Tom Swift and his Great Searchlight
V >>
Victor Appleton >> Tom Swift and his Great Searchlight
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 | 5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10
"A telegram for you, Tom," called the lad, who was well acquainted
with our hero.
Hastily the young inventor tore open the envelope.
"Here's news!" he exclaimed,
"What is it?" asked Ned.
"It's from Mr. Whitford," answered his chum. "He says: 'Can't be
with you at start. Will meet you in Logansville. Have new clew to
the Fogers!'"
"Great Scott!" cried Ned, staring at his chum.
CHAPTER XI
ANDY'S NEW AIRSHIP
Tom Swift tossed a quarter to the messenger boy, and leaped over the
rail to the deck of his airship, making his way toward the pilot
house.
"Start the motor, Ned," he called. "Are you all ready, Mr. Damon?"
"Bless my ancient history, yes. But--"
"Are you going, Tom?" asked Ned.
"Of course. That's why we're here; isn't it? We're going to start
for the border to catch the smugglers. Give me full speed, I want
the motor to warm up."
"But that message from Mr. Whitford? He says he has a new clew to
the Fogers."
"That's all right. He may have, but he doesn't ask us to work it up.
He says he will meet us in Logansville, and he can't if we don't go
there. We're off for Logansville. Good-bye dad. I'll bring you back
a souvenir, Mrs. Baggert," he called to the housekeeper. "Sorry
you're not coming, Rad, but I'll take you next time."
"Dat's all right, Massa Tom. I doan't laik dem smugger-fellers,
nohow. Good-bye an' good luck!"
"Bless my grab bag!" gasped Mr. Damon. "You certainly do things,
Tom."
"That's the only way to get things done," replied the young
inventor. "How about you, Ned? Motor all right?"
"Sure."
"Then let her go!"
A moment later Ned had started the machinery, and Tom, in the pilot
house, had pulled the lever of the elevating rudder. Whizzing along,
but making scarcely any sound, the noiseless airship mounted upward,
and was off on her flight to capture the men who were cheating Uncle
Sam.
"What are you going to do first, when you get there, Tom?" asked
Ned, as he joined his chum in the pilot house, having set the motor
and other apparatus to working automatically. "I mean in
Logansville?"
"I don't know. I'll have to wait and see how things develop."
"That's where Mr. Foger lives, you know."
"Yes, but I doubt if he is there now. He and Andy are probably still
in the old house here, though what they are doing is beyond me to
guess."
"What do you suppose this new clew is that Mr. Whitford wired you
about?"
"Haven't any idea. If he wants us to get after it he'll let us know.
It won't take us long to get there at this rate. But I think I'll
slow down a bit, for the motor is warmed up now, and there's no use
racking it to pieces. But we're moving nicely; aren't we, Ned?"
"I should say so. This is the best all-around airship you've got."
"It is since I put the new motor in. Well, I wonder what will happen
when we get chasing around nights after the smugglers? It isn't
going to be easy work, I can tell you."
"I should say not. How you going to manage it?"
"Well, I haven't just decided. I'm going to have a talk with the
customs men, and then I'll go out night after night and cruise
around at the most likely place where they'll rush goods across the
border. As soon as I see the outlines of an airship in the darkness,
or hear the throb of her motor, I'll take after her, and--"
"Yes, and you can do it, too, Tom, for she can't hear you coming and
you can flash the big light on her and the smugglers will think the
end of the world has come. Cracky! Its going to be great, Tom! I'm
glad I came along. Maybe they'll fight, and fire at us! If they have
guns aboard, as they probably will have, we'll--"
"Bless my armor plate!" interrupted Mr. Damon. "Please don't talk
about such hair-raising things, Ned! Talk about something pleasant."
"All right," agreed Tom's chum, and then, as the airship sailed
along, high above the earth, they talked of many things.
"I think when we sight Logansville." said Tom, after a while, "that
I will come down in some quiet spot, before we reach the city."
"Don't you want to get into a crowd?" asked Ned.
"No, it isn't that. But Mr. Foger lives there you know, and, though
he may not be at home, there are probably some men who are
interested in the thing he is working at."
"You mean smuggling?"
"Well, I wouldn't say that. At the same time it may have leaked out
that we are after the smugglers in an airship and it may be that Mr.
Whitford doesn't want the Fogers to know I'm on the ground until he
has a chance to work up his clew. So I'll just go slowly, and remain
in the background for a while."
"Well, maybe it's a good plan," agreed Tom.
"Of course," began Tom, "it would be--"
He was interrupted by a shout from Koku, who had gone to the motor
room, for the giant was as fascinated over machinery as a child. As
he yelled there came a grinding, pounding noise, and the big ship
seemed to waver, to quiver in the void, and to settle toward the
earth.
