Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle
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Victor Appleton >> Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle
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"Ha! I knew you were trying to shoot me!" exclaimed the still angry
man. "I'll have the law on you for this!"
"Oh, that's all nonsense!" broke in Ned Newton. "Everybody knows Tom
Swift wouldn't try to shoot you, or any one else, Mr. Moker."
"Then why did he shoot at me?"
"That was a mistake," explained Tom, "and I apologize to you for
it."
"Humph! A lot of good that would do me, if I'd been killed!"
muttered the miser. "I'm going to sue you for this. You might have
put me in my grave."
"Impossible!" exclaimed Tom.
"Why impossible?" demanded the visitor.
"Because I had so set the rifle that almost the entire force of the
electrical bullet was expended in blowing apart the scarecrow figure
I made for a test," explained Tom. "All that passed through your
house was a small charge, and, if it HAD hit you there would have
been no more than a little shock, such as you would feel in taking
hold of an electric battery."
"How do I know this?" asked the man cunningly. "You say so, but for
all I know you may have wanted to kill me."
"Why?" asked Tom, trying not to laugh.
"Oh, so you might get some of my money. Of course I ain't got none,"
the miser went on quickly, "but folks thinks I've got a lot, and I
have to be on the lookout all the while, or they'd murder me for
it."
"I wouldn't," declared the young inventor. "It was a mistake. Only
part of the spent charge passed near you. Why, if it had been a
powerful charge you would never have been able to come over here. I
set the main charge to go off inside the scarecrow, and it did so,
as you can see by looking at what's left of it," and he pointed to
the pile of clothes and rags.
"How do I know this?" insisted the miser with a leer at the two
lads.
"Because if the charge had gone off either before or after it passed
through the figure, it would not have caused such havoc of the cloth
and straw," explained Tom. "First the charge would have destroyed
the steel plate, which it passed through without even denting it.
Why, look here, I will now fire the rifle at short range, and set it
to destroy the plate. See what happens."
He quickly adjusted the weapon, and aimed it at the plate, which,
had again been set up on the range. This time Tom was careful to set
the gage so that even a small part of the spent. charge would not go
outside the gallery.
The young inventor pressed the button, and instantly the heavy steel
plate was bent, torn and twisted as though a small sized cannon ball
had gone through it.
"That's what the rifle will do at short range," said Tom. "Don't
worry, Mr. Moker, you didn't have a narrow escape. You were in no
danger at all, though I apologize for the fright I caused you."
"Humph! That's an easy way to get out of it!" exclaimed the miser.
"I believe I could sue you for damages, anyhow. Look at my scorched
wall paper."
"Oh, I'll pay for that," said Tom quickly, for he did not wish to
have trouble with the unpleasant man. "Will ten dollars be enough?"
He knew that the whole room could be repapered for that, and he did
not believe the wall-covering was sufficiently damaged for such work
to be necessary.
"Well, if you'll make it twelve dollars, I won't say anything more
about it," agreed the miser craftily, "though it's worth thirteen
dollars, if it is a penny. Give me twelve dollars, Tom Swift, and I
won't prosecute you."
"All right, twelve dollars it shall be," responded the young
inventor, passing over the money, and glad to be rid of the
unpleasant character.
"And after this, just fire that gun of yours the other way,"
suggested Mr. Moker as he went out, carefully folding the bills
which Tom had handed him.
"Hum! that was rather queer," remarked Ned, after a pause.
"It sure was," agreed his chum. "This rifle will do more than I
thought it would. I'll have to be more careful. I was sure I set the
gage for two hundred feet. I'll have to invent some automatic
attachment to prevent it being discharged when the gage is set
wrong." Let us state here that Tom did this, and never had another
accident.
"Well, does this end the test?" asked Ned.
"No, indeed. I want you to try it, while I look on," spoke Tom. "We
haven't any more stuffed figures to fire at, but I'll set up some
targets. Come on, try your luck at a shot."
"I'm afraid I might disturb Mr. Moker, or some of the neighbors."
"No danger. I've got it adjusted right now. Come on, see if you can
shatter this steel target," and Tom set up a small one at the end of
the range.
Then, having properly fixed the weapon, Tom handed it to his chum,
and, taking his place in a protected part of the gallery, prepared
to watch the effect of the shot.
"Let her go!" cried Tom, and Ned pressed the button.
The effect was wonderful. Though there was no noise, smoke nor
flame, the steel plate seemed to crumple up, and collapse as if it
had been melted in the fire. There was a jagged hole through the
center, but some frail boards back of it were not even splintered.
