Tom Swift And His Photo Telephone

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"Stop! Stop!" commanded Tom. But it was all in vain.

The men leaped aboard the airship, which could carry six persons,
and a moment later, with a deafening roar, as the engine opened up
full, the big craft shot upward, taking away all but two of the
midnight visitors. These, who had seemingly been stunned by Koku,
now arose from the ground, and staggered off in the darkness.

"Get them!" cried Tom.

"We must see to Koku!" added Ned, "Look, there goes your airship,
Tom!"

"Yes, I know. But we can't stop that now. Let's see if we can get
a clue in these fellows!"

He pointed toward the two who had run off in the dark underbrush
surrounding the hangar plaza, and he and Ned trailed them as well
as they could. But from the first they knew it would be useless,
for there were many hiding places, and, a little way beyond, was a
clump of trees.

After a short search Tom gave up reluctantly, and came back to
where Koku was now sitting on the ground.

"Are you hurt?" he asked of the giant.

"My mind hurt--that all," said the big man.

"I guess he means his feelings are hurt," Tom explained. "Do you
know who they were, Koku?"

"No, master."

"But we must do something!" cried Ned. "They've got your airship,
Tom."

"I know it," said the young inventor, calmly. "But we can't do
anything now. You can hardly hear her, let alone see her. She's
moving fast!"

He pointed upward to the darkness. Like some black bird of prey
the airship was already lost to sight, though it would have seemed
as if her white planes might render her visible. But she had moved
so swiftly that, during the short search, she had already
disappeared.

"Aren't you going to do anything?" asked Ned.

"Certainly," spoke Tom. "I'm going to telephone an alarm to all
the nearby towns. This is certainly a queer game, Ned."

CHAPTER XII

A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE

Disappointed and puzzled, Tom and Ned went to where Koku was
standing in rather a dazed attitude. The giant, like all large
bodies, moved slowly, not only bodily but mentally. He could
understand exactly what had happened, except that he had not
prevailed over the "pygmies" who had attacked him. They had been
too many for him.

"Let's take a look inside," suggested Tom, when, by another glance
upward, he had made sure that all trace of his big airship was
gone. "Maybe we can get a clue. Then, Koku, you tell us what
happened."

"It all happened to me," said the giant, simply. "Me no make
anything happen to them."

"That's about right," laughed Tom, ruefully. "It all happened to
us."

The lights in the hangar were switched on, but a careful search
revealed little. The men, half a dozen or more, had come evidently
well prepared for the taking away of Tom Swift's airship, and they
had done so.

Entrance had been effected by forcing a small side door. True, the
burglar alarm had given notice of the presence of the men, but Tom
and Ned had not acted quite quickly enough. Koku had been at the
hangar almost as soon as the men themselves, but he had watched
and waited for orders, instead of going in at once, and this had
given the intruders time to wheel out the craft and start the
motor.

"Why didn't you jump right in on them when you saw what they were
up to, Koku?" asked Tom.

"Me wait for master. Me think master want to see who men were. Me
go in--they run."

"Well, of course that's so, in a way," admitted Tom. "They
probably would have run, but they'd have run WITHOUT my airship
instead of WITH it, if they hadn't had time to get it outside the
hangar. However, there's no use in crying over lost biplanes. The
next thing is how to get her back. Did you know any of the men,
Koku?"

"No, master."

"Then we haven't any clue that way. They laid their plans well.
They just let you tangle yourself up with them, Koku, while the
head ones got the motor going; an easy matter, since it was all
ready to start. Then they tripped you, Koku, and as many of them
as could, made a jump for the machine. Then they were off."

"Well, what's the next thing to do?" asked Ned, when another look
about the shed had shown that not the slightest clue was
available.

"I'm going to do some telephoning," Tom stated. "A big airship
like mine can't go scooting around the country without being
noticed. And those fellows can't go on forever. They've got to
have gasoline and oil, and to get them they'll have to come down.
I'll get it back, sooner or later; but the question is: Why did
they take her?"