"Something's happened!" cried Ned, as he sprang for the place where
most of the mechanism was housed.
"Bless my toy balloon!" shouted Mr. Damon. "We're falling, Tom!"
It needed but a glance at the needle of the barograph, to show this.
Tom followed Ned at top speed, but ere either of them reached the
engine room the pounding and grinding noises ceased, the airship
began to mount upward again, and it seemed that the danger had
passed.
"What can have happened?" gasped Tom.
"Come on, we'll soon see," said Ned, and they rushed on, followed by
Mr. Damon, who was blessing things in a whisper.
The chums saw a moment later--saw a strange sight--for there was
Koku, the giant, kneeling down on the floor of the motor room, with
his big hands clasped over one of the braces of the bed-plate of the
great air pump, which cooled the cylinders of the motor. The pump
had torn partly away from its fastenings. Kneeling there, pressing
down on the bed-plate with all his might, Koku was in grave danger,
for the rod of the pump, plunging up and down, was within a fraction
of an inch of his head, and, had he moved, the big taper pin, which
held the plunger to the axle, would have struck his temple and
probably would have killed him, for the pin, which held the plunger
rigid, projected several inches from the smooth side of the rod.
"Koku, what is the matter? Why are you there?" cried Tom, for he
could see nothing wrong with the machinery now. The airship was
sailing on as before.
"Bolt break," explained the giant briefly, for he had learned some
engineering terms since he had been with Tom. "Bolt that hold pump
fast to floor crack off. Pump him begin to jump up. Make bad noise.
Koku hold him down, but pretty hard work. Better put in new bolt,
Mr. Tom."
They could see the strain that was put upon the giant in his
swelling veins and the muscles of his hands and arms, for they stood
out knotted, and in bunches. With all his great strength it was all
Koku could do to hold the pump from tearing completely loose.
"Quick, Ned!" cried Tom. "Shut off all the power! Stop the pump!
I've got to bolt it fast. Start the gas machine, Mr. Damon. You know
how to do it. It works independent of the motor. You can let go in a
minute, Koku!"
It took but a few seconds to do all this. Ned stopped the main
motor, which had the effect of causing the propellers to cease
revolving. Then the airship would have gone down but for the fact
that she was now a balloon, Mr. Damon having started the generating
machine which sent the powerful lifting gas into the big bag over
head.
"Now you can let go, Koku," said Tom, for with the stooping of the
motor the air pump ceased plunging, and there was no danger of it
tearing loose.
"Bless my court plaster!" cried Mr. Damon. "What happened, Tom?"
As the giant arose from his kneeling position the cause of the
accident could easily be seen. Two of the big belts that held down
one end of the pump bed-plate to the floor of the airship, had
cracked off, probably through some defect, or because of the long
and constant vibration on them.
This caused a great strain on the two forward bolts, and the pump
starter! to tear itself loose. Had it done so there would have been
a serious accident, for there would have been a tangle in the
machinery that might never have been repairable. But Koku, who, it
seems, had been watching the pump, saw the accident as soon as it
occurred. He knew that the pump must be held down, and kept rigid,
and he took the only way open to him to accomplish this.
He pressed his big hands down over the place where the bolts had
broken off, and by main strength of muscle he held the bed-plate in
place until the power was shut off.
"Koku, my boy, you did a great thing!" cried Tom, when he realized
what had happened. "You saved all our lives, and the airship as
well."
"Koku glad," was the simple reply of the giant.
"But, bless my witch hazel!" cried Mr. Damon. "There's blood on your
hands, Koku!"
They looked at the giant's palms. They were raw and bleeding.
"How did it happen?" asked Ned.
"Where belts break off, iron rough-like," explained Koku.
"Rough! I should say it was!" cried Tom. "Why, he just pressed with
all his might on the jagged end of the belts. Koku you're a hero!"
"Hero same as giant?" asked Koku, curiously.
"No, it's a heap sight better," spoke Tom, and there was a trace of
tears in his eyes.
"Bless my vaseline!" exclaimed Mr. Damon, blowing his nose harder
than seemed necessary. "Come over here, Koku, and I'll bandage up
your hands. Poor fellow, it must hurt a lot!"
"Oh, not so bad," was the simple reply.
While Mr. Damon gave first aid to the injured, Tom and Ned put new
bolts in place of the broken ones on the bed-plate, and they tested
them to see that they were perfect. New ones were also substituted
for the two that had been strained, and in the course of an hour the
repairs were made.
