Chapter 2
Ned Sees Mysterious Men
"Who were those fellows?" asked the balloonist, of his companion.
"Oh, some chaps who think we'll never build our airship, Mr. Sharp.Andy Foger, and his crowd."
"Well, we'll show them whether we will or not," rejoined the man."I've just thought of one point where we made a mistake. Your fathersuggested it to me. We need a needle valve in the gas tank. Then we cancontrol the flow of vapor better."
"Of course!" cried Tom. "Why didn't I think of that? Let's try it." Andthe pair hurried into the machine shop, eager to make another test,which they hoped would be more successful.
The young inventor, for Tom Swift was entitled to that title, havingpatented several machines, lived with his father, Barton Swift, on theoutskirts of the small town of Shopton, in New York State. Mr. Swiftwas quite wealthy, having amassed a considerable fortune from severalof his patents, as he was also an inventor. Tom's mother had been deadsince he was a small child, and Mrs. Baggert kept house for the widowerand his son. There was also, in their household, an aged engineer,named Garret Jackson, who attended to the engine and boilers thatoperated machinery and apparatus in several small shops that surroundedthe Swift homestead; for Mr. Swift did most of his work at home.
As related in the first volume of this series, entitled "Tom Swift andHis Motor-Cycle," the lad had passed through some strenuous adventures.A syndicate of rich men, disappointed in a turbine motor they hadacquired from a certain inventor, hired a gang of scoundrels to getpossession of a turbine Mr. Swift had invented. Just before they madethe attempt, however, Tom became possessed of a motor-cycle. It hadbelonged to a wealthy man, Mr. Wakefield Damon, of Waterford, near LakeCarlopa, which body of water adjoined the town of Shopton; but Mr.Damon had two accidents with the machine, and sold it to Tom cheap. Tomwas riding his motorcycle to Albany, to deliver his father's model ofthe turbine motor to a lawyer, in order to get a patent on it, when hewas attacked by the gang of bad men. These included Ferguson Appleson,Anson Morse, Wilson Featherton, alias Simpson, Jake Burke, alias HappyHarry, who sometimes masqueraded as a tramp, and Tod Boreck, aliasMurdock. These men knocked Tom unconscious, stole the valuable modeland some papers, and carried the youth away in their automobile.
Later the young inventor, following a clue given him by EradicateSampson, an aged colored man, who, with his mule, Boomerang, went aboutthe country doing odd jobs, got on the trail of the thieves in adeserted mansion in the woods at the upper end of the lake. Our hero,with the aid of Mr. Damon, and some friends of the latter, raided theold house, but the men escaped.
In the second book of the series, called "Tom Swift and HisMotor-Boat," there was related the doings of the lad, his father andhis chum, Ned Newton, on Lake Carlopa. Tom bought at auction, amotor-boat the thieves had stolen and damaged, and, fixing it up, madea speedy craft of it so speedy, in fact that it beat the racing-boatRed Streak--owned by Andy Foger. But Tom did more than race in hisboat. He took his father on a tour for his health, and, during Mr.Swift's absence from home, the gang of bad men stole some of theinventor's machinery. Tom set out after them in his motor boat, but thescoundrels even managed to steal that, hoping to get possession of apeculiar and mysterious treasure in it, and Tom had considerabletrouble.
Among other things he did when he had his craft, was to aid a Miss MaryNestor, who, in her cousin's small boat, the Dot, was having troublewith the engine, and you shall hear more of Miss Nestor presently, forshe and Tom became quite friendly. Events so shaped themselves thatAndy Foger was glad to loan Tom the Red Streak in which to search forthe stolen Arrow, and it was in the later craft that Tom, his fatherand Ned Newton had a most thrilling adventure.
They were on their way down the lake when, in the air overhead they sawa balloon on fire, with a man clinging to the trapeze. They managed tosave the fellow's life, after a strenuous endeavor. The balloonist,John Sharp, was destined to play quite a part in Tom's life.
