The chums reached the lower hall, and there Tom picked out two African war clubs which he had brought back with him from one of his many trips into wild lands.
“These are just the thing!” exclaimed Ned, swinging his about.
“Careful,” cautioned Tom, “If you hit something you’ll rouse the house, and I don’t want my father and Mrs. Baggert, to say nothing of Eradicate, awakened.”
“Excuse me,” murmured Ned. “But we’d better be getting a move on.”
“That’s right,” agreed Tom. He dropped into a side pocket a small but powerful electric flash lamp, and then he and Ned let themselves out.
There had been a bright moon, but it was now overcast by clouds. However, there was sufficient light to enable the two lads to see objects quite clearly. All about them were the various buildings that made up the manufacturing and experimental plant of Tom Swift and his father. Farthest away from the house was the big shed where once Tom had kept a balloon, but which was now given over to his several airships. In front of it was a big, level grassy space, needed to enable the aircraft to get a “running start” before they could mount into the clouds.
“See anything of Koku?” whispered Ned.
“No,” answered Tom, in the same cautious voice. “I guess he must be hiding—”
“There he goes now!” hissed Ned, pointing to a big figure that was approaching the hangar. It was undoubtedly that of the giant, and he could be seen, in the dim light, stalking cautiously along.
“I wonder where the uninvited guests are?” asked Tom.
“Probably in the airship shed,” answered Ned. “Koku was after them as soon as the alarm went off, and they couldn’t have gotten away. They must be inside there yet. But what can their game be?”
“It’s hard to say,” admitted Tom. “They may be trying to get something belonging to me, or they may imagine they can pick up some valuable secrets. Or they may—” He stopped suddenly, and then exclaimed:
“Come on, Ned! They’re after one of the airships! That’s it! My big biplane is all ready to start, and they can get it in motion inside of a few seconds. Oh, why didn’t I hurry?” he added, bitterly.
But the hangar was still some distance away, and it would take two or three minutes of running to reach it.
Meanwhile, and at the instant Tom had his thought of the possible theft of his biggest aircraft, something happened.
The doors of the shed were suddenly thrown open, and the two boys could see the large airship being wheeled out. The hazy light of the moon behind the clouds shone on the expanse of white planes, and on the fish-tail rudder, one of Tom’s latest ideas.
“Hey, there!” cried Tom, warningly.
“Leave that alone!” yelled Ned.
“Koku! Koku!” shouted Tom, shrilly. “Get after those fellows!”
“Me get!” boomed out the giant, in his deep voice.
He had been standing near the entrance to the hangar, probably waiting for developments, and watching for the arrival of Tom and Ned. The big form was seen to leap forward, and then several dark shadows swarmed from around the airship, and were seen to fling themselves upon the giant.
“That’s a fight!” cried Ned. “They’re attacking him!”
“Koku can take care of himself!” murmured Tom. “But come on. I don’t see what their game is.”
He understood a moment later, however, for while several of the midnight visitors were engaged in a hand-to-hand tussle with the giant there came a sharp, throbbing roar of the airship motor in motion. The propellers were being whirled rapidly about.
“Koku! Koku!” cried Tom, for he was still some distance off. “Never mind them! Don’t let the airship be taken!”
But Koku could only grunt. Big and strong as he was, half a dozen men attacking him at once hampered him. He threw them from him, one after another, and was gradually making his way toward the now slowly-moving airship. But would he be in time?
Tom and Ned could not hope to reach the machine before Koku, though they were running at top speed.
“Koku! Koku!” yelled Tom. “Don’t let them get away!”
But Koku could only grunt—harder this time—for he fell heavily, being tripped by a stick thrust between his legs. He lay for a moment stunned.
“They’re going to get away!” panted Tom, making an effort to increase his speed.
“That’s what!” agreed Ned.
Even as they spoke the roar of the airship motor increased. Several of the dark forms which had been engaged in the struggle with Koku were seen to pick themselves up, and run toward the airship, that was now in motion, moving on the bicycle wheels over the grass plot, preparatory to mounting upward in the sky.
“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.
“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 gasolene 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.”
The Tom Swift Megapack Page 210