"To sell," suggested Ned.

"I think not," Tom said. "A big airship like mine isn't easy to
sell. People who would buy it would ask questions that might not
easily be answered. I'm inclined to think that some other reason
made them take her, and it's up to us to find out what it was.
Let's go into the house."

"Hark!" suddenly exclaimed Ned, holding up his hand for silence.
They all heard footsteps outside the hangar.

Tom sprang to the door, flashing his electric light, and a voice
exclaimed:

"Golly! Chicken thieves!"

"Oh, is it you, Eradicate?" asked the young inventor, with a
laugh. "No, it isn't chicken thieves--they were after bigger game
this time."

"Suffin happen?" asked the colored man. "Massa Swift he heah a
noise, an' see a light, an' he sent me out yeah t' see what all am
gwine on."

"Yes, something happened," admitted Tom. "They got the Eagle,
Rad."

"What! Yo' big airship?"

"Yes."

"Huh! Dat's too bad, Massa Tom. I suah am sorry t' heah dat. Who
done it?"

"We don't know, Rad."

"Maybe it was dat low-down cousin ob mine what tried t' git mah
chickens, onct!"

"No, Rad, it wasn't your cousin. But I'll telephone the alarm to
the police. They may be able to help me get the Eagle back."

Within the next hour several messages were sent to the authorities
of nearby towns, asking them to be on the watch for the stolen
airship. This was about all that could be done, and after Mr.
Swift had been told the story of the night's happenings, everyone
went back to bed again.

Further search the next morning brought forth no clues, though
Tom, Ned and the others beat about in the bushes where the men had
disappeared.

One or two reports were heard from surrounding towns, to the
effect that several persons had heard a strange throbbing sound in
the night, that, possibly, was caused by the passage of the
airship overhead. One such report came from Waterford, the home
town of Mr. Damon.

"Let's go over there," suggested Ned, to his chum. "I'd like to
see our friend, and maybe we can get some other clues by
circulating around there."

"Oh, I don't know," spoke Tom, rather listlessly.

"Why not?" Ned wanted to know.

"Well, I ought to be working on my photo telephone," was the
answer. "I've got a new idea now. I'm going to try a different
kind of current, and use a more sensitive plate. And I'll use a
tungsten filament lamp in the sending booth."

"Oh, let your experiments go for a little while, Tom," suggested
Ned. "Come on over to Mr. Damon's. The trouble with you is that
you keep too long at a thing, once you start."

"That's the only way to succeed," remarked Tom. "Really, Ned,
while I feel sorry about the airship, of course, I ought to be
working on my telephone. I'll get the Eagle back sooner or later."

"That's not the way to talk, Tom. Let's follow up this clue."

"Well, if you insist on it I suppose I may as well go. We'll take
the little monoplane. I've fixed her up to carry double. I guess--
"

Tom Swift broke off suddenly, as the telephone at his elbow rang.

"Hello," he said, taking off the receiver. "Yes, this is Tom
Swift. Oh, good morning, Mrs. Damon! Eh! What's that? Mr. Damon
has disappeared? You don't tell me! Disappeared! Yes, yes, I can
come right over. Be there in a few minutes. Eh? You don't know
what to make of it? Oh, well, maybe it can easily be explained.
Yes, Ned Newton and I will be right over. Don't worry."

Tom hung up the receiver and turned to his chum.

"What do you think of that?" he asked.

"What is it?"

"Why, Mr. Damon mysteriously vanished last night, and this morning
word came from his bankers that every cent of his fortune had
disappeared! He's lost everything!"

"Maybe--maybe--" hesitated Ned.

"No, Mr. Damon isn't that kind of a man," said Tom, stoutly. "He
hasn't made away with himself."

"But something is wrong!"

"Evidently, and it's up to us to find out what it is. I shouldn't
be surprised but that he knew of this coming trouble and started
out to prevent it if he could."

"But he wouldn't disappear and make his wife worry."