"Now we can run as an aeroplane again," said Tom. "But I'm not going
to try such speed again. It was the vibration that did it I guess."
They were now over a wild and desolate stretch of country, for the
region lying on either side of the imaginary line dividing Canada and
New York State, at the point where the St. Lawrence flows north-east,
is sparsely settled.
There were stretches of forest that seemed never to have been
penetrated, and here and there patches of stunted growth, with
little lakes dotted through the wilderness. There were hills and
valleys, small streams and an occasional village.
"Just the place for smuggling," observed Tom, as he looked at a map,
consulted a clock and figured out that they must be near
Logansville. "We can go down here in one of these hollows,
surrounded by this tangled forest, and no one would ever know we
were here. The smugglers could do the same."
"Are you going to try it?" asked Ned.
"I think I will. We'll go up to quite a height now, and I'll see if
I can pick out Logansville. That isn't much of a place I guess. When
I sight it I'll select a good place to lay hidden for a day or two,
until Mr. Whitford has had a chance to work up his clew."
The airship machinery was now working well again, and Tom sent his
craft up about three miles. From there, taking observations through
a powerful telescope, he was able, after a little while, to pick out
a small town. From its location and general outline he knew it to be
Logansville.
"We'll go down about three miles from it," he said to his chum.
"They won't be likely to see us then, and we'll stay concealed for a
while."
This plan was put into operation, and, a little later the Falcon
came to rest in a little grassy clearing, located in among a number
of densely wooded hills. It was an ideal place to camp, though very
lonesome.
"Now, Ned, let's cut a lot of branches, and pile them over the
airship," suggested Tom.
"Cover over the airship? What for?"
"So that in case anyone flies over our heads they won't look down
and see us. If the Fogers, or any of the smugglers, should happen to
pass over this place, they'd spot us in a minute. We've got to play
foxy on this hunt."
"That's so," agreed his chum; and soon the three of them were busy
making the airship look like a tangled mass of underbrush. Koku
helped by dragging big branches along under his arm, but he could
not use his hands very well.
They remained in the little grassy glade three days, thoroughly
enjoying their camp and the rest. Tom and Ned went fishing in a
nearby lake and had some good luck. They also caught trout in a
small stream and broiled the speckled beauties with bacon inside
them over live coals at a campfire.
"My! But that's good!" mumbled Ned, with his mouth full of hot
trout, and bread and butter.
"Yes, I'd rather do this than chase smugglers," said Tom, stretching
out on his back with his face to the sky. "I wish--"
But he did not finish the sentence. Suddenly from the air above them
came a curious whirring, throbbing noise. Tom sat up with a jump! He
and Ned gazed toward the zenith. The noise increased and, a moment
later, there came into view a big airship, sailing right over their
heads.
"Look at that!" cried Tom.
"Hush! They'll hear you," cautioned Ned.
"Nonsense! They're too high up," was Tom's reply. "Mr. Damon, bring
me the big binoculars, please!" he called.
"Bless my spectacles, what's up?" asked the odd gentleman as he ran
with the glasses toward Tom.
Our hero focused them on the airship that was swiftly sailing across
the open space in the wilderness but so high up that there was no
danger of our friends being recognized. Then the young inventor
uttered a cry of astonishment.
"It's Andy Foger!" he cried. "He's in that airship, and he's got two
men with him. Andy Foger, and it's a new biplane. Say, maybe that's
the new clew Mr. Whitford wired me about. We must get ready for
action! Andy in a new airship means business, and from the whiteness
of the canvas planes, I should say that craft was on its first
trip."
CHAPTER XII
WARNED AWAY
"Tom, are you sure it's Andy?"
"Take a look yourself," replied the young inventor, passing his chum
the binoculars.
"Bless my bottle of ink!" cried Mr. Damon. "Is it possible?"
"Quick, Ned, or you'll miss him!" cried Tom.
The young bank clerk focused the glasses on the rapidly moving
airship, and, a moment later, exclaimed:
"Yes, that's Andy all right, but I don't know who the men are with
him."
"I couldn't recognize them, either," announced Tom. "But say, Ned,
Andy's got a good deal better airship than he had before."
"Yes. This isn't his old one fixed over. I don't believe he ever
intended to repair the old one. That hiring of Mr. Dillon to do
that, was only to throw him, and us, too, off the track."
Ned passed the glasses to Mr. Damon, who was just in time to get a
glimpse of the three occupants of Andy's craft before it passed out
of sight over the trees.
"I believe you're right," said Tom to his chum. "And did you notice
that there's quite a body, or car, to that craft?"
"Yes. room enough to carry considerable goods," commented Ned. "I
wonder where he's going in it?"