"Good shot!" cried Tom enthusiastically. "I had the distance gage
right that time."
"You sure did," agreed Ned. "The electric bullet stopped as soon as
it did its work on the plate. What's next?"
"I'm going to try a difficult test," explained Tom. "You know I said
the gun would shoot luminous charges?" "Yes."
"Well, I'm going to try that, now. I wish we had another image to
shoot at, but I'll take a big dry-goods box, and make believe it's
an elephant. Now, this is going to be a hard test, such as we'd meet
with, if we were hunting in Africa. I want you to help me."
"What am I to do?" asked Ned.
"I want you to go outside," explained Tom, "set up a dry-goods box
against the side of the little hill back of the shed, and not tell
me where you put it. Then I'll go out, and, by means of the luminous
charge, I'll locate the box, set the distance gage, and destroy it."
"Well, you can see it anyhow, in the moonlight," objected Ned.
"No, the moon is under a cloud now," explained Tom, looking out of a
window. "It's quite dark, and will give me just the test I want for
my new electric rifle."
"But won't it be dangerous, firing in the dark? Suppose you misjudge
the distance, and the bullet, or charge, files off and hits some
one?"
"It can't. I'll set the distance gage before I shoot. But if I
should happen to make a mistake the charge will go into the side of
the hill, and spend itself there. There is no danger. Go ahead, and
set up the box, and then come and tell me. Mr. Jackson will help
you."
Ned and the engineer left the gallery. As Tom had, said, it was very
dark now, and if Tom could see in the night to hit a box some
distance away, his weapon would be all that he claimed for it.
"This will do," said the engineer, as he pointed to a box, one of
several piled up outside the shed. The two could hardly see to make
their way along, carrying it to the foot of the hill, and they
stumbled several times. But at last it was in position, and then Ned
departed to call Tom, and have him try the difficult test--that of
hitting an object in the dark.
CHAPTER IV
BIG TUSKS WANTED
"Well, are you all ready for me?" asked the young inventor, as he
took up his curious weapon, and followed Ned out into the yard. It
was so dark that they had fairly to stumble along.
"Yes, we're ready," answered Ned. "And you'll be a good one, Tom, if
you do this stunt. Now stand here, "he went on, as he indicated a
place as well as he could in the dark. The box is somewhere in that
direction," and he waved his hand vaguely. "I'm not going to tell
you any more, and let's see you find it.
"Oh, I will, all right--or, rather, my electric rifle will,"
asserted Tom.
The inventor of the curious and terrible weapon took his position.
Behind him stood Ned and Mr. Jackson, and just before Tom was ready
to fire, his father came stalking through the darkness, calling to
them.
"Are you there, Tom?"
"Yes Dad, is anything the matter?"
"No, but I thought I'd like to see what luck you have. Rad was
saying you were going to have a test in the dark."
"I'm about ready for it," replied Tom. "I'm going to blow up a box
that I can't see. You know how it's done, Dad, for you helped me in
perfecting the luminous charge, but it's going to be something of a
novelty to the others. Here we go, now!"
Tom raised his rifle, and aimed it in the dark. Ned Newton,
straining his eyes to see, was sure the young inventor was pointing
the gun at least twenty feet to one side of where the box was
located, but he said nothing, for from experiences in the past, he
realized that Tom knew what he was doing.
There was a little clicking sound, as the youth moved some gear
wheel on his gun. Then there came a faint crackling noise, like some
distant wireless apparatus beginning to flash a message through
space.
Suddenly a little ball of purplish light shot through the darkness
and sped forward like some miniature meteor. It shed a curious
illuminating glow all about, and the ground, and the objects on it
were brought into relief as by a lightning flash.
An instant later the light increased in intensity, and seemed to
burst like some piece of aerial fireworks. There was a bright glare,
in which Ned and the others could see the various buildings about
the shed. They could see each other's faces, and they looked pale
and ghastly in the queer glow. They could see the box, brought into
bold relief, where Ned and the engineer had placed it.
Then, before the light had died away, they witnessed a curious
sight. The heavy wooden box seemed to dissolve, to collapse and to
crumple up like one of paper, and ere the last rays of the
illuminating bullet faded, the watchers saw the splinters of wood
fall back with a clatter in a little heap on the spot where the dry-
goods case had been.
A silence followed, and the darkness was all the blacker by contrast
with the intense light. At length Tom spoke, and he could not keep
from his voice a note of triumph.
"Well, did I do it?" he asked.
"You sure did!" exclaimed Ned heartily.
"Fine!" cried Mr. Swift.
