom notified Jackson, who, in +turn, told the guards and watchmen to be on the lookout for any +suspicious strangers, but none was seen in the vicinity of the Swift +works. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, everything seems to be all right, so we'll have the test," +remarked Tom, after a further search of the premises. "Now, Mr. +Damon, if all goes as I hope you will see what my new machine can do. +Strain your ears for a sound, and let me know how much you hear." +</P> + +<P> +His men helping him, Tom started the new motor which was tried for the +first time attached to the new craft. No flight was to be made yet, the +motor being tested as though on the block, though, in reality, the +craft was ready for instant flight if need be. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly the great propellers began to revolve, and then Tom, taking his +place in the cockpit, turned on more power. The new craft—Silent +Sam—was made fast so it could not progress even though the propellers +revolved at high speed. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not sending her to the limit," said Tom to his friend, as the +young inventor throttled down the motor. "If I did I'd tear her loose +from the holding blocks." +</P> + +<P> +"Her!" cried Mr. Damon. "Bless my typewriter, Tom! but I thought Silent +Sam was a gentleman aeroplane. +</P> + +<P> +"So he is!" laughed the young man, frankly. "I forgot about 'Silent +Sam.' Guess I'll have to say 'him' instead of 'her,' though the latter +sounds more natural. Anyhow what do you think?" +</P> + +<P> +"I think it's wonderful!" exclaimed Mr. Damon. "There the motor is, +going at almost full speed, and I can hardly hear a thing. You can the +easier believe that when I say that I can hear you talk perfectly well. +And I guess you hear me, don't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," replied Tom. "And we don't have to shout, either. This is the +best test ever! I think everything is a success." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you going to take her aloft, Tom?" the eccentric man went on. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, now that I'm sure the engine is all right. Will you go for a +flight with me?" +</P> + +<P> +"I certainly will! I only wish we could find him, though. I'd go with a +better heart." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! Mr. Nestor?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I can't imagine what has become of him. It is almost as if the +earth had opened and swallowed him. His disappearance is a great +mystery." +</P> + +<P> +"It surely is," agreed Tom. "Can't seem to get any trace of him. But if +we hear another cry for help, when we have to land, you can make up +your mind I'll investigate more quickly than I did at first." +</P> + +<P> +"I agree with you," said Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +It was nearly evening then, and until it was dark enough for his flight +Tom spent the time tuning up the engine and seeing that all was in +readiness for the latest test. He had decided not to go aloft while it +was light enough for curiosity seekers to note the flight. +</P> + +<P> +Tom rather wished Mary Nestor might have a sail with him in his latest +improved silent Air Scout, but the girl was too much occupied at home +and in trying to find some trace of her father. +</P> + +<P> +Tom, his father, and Mr. Damon had helped all they could, but there +were no results. A private detective had been engaged, but he had no +more of a clew than the regular police. +</P> + +<P> +At last it was dark enough for the flight, and Tom and Mr. Damon took +their places in the machine. Once more the propellers were turned +around, and when the compression had been made, and the spark switched +on, around spun the big wooden blades, and the great craft moved over +the grass. +</P> + +<P> +On and on and up and up sailed Tom and Mr. Damon, and as they left +behind them the shops and the Swift homestead, the two passengers were +aware of their almost silent flight. The big aeroplane, the exhaust of +which, ordinarily, would have nearly deafened them, was now as silent +as a bird. +</P> + +<P> +"Silent Sam for Uncle Sam!" cried Tom in delight, as he went on faster. +"I'm sure the government ought to be glad to get this plane for air +scout work. It's a success! A great success!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, so it is!" agreed Mr. Damon. "You do well to speak of it so, Tom." +</P> + +<P> +For, modest as the young inventor was, he felt, in justice to himself, +that he must acknowledge the fact that his craft was a success. For it +rose and sailed almost as silently as a bat, and a few hundred feet +away no one, not seeing it, would have believed a big aeroplane was in +motion. +</P> + +<P> +Tom and Mr. Damon flew about twenty miles at a swift pace, and all the +fault Tom had to find was that the machine was not as steady in flight +as she should have been. +</P> + +<P> +"But I can remedy that with the use of some of dad's gyroscope +stabilizers," he told Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +They returned to the hangar safely, and the first trip of the new +Silent Sam was an assured success. +</P> + +<P> +It was the following day, when Tom was busy in the machine shop +installing the gyroscopes spoken of, that Jackson came to tell him +there was a visitor to see him. +</P> + +<P> +"Who is it?" asked the young inventor. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Gale of the Universal Company," was the answer. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want to see him!" declared Tom quickly. "I have nothing to say +to him after his clumsy threats." +</P> + +<P> +"He seems very much in earnest," said Jackson. "Better see him, if only +for a minute or so." +</P> + +<P> +"All right, I will," assented Tom. "Show him in." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Gale, as blusteringly bluff as ever, entered the shop. Tom had +carefully put away all papers and models, as well as the finished +machines, so he had no fear that his visitor might discover some secret. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Mr. Swift!" began the president of the Universal Company, when he +met the young inventor, "I wish to assure you that what has been done +was entirely without our knowledge. And, though this man may have acted +as our agent at one time, we repudiate any acts of his that might—" +</P> + +<P> +"What are you talking about?" asked Tom in surprise. "Have I been so +impolite as to sleep during part of your talk? I don't understand what +you are driving at." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I thought you did," said Gale, and he showed surprise. "I +understood that the man who—" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean there was some one here in the shed last night?" cried the +young inventor suddenly, all his suspicions aroused. +</P> + +<P> +"Some one here last night?" repeated Mr. Gale. "No, I don't refer to +last night. But perhaps I am making a mistake. I—er—I—" +</P> + +<P> +"Some one is making a mistake!" said Tom significantly. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ANOTHER FLIGHT +</H3> + +<P> +For perhaps a quarter of a minute Tom Swift and the president of the +Universal Flying Machine Company of New York sat staring at one +another. Mr. Gale's face wore a puzzled expression, and so did Tom's. +And, after the last remark of the young inventor, the man who had +called to see him said: +</P> + +<P> +"Well, perhaps we are talking at cross purposes. I don't blame you for +not feeling very friendly toward us, and if I had had my way that last +correspondence with you would never have left our office." +</P> + +<P> +"It wasn't very business-like," said Tom dryly, referring to the veiled +threats when he had refused to sell his services to the rival company. +</P> + +<P> +"I realize that," said Mr. Gale. "But we have some peculiar men working +for us, and sometimes there is so much to do, so many possibilities of +which to take advantage, that we may get a little off our balance. But +what I called for was not to renew our offer to you. I understand that +is definitely settled." +</P> + +<P> +"As far as I am concerned, it is," said Tom, as his caller seemed to +want an answer. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. Well, then, what I called to say was that if you are thinking of +taking any legal action against us because of the action of that man +Lydane, I wish to state that he had absolutely no authority to—" +</P> + +<P> +"Excuse me!" broke in Tom, "but by Lydane do you mean the man who also +posed as Bower, the spy?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I do not. Though I regret to say that Bower once worked for us. +He, too, had no authority to come here and get a position. He was still +in our service when he did that." +</P> + +<P> +"So I have suspected," said Tom. "I realize now that he was a spy, who +came here to try to find out for you some of my secrets." +</P> + +<P> +"Not with my permission!" exclaimed Mr. Gale. "I was against that from +the first and I came to tell you so. But Bower really did you no harm." +</P> + +<P> +"No, he didn't get the chance!" chuckled Tom. "Nor did that other +spy—the one with the gold tooth. I wonder how he liked our mud hole?" +</P> + +<P> +"He was Lydane," said Mr. Gale. "It is about him I came." +</P> + +<P> +"You might have saved yourself the trouble," returned Tom. "I don't +wish to discuss him." +</P> + +<P> +"But I wish to make sure," said Mr. Gale, "that what he has done will +not come back on us. We repudiate him entirely. His methods we can not +countenance. He is too daring—" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, don't worry!" interrupted Tom. "He hasn't done anything to me—he +didn't get the chance, as I guess he's told you. You needn't apologize +on his account. He did me no harm, and—" +</P> + +<P> +"But I understood from him that—" +</P> + +<P> +"Now I don't want to seem impolite!" broke in Tom, "nor do I want to +take pattern after some of your company's acts, if not your own. But I +am very busy. I have an important test to make for the government, and +my time is fully occupied. I am afraid I shall have to bid you +good-morning and—" +</P> + +<P> +"But won't you give me a chance to—" began the president. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, the less we discuss this matter the better!" interrupted Tom. +"Lydane, as you call the man with the gold tooth didn't really do +anything to me nor any great harm to any of my possessions, as far as I +can learn. His career is a closed book—a book with muddy covers!" and +the young inventor laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, well, if you look at it that way, there is nothing further for me +to say," said Mr. Gale stiffly. "I understood— But hasn't my partner, +Mr. Ware, seen you?" he asked Tom quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"No. And I don't care to see him." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, then that accounts for it," was the quick answer. "Well, if you +regard the matter as closed I suppose we should also. We are not to +blame for what Lydane does when he is no longer in our employ, and we +repudiate anything he may do, or may have done." +</P> + +<P> +This struck Tom, afterward, as being rather a queer remark, but he did +not think so at the time. +</P> + +<P> +The truth was that the young inventor wished very much to try out a new +device on his noiseless aeroplane and wanted to get rid of Mr. Gale +before doing so. So he did not pay as much attention to the remarks of +the president as, otherwise, he might have done. +</P> + +<P> +It was not until after Mr. Gale had taken his leave and Tom had +finished the particular work on which he was engaged when the president +of the rival company came in, that the young man did some hard +thinking. And this thinking was done after he had received a telephone +call from Mary Nestor, asking, if by any chance, he had heard anything +like a clew as to the whereabouts of her father. +</P> + +<P> +Tom had been obliged to tell her that he had not. Everything possible +was being done to find the missing man but he had disappeared as +completely as though he had ridden on his bicycle into the crater of +some extinct volcano on the meadow, and had fallen to the bottom. +</P> + +<P> +An effort was made to trace him through an automobile association which +had a large membership. That is, the members were asked to make +inquiries to ascertain, if possible, whether any one had heard of an +unreported accident—one in which Mr. Nestor might have been carried +away by persons who accidently ran him down. +</P> + +<P> +But this came to naught, and the police and other authorities were at a +loss how farther to proceed. It was a theory in some quarters that Mr. +Nestor was perfectly safe, but that he was out of his mind, and was +either wandering around, not knowing who he was, or was, in this +condition, detained somewhere, the persons having him in charge not +realizing that he was the missing man so widely sought. +</P> + +<P> +This belief was a relief to Mrs. Nestor and Mary in many ways for it +prevented them from giving way to the fear that Mr. Nestor was dead. +That he was alive was Tom Swift's firm opinion, and he was doing all he +could to prove it. +</P> + +<P> +It was not until the day after the visit of Mr. Gale that Tom, having +concluded some intricate calculations about the strength of cylinder +valves, uttered an exclamation. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder if he could have meant that?" cried the young inventor. "I +wonder if he could have meant that? I must find out at once! Queer I +didn't think of that before!" +</P> + +<P> +He put in a long distance call to New York, asking to speak to Mr. +Gale. But when, eventually, he was connected with the office of the +Universal Flying Machine Company he was told that Mr. Gale and Mr. Ware +had sailed for France that day, going over as government +representatives to investigate aeroplane motors. Gale's visit to Tom +had been just previous to taking the boat, it was said. +</P> + +<P> +"This is tough luck!" mused Tom, his suspicions doubly aroused now. "I +can't let this rest here! I've got to get after it! As soon as I make +this final test, and invite Uncle Sam's experts out to see how my +noiseless motor works, I'll get after Gale and Ware if I have to follow +them to the battlefields of France! I wonder if it was that he was +hinting at all the while! I begin to believe it was!" +</P> + +<P> +Tom Swift had decided on another flight for his new craft before he +would let the government experts see it. +</P> + +<P> +"Silent Sam must do his very best work for Uncle Sam before I turn him +over," said the young inventor. +</P> + +<P> +"And after this flight I'll offer the machine to the government, and +then devote all my time to finding Mr. Nestor," said Tom. "I'd do it +now, but private matters, however deeply they affect us, must be put +aside to help win the war. But this will end my inventive work until +after Mr. Nestor is found—if he's alive." +</P> + +<P> +Preparations for the test flight went on apace, and one afternoon Tom +and Jackson took their places in the big, new aeroplane. He no longer +feared daylight crowds in case of an accident. They made a good start, +and the motor was so quiet that as Tom passed over his own plant the +men working in the yard, who did not know of the flight, did not look +up to see what was going on. They could not hear the engine. +</P> + +<P> +"I think we've got everything just as we want it, Jackson," said Tom, +much pleased. +</P> + +<P> +"I believe you," answered the mechanician. "It couldn't be better. Now +if—" +</P> + +<P> +And at that moment there came a loud explosion, and Silent Sam began +drifting rapidly toward the earth, as falls a bird with a broken wing. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +QUEER MARKS +</H3> + +<P> +"What happened?" cried Jackson to Tom, as he leaned forward in his seat +which was in the rear of the young inventor's. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't know, exactly," was the answer, as Tom quickly shifted the +rudders to correct the slanting fall of his craft. "Sounded as though +there was a tremendous back-fire, or else the muffler blew up. The +engine is dead." +</P> + +<P> +"Can you take her down safely?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, I guess so. She's a bit out of control, but the stabilizer +will keep her on a level keel. Good thing we installed it." +</P> + +<P> +"You're right!" said Jackson. +</P> + +<P> +Now they were falling earthward with great rapidity, but, thanks to the +gyroscope stabilizer, the "side-slipping," than which there is no +motion more dreaded by an aviator, had nearly ceased. The craft was +volplaning down as it ought, and Tom had it under as perfect control as +was possible under the circumstances. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll get down all right if something else doesn't happen," he said to +Jackson, with grim humor. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, let's hope that it won't," said the mechanic. "We're a good +distance up yet." +</P> + +<P> +They were, as a matter of fact, for the explosion, or whatever had +happened to the craft, had occurred at a height of over two miles, and +they at once began falling. As yet Tom Swift was unaware of the exact +nature of the accident or its cause. All he knew was that there had +been a big noise and that the engine had stopped working. He could not +see the silencer from where he sat, as it was constructed on the +underside of the motor, but he had an idea that the same sort of mishap +had occurred as on the occasion when the test machine had sailed +through the roof of his workshop. +</P> + +<P> +"But, luckily, this wasn't as bad," mused Tom. "Anyhow the motor is out +of business." +</P> + +<P> +And this was very evident. The young inventor had tried to start the +apparatus after its stoppage by the explosion, but it had not responded +to his efforts, and then he had desisted, fearing to cause some further +damage, or, perhaps, endanger his own life and that of Jackson. +</P> + +<P> +Down, down swept Silent Sam—doubly silent now, and Tom began looking +about for a good place to make a landing. This was nothing new for +either him or his mechanician, and they accepted the outcome as a +matter of course. +</P> + +<P> +"Not a very lively place down there," remarked Jackson, as he looked +over the side of the cockpit. +</P> + +<P> +"If we have to depend for help on any one down there, I guess we'll be +a long time waiting," agreed Tom. They were about to land in a very +lonely spot. It was one he had never before visited, though he knew it +could not be much more than twenty miles from his own home, as they had +not flown much farther than that distance. +</P> + +<P> +But, somehow or other, Tom had not visited this particular section, and +knew nothing of it. He saw below him, as Jackson had seen, a lonely +stretch of country—a big field, once a wood-lot, evidently, as +scattered about were some stumps and some second growth trees. There +were also a number of evergreens—Christmas trees Jackson called them. +And this was the only open place for miles, the surrounding country +being a densely wooded one. There did not appear to be a house or other +building in sight where they might seek help. +</P> + +<P> +"But maybe we can make the repairs ourselves and keep on," the lad +thought. +</P> + +<P> +With practiced eye he picked out a smooth, grassy, level spot, in the +midst of scattered evergreen trees, and there Tom Swift skillfully +brought his Air Scout to rest. With a gentle thud the rubber-tired +wheels struck the Earth, rolled along a little distance, and then +called to a stop. +</P> + +<P> +Hardly had the aeroplane ceased moving when Tom and his companion +jumped out and began eagerly to examine the machinery to see the extent +of damage. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought so!" Tom exclaimed. "The silencer cracked under the strain. +Those exhaust gases have more pressure that I believed possible. I +increased the margin of safety on this muffler, too. But she's +cracked, and I can't use the machine until I put on a new one. Good +thing I didn't ask for a government inspection until after this trial +flight." +</P> + +<P> +"That's so," agreed Jackson. "But can't you patch it up, or go on +without a muffler, so we can get back home?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm afraid not," Tom answered. "You see I removed all the old exhaust +pipe fittings when I put on my new silencer. Now if I took off my +attachment there wouldn't be anything to carry off the discharged +gases, and they'd form a regular cloud about us. We couldn't stand it +without gas masks, such as they use in the trenches, and we haven't any +of those with us." +</P> + +<P> +"That's right," agreed Jackson. "Well, what do you want to do? Have me +stay here and guard the machine while you go for help? Or shall I go?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know why we both can't go," said Tom. "There is no use trying +to patch up this machine here. I'll have to send a truck after it, and +dismantle it before I can get it home. +</P> + +<P> +"As for either of us staying here on guard, I don't quite see the need +of that. This looks like the jumping-off place to me. I don't believe +there's a native within miles. I didn't see any houses as we came down, +and I think Silent Sam will be perfectly safe here. No one can run off +with him, anyhow. He'd be as hard to start as an automobile with all +four wheels gone. Let's leave it here and both walk back." +</P> + +<P> +"All right," agreed Jackson. "That suits me. Might as well leave our +togs here, too. It will be easier walking without them," and he began +taking off the fur-lined suit, his cap, and his goggles, such as he and +Tom wore against the piercing cold of the upper regions. +</P> + +<P> +"We can stuff them in the cockpit and leave them," went on the +mechanician, as he divested himself of his garments. As he stowed them +away in his seat he gave one more look at the broken muffler. As Tom +Swift said, his new silencer had literally blown up, a large piece +having been torn from the gas chamber. +</P> + +<P> +Something that Jackson saw caused him to utter an exclamation that +brought Tom Swift to his side. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" asked the young inventor. +</P> + +<P> +"Look!" was the answer. "See! Just at the edge of that break! It's +been filed to make the metal thinner there than anywhere else. You +didn't do that, did you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I should say not!" cried Tom. "Why, to file there would mean to weaken +the whole structure." +</P> + +<P> +"And that's exactly what's happened!" declared Jackson, as he gave +another look. "Some one has filed this nearly through—leaving only a +thin metal skin, and when the gas pressure became too much it blew out. +That's what happened!" +</P> + +<P> +Tom Swift made a quick but thorough examination. +</P> + +<P> +"You're right, Jackson!" he exclaimed. "That was filed deliberately to +cause the accident. And it must have been done lately, for I carefully +inspected the silencer when I put it on, and it was in perfect order. +There's been spy work here. Some one got into the hangar and filed that +casing. Then the accumulated pressure of the gases did the rest." +</P> + +<P> +"As sure as you're alive!" agreed Jackson. "Maybe that's what Gale did +when he called." +</P> + +<P> +"No," returned Tom, shaking his head, "he didn't get a chance to do +anything like that. I watched him all the while. But perhaps this is +what he referred to when he said he and his company would repudiate any +act of that spy with the gold tooth—Lydane, so Gale said his name was. +Maybe that's what Lydane did." +</P> + +<P> +"He was capable of it," agreed the mechanic, "but he couldn't have done +it that time you tripped him into the mud puddle. This silencer wasn't +built then." +</P> + +<P> +"No, you're right," assented Tom. "Then he must have been around since, +doing some of his tricky work!" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see how that could have been," said Jackson slowly. "We've +kept a very careful watch, and your shop has been specially guarded." +</P> + +<P> +"I know it has," said Tom. "There couldn't much get past Koku; but some +one seems to have done it, or else how could that filing have been +done?" +</P> + +<P> +Jackson shook his head. The problem was too much for him. He looked +carefully at the exploded and broken silencer, and Tom, too, gave it a +critical eye. There was no doubt but that it had been filed in several +places to weaken the structure of the metal. +</P> + +<P> +"When did you last see that it was in perfect condition?" asked Jackson. +</P> + +<P> +Tom named a certain date. +</P> + +<P> +"That was just before Gale called," observed the mechanician. "He +might have known of it." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish I'd known of it at the time," said Tom savagely. "He wouldn't +have gotten away as easily as he did. Well, there's no use standing +here talking about it. Let's get back to civilization and we'll send +back one of the trucks. Luckily I have another silencer I can put on +for the government test. This one will never be of any more use, though +I may be able to save some of the valves and baffle plates." +</P> + +<P> +Slowly they turned from the disabled aeroplane and started to look for +a path that would lead them out of the lonely place. Tom as the first +to strike what seemed to be a cow path, or perhaps what had been a road +into the wood lot in the early days. +</P> + +<P> +As he tramped along it, followed by Jackson, the young inventor +suddenly stopped, as he came to a sandy place, and, stooping over, +looked intently at some queer marks in the soil. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" asked the mechanician. +</P> + +<P> +"Looks like the marks of an automobile," said Tom slowly. "And I was +just trying to remember where I'd seen marks like these before." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE DESERTED CABIN +</H3> + +<P> +For several seconds the young inventor remained bending over the queer +marks in that little sandy path of the lonely field in the midst of the +silent woods. Jackson watched him curiously, and then Tom straightened +up, exclaiming as he did so: +</P> + +<P> +"I have it! Now I know where it was! I saw marks like these the night +Mr. Nestor disappeared. Mr. Damon and I noticed the marks in the dust +on the road the time we made the forced landing the first night we +tried out the silent motor. That's it! They are the same marks! I'm +sure of it!" +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't go so far as to say that," said Jackson slowly. He was more +deliberate than Tom Swift, a fact for which the young inventor was +often glad, as it saved him from impulsive mistakes. +</P> + +<P> +"This may not be the same auto," went on the mechanician. "I'll admit I +never saw square tire marks like those before. Most of the usual ones +are circular, diamond-shape or oblong. Some tire manufacturer must have +tried a new stunt. But as for saying these marks were made by the same +machine you saw evidences of the night Mr. Nestor disappeared, why, +that's going a little too far, Tom." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I suppose it is," admitted the young inventor. "But it's a clew +worth following. Maybe Mr. Nestor has been brought to some lonely place +like this, and is being held." +</P> + +<P> +"Why would any one want to do that?" asked Jackson. "He had no enemies." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, perhaps those who ran him down and injured him are afraid to let +him go for fear he will prosecute them and ask for heavy damages," +suggested Tom. "They may be holding him a captive until he gets well, +and aim on treating him so nicely that he won't bring suit." +</P> + +<P> +"That's a pretty far-fetched theory," said the mechanician as he +carefully looked at the tracks. "But of course it may be true. Anyhow, +these tire marks are rather recent, I should say, and they are made by +a new tire. Do you think we can follow them?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to try!" declared Tom. "The only trouble is we can't tell +whether it was going or coming—that is we don't know which way to go." +</P> + +<P> +"That's so," agreed his companion. "And so the only thing to do is to +travel a bit both ways. The path, or road, or whatever you call it, is +plainly enough marked here, though you can't always pick out the tire +marks. They show only on bare ground. The grass doesn't leave any +tracks that we can see, though doubtless they are there. +</P> + +<P> +"But as for thinking this car is the same one the marks of which you +saw on the lonely moor, the night you heard the call for help—that's +going too far, Tom Swift." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I realize that. Of course there must be more than one car with +tires which have square protuberances. But it's worth taking a chance +on—following this clew." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, sure!" agreed Jackson. +</P> + +<P> +"The only question is, then, which way to go," returned Tom. +</P> + +<P> +They settled that, arbitrarily enough, by going on in the direction +they had started after leaving the stranded airship. They followed a +half-defined path, and were rewarded by getting occasional glimpses on +bare ground of the odd tire marks. +</P> + +<P> +Through a devious winding way, now hidden amid a lane of trees, and +again cutting across an open space, the path led. They saw the marks +often enough to make sure they were on the right trail, and in one +place they saw several different patches of the odd marks. +</P> + +<P> +They went on perhaps half a mile more, when they came to a lonely road +and saw where the car had turned from that into the wood-lot, as Tom +called the place where his craft had settled down. +</P> + +<P> +"Look!" cried the young inventor to Jackson. "They've been here more +than once, and have gone along the road in both directions. They seem +to have used this turning into the lot as a sort of stopping place." +</P> + +<P> +This was plain enough from an examination of the marks in the sandy +soil of the road, which was one not often used. The automobile with the +queer, square marks on the tires had turned into the lot, coming and +going in both directions. +</P> + +<P> +"This settles it!" cried Tom, when he finished making an examination. +"There's something farther back in this lot that we've got to see. This +auto has been coming and going, and we should have followed the tracks +the other way from the point where we first saw them, instead of coming +this way." +</P> + +<P> +"Except that we've learned the place of departure," suggested Jackson. +"Evidently the wood-lot is a blind alley. The car goes in, but it can +come out only just at this point, or, at least, it does." +</P> + +<P> +"That's right!" agreed Tom. "Now the thing to do is to follow our track +back to where we started. There must be some place where the car went +to—some headquarters, or meeting place with some one, farther back in +the lot. If we can only follow the trail back as well as we did coming, +we may find out something." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, let's try, anyhow," suggested Jackson. +</P> + +<P> +They had no difficulty in making their way back to the spot where they +had first seen the queer marks. But from then on their task was not so +easy. For sandy or bare patches of earth were not frequent, and they +had to depend on these to give them direction, for the road was +overgrown and not well defined. +</P> + +<P> +Often they would search about for some time after leaving one patch of +the marks before they found another that would justify them in keeping +on. +</P> + +<P> +"They have headquarters, or a rendezvous, somewhere back in this lot!" +declared Tom, as they hurried on. "I think we're on the track of a +mystery." +</P> + +<P> +"Unless it turns out that some farmer has treated himself to an auto +with new tires of square tread, and is hauling wood," said Jackson. "It +may turn out that way." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it may," agreed Tom. "But, taking everything into consideration, +I think we're on the verge of finding out something. Even if we do +discover that the owner of this auto is only hauling wood, he may be +able to help us to a clew as to the whereabouts of Mr. Nestor." +</P> + +<P> +"How?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, maybe he was in his machine on the moor the night the call for +help came. He may even have aided to carry Mr. Nestor away. And if he +doesn't know a thing about it—which, of course, is possible—the man +who bought these queer tires can tell us who makes them, or who deals +in them, and we can find out what autoists around here have their cars +equipped with this odd tread." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," agreed Jackson, "that can be done." +</P> + +<P> +And so they kept on, scouting here and there to either side of the +half-defined path, until they were far back from the spot where they +had left the Air Scout. +</P> + +<P> +"We don't appear to be getting any warmer, as the children say," +remarked Jackson, as he straightened up and looked about, for his back +ached from so much stooping over to look for the odd marks. +</P> + +<P> +"We haven't seen anything yet, I'll admit," said Tom. "But it won't be +dark for another hour or so, and I vote that we keep on." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I wasn't thinking of giving up!" exclaimed Jackson. "If there's +anything here—at the end of the route, as you might say—we'll find +it. Only I hope it doesn't turn out to be just a wood pile, from which +some farmer has been hauling logs." +</P> + +<P> +"That would be a disappointment," assented Tom. +</P> + +<P> +The day was waning, and they realized that they ought not to spend too +much time on what might turn out to be a wild goose chase. They were in +a lonely neighborhood, and while they were not at all apprehensive of +danger, they felt it would be best to get to shelter before dark. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll want to send word to Mr. Swift that we're all right." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Tom, "I'd like to get to a place where I can telephone to +him or Mrs. Baggert. Well, if we don't find something pretty soon we'll +have to turn back. I must complete work on the new motor, for if I'm to +offer it to Uncle Sam for air scout purposes, the sooner I can do so +the better. Things are getting pretty hot over in Europe, and if ever +the United States needed aircraft on the western front they need them +now. I want to help all I can, and I also want to help Mary—you +understand—Miss Nestor." +</P> + +<P> +"I understand," said Jackson simply. "I only hope you can help her. But +I'm afraid—this may turn out to be nothing—following these marks, you +know." +</P> + +<P> +"And yet," said Tom slowly, "it would be strange if it was only a +coincidence—the two tire marks being the same—the night Mr. Nestor +disappeared and now." +</P> + +<P> +And so they kept on, hoping. +</P> + +<P> +The half-defined path through the wood-lot led them in a series of +turns and twists, and it extended through a dense patch of woods, +growing thickly, where it was so dark that it seemed as if night had +fallen. +</P> + +<P> +"We can't spend much more time here," said Tom. "If we don't find +something in the next half mile we'll go back and take up the search +to-morrow. I'm going to find out what's at the end of this road—even +if it's only a wood pile." +</P> + +<P> +For ten minutes more the two went on, making sure, by occasional +glimpses at the marks, that they were on the right track. Then, +suddenly, they saw something which made them feel sure they had reached +their goal. +</P> + +<P> +In a clearing among the trees was a little cabin—a shack of logs—and +from the appearance it was deserted. There was not a sign of life +around. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap22"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CLEWS AT LAST +</H3> + +<P> +For a moment, at sight of the deserted cabin, staring at Tom and his +friend, as it were, from its hiding place amid the trees, the young +inventor and his companion did not move. They just stood looking at the +place. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said Tom, at length, "we found it, didn't we?" +</P> + +<P> +"We found something anyhow," agreed Jackson. "Whether it amounts to +anything or not, we've got to see." +</P> + +<P> +"Come on!" cried Tom, impulsively. "I'm going to see what's there." +</P> + +<P> +"There doesn't appear to be much of anything," said Jackson, as he +looked toward the lonely cabin with critical eyes. "I should say that +place hadn't been used, even as a chicken coop, in a long while." +</P> + +<P> +"We can soon tell!" exclaimed Tom, striding forward. +</P> + +<P> +"Wait just a minute!" cried his companion, catching him by the coat. +"Don't be in such a hurry." +</P> + +<P> +"Why not?" asked Tom. "There isn't any danger, is there?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know about that. There's no telling who may be hidden in that +cabin, in spite of its deserted appearance. And though there aren't any +'No Trespass' signs up, it may be that we wouldn't be welcome. If there +are some tramps there, which is possible, they might take a notion to +shoot at us first and ask questions as to our peaceable intentions +afterward—when it would be too late." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense!" exclaimed Tom. "There aren't any tramps there and, if there +were, they wouldn't dare shoot. I'm going to see what the mystery +is—if there is one." +</P> + +<P> +But there was no sign of life, and, taking this as an indication that +their advance would not be disputed, Jackson followed Tom. The latter +advanced until he could take in all the details of the shack. It was +made of logs, and once had been chinked with mud or clay. Some of this +had fallen out, leaving spaces between the tree trunks. +</P> + +<P> +"It wasn't a bad little shack at one time," decided Tom. "Maybe it was +a place where some one camped out during the summer. But it hasn't been +used of late. I never knew there was such a place around here, and I +thought I knew this locality pretty well." +</P> + +<P> +"I never heard of it, either," said Jackson. "Let's give a shout and +see if there's any one around. They may be asleep. Hello, there!" he +called in sufficiently vigorous tones to have awakened an ordinary +sleeper. +</P> + +<P> +Put there was no answer, and as the shadows of the night began to fall, +the place took on a most lonely aspect. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's go up and knock—or go in if the door's open," suggested Tom. +"We can't lose any more time, if we're to get out of here before night." +</P> + +<P> +"Go ahead," said Jackson, and together they went to the cabin door. +</P> + +<P> +"Locked!" exclaimed Tom, as he saw a padlock attached to a chain. It +appeared to be fastened through two staples, driven one into the door +and the other into the jamb, at right angles to one another and +overlapping. +</P> + +<P> +"Knock!" suggested Jackson. But when Tom had done so, and there was no +answer, the machinist took hold of the lock. To his own surprise and +that of Tom, one of the staples pulled out and the door swung open. The +place had evidently been forced before, and the lock had not been +opened by a key. The staple had been pulled out and replaced loosely in +the holes. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment nothing could be made out in the dark interior of the +shack. But as their eyes became used to the gloom, Tom and his +companion were able to see that the shack consisted of two rooms. +</P> + +<P> +In the first one there was a rusty stove, a table, and some chairs, and +it was evident, from pans and skillets hanging on the wall, as well as +from a small cupboard built on one side, that this was the kitchen and +living room combined. +</P> + +<P> +"Anybody here?" cried Tom, as he stepped inside. +</P> + +<P> +Only a dull echo answered. +</P> + +<P> +The two could now see where a door gave entrance to an inner room, and +this, a quick glance showed, was the sleeping apartment, two bunks +being built on the side walls. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, somebody had it pretty comfortable here," decided Tom, as he +looked around. "They've been cooking and sleeping here, and not so very +long ago, either. It wouldn't be such a bad place if it was cleaned +out." +</P> + +<P> +"That's right," agreed Jackson. "Wouldn't mind camping here myself, if +there was any fishing near." +</P> + +<P> +"The river can't be far away," suggested Tom. "And now let's see what +we can find, and see if we can get a line on who has been here. But +first we'll let in a little light." +</P> + +<P> +He opened a window in the sleeping room, and pushed back the heavy +plank shutter that had been closed. When the light entered it was seen +that both bunks bore evidence of having been lately slept in. The +blankets were tossed back, as if the occupants had risen, and in the +outer room, on the stove, were signs that indicated a meal had been +served not many days gone by. +</P> + +<P> +"Now," observed Tom musingly, as he wandered about the place, "if we +could only find out who owns this, and who has been here lately—" +</P> + +<P> +Jackson stooped over, and, thrusting aside an end of the blankets that +trailed on the floor from one of the bunks, picked up something. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" asked Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"Looks like a leather pocketbook," was the answer. "That's what it is," +the mechanic went on, as he held the object to the light. "It's a +wallet." +</P> + +<P> +"Let me see it!" exclaimed Tom quickly. He took the wallet from the +hands of Jackson. Then the young inventor uttered a cry. "A clew at +last!" he exclaimed. "A clew at last! Mr. Nestor has been in this +cabin!" +</P> + +<P> +"How do you know?" asked Jackson quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"This is his wallet," said Tom excitedly. "I've often seen him have it. +In fact he had it with him on Earthquake Island, the time I sent the +wireless message for help. I saw it several times then. He kept in it +what few papers he had saved from the wreck. And I've seen it often +enough since. That's Mr. Nestor's wallet all right. Besides, if you +want any other evidence—look!" He opened the leather flaps and showed +Jackson on one, stamped in gold letters, the name of Mary's father. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what do you make of it, Tom?" asked the mechanician, as he +finished his examination of the wallet. "What does it mean? The +pocket-book is empty and that—" +</P> + +<P> +"Might mean almost anything," completed Tom. "But it's a clew all +right! He's been here, and I'm pretty certain he was brought here in +the auto with the odd tires—the one Mr. Damon and I saw traces of the +night we heard the cries for help." +</P> + +<P> +"But that doesn't help us now," said Jackson. "The point is to find out +how lately Mr. Nestor was here, and what has happened to him since. +There isn't anything in the wallet, is there?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing," answered Tom, making a careful examination so as to be sure. +"It's as empty as a last year's bird nest. He's been robbed—that's +what has happened to Mr. Nestor. He was waylaid that night, instead of +being run down as I thought—waylaid and robbed and then his body was +brought here." +</P> + +<P> +"There you go again, Tom! Jumping to conclusions!" said Jackson, with a +friendly smile, and with the familiarity of an old and valued helper. +"Maybe he's in perfectly good health. Just because you found his empty +wallet doesn't argue that your friend is in serious trouble. He may +have dropped this on the road and some one picked it up. I'll admit +they may have taken whatever was in it, but that doesn't prove +anything. The thing for us to do is to find out who knows about this +shack; who owns it, on whose land it is, and whether any one has been +seen here lately." +</P> + +<P> +"They've been here lately whether they've been seen or not," said Tom +positively. "There are the auto tracks. It rained two days ago, and the +tracks were made since. Mr. Nestor must have been here within two days." +</P> + +<P> +"He may or may not," said Jackson. "Say, rather, that some one was here +and left his wallet after him. Now see if we can find other clews!" +</P> + +<P> +They looked about in the fast fading light, but at first could discover +nothing more than evidences that three or four persons had been living +in the shack and at some recent date—probably within a day or two. +</P> + +<P> +They had had their meals there and had slept there. But this seemed to +be all that could be established, other than that Mr. Nestor's wallet +was there, stripped of its contents. +</P> + +<P> +Tom was looking through the closet, from which a frightened chipmunk +sprang as he opened the door. There were the remains of some food, +which accounted for the presence of the little striped animal. And, as +Tom poked about, his hand came in contact with something wrapped in +paper on an upper shelf. It was something that clinked metallicly. +</P> + +<P> +"What's that?" asked Jackson. "Knives, or some other weapons?" +</P> + +<P> +"Neither," answered Tom. "It's a couple of files, and they've been used +lately. I can see something in the grooves yet and—" +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly Tom ceased speaking and drew from his pocket a small but +powerful magnifying glass. Through this he looked at one of the files, +taking it out in front of the shack where the light was better. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought so!" he cried. "Look here, Jackson!" +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Another clew!" answered Tom. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap23"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE GOVERNMENT TEST +</H3> + +<P> +For a moment Jackson thought Tom had discovered a clew to, or evidences +of, some crime. He had an unpleasant suspicion, for an instant, that +there was blood on the files, and that it might prove to be the blood +of Mr. Nestor. +</P> + +<P> +But the satisfaction that showed on Tom's face did not seem to indicate +such dire possibilities as these. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" asked Jackson, unable to guess at what Tom was looking +through the powerful glass. "What do you see?" +</P> + +<P> +"Metal filings on the grooves of these files," said the young inventor. +"And, unless I'm greatly mistaken, the particles of filings are from +the case of my aircraft silencer!" +</P> + +<P> +"What!" cried the machinist. "Do you mean those are the files used in +weakening the outer case of your new machine, so that it burst a little +while ago?