Tom Swift and His Airship

V >> Victor Appleton >> Tom Swift and His Airship

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Fortunately the Red Cloud could be sent aloft without the use of the
propellers, for the gas would serve to lift her. It had been found
that lightning had struck the big, red aluminum container, but the
shock had been a comparatively slight one, and, as the tank was
insulated from the rest of the ship no danger resulted to the
occupants. A rent was made in two or three of the gas compartments,
but the others remained intact, and, when an increased pressure of the
vapor was used the ship was almost as buoyant as before.

Into the cabin the three travelers hurried, dripping water at every
step, for there was no time to change clothes. Then, with Tom and Mr.
Sharp managing the machinery, the craft slowly rose. It was well that
they had started for, when a few hundred feet above the roof, the moon
suddenly shone from behind a bank of clouds and would most certainly
have revealed their position to persons in the street. As it was
several were attracted by the sight of some great object in the air.
They called the attention of others to it, but, by the time glasses
and telescopes had been brought to bear, the Red Cloud was far away.

"Dry clothes now, some hot drinks, and then Tom will tell us his
secret," remarked Mr. Sharp, and, with the great ship swaying high
above the city of Middleville Tom told what he had heard in the office
building.

"They are the thieves who looted the bank, and caused us to be
unjustly accused," he finished. "If we can capture them we'll get the
reward, and turn a neat trick on Andy Foger and his cronies."

"But how can you capture them?" asked Mr. Damon. "You don't know where
they are."

"Perhaps not where Morse and the men who have the money are. But I
have a plan. It's this: We'll go to some quiet place, leave the
airship, and then inform the authorities of our suspicions. They can
come here and arrest the men who still seem to be hanging out in
Morse's office. Then we can get on the trail of this Shagmon, who
seems to be the person in authority this time, though I never heard of
him before.

He seems to have the money, according to what one of the men in the
office said, and he's the man we want."

"Shagmon!" exclaimed Mr. Damon. "Yes, Shagmon. The fellow I heard
talking 'said he'd go to Shagmon and make Morse whack up. Shagmon may
be the real head of the gang."

"Ha! I have it!" cried Mr. Damon suddenly. "I wonder I didn't think of
it before. Shagmon is the headquarters, not the head of the gang!"

"What do you mean?" asked Tom, much excited.

"I mean that there's a town called Shagmon about fifty miles from
here. That's what the fellow in the office meant. He is going to the
town of Shagmon and make Morse whack up. That's where Morse is! That's
where the gang is hiding! That's where the money is! Hurrah, Tom,
we're on the trail!"

Chapter 22 - The Sheriff On Board

The announcement of Mr. Damon came as a great surprise to Tom and Mr.
Sharp. They had supposed that the reference to Shagmon was to a
person, and never dreamed that it was to a locality. But Mr. Damon's
knowledge of geography stood them in good stead.

"Well, what's the first thing to do?" asked Tom, after a pause.

"The first thing would be to go to Shagmon, or close to it, I should
say," remarked Mr. Sharp. "In what direction is it, Mr. Damon?"

"Northwest from where we were. It's a county seat, and that will suit
our plans admirably, for we can call on the sheriff for help."

"That is if we locate the gang," put in Tom. "I fancy it will be no
easy job, though. How are we going about it?"

"Let's first get to Shagmon," suggested the balloonist. "We'll select
some quiet spot for a landing, and then talk matters over. We may
stumble on the gang, just as you did, Tom, on the men in the office."

"No such good luck, I'm afraid."

"Well, I think we'll all be better for a little sleep," declared the
eccentric man. "Bless my eyelids but I'm tired out."

As there was no necessity for standing watch, when the airship was so
high up as to be almost invisible, they all turned in, and were soon
sleeping soundly, though Tom had hard work at first to compose
himself, for he was excited at the prospect of capturing the
scoundrels, recovering the money for the bank, and clearing his good
name, as well as those of his friends.

In the morning careful calculations were made to enable the travelers
to tell when they had reached a point directly over the small city of
Shagmon, and, with the skill of the veteran balloonist to aid them,
this was accomplished. The airship was headed in the proper direction,
and, about ten o'clock, having made out by using telescopes, that
there was plenty of uninhabited land about the city, the craft was
sent aloft again, out of a large crowd that had caught sight of it.
For it was the intention of the travelers not to land until after
dark, as they wanted to keep their arrival quiet. There were two
reasons for this. One was that the whole country was eager to arrest
them, to claim the reward offered by the bank, and they did not want
this to happen. The other reason was that they wanted to go quietly
into town, tell the sheriff their story, and enlist his aid.