Mr. Sharp was more than an aeronaut--he was the inventor of anairship--that is, he had plans drawn for the more important parts, buthe had struck a "snag of clouds," as he expressed it, and could notmake the machine work. His falling in with Mr. Swift and his son seemedprovidential, for Tom and his father were at once interested in theproject for navigating the upper air. They began a study of Mr. Sharp'splans, and the balloonist was now in a fair way to have the difficultysolved.
His airship was, primarily an aeroplane, but with a sustaining aluminumcontainer, shaped like a cigar, and filled with a secret gas, madepartly of hydrogen, being very light and powerful. It was testing theeffect of this gas on a small model of the aluminum container that theexplosion, told of in the first chapter, occurred. In fact it was onlyone of several explosions, but, as Tom said, all the while they wereeliminating certain difficulties, until now the airship seemed almost afinished thing. But a few more details remained to be worked out, andMr. Swift and his son felt that they could master these.
So it was with a feeling of no little elation, that the young inventorfollowed Mr. Sharp into the shop. The balloonist, it may be explained,had been invited to live with the Swifts pending the completion of theairship.
"Do you think we'll get on the right track if we put the needle valvein?" asked Tom, as he noted with satisfaction that the damage from theexplosion was not great.
"I'm sure we will," answered the aeronaut. "Now let's make anothermodel container, and try the gas again."
They set to work, with Mr. Swift helping them occasionally, and GarretJackson, the engineer, lending a hand whenever he was needed. All thatafternoon work on the airship progressed. The joint inventors of itwanted to be sure that the sustaining gas bag, or aluminum container,would do its work properly, as this would hold them in the air, andprevent accidents, in case of a stoppage of the engine or propellers.
The aeroplane part of the airship was all but finished, and the motor,a powerful machine, of new design, built by Mr. Swift, was ready to beinstalled.
All that afternoon Tom, his father and Mr. Sharp labored in the shop.As it grew dusk there sounded from the house the ringing of a bell.
"Supper time," remarked Tom, laying aside a wrench. "I wish Mrs.Baggert would wait about an hour. I'd have this valve nearly done,then."
But the housekeeper was evidently not going to wait, for her voicesupplemented the bell.
"Supper! Sup-per!" she called. "Come now, Mr. Swift; Tom, Mr. Sharp! Ican't wait any longer! The meat and potatoes will be spoiled!"
"I s'pose we'd better go in," remarked Mr. Sharp, with something of asigh. "We can finish to-morrow."
The shop, where certain parts of the airship were being made, wasdoubly locked, and Jackson, the engineer, who was also a sort ofwatchman, was bidden to keep good guard, for the fear of the gang ofunscrupulous men, who had escaped from jail during a great storm, wasstill in the minds of Mr. Swift and his son.
"And give an occasional look in the shed, where the aeroplane is,"advised Mr. Sharp. "It wouldn't take much to damage that, now."
"I'll pay particular attention to it," promised the engineer. "Don'tworry, Mr. Sharp."
After supper the three gathered around the table on which were spreadout sheets of paper, covered with intricate figures and calculations,which Mr. Swift and the balloonist went over with care. Tom wasexamining some blue prints, which gave a sectional view of the proposedship, and was making some measurements when the bell rang, and Mrs.Baggert ushered in Ned Newton, the most particular chum of the younginventor.
"Hello, Ned!" exclaimed Tom. "I was wondering what had become of you.Haven't seen you in a dog's age."
"That's right," admitted Ned. "We've been working late nights at thebank. Getting ready for the regular visit of the examiner, who usuallycomes along about this time. Well, how are things going; and how is theairship?" for, of course, Ned had heard of that.
"Oh, pretty good. Had another explosion to-day, I s'pose you heard."
"No, I hadn't."
"I
thought everyone in town had, for Andy Foger and his two cronieswere on hand, and they usually tell all they know."
"Oh, Andy Foger! He makes me sick! He was scooting up the street in hisauto just as I was coming in, 'honking-honking' his horn to beat theband! You'd think no one ever had an auto but him. He certainly wasgoing fast."
"Wait until I get in our airship," predicted Tom. "Then I'll show youwhat speed is!"
"Do you really think it will go fast?"
"Of course it will! Fast enough to catch Anson Morse and his crowd ofscoundrels if we could get on their track."