"To Logansville, most likely. I tell you what it is, Ned. I think one
of us will have to go there, and see if Mr. Whitford has arrived. He
may be looking for us. I'm not sure but what we ought not to have
done this first. He may think we have not come, or have met with
some accident,"
"I guess you're right, Tom. But how shall we go? It isn't going to
be any fun to tramp through those woods," and Ned glanced at the
wilderness that surrounded the little glade where they had been
camping.
"No, and I've about concluded that we might as well risk it, and go
in the airship. Mr. Whitford has had time enough to work up his
clew, I guess, and Andy will be sure to find out, sooner or later,
that we are in the neighborhood. I say let's start for Logansville."
Ned and Mr. Damon agreed with this and soon they were prepared to
move.
"Where will you find Mr. Whitford?" asked Ned of his chum, as the
Falcon arose in the air.
"At the post-office. That's where we arranged to meet. There is a
sort of local custom house there, I believe."
Straight over the forest flew Tom Swift and his airship, with the
great searchlight housed on top. They delayed their start until the
other craft had had a chance to get well ahead, and they were well
up in the air; there was no sight of the biplane in which Andy had
sailed over their heads a short time before.
"Where are you going to land?" asked Ned, as they came in view of
the town.
"The best place I can pick out," answered Tom. "Just on the
outskirts of the place, I think. I don't want to go down right in
the centre, as there'll be such a crowd. Yet if Andy has been using
his airship here the people must be more or less used to seeing
them."
But if the populace of Logansville had been in the habit of having
Andy Foger sail over their heads, still they were enough interested
in a new craft to crowd around when Tom dropped into a field near
some outlying houses. In a moment the airship was surrounded by a
crowd of women and children, and there would probably been a lot of
men, but for the fact that they were away at work. Tom had come down
in a residential section.
"Say, that's a beauty!" cried one boy.
"Let's see if they'll let us go on!" proposed another.
"We're going to have our own troubles," said Tom to his chum. "I
guess I'll go into town, and leave the rest of you on guard here.
Keep everybody off, if you have to string mildly charged electrical
wires about the rail."
But there was no need to take this precaution, for, just as the
combined juvenile population of that part of Logansville was
prepared to storm, and board the Falcon, Koku appeared on deck.
"Oh, look at the giant!"
"Say, this is a circus airship?"
"Wow! Ain't he big!"
"I'll bet he could lift a house!"
These and other expressions came from the boys and girls about the
airship. The women looked on open-mouthed, and murmurs of surprise
and admiration at Koku's size came from a number of men who had
hastily run up.
Koku stepped from the airship to the ground, and at once every boy
and girl made a bee-line for safety.
"That will do the trick!" exclaimed Tom with a laugh. "Koku, just
pull up a few trees, and look as fierce as Bluebeard, and I guess we
won't be troubled with curiosity seekers. You can guard the airship,
Koku, better than electric wires."
"I fix 'em!" exclaimed the giant, and he tried to look fierce, but
it was hard work, for he was very good natured. But he proved a
greater attraction than the aircraft, and Tom was glad of it, for he
did not like meddlers aboard.
"With Koku to help you, and Mr. Damon to bless things. I guess you
can manage until I come back, Ned," said the young inventor, as he
made ready to go in to town to see if Mr. Whitford had arrived.
"Oh, we'll get along all right," declared Ned. "Don't worry."
Tom found Mr. Whitford in one of the rooms over the post-office. The
custom house official was restlessly pacing the floor.
"Well, Tom!" he exclaimed, shaking hands, "I'm glad to see you. I
was afraid something had happened. I was delayed myself, but when I
did arrive and found you hadn't been heard from, I didn't know what
to think. I couldn't get you on the wireless. The plant here is out
of repair."
Tom told of their trip, and the wait they had decided on, and asked:
"What about the new clew; the Fogers?"
"I'm sorry to say it didn't amount to anything. I ran it down, and
came to nothing."
"You know Andy has a new airship?"
"Yes. I had men on the trail of it. They say Andy is agent for a
firm that manufactures them, but I have my doubts. I haven't given
up yet. But say, Tom, you've got to get busy. A big lot of goods was
smuggled over last night."
"Where?"
"Well, quite a way from here. I got a telegram about it. Can you get
on the job to-night, and do some patrol work along the border?
You're only half a mile from it now. Over there is Canada," and he
pointed to a town on a hill opposite Logansville.
"Yes, I can get right into action. What place is that?"
"Montford, Canada. I've got men planted there, and the Dominion
customs officials are helping us. But I think the smugglers have
changed the base of their operations for the time being. If I were
you I'd head for the St. Lawrence to-night."