All that day the Red Cloud consorted with the masses of fleecy vapor,
several miles above the earth, a position being maintained, as nearly
as could be judged by instruments, over a patch of woodland where Mr.
Sharp had decided to land, as there were several large clearings in
it. Back and forth above the clouds, out of sight, the airship drifted
lazily to and fro; sometimes, when she got too far off her course,
being brought back to the right spot by means of the propellers.

It was tedious waiting, but they felt it was the only thing to do. Mr.
Sharp and Tom busied themselves making adjustments to several parts of
apparatus that needed it. Nothing could be done toward repairing the
hole in the aluminum container until a shop or shed was reached, but
the ship really did not need these repairs to enable it to be used.
Mr. Damon was fretful, and "blessed" so many things during the course
of the day that there seemed to be nothing left. Dinner and supper
took up some time, really good meals being served by Tom, who was
temporarily acting as cook. Then they anxiously waited for darkness,
when they could descend.

"I hope the moon isn't too bright," remarked Mr. Sharp, as he went
carefully over the motor once more, for he did not want it to balk
again. "If it shines too much it will discover us."

"But a little light would be a fine thing, and show us a good place to
land," argued Tom.

Fortune seemed to favor the adventurers. There was a hazy light from
the moon, which was covered by swiftly moving dark clouds, now and
then, a most effective screen for the airship, as its great, moving
shape, viewed from the earth, resembled nothing so much as one of the
clouds.

They made a good landing in a little forest glade, the craft, under
the skillful guidance of Mr. Sharp and Tom, coming down nicely.

"Now for a trip to town to notify the sheriff," said Mr. Sharp. "Tom,
I think you had better go alone. You can explain matters, and Mr.
Damon and I will remain here until you come back. I should say what
you had best do, would be to get the sheriff to help you locate the
gang of bank robbers. They're in this vicinity and he ought to be
able, with his deputies, to find them."

"I'll ask him," replied Tom, as he set off.

It was rather a lonely walk into the city, from the woods where the
airship had landed, but Tom did not mind it, and, reaching Shagmon, he
inquired his way to the home of the sheriff, for it was long after
office hours. He heard, as he walked along the streets, many persons
discussing the appearance of the airship that morning, and he was glad
they had planned to land after dark, for more than one citizen was
regretting that he had not had a chance to get the five thousand
dollars reward offered for the arrest of the passengers in the Red
Cloud.

Tom found the sheriff, Mr. Durkin by name, a genial personage. At the
mention of the airship the official grew somewhat excited.

"Are you one of the fellows that looted the bank?" he inquired, when
Tom told him how he and his friends had arrived at Shagmon.

The young inventor denied the impeachment, and told his story. He
ended up with a request for the sheriff's aid, at the same time asking
if the officer knew where such a gang as the Happy Harry one might be
in hiding.

"You've come just at the right time, young man," was the answer of
Sheriff Durkin, when he was assured of the honesty of Tom's
statements. "I've been on the point, for the last week, of raiding a
camp of men, who have settled at a disused summer resort about ten
miles from here. I think they're running a gambling game. But I
haven't been able to get any evidence, and every time I sent out a
posse some one warns the men, and we can find nothing wrong. I believe
these men are the very ones you want. If we could only get to them
without their suspecting it, I think I'd have them right."

"We can do that, Sheriff."

"How?"

"Go in our airship! You come with us, and we'll put you right over
their camp, where you can drop down on their heads."

"Good land, I never rode in an automobile even, let alone an airship!"
went on the officer. "I'd be scared out of my wits, and so would my
deputies."

"Send the deputies on ahead," suggested Tom.

The sheriff hesitated. Then he slapped his thigh with his big hand.

"By golly! I'll go you!" he declared. "I'll try capturing criminals in
an airship for the first, time in my life! Lead the way, young man!"

An hour later Sheriff Durkin was aboard the Red Cloud, and plans were
being talked of for the capture of the bank robbers, or at least for
raiding the camp where the men were supposed to be.

Chapter 23 - On To The Camp

"Well, you sure have got a fine craft here," remarked Sheriff Durkin,
as he looked over the airship after Tom and his friends had told of
their voyage. "It will be quite up-to-date to raid a gang of bank
robbers in a flying machine, but I guess it will be the only way we
can catch those fellows. Now I'll go back to town, and the first thing
in the morning I'll round-up my posse and start it off. The men can
surround the camp, and lay quiet until we arrive in this ship. Then,
when we descend on the heads of the scoundrels, right out of the sky,
so to speak, my men can close in, and bag them all."