"Golly! I wouldn't gib much fo' de hide ob any burglar what comed
around heah!" muttered Eradicate Sampson. "Dat box am knocked clean
into nuffiness, Massa Tom."
"That's what I wanted to do," explained the lad. "And I guess this
will end the test for tonight."
"But I don't exactly understand it," spoke Ned, as they all moved
toward the Swift home, Eradicate going to the stable to see how his
mule was. "Do you have two kinds of bullets, Tom, one for night and
one for the daytime?"
"No," answered Tom, "there is only one kind of bullet, and, as I
have said, that isn't a bullet at all. That is, you can't see it, or
handle it, but you can feel it. Strictly speaking, it is a
concentrated discharge of wireless electricity directed against a
certain object. You can't see it any more than you can see a
lightning bolt, though that is sometimes visible as a ball of fire.
My electric rifle bullets are similar to a discharge of lightning,
except that they are invisible."
"But we saw the one just now," objected Ned.
"No, you didn't see the bullet," said Tom.
"You saw the illuminating flash which I send out just before I fire,
to reveal the object I am to hit. That is another part of my rifle
and is only used at night."
"You see I shoot out a ball of electrical fire which will disclose
the target, or the enemy at whom I am firing. As soon as that is
discharged the rifle automatically gets ready to shoot the electric
charge, and I have only to press the proper button, and the
'bullet,' as I call it, follows on the heels of the ball of light.
Do you see?"
"Perfectly," exclaimed Ned with a laugh. "What a gun that would be
for hunting, since most all wild beasts come out only at night."
"That was one object in making this invention," said Tom. "I only
hope I get a chance to use it now."
"I thought you were going to Africa after elephants," spoke Mr.
Swift.
"Well, I did think of it." admitted Tom, "but I haven't made any
definite plans. But come into the house, Ned. and I'll show you more
in detail how my rifle works."
Thereupon the two chums spent some time going into the mysteries of
the new weapon. Mr. Swift and Mr. Jackson were also much interested,
for, though they had seen the gun previously and had helped Tom
perfect it, they had not yet tired of discussing its merits.
Ned stayed quite late that night, and promised to come over the next
day, and watch Tom do some more shooting.
"I'll show you how to use it, too," promised the young inventor, and
he was as good as his word, initiating Ned into the mysteries of the
electric rifle, and showing him to store the charges of death-
dealing electricity in the queer-looking stock.
For a week after that Tom and Ned practiced with the terrible gun,
taking care not to have any more mishaps like the one that had
marked the first night. They were both good shots with ordinary
weapons and it was not long before they had equaled their record
with the new instrument.
It was one warm afternoon, when Tom was out in the meadow at one
side of his house, practicing with his rifle on some big boxes he
had set up for targets, that he saw an elderly man standing close to
the fence watching him. When Tom blew to pieces a particularly large
packing-case, standing a long distance away from it, the stranger
called to the youth.
"I beg your pardon," he said, "but is that a dynamite gun you are
using?"
"No, it's an electric rifle," was the answer.
"Would you mind telling me something about it?" went on the elderly
man, and as Tom's weapon was now fully protected by patents, the
young inventor cordially invited the stranger to come nearer and see
how it worked.
"That's the greatest thing I ever saw!" exclaimed the man
enthusiastically when Tom had blown up another box, and had told of
the illumination for night firing. "The most wonderful weapon I ever
heard of! What a gun it would be in my business."
"What is your trade?" asked Tom curiously, for he had noted that the
man, while aged, was rugged and hearty, and his skin was tanned a
leathery brown, showing that he was much in the open air.
"I'm a hunter," was the reply, "a hunter of big game, principally
elephants, hippos and rhinoceroses. I've just finished a season in
Africa, and I'm going back there again soon. I came on to New York
to get a new elephant gun. I've got a sister living over in
Waterford, and I've been visiting her. I went out for a stroll to-
day, and I came farther than I intended. That's how I happened to be
passing here."
"A sister in Waterford, eh?" mused Tom, wondering whether the
elephant hunter had met Mr. Damon. "And how soon are you going hack
to Africa, Mr.--er--" and Tom hesitated.
"Durban is my name, Alexander Durban," said the old man. "Why, I am
to start back in a few weeks. I've got an order for a pair of big
elephant tusks--the largest I can get for a wealthy New York man,--
and I'm anxious to fulfil the contract. The game isn't what it once
was. There's more competition and the elephants are scarcer. So I've
got to hustle."