"No, that's so. Well, we'll have to go over there and find out all
about it."

"Say, Tom!" exclaimed Ned, as they were getting the small, but
swift monoplane ready for the flight, "could there be any
connection with the disappearance of Mr. Damon and the taking of
the Eagle?"

Tom started in surprise.

"How could there be?" he asked.

"Oh, I don't know," answered Ned. "It was only an idea."

"Well, we'll see what Mrs. Damon has to say," spoke the young
inventor, as he took his seat beside Ned, and motioned to Koku to
twirl the propeller.

CHAPTER XIII

THE TELEPHONE PICTURE

"Oh, Tom Swift! I'm so glad to see you!"

Mrs. Damon clasped her arms, in motherly fashion, about the young
inventor. He held her close, and his own eyes were not free from
tears as he witnessed the grief of his best friend's wife.

"Now, don't worry, Mrs. Damon," said Tom, sympathetically.
"Everything will be all right," and he led her to a chair.

"All right, Tom! How can it be?" and the lady raised a tear-
stained face. "My husband has disappeared, without a word! It's
just as if the earth had opened and swallowed him up! I can't find
a trace of him! How can it be all right?"

"Well, we'll find him, Mrs. Damon. Don't worry. Ned and I will get
right to work, and I'll have all the police and detectives within
fifty miles on the search--if we have to go that far."

"Oh, it's awfully good of you, Tom. I--I didn't know who else to
turn to in my trouble but you."

"And why shouldn't you come to me? I'd do anything for you and Mr.
Damon. Now tell me all about it."

Tom and Ned had just arrived at the Damon home in the airship, to
find the wife of the eccentric man almost distracted over her
husband's strange disappearance.

"It happened last night," Mrs. Damon said, when she was somewhat
composed. "Last night about twelve o'clock."

"Twelve o'clock!" cried Tom, in surprise "Why that's about the
time--"

He stopped suddenly.

"What were you going to say?" asked Mrs. Damon.

"Oh--nothing," answered Tom. "I--I'll tell you later. Go on,
please."

"It is all so confusing," proceeded Mrs. Damon. "You know my
husband has been in trouble of late--financial trouble?"

"Yes," responded Tom, "he mentioned it to me."

"I don't know any of the details," sighed Mrs. Damon, "but I know
he was mixed up with a man named Peters."

"I know him, too," spoke Tom, grimly.

"My husband has been very gloomy of late," went on Mrs. Damon. "He
foolishly entrusted almost his entire fortune to that man, and
last night he told me it was probably all gone. He said he saw
only the barest chance to save it, but that he was going to take
that chance."

"Did he go into details?" asked Tom.

"No, that was all he said. That was about ten o'clock. He didn't
want to go to bed. He just sat about, and he kept saying over and
over again: 'Bless my tombstone!' 'Bless the cemetery!' and all
such stuff as that. You know how he was," and she smiled through
her tears.

"Yes," said Tom. "I know. Only it wasn't like him to bless such
grewsome things. He was more jolly."

"He hasn't been, of late," sighed his wife. "Well, he sat about
all the evening, and he kept figuring away, trying, I suppose, to
find some way out of his trouble."

"Why didn't he come to my father?" cried Tom. "I told him he could
have all the money he needed to tide him over."

"Well, Mr. Damon was queer that way," said his wife. "He wanted to
be independent. I urged him to call you up, but he said he'd fight
it out alone."

"As I said, we sat there, and he kept feeling more and more blue,
and blessing his funeral, and the hearse and all such things as
that. He kept looking at the clock, too, and I wondered at that."

"'Are you expecting someone?' I asked him. He said he wasn't,
exactly, but I made sure he was, and finally, about half-past
eleven, he put on his hat and went out."

"'Where are you going?' I asked him."

"'Oh, just to get a breath of air. I can't sleep,' he said. I
didn't think much of that, as he often used to go out and walk
about a bit before going to bed. So he went out, and I began to
see about locking up, for I never trust the servants."