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's what I think," answered Tom. "I know it sounds pretty +far-fetched," he went on. "But take a look for yourself. If those +particles on, the files aren't exactly of the same color and texture as +the material of which the silencer case is made, I'll never build +another machine." +</P> + +<P> +Jackson peered through the powerful glass moving out a little farther +from the shack, so as to get the best light possible on the subject of +his examination. It was fast getting dark, but there was enough glow in +the western sky for his purpose. +</P> + +<P> +"Am I right?" asked Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"You're right!" declared his helper. "This is exactly the same metal as +that of which your silencer case is made. It's a peculiar mixture of +aluminum and vanadium steel. I never knew it used in any shop but +yours, and these filings are certainly of that metal. It would seem, +Tom, that these were the files used to cut a crease in the case of your +silencer to weaken it so it would burst." +</P> + +<P> +"My idea exactly!" cried Tom. "The spy, who got into my shop in some +undiscovered manner, did his work and then fled here to hide. He left +his files behind. Mr. Nestor must have been here, either before or +after. No, I'll not say that, either. Finding his wallet here doesn't +prove that he was here. It might have been brought here by one of the +spies and dropped. But I'm sure we're on the track of the men who +damaged my airship, as well as those who know something of the mystery +of Mr. Nestor." +</P> + +<P> +"I agree with you," said Jackson. "Of course there's a possibility that +the same peculiar metal you used in your silencer case may have been +used in some other machine shop, and these files may have come from +there, and have been employed in perfectly regular work. But the +chances are—" +</P> + +<P> +"There's only one way to make sure," said Tom. "Let's take the files +with us and see if they fit in the grooves where the break came. We'll +take these back to where we left the Air Scout," and he clinked the +files he held. +</P> + +<P> +"We can just about make it before it gets black dark," returned +Jackson. "But that won't give us any more time to look around here," +and he indicated the hut. +</P> + +<P> +"I fancy we've seen all there is to see here," said Tom. "Mr. Nestor +isn't here, and whether he was or not is a question. Anyhow, some one +was here who had something to do with him after his disappearance, I'm +positive of that. And I'm sure some one was here who damaged my +airship. Now we'll run down both those clews, find out who owns this +place, who has been using it, and all we can along that line. So, if +you're ready, let's travel." +</P> + +<P> +The two set out to make their way back to where they had left the +stranded airship. It was fast becoming dark, but they could hurry along +with more speed now, as they did not have to stop to look for the marks +of the peculiar automobile tires. They had noticed the path along which +they had traveled, and in half the time they had spent coming they were +back where the Air Scout rested undisturbed in the meadow amid the +trees. +</P> + +<P> +Making sure that, as far as they could tell, no one had visited the +craft since they had left it, Tom and Jackson compared the file marks +on what was left of the broken silencer case with the files they had +found in the hut. They used a small, but powerful electric lamp to aid +them in this examination, as it was too dark to see otherwise, and what +they saw caused the young inventor to exclaim: +</P> + +<P> +"That settles it! These were the files used!" +</P> + +<P> +"That's right!" agreed his assistant. "You've called the turn, Tom. The +next thing to do is to find who connects with the files." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. To do that and find Mr. Nestor," said Tom. "We have plenty of +work ahead of us. But let's get nearer civilization and send some word +to the folks at home. They'll be getting worried." +</P> + +<P> +"It doesn't seem as if there was a way out of here without using an +airship," remarked Jackson. +</P> + +<P> +But he and Tom finally reached the seldom-used road which ran along the +field that contained the lonely shack, and, following this, they +reached a farmhouse about a mile farther on. Greatly to their relief, +there was a telephone in the place. True it was only a party line, set +up by some neighboring farmers for their own private use, but one of +the subscribers, to whose home the private line ran, had a long +distance instrument, and after a talk with him, this man promised Tom +to call up Mr. Swift and acquaint him with the fact that his son and +Jackson were all right, and would be home later. +</P> + +<P> +"And now," said Tom, after thanking their temporary host, a farmer +named Bloise, "can you tell us anything about an old cabin that stands +back there?" and he indicated the location of the mysterious shack. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, yes, I can tell you a little about it, but not very much," said +Mr. Bloise. "It was built, some years ago, by a rich New Yorker, who +bought up a lot of land around here for a game preserve. But it didn't +pan out. This cabin was only the start of what he was going to call a +'hunting lodge,' I believe it was. There was to be a big building on +the same order, but it never was built. +</P> + +<P> +"Some say the fellow lost all his money in Wall Street, and others say +the state wouldn't let him make a game preserve here. However it was, +the thing petered out, and the old shack hasn't been used since." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, it has!" exclaimed Tom. "We just came from there, and there +are signs which show some one has been sleeping there and eating there." +</P> + +<P> +"There has!" exclaimed the farmer. "Well, I didn't know that." +</P> + +<P> +"I did," said his son, a young man about Tom's age. "I meant to speak +of it the other day. I saw an automobile turn into the old road that +the men used when they built the shack. I thought it was kind of queer +to see a touring car turn in there, and I meant to speak of it, but I +forgot. Yes, some one has been at the old cabin lately." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know who they are?" asked Tom eagerly. "We are looking for a +Mr. Nestor, who disappeared mysteriously about two weeks ago, and I +just found his wallet there in the shack!" +</P> + +<P> +"You did!" exclaimed Mr. Bloise. "That's queer! You relatives of this +Mr. Nestor?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Not exactly," Tom answered. "Just very close friends." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it's too bad about his being missing in that way," went on the +farmer. "I read about it in the paper, but I never suspected he was +around here." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, we're not sure that he was," said Tom quickly. "Finding his wallet +doesn't prove that," and he told the story of his own and Jackson's +appearance on the scene, to the no small wonder of the farmer and his +family. Tom said nothing about the finding of the files, nor the +evidence he deduced from them. That was another matter to be taken up +later. +</P> + +<P> +"Who were in the auto you saw?" asked Tom of the farmer's son. "Was +Mr. Nestor in the car?" +</P> + +<P> +"I couldn't be sure of that. There were two men in the machine, and +they were both strangers to me. They were talking together, pretty +earnestly, it seemed to me." +</P> + +<P> +"One did not appear as if he was being taken away against his will, did +he?" asked Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I can't say that he did," was the answers "They looked to me, and +acted like, business men looking over land, or something like that. +They just turned in on the road that leads to the old hunting cabin, as +we call it around here, and didn't pay any attention to me. Then I +forgot all about them." +</P> + +<P> +"Neither of them could have been Mr. Nestor," decided Tom. "At least it +doesn't seem as if he'd talk at all companionably to a man who had +treated him as we think Mr. Nestor has been treated. I guess that clew +isn't going to amount to much." +</P> + +<P> +"It may!" insisted Jackson. "They may have had Mr. Nestor in the car +all the while—concealed in the back you know. We've got to find out +more about these men and their auto, Tom." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, yes, perhaps we have. But how?" +</P> + +<P> +"Station some one at the shack, or at the beginning of the private +road. The men may come back." +</P> + +<P> +"That's so—they may. We'll do that!" cried the young inventor. "We +must tell the police and Mr. Nestor's folks what we have learned. How +can we get back to Shopton in a hurry?" he asked the farmer. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I can drive you to the railroad station," was the answer. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you," remarked Tom. "We'll accept your offer. And as soon as we +get back we must send some one from the shop to stand guard over the +airship," he added in an aside to Jackson. "Those file fellows may come +back." +</P> + +<P> +"That's so, we can't take any chances." +</P> + +<P> +The farmer soon had his team at the door, and, after they had had a +hasty but satisfying supper at the farmhouse, the son drove Tom and +Jackson several miles to a railroad station, where they could catch a +train for Shopton. +</P> + +<P> +In due season Tom's home was reached. He intended to stop but a minute, +to assure his father that everything was all right, and then get out +his speedy runabout to go to see Mary, to tell her the news. +</P> + +<P> +But when Tom sought his father in the library, he was told that there +was a visitor in the house. +</P> + +<P> +"Tom," said his father, "this gentleman is from Washington. He wants to +arrange for a government test of your silent airship. I told him I +thought you were about ready for it." +</P> + +<P> +"A government test!" cried Tom. "Why, I didn't think the government +even knew I was working on such an idea!" Tom was greatly surprised. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap24"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IN THE MOONLIGHT +</H3> + +<P> +With a reassuring smile the visitor from Washington looked at Tom Swift. +</P> + +<P> +"The government officials," he said, "know more than some people give +them credit for—especially in these war times. Our intelligence bureau +and secret service has been much enlarged of late. But don't be +alarmed, Mr. Swift," went on the caller, whose name was Mr. Blair +Terrill. "Your secret is safe with the government, but I think the time +is ripe to use it now—that is, if you have perfected it to a point +where we can use it." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," answered Tom slowly, "the invention is practically finished and +it is a success, except for a few minor matters that will not take long +to complete. +</P> + +<P> +"Our accident this afternoon had nothing to do with the efficiency of +the silencer," Tom went on. "It was deliberately damaged by some spy. +I'll take that up later. That I am interested to know how you heard of +my Air Scout, as I call it." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we have agents, you know, watching all the inventors who have +helped us in times past, and we haven't forgotten your giant cannon or +big searchlight. I might say, to end your curiosity and lull your +suspicions, that your friend, Ned Newton, who has been doing such good +Liberty Bond work, informed us of your progress on the silent motor." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, so it was Ned!" exclaimed Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. He told us the time was about ripe for us to make you an offer +for your machine. I think we can use it to great advantage in scout +work on the western front," went on the agent, and he soon convinced +Tom that when it came to a knowledge of airships, he had some very +pertinent facts at his disposal. +</P> + +<P> +"When can you give me a test?" Mr. Terrill asked Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"As soon as I can get my craft back to the shop and fit on a new outer +case. That won't take long, as I have some spare ones. But I must help +the Nestors," he went on, speaking to his father. "I didn't mention it +over the wire," he added, "but we've found in the cabin a clew to the +missing man. I must tell Mary and her mother, and help them all I can." +</P> + +<P> +"And allow me to help, too," begged Mr. Terrill. "Since this affects +you, Mr. Swift, and since you are, in a way, working for Uncle Sam, you +must let him help you. This is the first I have heard of the missing +gentleman, of whom your father just told me something, but you must +allow me to help search for him. I will get the United States Secret +Service at work." +</P> + +<P> +"That will be fine!" cried Tom. "I wanted to get their aid, but I +didn't see how I could, as I knew they were too busy with army matters +and tracing seditious alien enemies, to bother with private cases. I'm +sure the Secret Service men can get trace of the persons responsible +for the detention of Mr. Nestor, wherever he is." +</P> + +<P> +"They'll do their best," said Mr. Terrill. "I'm a member of that body," +he went on, "and I'll give my personal attention to the matter." +</P> + +<P> +Then followed a busy time. Tom did not get to bed until nearly morning. +For he had to arrange to send some of his men to guard the stranded +airship, and then he went to see Mary and her mother, taking them the +good news that the search for Mr. Nestor would be prosecuted with +unprecedented vigor. +</P> + +<P> +"If it isn't too late!" sadly said the missing man's wife. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I'm sure it isn't!" declared Tom. +</P> + +<P> +In addition to sending a guard to the airship, other men, some of them +hastily summoned from the nearest federal agency, were sent to keep +watch in the vicinity of the lonely cabin. They had orders to arrest +whoever approached, and a relay of the men was provided, so that watch +could be kept up night and day. Besides this, other men from the Secret +Service began scouring the country around the locality of the cabin, +seeking a trace of the two persons the farmer's son had seen in the +automobile. +</P> + +<P> +"If Mr. Nestor is to be found, they'll find him!" declared Tom Swift. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Damon, as might be expected, was very much excited and wrought up +over all these happenings. +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my watch chain, Tom Swift!" cried the eccentric man, "but +something is always happening to you. And to think I wasn't along when +this latest happened!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you can be in at the finish," promised Tom, and it was strange +how his promise was fulfilled. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile there was much to do. During the time the Secret Service men +were busy looking up clews which might lead to the finding of Mr. +Nestor and keeping watch in the vicinity of the hut, Tom had his +airship brought back to the hangar, and a new silencer was attached. +While this work was going on the place was guarded night and day by +responsible men, so there was no chance for an enemy spy to get in and +do further damage. +</P> + +<P> +An investigation was made of the Universal Flying Machine Company, but +nothing could be proved to link them with the outrage. Gale and Ware +were in Europe—ostensibly on government business, but it was said that +if anything could be proved connecting them with the attempt made on +Tom Swift's craft, they would be deprived of all official contracts and +punished. +</P> + +<P> +All this took time, and the waits were wearisome, particularly in the +case of Mr. Nestor. No further trace of him was found, though every +effort was made. Tom began to feel that his boast of his enemies having +to get up early in the morning to get ahead of him, had been premature, +to say the least. +</P> + +<P> +Tom Swift worked hard on his new Air Scout. He determined there would +be nothing lacking when it came to the government test, and not only +did he make sure that no enemy could tamper with his machine, but he +took pains to see that no inherent defect would mar the test. +</P> + +<P> +Jackson and the other men helped to the best of their ability, and Mr. +Swift suggested some improvements which were incorporated in the new +machine. +</P> + +<P> +One of the puzzles the Secret Service men had to solve was that of the +connection, if any, between the men who had to do with the missing Mr. +Nestor and those who had damaged Tom's airship by filing the muffler +case so it was weakened and burst. That there was some connection Tom +was certain, but he could not work it out, nor, so far, had the +government men. +</P> + +<P> +At last the day came when the big government test was to be made. Tom +had completed his Air Scout and had refined it to a point where even +his critical judgment was satisfied. All that remained now was to give +Mr. Terrill a chance to see how silently the big craft could fly, and +to this end a flight was arranged. +</P> + +<P> +Tom had put the silencer on a larger machine than the one he and +Jackson had used. It held three easily, and, on a pinch, four could be +carried. Tom's plan was to take Mr. Damon and Mr. Terrill, fly with +them for some time in the air, and demonstrate how quiet his new craft +was. Then, by contrast, a machine without the muffler and the new motor +with its improved propellers would be flown, making as much noise as +the usual craft did. +</P> + +<P> +"I only wish," said Tom, as the time arrived for the official +government test, "that Mary could be here to see it. She was the one +who really started me on this idea, so to speak, as it was because I +couldn't talk to her that I decided to get up a silent motor." +</P> + +<P> +But Mary Nestor was too grief-stricken over her missing father to come +to the test, which was to take place late one afternoon, starting from +the aerodrome of the Swift plant. +</P> + +<P> +"First," said Tom, to Mr. Terrill, "I'll show you how the machine works +on the ground. I'll run the motor while the plane is held down by means +of ropes and blocks. Then we'll go up in it." +</P> + +<P> +"That suits me," said the agent. "If it does all you say it will do, +and as much as I believe it will do, Uncle Sam will be your debtor, Mr. +Swift." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we'll see," said Tom with a smile. +</P> + +<P> +Preparations were made with the greatest care, and Tom went over every +detail of the machine twice to make certain that, in spite of the +precautions, no spy had done any hidden damage, that might be +manifested at an inopportune moment. But everything seemed all right, +and, finally, the motor was started, while Mr. Terrill, and some of his +colleagues from the Army Aviation department looked on. +</P> + +<P> +"Contact!" cried Tom, as Jackson indicated that the compression had +been made. +</P> + +<P> +The mechanic nodded, gave the big propeller blades a quarter turn and +jumped back. In an instant the motor was operating, and the craft would +have leaped forward and cleaved the air but for the holding ropes and +blocks. Tom speeded the machinery up to almost the last notch, but +those in the aerodrome hardly heard a sound. It was as though some +great, silent dynamo were working. +</P> + +<P> +"Fine!" +</P> + +<P> +"Wonderful!" +</P> + +<P> +"Wouldn't have believed it possible!" +</P> + +<P> +These were some of the comments of the government inspectors. +</P> + +<P> +"And now for the final test—that in the air," said Mr. Terrill. +</P> + +<P> +Previous to this he and his colleagues had made a minute examination of +the machinery, and had been shown the interior construction of the +silencer by means of one built so that a sectional view could be had. +Tom's principles were pronounced fundamental and simple. +</P> + +<P> +"So simple, in fact, that it is a wonder no one thought of it before," +said a navy aviation expert. "It is the last word in aircraft +construction—a silent motor that will not apprise the enemy of its +approach! You have done wonders, Mr. Swift!" +</P> + +<P> +"I'd rather hear you say that after the air test," replied Tom, with a +laugh. "Are you ready, Mr. Terrill?" +</P> + +<P> +"Whenever you are." +</P> + +<P> +"How about you, Mr. Damon?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I'm always ready to go with you, Tom Swift. Bless my trench +helmet, but you can't sail any too soon for me!" +</P> + +<P> +There was a genial laugh at his impetuosity, and the three took their +seats in the big craft. Once more the engine was started. It operated +as silently as before, and the first good impressions were confirmed. +Even as the machine moved along the ground, just previous to taking +flight into the air, there was no noise, save the slight crunch made by +the wheels. This, of course, would be obviated when Silent Sam was +aloft. +</P> + +<P> +Up and up soared the great craft, with Tom at the engine and guide +controls, while Mr. Terrill and Mr. Damon sat behind him, both eagerly +watching. Mr. Terrill was there to find fault if he could, but he was +glad he did not have to. +</P> + +<P> +"The machine works perfectly, Mr. Swift," he said. "My report cannot be +otherwise than favorable." +</P> + +<P> +"We mustn't be in too much of a hurry," said Tom, who had learned +caution some time ago. "I want to sail around for several hours. +Sometimes a machine will work well at first, but defects will develop +when it is overheated. I'm going to do my best to make a noise with +this new motor." +</P> + +<P> +But it seemed impossible. The machinery worked perfectly, and though +Silent Sam took his passengers high and low, in big circles and small +ones, there was no appreciable noise from the motor. The passengers +could converse as easily, and with as little effort, as in a balloon. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course that isn't the prime requisite," said Mr. Terrill, "but it +is a good one. What we want is a machine that can sail over the enemy's +lines at night without being heard, and I think this one will do it—in +fact, I'm sure it will. Of course the ability of the passengers to +converse and not have to use the uncertain tube is a great advantage." +</P> + +<P> +As Tom Swift sailed on and on, it became evident that the test was +going to be a success. The afternoon passed, and it began to grow dark, +but a glorious full moon came up. +</P> + +<P> +"Shall I take you down?" the young inventor asked Mr. Terrill. +</P> + +<P> +"Not quite yet. I thoroughly enjoy this, and it isn't often I get a +chance for a moonlight airship ride. Go a little lower, if you please, +and we'll see if we attract any attention from the inhabitants of the +earth. We'll see if they can possibly hear the machine, though I don't +see how they can." +</P> + +<P> +And they did not. Tom piloted the machine over Shopton, sailing +directly over the center of the town, where there was a big crowd +walking about. Though the airship sailed only a few hundred feet above +their heads, not a person was aware of it, since the craft's lights +were put out for this test. +</P> + +<P> +"That settles it," said Mr. Terrill. "You have succeeded, Tom Swift!" +</P> + +<P> +But Tom was not yet satisfied. He wanted a longer test. Hardly knowing +why he did it he sent the craft in the direction of Mary Nestor's home. +As he sailed across her lawn he saw, in the moonlight, that she and her +mother were walking in the garden. They did not look up as the +aircraft passed over their heads, and were totally unaware of its +presence, unless they caught a glimpse of it as it flitted silently +along, like some great bird of the night. +</P> + +<P> +"It is perfectly wonderful!" declared Mr. Terrill, and he spoke in +ordinary tones, that carried perfectly to the ears of Tom and Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"Wonderful!" cried the eccentric man. "Bless my chimney, but it's the +greatest invention in the world! Yes, it is! Don't tell me it 'isn't!" +</P> + +<P> +And no one did. +</P> + +<P> +Passing the Nestor home, the saddened occupants of which were unaware +of the passage, Tom sent the Air Scout about in a circle, intending to +proceed to the hangar. And then, some whim, perhaps, caused him to +guide Silent Sam out toward the lonely hut. Mr. Damon and Mr. Tenrill +seemed perfectly content to sail on and on indefinitely in the +moonlight. Tom thought he would take them over a lonely neighborhood, +and then bring them back. +</P> + +<P> +In a little while the craft was directly over the stretch of country +where the aeroplane accident had occurred, and where Tom and Jackson +had found the deserted hut. +</P> + +<P> +Rather idly Tom looked down, wondering if the Secret Service men were +on the watch and if they had discovered anything. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly Tom was aware of an automobile moving along the field path +toward the cabin. There were two men in the car, both on the front +seat, and as Tom looked down the brilliant moonlight showed him the +figure of another man, behind, and huddled in the tonneau of the car. +The aeroplane was low enough for all these details to be seen by the +moon's gleam, but the men in the car, not hearing any noise, did not +look up, so they were unconscious of this aerial espionage. +</P> + +<P> +"Look! Look!" exclaimed Tom in a low voice to his companions. "Doesn't +that seem suspicious?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap25"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE GOLD TOOTH +</H3> + +<P> +Eagerly Mr. Damon and the government agent leaned over and looked down. +In the moonlight they saw the same sight that had attracted Tom Swift. +The touring car, the two men in front, and the huddled, bound figure in +the back. +</P> + +<P> +"Can you go down, Tom, without letting them hear you?" asked Mr. Damon, +using a low voice, as if fearful the men in the automobile would hear +him. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess so," answered the young inventor. "I can land nearer to the +cabin than Jackson and I did, and then we can see what these fellows +are up to. It looks suspicious to me. That is, unless they're some of +the Secret Service men, and have made a capture," he added to Mr. +Terrill. +</P> + +<P> +"Those aren't any of Uncle Sam's men," declared the agent. "That is, +unless the bound one is. I can't see him very well. Better go down, +and we'll see if we can surprise them." +</P> + +<P> +"My plan," voiced Tom. +</P> + +<P> +Quickly he shifted the rudder, and then, shutting off the motor, as he +wanted to volplane down, he headed his craft for an open spot that +showed in the bright moonlight. By this time the automobile and its +occupants were out of sight behind a clump of trees, but Tom and his +companions felt sure of the destination of the men—the deserted cabin +in the wood. +</P> + +<P> +As silently as a wisp of grass falling, the big craft came down on a +level spot, and then, leaping out, the young inventor and his two +companions crept along the path toward the cabin. Mr. Terrill was +armed, Tom carried a flashlight, while Mr. Damon picked up a heavy club. +</P> + +<P> +As soon as he came near a place where he thought the marks of the +automobile wheels would show, Tom flashed his light. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought so!" he exclaimed, as he saw the square, knobby tread marks +left by the tires. "It's the same gang, or some of them in the same +car. If we can only capture them!" +</P> + +<P> +"The Secret Service men ought to do that," returned Mr. Terrill, but, +as it developed later, they were not on hand, though through no fault +of theirs. +</P> + +<P> +On and on crept Tom and the two men, until they came within sight of +the cabin. They saw a light gleaming in it, and Tom whispered: +</P> + +<P> +"Now we have them! Work our way up quietly and make them surrender, if +we find they're what we think." +</P> + +<P> +"Is there a rear door?" asked Mr. Terrill in a whisper. +</P> + +<P> +Tom answered in the negative, and then all three, in fan shape, crept +up to the front portal. It was open, and silently reaching a place +where they could make an observation, Tom and his companions looked in. +</P> + +<P> +What they saw filled them with wild and righteous rage, and brought to +an end the mystery of the disappearance of Mr. Nestor. For there he +sat, bound in a chair, and at a table in front of him were two +forbidding-looking men. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you intend to do now?" asked Mr. Nestor in a faint voice. "I +cannot stand this captivity much longer. You admit that you don't want +me—that you never wanted me—so why do you keep me a prisoner? It +cannot do the least good." +</P> + +<P> +"There's no use going over that again!" exclaimed the harsh voice of +one of the men. "We told you that if you will promise to keep still +about what happened to you, and not to give the police any information +about us, we'll let you go gladly. We don't want you. It was all a +mistake, capturing you. You were the wrong man. But we're not going to +let you go and have you set the police on us as soon as you get a +chance. Give us your promise to say nothing, and we'll let you join +your friends. If you don't—" +</P> + +<P> +"Make no promises, Mr. Nestor!" cried Tom Swift in a ringing voice, as +he leaped from his hiding place, followed by his companions. "Your +friends are here, and you can tell them everything!" +</P> + +<P> +"Up with 'em!" called Mr. Terrill to the two conspirators as he +confronted them with his automatic pistol ready for firing. He had no +need to mention hands—they knew what he meant and took the +characteristic attitude. +</P> + +<P> +"Tom! Tom Swift!" cried Mr. Nestor, struggling ineffectually at his +bonds. "Is it really you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I hope it isn't any imitation," was the grim answer. "We'll +tell you all about it later. Jove, but I'm glad we found you! If it +hadn't been for Silent Sam we might never have been able to." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I don't know who Silent Sam is," said Mr. Nestor faintly. "But +I'm sure I'm much obliged to him and your other friends. It has been +very hard. Tell me, are my wife and Mary all right?" +</P> + +<P> +"In good health, yes, but, of course, worrying," said Tom. "We saw them +in the garden a little while ago. Now don't talk until I set you free." +</P> + +<P> +And as Tom cut the ropes from Mr. Nestor, Mr. Damon used them to bind +the two conspirators, while Mr. Terrill stood guard over them. And when +they were safely bound, and Mr. Nestor had somewhat recovered from the +shock, Tom had a chance to examine the prisoners. +</P> + +<P> +"What does it all mean? Who are you fellows, anyhow, and what's your +game?" he demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess it—since you're so smart!" snapped one. +</P> + +<P> +And no sooner had he opened his mouth and Tom had a glance of something +gleaming brightly yellow, than the young inventor cried: +</P> + +<P> +"The gold tooth! So it's you again, is it, you spy?" +</P> + +<P> +The man shrugged his shoulders with an assumption of indifference. And, +as Tom took a closer look, he became aware that the man was surely none +other than Lydane, the spy he had chased into the mud puddle some weeks +before. His companion was a stranger to Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"What does it all mean, Mr. Nestor?" asked Tom. "Have these men held +you a prisoner ever since you called for help on the moor that night?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Tom, they have. And I did call for help after they attacked me as +I was riding my wheel, but I didn't know any one heard me. I began to +be afraid no one would ever help me." +</P> + +<P> +"We've been trying to, a long time," said Mr. Damon, "but we couldn't +find you. Where did they keep you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Here, part of the time," was Mr. Nestor's answer. "And in other lonely +houses. They bound and gagged me when they took me from place to place." +</P> + +<P> +"But what was their object?" asked Tom, concluding it was useless to +question the two captives. "Why did they make you a prisoner, Mr. +Nestor?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because they took me for you, Tom." +</P> + +<P> +"For me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. The night I called at your house, and found you were not at home, +I put back in my pocket a bundle of papers I had brought over to show +you. They were plans of a little kitchen appliance a friend of mine had +invented, and I wanted to ask your opinion of it." +</P> + +<P> +"These scoundrels must have followed me, or have seen the bundle of +papers, and, mistaking me for you, they followed, attacked me in a +lonely spot and, bundling me and my wrecked wheel into an auto, carried +me off. They first demanded that I gave up the 'plans,' and when I +wouldn't they choked off my cries for help and knocked me into +unconsciousness. Then they brought me here, and kept me here for +several days. +</P> + +<P> +"They soon learned that the plans I had weren't those they wanted, +though what they were then after I couldn't imagine. Only, from what I +later overheard, I knew they mistook me for you and that they were +bitterly disappointed in not getting plans of some new airship you were +working on. They have kept me a prisoner ever since, and though they +offered to let me go if I would keep silent, I refused. I did not +think, to secure my own comfort, I should let such men go unpunished if +I could bring about their arrest." +</P> + +<P> +"I should say not!" cried Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"Did they treat you brutally, Mr. Nestor?" asked Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"Not after they found out who I was, by looking through my wallet. Of +course they didn't behave very decently, but they weren't actually +cruel, except that they bound and gagged me. Oh, but I'm glad you came, +Tom! How did it happen?" +</P> + +<P> +Then they told Mr. Nestor their story, and how the test of the new Air +Scout had led to his rescue. +</P> + +<P> +"But where are the Secret Service men?" asked Mr. Terrill, when it +became evident that none them was on guard at the cabin. +</P> + +<P> +Later it developed that, by following a false clew, the Secret Service +men had been drawn miles away from the cabin. And only that Tom and his +companions in the silent airship saw the men. Mr. Nestor might not +have been rescued for some further time. +</P> + +<P> +His version of what had happened was correct. He had been mistaken for +Tom, and the spy with the gold tooth and his accomplice had waylaid +Mary's father, under the belief that it was Tom Swift with the plans of +the new silent motor. Mr. Nestor had been attacked while riding his +wheel in a lonely place, and had been carried off and kept in hiding, a +prisoner even after his identity became known. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, this is a good night's work!" exclaimed Tom, when the two rogues +had been sent to jail and Mr. Nestor taken to the Bloise farmhouse, to +be refreshed before he went home. Word of his rescue was telephoned to +Mary and her mother, and it can be imagined how they regarded Tom Swift +for his part in the affair. +</P> + +<P> +Little the worse for his experience, save that he was very nervous, Mr. +Nestor was taken home. He gave the details of his being waylaid, and +told how the men, for many days, were at their wits' ends to keep him +concealed when they found what a stir his disappearance had created. +The conspirators were well supplied with money, and in the automobile +they took their prisoner from one place to another. They had usurped +the use of the cabin and had lived there nearly a week in hiding, +leaving just before the first visit of Tom and Jackson. The rifled +wallet had been dropped by accident. +</P> + +<P> +And it did not take much delving to disclose the fact that, Lydane, +"Gold Tooth," as he was called, and his crony, were spies in the pay of +the Universal Flying Machine Company. As the men went under several +aliases there is no need of giving their names. It is to be doubted if +they ever used their real ones—or if they had any. +</P> + +<P> +Of course, there was quite a sensation when Mr. Nestor was found, and a +greater one when it became known the part the Universal Flying Machine +people had in his disappearance in mistake for Tom. The officials of +the company were indicted, and several of the minor ones sent to jail +but Gale and Ware escaped by remaining abroad. +</P> + +<P> +It came out that they both knew of the acts of Lydane and his companion +in crime, and that the two officials realized the mistake that had been +made by their clumsy operatives. It was believed that this knowledge +led to the visit of Gale to Tom, the time the latter's suspicions were +first aroused. Gale made a clumsy attempt to clear his own skirts of +the conspiracy, but in vain, though he did escape his just punishment. +</P> + +<P> +What had happened, in brief, was this. Gale and Ware, unable to secure +Tom's services, even by the offer of a large sum of money, had stooped +to the sending of spies to his shop, to get possession of information +about his silent motor. This was after Gale had, by accident, heard Tom +speaking of it to Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +But, thanks to Tom's vigilance, Bower was discovered. The man tripped +into the mud hole lost in the muck the plans Bower passed to him. They +were never recovered. Then Lydane tried again. He managed, through +bribery, to gain access to the hangar where the new silent machine was +kept, and, unable to get the silencer apart, tried to file it. In doing +so he weakened it so that it burst. +</P> + +<P> +The attempt to waylay Tom, and so get the plans from him, had been +tried before this, only a mistake had been made, and Mr. Nestor was +caught instead. Finding out their error, Lydane and his companions did +not tell the Universal people of their mistake, though Gale and Ware +knew the attempt was to be made against Tom Swift. +</P> + +<P> +Later, hearing that the young inventor was still at work on his +invention, Gale was much surprised, and paid his queer visit, in an +attempt to repudiate the actions of Lydane. At this time it was assumed +that Gale and his partner did not know that it was Mr. Nestor who had +been kidnapped by mistake or they might have insisted on his release. +As it was, Lydane had Mary's father, and was afraid to let him go, +though really their prisoner became a white elephant on the hands of +the conspirators and kidnappers. +</P> + +<P> +And it was after all this was cleared up, and Mr. Nestor restored to +his family and friends, that one day, Tom Swift received another visit +from Mr. Terrill, the government agent. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Mr. Swift," was the genial greeting, "I have come to tell you +that the favorable report made by my friends and myself as to the +performance of your noiseless motor, has been accepted by the War +Department, and I have come to ask what your terms are. For how much +will you sell your patent to the United States?" +</P> + +<P> +Tom Swift arose. +</P> + +<P> +"The United States hasn't money enough to buy my patent of a noiseless +motor," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Wha—what!" faltered Mr. Terrill. "Why, I understood—you don't +mean—they told me you were rather patriotic, and—" +</P> + +<P> +"I hope I am patriotic!" interrupted Tom with a smile. "And when I say +that the United States hasn't money enough to buy my latest invention I +mean just that." +</P> + +<P> +"My Air Scout is not for sale!" +</P> + +<P> +"You mean," faltered the government agent. "You say—" +</P> + +<P> +"I mean," went on Tom, "that Silent Sam is for Uncle Sam without one +cent of cost! My father and I take great pleasure in presenting such +machines as are already manufactured, those in process of making, and +the entire patents, and all other rights, to the government for the +winning of the war!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" said Mr. Terrill in rather a strange voice. "Oh!" +</P> + +<P> +And that was all he could say for a little while. +</P> + +<P> +But Tom Swift reckoned without a knowledge of a peculiar law which +prohibits the United States from accepting gifts totally without +compensation, and so, in due season, the young inventor received a +check for the sum of one dollar in full payment for his silent motor, +and the patent rights thereto. And Tom has that check framed, and +hanging over his desk. +</P> + +<P> +And so the silent motor became an accomplished fact and a great +success. Those of you who have read of its work against the Boches, and +how it helped Uncle Sam to gain the mastery of the sky, need not be +reminded of this. By it many surprise attacks were made, and much +valuable information was obtained that otherwise could not have been +brought in. +</P> + +<P> +One day, after the rogues had been sent to prison for long terms, and +Tom had turned over to his government his silent aircraft—except one +which he was induced to keep for his own personal use—the young +inventor went to call on Mary Nestor. The object of his call, as I +believe he stated it, was to see how Mr. Nestor was, but that, of +course, was camouflage. +</P> + +<P> +"Would you like to come for a ride, Mary, in the silent airship?" asked +Tom, after he had paid his respects to Mr. Nestor and his wife. "We can +talk very easily on board Silent Sam without the use of a speaking +tube. Come on—we'll go for a moonlight sky ride." +</P> + +<P> +"It sounds enticing," said Mary, with a shy look at Tom. "But wouldn't +you just as soon sit on a bench in the garden? It's moonlight there, +and we can talk, and—and—" +</P> + +<P> +"I'd just as soon!" said Tom quickly. +</P> + +<P> +And out they went into the beautiful moonlight; and here we will leave +them and say good-bye. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="finis"> +THE END +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<HR> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3> +THE TOM SWIFT SERIES +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +By VICTOR APPLETON +</P> + +<P> +These spirited tales convey in a realistic way, the wonderful advances +in land and sea locomotion. Stories like these are impressed upon the +memory and their reading is productive only of good. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR CYCLE<BR> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR BOAT<BR> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRSHIP<BR> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS SUBMARINE BOAT<BR> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RUNABOUT<BR> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIRELESS MESSAGE<BR> +TOM SWIFT AMONG THE DIAMOND MAKERS<BR> +TOM SWIFT IN THE CAVES OF ICE<BR> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS SKY RACER<BR> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RIFLE<BR> +TOM SWIFT IN THE CITY OF GOLD<BR> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDER<BR> +TOM SWIFT IN CAPTIVITY<BR> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIZARD CAMERA<BR> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT SEARCHLIGHT<BR> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT CANNON<BR> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS PHOTO TELEPHONE<BR> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS AERIAL WARSHIP<BR> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS BIG TUNNEL<BR> +TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS<BR> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS WAR TANK<BR> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR SCOUT<BR> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS UNDERSEA SEARCH<BR> +TOM SWIFT AMONG THE FIRE FIGHTERS<BR> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3> +SIX LITTLE BUNKERS SERIES +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +By LAURA LEE HOPE +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Author of "The Bobbsey Twins Books," +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"The Bunny Brown Series," +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"The Make-Believe Series," Etc. +</P> + +<P> +Delightful stories for little boys and girls which sprung into +immediate popularity. To know the six little Bunkers is to take them at +once to your heart, they are so intensely human, so full of fun and +cute sayings. Each story has a little plot of its own—one that can be +easily followed—and all are written in Miss Hope's most entertaining +manner. Clean, wholesome volumes which ought to be on the bookshelf of +every child in the land. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT GRANDMA BELL'S<BR> +SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT AUNT JO'S<BR> +SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT COUSIN TOM'S<BR> +SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT GRANDPA FORDS<BR> +SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT UNCLE FRED'S<BR> +SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT CAPTAIN BEN'S<BR> +SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT COWBOY JACK'S<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3> +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS SERIES +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS<BR> +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS IN THE WEST<BR> +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS ON THE COAST<BR> +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS IN THE JUNGLE<BR> +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS IN EARTHQUAKE LAND<BR> +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS AND THE FLOOD<BR> +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS AT PANAMA<BR> +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS UNDER THE SEA<BR> +THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS ON THE WAR FRONT<BR> +THE MOTION PICTURE CHUMS SERIES<BR> +THE MOTION PICTURE CHUMS' FIRST VENTURE<BR> +THE MOTION PICTURE CHUMS AT SEASIDE PARK<BR> +THE MOTION PICTURE CHUMS ON BROADWAY<BR> +THE MOTION PICTURE CHUMS' OUTDOOR EXHIBITION<BR> +THE MOTION PICTURE CHUMS' NEW IDEA<BR> +THE MOTION PICTURE CHUMS AT THE FAIR<BR> +THE MOTION PICTURE CHUMS' WAR SPECTACLE<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Tom Swift and his Air Scout, by Victor Appleton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR SCOUT *** + +***** This file should be named 1284-h.htm or 1284-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/8/1284/ + +Produced by Anthony Matonac + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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