"I got me a new gun. but my! it's nothing to what yours is. With
that weapon I could do about as I pleased. I could do night hunting,
which is hard in the African jungle. Then I wouldn't have any
trouble getting the big tusks I'm after. I could get a pair of them,
and live easy the rest of my life. Yes, I wouldn't ask anything
better than a gun like yours. But I s'pose they cost like the
mischief?" He looked a question at Tom.
"This is the only one there is," was the lad's answer. "But I am
very glad to have met you, Mr. Durban. Won't you come into the
house? I'm sure my father will be glad to see you, and I have
something I'd like to talk to you about," and Tom, with many wild
ideas in his head, led the old elephant hunter toward the house.
The dream of the young inventor might come true after all.
CHAPTER V
RUSH WORK
Mr. Swift made the African hunter warmly welcome, and listened with
pride to the words of praise Mr. Durban bestowed on Tom regarding
the rifle.
"Yes, my boy has certainly done wonders along the inventive line,"
said Mr. Swift.
"Not half as much as you have, Dad," interrupted the lad, for Tom
was a modest youth.
"You should see his sky racer," went on the old inventor.
"Sky racer? What's that?" asked Mr. Durban. "Is it another kind of
gun or cannon?"
"It's an aeroplane--an airship," explained Mr. Swift.
"An airship!" exclaimed the old elephant hunter. "Say, you don't
mean that you make balloons, do you?"
"Well, they're not exactly balloons," replied Tom, as he briefly
explained what an aeroplane was, for Mr. Durban, having been in the
wilds of the jungle so much, had had very little chance to see the
wonders and progress of civilization.
"They are better than balloons," went on Tom, "for they can go where
you want them to."
"Say! That's the very thing!" cried the old hunter enthusiastically.
"If there's one thing more than another that is needed in hunting in
Africa it's an airship. The travel through the jungle is something
fierce, and that, more than anything else, interferes with my work.
I can't cover ground enough, and when I do get on the track of a
herd of elephants, and they get away, it's sometimes a week before I
can catch up to them again."
"For, in spite of their size, elephants can travel very fast, and
once they get on the go, nothing can stop them. An airship would be
the very thing to hunt elephants with in Africa--an airship and this
electric rifle. I wonder why you haven't thought of going, Tom
Swift."
"I have thought of it," answered the young inventor, "and that's why
I asked you in. I want to talk about it."
"Do you mean you want to go?" demanded the old man eagerly.
"I certainly do!"
"Then I'm your man! Say, Tom Swift, I'd be proud to have you go to
Africa with me. I'd be proud to have you a member of my hunting
party, and, though I don't like to boast, still if you'll ask any of
the big-game people they'll tell you that not every one can
accompany Aleck Durban."
Tom realized that he was speaking to an authority and a most
desirable companion, should he go to Africa, and he was very glad of
the chance that had made him acquainted with the veteran hunter.
"Will you go with me?" asked Mr. Durban. "You and your electric gun
and your airship? Will you come to Africa to hunt elephants, and
help me get the big tusks I'm after?"
"I will!" exclaimed Tom.
"Then we'll start at once. There's no need of delaying here any
longer."
"Oh, but I haven't an airship ready," said the young inventor. The
face of the old hunter expressed his disappointment.
"Then we'll have to give up the scheme," he said ruefully.
"Not at all," Tom told him. "I have all the material on hand for
building a new airship. I have had it in mind for some time, and I
have done some work on it. I stopped it to perfect my electric
rifle, but, now that is done, I'll tackle the Black Hawk again, and
rush that to completion."-
"The Black Hawk?" repeated Mr. Durban, wonderingly.
"Yes, that's what I will name my new craft. The RED CLOUD was
destroyed, and so I thought I'd change the color this time, and
avoid bad luck."
"Good!" exclaimed the hunter. "When do you think you can have it
finished?"
"Oh, possibly in a month--perhaps sooner, and then we will go to
Africa and hunt elephants!"
"Bless my ivory paper cutter!" exclaimed a voice in the hall just
outside the library. "Bless my fingernails! But who's talking about
going to Africa?"
The old hunter looked at Tom and his father in surprise, but the
young inventor laughing and going to the door, called out:
"Come on in, Mr. Damon. I didn't hear you ring. There is some one
here from your town."
"Is it my wife?" asked the odd gentleman who was always blessing
something. "She said she was going to her mother's to spend a few
weeks, and so I thought I'd come over here and see if you had
anything new on the program. The first thing I hear is that you are
going to Africa. And so there's some one from Waterford in there,
eh? Is it my wife?"
"No," answered Tom with another laugh. "Come on in Mr. Damon."