"It must have been about an hour later when I heard voices out in
front. I looked, and I saw Mr. Damon talking to a man."

"Who was he?" asked Tom, eagerly, on the alert for the slightest
clue.

"I thought at the time," said Mrs. Damon, "that it was one of the
neighbors. I have learned since, however, that it was not. Anyhow,
this man and Mr. Damon stood talking for a little while, and then
they went off together. I didn't think it strange at the time,
supposing he was merely strolling up and down in front with Mr.
Blackson, who lives next door, He often had done that before."

"Well, I saw that the house was locked up, and then I sat down in
a chair to wait for Mr. Damon to come back. I was getting sleepy,
for we don't usually stay up so late. I suppose I must have dozed
off, but I was suddenly awakened by hearing a peculiar noise. I
sat up in alarm, and then I realized that Mr. Damon had not come
in."

"I was frightened then, and I called my maid. It was nearly one
o'clock, and my husband never stays out as late as that. We went
next door, and found that Mr. Blackson had not been out of his
house that evening. So it could not have been he to whom Mr. Damon
was speaking."

"We roused up other neighbors, and they searched all about the
grounds, thinking he might have been overcome by a sudden faint.
But we could not find him. My husband had disappeared--
mysteriously disappeared!" and the lady broke into sobs.

"Now don't worry," said Tom, soothingly, as he put his arms about
her as he would have done to his own mother, had she been alive,
"We'll get him back!"

"But how can you? No one knows where he is."

"Oh, yes!" said Tom, confidently, "Mr. Damon himself knows where
he is, and unless he has gone away voluntarily, I think you will
soon hear from him."

"What do you mean by--voluntarily?" asked the wife.

"First let me ask you a question," came from Tom. "You said you
were awakened by a peculiar noise. What sort of a sound was it?"

"Why, a whirring, throbbing noise, like--like--"

She paused for a comparison.

"Like an airship?" asked Tom, with a good deal of eagerness.

"That was it!" cried Mrs. Damon. "I was trying to think where I
had heard the sound before. It was just like the noise your
airship makes, Tom!"

"That settles it!" exclaimed the young inventor.

"Settles what?" asked Ned.

"The manner of Mr. Damon's disappearance. He was taken away--or
went away--in my airship--the airship that was stolen from my shed
last night!"

Mrs. Damon stared at Tom in amazement.

"Why--why--how could that be?" she asked.

Quickly Tom told of what had happened at his place.

"I begin to see through it," he said. "There is some plot here,
and we've got to get to the bottom of it. Mr. Damon either went
with these men in the airship willingly, or he was taken away by
force. I'm inclined to think he went of his own accord, or you
would have heard some outcry, Mrs. Damon."

"Well, perhaps so," she admitted. "But would he go away in that
manner without telling me?"

"He might," said Tom, willing to test his theory on all sides. "He
might not have wanted you to worry, for you know you dislike him
to go up an airships."

"Yes, I do. Oh, if I only thought he did go away of his own
accord, I could understand it. He went, if he did, to try and save
his fortune."

"It does look as though he had an appointment with someone, Tom,"
suggested Ned. "His looking at the clock, and then going out, and all
that."

"Yes," admitted the young inventor, "and now I'm inclined to
change my theory a bit. It may have been some other airship than
mine that was used."

"How so?" asked Ned.

"Because the men who took mine were unprincipled fellows. Mr.
Damon would not have gone away with men who would steal an
airship."

"Not if he knew it," admitted Ned. "Well, then, let's consider two
airships--yours and the other that came to keep the appointment
with Mr. Damon. If the last is true, why should he want to go away
in an airship at midnight? Why couldn't he take a train, or an
auto?"

"Well, we don't know all the ins and outs," admitted Tom. "Taking
a midnight airship ride is rather strange, but that may have been
the only course open. We'll have to let the explanation go until
later. At any rate, Mrs. Damon, I feel sure that your husband did
go off through the air--either in my Eagle or in some other
craft."