"That's a good plan," commented Mr. Sharp, "but are you sure these are
the men we want? It's pretty vague, I think, but of course the clue
Tom got is pretty slim; merely the name Shagmon."

"Well, this is Shagmon," went on the sheriff, "and, as I told your
young friend, I've been trying for some time to bag the men at the
summer camp. They number quite a few, and if they don't do anything
worse, they run a gambling game there. I'm pretty sure, if the bank
robbers are in this vicinity, they're in that camp. Of course all the
men there may not have been engaged in looting the vault, and they may
not all know of it, but it won't do any harm to round-up the whole
bunch."

After a tour of the craft, and waiting to take a little refreshment
with his new friends, the sheriff left, promising to come as early on
the morrow as possible.

"Let's go to bed," suggested Mr. Sharp, after a bit. "We've got hard
work ahead of us tomorrow."

They were up early, and, in the seclusion of the little glade in the
woods, Tom and Mr. Sharp went over every part of the airship.

The sheriff arrived about nine o'clock, and announced that he had
started off through the woods, to surround the camp, twenty-five men.

"They'll be there at noon," Mr. Durkin said, "and will close in when I
give the signal, which will be two shots fired. I heard just before I
came here that there are some new arrivals at the camp."

"Maybe those are the men I overheard talking in the office building,"
suggested Tom. "They probably came to get their share. Well, we must
swoop down on them before they have time to distribute the money."

"That's what!" agreed the county official. Mr. Durkin was even more
impressed by the airship in the daytime than he had been at night. He
examined every part, and when the time came to start, he was almost as
unconcerned as any of the three travelers who had covered many
hundreds of miles in the air.

"This is certainly great!" cried the sheriff, as the airship rose
swiftly under the influence of the powerful gas.

As the craft went higher and higher his enthusiasm grew. He was not
the least afraid, but then Sheriff Durkin was accounted a nervy
individual under all circumstances.

"Lay her a little off to the left," the officer advised Tom who was at
the steering wheel. "The main camp is right over there. How long
before we will reach it?"

"We can get there in about fifteen minutes, if we run at top speed,"
answered the lad, his hand on the switch that controlled the motor.
"Shall we?"

"No use burning up the air. Besides, my men have hardly had time to
surround the camp. It's in deep woods. If I were you I'd get right
over it, and then rise up out of sight so they can't see you. Then,
when it's noon you can go down, I'll fire the signal and the fun will
commence-that is, fun for us, but not so much for those chaps, I
fancy," and the sheriff smiled grimly.

The sheriff's plan was voted a good one, and, accordingly, the ship,
after nearing a spot about over the camp, was sent a mile or two into
the air, hovering as nearly as possible over one spot.

Shortly before twelve, the sheriff having seen to the weapons he
brought with him, gave the signal to descend. Down shot the Red Cloud
dropping swiftly when the gas was allowed to escape from the red
container, and also urged toward the earth by the deflected rudder.

"Are you all ready?" cried the sheriff, looking at his watch.

"All ready," replied Mr. Sharp.

"Then here goes," went on the officer, drawing his revolver, and
firing two shots in quick succession.

Two shots from the woods below answered him. Faster dropped the Red
Cloud toward the camp of the criminals.

Chapter 24 - The Raid

"Look for a good place to land!" cried Mr. Sharp to Tom. "Any small,
level place will do. Turn on the gas full power as soon as you feel
the first contact, and then shut it off so as to hold her down. Then
jump out and take a hand in the fight!"

"That's right," cried the sheriff. "Fight's the word! They're breaking
from cover now," he added, as he looked over the side of the cabin,
from one of the windows. "The rascals have taken the alarm!"

The airship was descending toward a little glade in the woods
surrounding the old picnic ground. Men, mostly of the tramp sort,
could be seen running to and fro.

"I hope my deputies close in promptly," murmured the sheriff. "There's
a bigger bunch there than I counted on."

>From the appearance of the gang rushing about it seemed as if there
were at least fifty of them. Some of the fellows caught sight of the
airship, and, with yells, pointed upward.

Nearer and nearer to the earth settled the Red Cloud. The criminals in
the camp were running wildly about. Several squads of them darted
through the woods, only to come hurriedly back, where they called to
their companions.

"Ha! My men are evidently on the job!" exclaimed the sheriff. "They
are turning the rascals back!"