"I will. Don't you want to come along?"
"Why, yes. I believe I'm game. I'll join you later in the day," Mr.
Whitford added, as Tom told him where the Falcon was anchored.
The young inventor got back to find a bigger crowd than ever around
his airship. But Koku and the others had kept them at a distance.
With the government agent aboard Tom sent his craft into the air at
dusk, the crowd cheering lustily. Then, with her nose pointed toward
the St. Lawrence, the Falcon was on her way to do a night patrol,
and, if possible, detect the smugglers.
It was monotonous work, and unprofitable, for, though Tom sent the
airship back and forth for many miles along the wonderful river that
formed the path from the Great Lakes to the sea, he had no glimpse
of ghostly wings of other aircraft, nor did he hear the beat of
propellers, nor the throb of motors, as his own noiseless airship
cruised along.
It came on to rain after midnight, and a mist crept down from the
clouds, so that even with the great searchlight flashing its
powerful beams, it was difficult to see for any great distance.
"Better give it up, I guess," suggested Mr. Whitford toward morning,
when they had covered many miles, and had turned back toward
Logansville.
"All right," agreed Tom. "But we'll try it again to-morrow night."
He dropped his craft at the anchorage he had selected in the gray
dawn of the morning. All on board were tired and sleepy. Ned,
looking from a window of the cabin, as the Falcon came to a stop,
saw something white on the ground.
"I wonder what that is?" he said as he hurried out to pick it up. It
was a large white envelope, addressed to Tom Swift, and the name was
in printed characters.
"Somebody who wants to disguise their writing," remarked Tom, as he
tore it open. A look of surprise came over his face.
"Look here! Mr. Whitford," he cried. "This is the work of the
smugglers all right!"
For, staring at Tom, in big printed letters, on a white sheet of
paper, was this message:
"If you know what is good for you, Tom Swift, you had better clear
out. If you don't your airship will burned, and you may get hurt.
We'll burn you in mid-air. Beware and quit. You can't catch us."
"THE COMMITTEE OF THREE."
"Ha! Warned away!" cried Tom. "Well, it will take more than this to
make me give up!" and he crumpled the anonymous warning in his hand.
CHAPTER XIII
KOKU SAVES THE LIGHT
"Don't do that!" cried Mr. Whitford.
"What?" asked Tom, in some surprise.
"Don't destroy that letter. It may give us a clew. Let me have it.
I'll put a man at work on that end of this game."
"Bless my checkerboard!" cried Mr. Damon. "This game has so many
ends that you don't know where to begin to play it."
The government man smoothed out the crumpled piece of paper, and
looked at it carefully, and also gazed at the envelope.
"It's pretty hard to identify plain print, done with a lead pencil,"
he murmured. "And this didn't came through the mail."
"I wonder how it got here?" mused Ned. "Maybe some of the crowd that
was here when we started off dropped it for the smugglers. Maybe the
smugglers were in that crowd!"
"Let's take a look outside," suggested Mr. Whitford. "We may be able
to pick up a clew there."
Although our friends were tired and sleepy, and hungry as well, they
forgot all this in the desire to learn more about the mysterious
warning that had come to them during the night. They all went
outside, and Ned pointed to where he had picked up the envelope.
"Look all around, and see if you can find anything more," directed
the custom agent.
"Footprints won't count," said Tom. "There was a regular circus
crowd out here yesterday."
"I'm not looking for footprints," replied Mr. Whitford, "I have an
idea--"
"Here's something!" interrupted Mr. Damon. "It looks like a lead
weight for a deep-sea fishing line. Bless my reel. No one could do
fishing here."
"Let me see that!" exclaimed Mr. Whitford eagerly. Then, as he
looked at it, he uttered a cry of delight. "I thought so," he said.
"Look at this bit of cord tied to the weight."
"What does that signify?" asked Tom.
"And see this little hole in the envelope, or, rather a place that
was a hole, but it's torn away now."
"I'm not much the wiser," confessed Ned, with a puzzled look.
"Why, it's as plain as print," declared the government agent. "This
warning letter was dropped from an airship, Tom."
"From an airship?"
"Yes. They sailed right over this place, and let the letter fall,
with this lead weight attached, to bring it to earth just where they
wanted it to fall."
"Bless my postage stamp!" cried Mr. Damon. "I never heard of such a
thing."
"I see it now!" exclaimed Tom. "While we were off over the river,
watching for the smugglers, they were turning a trick here, and
giving us a warning into the bargain. We should have stayed around
here. I wonder if it was Andy's airship that was used?"
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 | 5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10