"Well, I'm glad to hear you say so, Tom Swift, though it sounds a
dreadful thing to say. But if he did go off of his own accord, I
know he did it for the best. And he may not have told me, for fear
I would worry. I can understand that. But why isn't he back now?"

Tom had been rather dreading that question. It was one he had
asked himself, and he had found no good answer for it. If there
had been such need of haste, that an airship had to be used. why
had not Mr. Damon come back ere this? Unless, as Tom feared to
admit, even to himself, there had been some accident.

Half a dozen theories flashed through his mind, but he could not
select a good, working one,--particularly as there were no clues.
Disappearing in an airship was the one best means of not leaving a
trace behind. An auto, a motor boat, a train, a horse and
carriage--all these could be more or less easily traced. But an
airship--

If Mr. Damon wanted to cover up his tracks, or if he had been
taken away, and his captors wanted to baffle pursuit, the best
means had been adopted.

"Now don't you worry," advised Tom to Mrs. Damon. "I know it looks
funny, but I think it will come out all right. Ned and I will do
all we can. Mr. Damon must have known what he was about. But, to
be on the safe side, we'll send out a general alarm through the
police."

"Oh, I don't know what I'd done if you hadn't come to help me!"
exclaimed Mrs. Damon.

"Just you leave it to me!" said the young inventor, cheerfully.
"I'll find Mr. Damon!"

But, though he spoke thus confidently, Tom Swift had not the
slightest notion, just then, of how to set about his difficult
task. He had had hard problems to solve before, so he was not
going to give up this one. First he wanted to think matters out,
and arrange a plan of action.

He and Ned made a careful examination of the grounds of the Damon
homestead. There was little they could learn, though they did find
where an airship had landed in a meadow, not far away, and where
it had made a flying start off again.

Carefully Tom looked at the marks made by the wheels of the
airship.

"They're the same distance apart as those on the Eagle," he said
to his chum, "and the tires are the same. But that isn't saying
anything, as lots of airships have the same equipment. So we won't
jump to any conclusions that way."

Tom and Ned interviewed several of the neighbors, but beyond
learning that some of them had heard the throbbing of the midnight
airship, that was as far as they got on that line.

There was nothing more they could do in Waterford, and, leaving
Mrs. Damon, who had summoned a relative to stay with her, the two
chums made a quick trip back through the air to Shopton. As
Eradicate came out to help put away the monoplane Tom noticed that
the colored man was holding one hand as though it hurt him.

"What's the matter, Rad?" asked the young investor.

"Oh, nuffin--jest natcherly nuffin, Massa Tom."

But Eradicate spoke evasively and in a manner that roused Tom's
suspicions.

"Boomerang, your mule, didn't kick you; did he?"

"No, sah, Massa Tom, no sah. 'Twern't nuffin laik dat."

"But what was it? Your hand is hurt!"

"Well, Massa Tom, I s'pose I done bettah tell yo' all. I'se had a
shock!"

"A shock?"

"Yas, sah. A shock. A lickrish shock."

"Oh, you mean an electrical shock. That's too bad. I suppose you
must have touched a live wire."

"No, sah. 'Twern't dat way."

"How was it, then?"

"Well, yo' see, Massa Tom, I were playin' a joke on Koku."

"Oh, you were; eh? Then I suppose Koku shocked you," laughed Tom.

"No, sah. I--I'll tell you. Dat giant man he were in de telefoam
boof in de pattern shop--you know--de one where yo' all been
tryin' to make pishures."

"Yes, I know. Go on!" exclaimed Tom, impatiently.

"Well, he were in dere, Massa Tom, an' I slipped into de boof in
de next shop--de odder place where yo' all been 'speermentin'. I
called out on de telefoam, loud laik de Angel Gabriel gwine t'
holler at de last trump: 'Look out, yo' ole sinnah!' I yell it
jest t' scare Koku."

"I see," said Tom, a bit severely, for he did not like Eradicate
interfering with the instruments. "And did you scare Koku?"