Some of the gang were so alarmed at the sight of the great airship
settling down on their camp, that they could only stand and stare at
it. Others were gathering sticks and stones, as if for resistance, and
some could be seen to have weapons. Off to one side was a small hut,
rather better than the rest of the tumbledown shacks in which the
tramps lived. Tom noticed this, and saw several men gathered about it.
One seemed familiar to the lad. He called the attention of Mr. Damon to
the fellow.

"Do you know him?" asked Tom eagerly.

"Bless my very existence! If it isn't Anson Morse! One of the gang!"
cried the eccentric man.

"That's what I thought," agreed Tom. "The bank robbers are here," he
added, to the sheriff.

"If we only recover the money we'll be doing well," remarked Mr.
Sharp.

Suddenly there came a shout from the fringe of woods surrounding the
camp, and an instant later there burst from the bushes a number of
men.

"My posse!" cried the sheriff. "We ought to be down now!"

The airship was a hundred feet above the ground, but Tom, opening
wider the gas outlet, sent the craft more quickly down. Then, just as
it touched the earth, he forced a mass of vapor into the container,
making the ship buoyant so as to reduce the shock.

An instant later the ship was stationary.

Out leaped the sheriff.

"Give it to'em, men!" he shouted.

With a yell his men responded, and fired a volley in the air.

"Come on, Tom!" called Mr. Sharp. "We'll make for the hut where you
saw Morse."

"I'll come too! I'll come too!" cried Mr. Damon, rushing along as fast
as he could, a seltzer bottle in either hand.

Tom's chief interest was to reach the men he suspected were the bank
robbers. The lad dashed through the woods toward the hut near which he
had seen Morse. He and Mr. Sharp reached it about the same time. As
they came in front of it out dashed Happy Harry, the tramp. He was
followed by Morse and the man named Featherton. The latter carried a
black valise.

"Hey! Drop that!" shouted Mr. Sharp.

"Drop nothing!" yelled the man.

"Go on! Go on!" urged Morse. "Take to the woods! We'll deal with these
fellows!"

"Oh, you will, eh?" shouted Tom, and remembering his football days he
made a dive between Morse and Happy Harry for the man with the bag,
which he guessed contained the stolen money. The lad made a good
tackle, and grabbed Featherton about the legs. He went down in a heap,
with Tom on top. Our hero was feeling about for the valise, when he
felt a stunning blow on the back of his head. He turned over quickly
to see Morse in the act of delivering a second kick. Tom grew faint,
and dimly saw the leader of the gang reach down for the valise.

This gave our hero sudden energy. He was not going to lose everything,
when it was just within his grasp. Conquering, by a strong effort, his
feeling of dizziness, he scrambled to his feet, and made a grab for
Morse. The latter fended him off, but Tom came savagely back at him,
all his fighting blood up. The effects of the cowardly blow were
passing off.

The lad managed to get one hand on the handle of the bag.

"Let go!" cried Morse, and he dealt Tom a blow in the face. It
staggered the youth, but he held on grimly, and raised his left hand
and arm as a guard. At the same time he endeavored to twist the valise
loose from Morse's hold. The man raised his foot to kick Tom, but at
that moment there was a curious hissing sound, and a stream of frothy
liquid shot over the lad's head right into the face of the man,
blinding him.

"Ha! Take that! And more of it!" shouted Mr. Damon, and a second
stream of seltzer squirted into the face of Morse.

With a yell of rage he let go his hold of the satchel, and Tom
staggered back with it. The lad saw Mr. Damon rushing toward the now
disabled leader, playing both bottles of seltzer on him. Then, when
all the liquid was gone the eccentric man began to beat Morse over the
head and shoulders with the heavy bottles until the scoundrel begged
for mercy.

Tom was congratulating himself on his success in getting the bag when
Happy Harry, the tramp, rushed at him.

"I guess I'll take that!" he roared, and, wheeling Tom around, at the
same time striking him full in the face, the ugly man made a grab for
the valise.

His hand had hardly touched it before he went down like a log, the
sound of a powerful blow causing Tom to look up. He saw Mr. Sharp
standing over the prostrate tramp, who had been cleanly knocked out.

"Are you all right, Tom?" asked the balloonist.

"Yes-trifle dizzy, that's all-I've got the money!"

"Are you sure?"

Tom opened the valise. A glance was enough to show that it was stuffed
with bills.

Happy Harry showed signs of coming to, and Mr. Sharp, with a few turns
of a rope he had brought along, soon secured him. Morse was too
exhausted to fight more, for the seltzer entering his mouth and nose,
had deprived him of breath, and he fell an easy prisoner to Mr. Damon.