"Bless my toothpick!" exclaimed the odd gentleman, as he saw the
grizzled elephant hunter sitting between Tom and Mr. Swift. "I have
seen you somewhere before, my dear sir."
"Yes," admitted Mr. Durban, "if you're from Waterford you have
probably seen me traveling about the streets there. I'm stopping
with my sister, Mrs. Douglass, but I can't stand it to be in the
house much, so I'm out of doors, wandering about a good bit of the
time. I miss my jungle. But we'll soon be in Africa, Tom Swift and
me."
"Is it possible, Tom?" asked Mr. Damon. "Bless my diamond mines! but
what are you going to do next?"
"It's hard to say," was the answer. "But you came just in time. Mr.
Damon. I'm going to rush work on the Black Hawk, my newest airship,
and we'll leave for elephant land inside of a month, taking my new
electric rifle along. Will you come"
"Bless my penknife! I never thought of such a thing. I--I--guess--
no, I don't know about it--yes, I'll go!" he suddenly exclaimed.
"I'll, go! Hurrah for the elephants!" and he jumped up and shook
hands in turn with Mr. Durban, to whom he had been formally
introduced, and with Tom and Mr. Swift.
"Then it's all settled but the details," declared the youth, "and
now I'll call in Mr. Jackson, and we'll talk about how soon we can
have the airship ready."
"My, but you folks are almost as speedy as a herd of the big
elephants themselves!" exclaimed Mr. Durban, and with the advent of
the engineer the talk turned to things mechanical among Tom and Mr.
Jackson and Mr. Damon, while Mr. Durban told Mr. Swift hunting
stories which the old inventor greatly enjoyed.
The next day Tom engaged two machinists who had worked for him
building airships before, and in the next week rush work began on
the new Black Hawk. Meanwhile Mr. Durban was a frequent visitor at
Tom's home, where he learned to use the new rifle, declaring it was
even more wonderful than he had at first supposed.
"That will get the elephants!" he exclaimed. It did, as you shall
soon learn, and it also was the means of saving several lives in the
wilds of the African jungle.
CHAPTER VI
NEWS FROM ANDY
Tom Swift's former airship, the Red Cloud, had been such a fine
craft, and had done such good service that he thought, in building a
successor, that he could do no better than to follow the design of
the skyship which had been destroyed in the ice caves. But, on
talking with the old elephant hunter, and learning something of the
peculiarities of the African jungle the young inventor decided on
certain changes.
In general the Black Hawk would be on the lines of the Red Cloud but
it would be smaller and lighter and would also be capable of swifter
motion.
"You want it so that it will rise and descend quickly and at sharp
angles," said Mr. Durban.
"Why," inquired Tom.
"Because in Africa, at least in the part where we will go, there are
wide patches of jungle and forest, with here and there big open
places. If you are skimming along close to the ground, in an open
place, in pursuit of a herd of elephants and they should suddenly
plunge into the forest, you would want to be able to rise above the
trees quickly."
"That's so," admitted Tom. "Then I'll have to use a smaller gas bag
than we had on the other ship, for the air resistance to that big
one made us go slowly at times."
"Will it be as safe with a small bag?" Mr. Damon wanted to know.
"Yes, for I will use a more powerful gas, so that we will be more
quickly lifted," said the young inventor. "I will also retain the
aeroplane feature, so that the Black Hawk will be a combined biplane
and dirigible balloon. But it will have many new features. I have
the plans all drawn for a new style of gas generating apparatus, and
I think it can be made in time."
There were busy days about the Swift home. Mrs. Baggert, the
housekeeper, was in despair. She said the good meals she got ready
were wasted, because no one would come to table when they were
ready. She would ring the bell, and announce that dinner would be
served in five minutes.
Then Tom would shout from his workshop that he could not leave until
he had inserted a certain lever in place. Mr. Jackson would
positively decline to sit down until he had screwed fast some part
of a machine. Even Mr. Swift, who, because of his recent illness,
was not allowed to do much, would often delay his meal to test some
new style of gears.
As for Mr. Damon, it was to be expected that he would be eccentric
as he always was. He was not an expert mechanic, but he knew
something of machinery and was of considerable help to Tom in the
rush work on the airship. He would hear the dinner bell ring, and
would exclaim:
"Bless my napkin ring! I can't come now. I have to fix up this
electrical register first."
And so it would go. Eradicate and Boomerang, his mule, were the only
ones who ate regularly, and they always insisted on stopping at
exactly twelve o'clock to partake of the noonday meal.
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