"Oh, yas, sah, Massa Tom. I skeered him all right; but suffin else
done happen. When I put down de telefoam I got a terrible shock.
It hurts yit!"

"Well," remarked Tom, "I suppose I ought to feel sorry for you,
but I can't. You should let things alone. Now I've got to see if
you did any damage. Come along, Ned."

Tom was the first to enter the telephone booth where Eradicate had
played the part of the Angel Gabriel. He looked at the wires and
apparatus, but could see nothing wrong.

Then he glanced at the selenium plate, on which he hoped, some
day, to imprint an image from over the wire. And, as he saw the
smooth surface he started, and cried.

"Ned! Ned, come here quick!"

"What is it?" asked his chum, Crowding into the booth.

"Look at that plate! Tell me what you see!"

Ned looked.

"Why--why it's Koku's picture!" he gasped.

"Exactly!" cried Tom. "In some way my experiment has succeeded
when I was away. Eradicate must have made some new connection by
his monkeying. Ned, it's a success! I've got my first photo
telephone picture! Hurray!"

CHAPTER XIV

MAKING IMPROVEMENTS

Tom Swift was so overjoyed and excited that for a few moments he
capered about, inside the booth, and outside, knocking against his
chum Ned, clapping him on the back, and doing all manner of boyish
"stunts."

"It's a success, Ned! I've struck it!" cried Tom, in delight.

"Ouch! You struck ME, you mean!" replied Ned, rubbing his
shoulder, where the young inventor had imparted a resounding blow
of joy.

"What of it?" exclaimed Tom. "My apparatus works! I can send a
picture by telephone! It's great, Ned!"

"But I don't exactly understand how it happened," said Ned, in
some bewilderment, as he gazed at the selenium plate.

"Neither do I," admitted Tom, when he had somewhat calmed down.
"That is, I don't exactly understand what made the thing succeed
now, when it wouldn't work for me a little while ago. But I've got
to go into that. I'll have to interview that rascal Eradicate, and
learn what he did when he played that trick on Koku. Yes, and I'll
have to see Koku, too. We've got to get at the bottom of this,
Ned."

"I suppose so. You've got your hands full, Tom, with your photo
telephone, and the disappearance of Mr. Damon."

"Yes, and my own airship, too. I must get after that. Whew! A lot
of things to do! But I like work, Ned. The more the better."

"Yes, that's like you, Tom. But what are you going to get at
first?"

"Let me see; the telephone, I think. I'll have Rad and Koku in
here and talk to them. I say, you Eradicate!" he called out of the
door of the shop, as he saw the colored man going past, holding
his shocked arm tenderly.

"Yas, sah, Massa Tom, I'se comin'! What is it yo' all wants, Massa
Tom?"

"I want you to show me exactly what you did to the wires, and
other things in here, when you played that Angel Gabriel trick on
your partner Koku."

"Partner! He ain't mah partner!" exclaimed Eradicate with a scowl,
for there was not the best of feeling between the two. Eradicate
had served in the Swift family many years, and he rather resented
the coming of the giant, who performed many services formerly the
province of the colored man.

"Well, never mind what he is, Rad," laughed Tom. "You just show me
what you did. Come now, something happened in here, and I want to
find out what it was."

"Oh, suffin done happened all right, Massa Tom. Yas, sah! Suffin
done happened!" cried Eradicate, with such odd emphasis that Tom
and Ned both laughed.

"An' suffin happened to me," went on the colored man, rubbing his
shocked arm.

"Well, tell us about it," suggested Tom.

"It was dish yeah way," proceeded Eradicate. And he told more in
detail how, seeing Koku cleaning and sweeping out the other
telephone booth, he had thought of the trick to play on him. Both
telephones had what are called "amplifiers" attached, that could
be switched on when needed. These amplifiers were somewhat like
the horn of a phonograph--they increased, or magnified the sound,
so that one could hear a voice from any part of the shop, and need
not necessarily have the telephone receiver at his ear.

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