Morse was soon tied up. The other members of the Happy Harry gang had
escaped.

Meanwhile the sheriff and his men were having a fight with the crowd
of tramps, but as the posse was determined and the criminals mostly of
the class known as "hobos," the battle was not a very severe one.
Several of the sheriff's men were slightly injured, however, and a few
of the tramps escaped.

"A most successful raid," commented the sheriff, when quiet was
restored, and a number of prisoners were lined up, all tied securely.
"Did you get the money?"

"Almost all of it," answered Tom, who, now that Morse and Happy Harry
were securely tied, had busied himself, with the aid of Mr. Sharp and
Mr. Damon, in counting the bills. "Only about two thousand dollars are
missing. I think the bank will be glad enough to charge that to profit
and loss."

"I guess so," added the sheriff. "I'm certainly much obliged to you
for the use of your airship. Otherwise the raid wouldn't have been so
successful. Well, now we'll get the prisoners to jail."

It was necessary to hire rigs from nearby farmers to accomplish this.
As for Morse and Happy Harry, they were placed in the airship, and,
under guard of the sheriff and two deputies, were taken to the county
seat. The criminals were too dazed over the rough treatment they had
received, and over their sudden capture, to notice the fact of riding
through the air to jail.

"Now for home!" cried Tom, when the prisoners had been disposed of.
"Home to clear our names and take this money to the bank!"

"And receive the reward," added Mr. Sharp, with a smile. "Don't forget
that!"

"Oh, yes, and I'll see that you get a share too, Mr. Durkin," went on
Tom. "Only for your aid we never would have gotten these men and the
money."

"Oh, I guess we're about even on that score," responded the official.
"I'm glad to break up that gang."

The next morning Tom and his friends started for home in the Red
Cloud.

They took with them evidence as to the guilt of the two men-Morse and
Happy Harry. The men confessed that they and their pals had robbed the
bank of Shopton, the night before Tom and his friends sailed on their
trip. In fact that was the object for which the gang hung around
Shopton. After securing their booty they had gone to the camp of the
tramps at Shagmon, where they hid, hoping they would not be traced.
But the words Tom had overheard had been their undoing. The men who
arrived at the camp just before the raid were the same ones the young
inventor heard talking in the office building. They had come to get
their share of the loot, which Morse held, and with which he tried so
desperately to get away. Tom's injuries were not serious and did not
bother him after being treated by a physician.

Chapter 25 - Andy Gets His Reward

Flying swiftly through the air the young inventor and his two
companions were soon within sight of Shopton. As they approached the
town from over the lake, and a patch of woods, they attracted no
attention until they were near home, and the craft settled down easily
in the yard of the Swift property.

That the aged inventor was glad to see his son back need not be said,
and Mrs. Baggert's welcome was scarcely less warm than that of Mr.
Swift. Mr. Sharp and Mr. Damon were also made to feel that their
friends were glad to see them safe again.

"We must go at once and see Mr. Pendergast, the bank president,"
declared Mr. Swift. "We must take the money to him, and demand that he
withdraw the offer of reward for your arrest."

"Yes," agreed Tom. "I guess the reward will go to some one besides
Andy Foger."

There was considerable surprise on the part of the bank clerks when
our hero, and his friends, walked in, carrying a heavy black bag. But
they could only conjecture what was in the wind, for the party was
immediately closeted with the president.

Mr. Pendergast was so startled that he hardly knew what to say when
Tom, aided by Mr. Sharp, told his story. But the return of the money,
with documents from Sheriff Durkin, certifying as to the arrest of
Morse and Happy Harry, soon convinced him of the truth of the account.

"It's the most wonderful thing I ever heard," said the president.

"Well, what are you going to do about it?" asked Mr. Damon. "You have
accused Tom and myself of being thieves, and-"

"I apologize-I apologize most humbly!" exclaimed Mr. Pendergast. "I
also-"

"What about the reward?" went on Mr. Damon. "Bless my bank notes, I
don't want any of it, for I have enough, but I think Tom and Mr. Sharp
and the sheriff are entitled to it."

"Certainly," said the president, "certainly. It will be paid at once.
I will call a meeting of the directors. In fact they are all in the
bank now, save Mr. Foger, and I can reach him by telephone. If you
will just rest yourselves in that room there I will summon you before
the board, when it convenes, and be most happy to pay over the five
thousand dollars reward. It is the most wonderful thing I ever heard
of-most wonderful!"

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