"Why, I thought they were in jail," replied Ned, in some surprise."Weren't they arrested after they stole your boat?"
"Yes, and put in jail, but they managed to get out, and now they'refree to make trouble for us again."
"Are you sure they're out of jail?" asked Ned, and Tom noted that hischum's face wore an odd look.
"Sure? Of course I am. But why do you ask?"
Ned did not answer for a moment. He glanced at Tom's father, and theyoung inventor understood. Mr. Swift was getting rather along in age,and his long years of brain work had made him nervous. He had a greatfear of Morse and his gang, for they had made much trouble for him inthe past. Tom appreciated his chum's hesitancy, and guessed that Nedhad something to say that he did not want Mr. Swift to hear.
"Come on up to my room, Ned. I've got something I want to show you,"exclaimed Tom, after a pause.
The two lads left the room, Tom glancing apprehensively at his father.But Mr. Swift was so engrossed, together with the aeronaut, in makingsome calculations regarding wind pressure, that it is doubtful ifeither of the men were aware that the boys had gone.
"Now what is it, Ned?" demanded our hero, when they were safe in hisapartment. "Something's up. I can tell by your manner. What is it?"
"Maybe it's nothing at all," went on his chum. "If I had known, thoughthat those men had gotten out of jail, I would have paid more attentionto what I saw to-night, as I was leaving the bank to come here."
"What did you see?" demanded Tom, and his manner, which had been calm,became somewhat excited.
"Well, you know I've been helping the paying-teller straighten up hisbooks," went on the young bank employee, "and when I came out to-night,after working for several hours, I was glad enough to hurry away fromthe 'slave-den,' as I call it. I almost ran up the street, not lookingwhere I was going, when, just as I turned the corner, I bumped into aman."
"Nothing suspicious or wonderful in that," commented Tom. "I've oftenrun into people."
"Wait," advised Ned. "To save myself from falling I grabbed the man'sarm. He did the same to me, and there we stood, for a moment, rightunder a gas lamp. I looked down at his hands, and I saw that on thelittle finger of the left one there was tattooed a blue ring, and--"
"Happy Harry--the tramp!" exclaimed Tom, now much excited. "That'swhere he wears a tattooed ring!"
"That's what I thought you had told me," resumed Ned, "but I didn't payany attention to it at the time, as I had no idea that the men were outof jail."
"Well, what else happened?" inquired Tom
"Not much more. I apologized to the man, and he to me, and we let go ofeach other."
"Are you sure about the ring on his finger?"
"Positive. His hand was right in the light. But wait, that isn't all.I hurried on, not thinking much about it, when, I saw another man stepout of the dark shadows of Peterby's grocery, just beyond the bank.The man must have mistaken me for some one else, for he spoke to me."
"What did he say?"
"He asked me a question. It was: 'Is there any chance to-night?'"
"What did you tell him?"
"Well, I was so surprised that I didn't know what to say, and, before Icould get my wits together the man had seen his mistake and hurried on.He joined the man I had collided with, and the two skipped off in thedarkness. But not before a third man had come across the street, fromin front of the bank, and hurried off with them."
"Well?" asked Tom, as his chum paused.
"I don't know what to think," resumed Ned. "These men were certainlyacting suspiciously, and, now that you tell me the Anson Morse gang isnot locked up--well, it makes me feel that these must be some of theircrowd."
"Of course they are!" declared Tom positively. "That blue ring provesit!"
"I wouldn't go so far as to say that," declared Ned. "The man certainlyhad a blue ring tattooed on his finger--the same finger where you sayHappy Harry had his. But what would the men be doing in thisneighborhood? They certainly have had a lesson not to meddle with anyof your things."
"No, I don't believe they are after any of dad's inventions this time.But I tell you what I do believe."
"What?"
"Those men are planning to rob the Shopton Bank, Ned! And I advise youto notify the officers. That Morse gang is one of the worst in thecountry," and Tom, much excited, began to pace the room, while Ned, whohad not dreamed of such an outcome to his narrative, looked startled.
Tom Swift and His Airship Page 2