“That’s awfully nice of you. But you do look worried, Tom. Has anything troubled you?”
“No, not much. Everything is going all right now. We did have a little trouble at a fire in one of my buildings—”
“A fire! Oh, Tom! You never told me!”
“Well, it didn’t amount to much—the only suspicious fact about it was that it seemed to have been of incendiary origin.”
Mary seemed much alarmed, and again begged Tom to be on his guard, which he promised to do. Had Mary known the warnings uttered by Lieutenant Marbury she might have had more occasion for worry.
“Do you suppose that hammer man of yours came to these woods to meet that Frenchman and talk about you, Tom?” asked his companion, when the two men had strolled out of sight, and the young people were on their way back to the launch.
“Well, it’s possible. I have been warned that foreign spies are trying to get hold of some of my patents, and also to hamper the government in the use of some others I have sold. But they’ll have their own troubles to get away with anything. The works are pretty well guarded, and you forget I have the giant, Koku, who is almost a personal bodyguard.”
“Yes, but he can’t be everywhere at once. Oh, you will be careful, won’t you, Tom?”
“Yes, Mary, I will,” promised the young inventor. “But don’t say anything to Ned about what we just saw and heard.”
“Why not?”
“Because he’s been at me to hire a couple of detectives to watch over me, and this would give him another excuse. Just don’t say anything, and I’ll adopt all the precautions I think are needful.”
“I will on condition that you do that.”
“And I promise I will.”
With that Mary had to be content. A little later they joined Ned and his friend, and soon they were moving swiftly down the lake in the launch.
“Well, hasn’t it done you good to take a day off?” Ned demanded of his chum, when they were on their homeward way.
“Yes, I think it has,” agreed Tom.
“You swung your thoughts into a new channel, didn’t you?”
“Oh, yes, I found something new to think about,” admitted the young inventor, with a quick look at Mary.
But, though Tom thus passed off lightly the little incident of the day, he gave it serious thought when he was alone.
“Those fellows were certainly talking about me,” he reasoned. “I wonder what for? And Feldman left the shop without my knowledge. I’ll have to look into that. I wonder if that Frenchy looking chap I saw was the one who tried to pump Eradicate? Another point to settle.”
The last was easily disposed of, for, on reaching his shops that afternoon, Tom cross-questioned the colored man, and obtained a most accurate description of the odd foreigner. It tallied in every detail with the man Tom had seen in the woods.
“And now about Feldman,” mused Tom, as he went to the foreman of the shop where the suspected man had been employed.
“Yes, Feldman asked for a day off,” the foreman said in response to Tom’s question. “He claimed his mother was sick, and he wanted to go to see her. I knew you wouldn’t object, as we were not rushed in his department.”
“Oh, that’s all right,” said Tom quickly. “Did he say where his mother lived?”
“Over Lafayette way.”
“Humph!” murmured Tom. To himself he added: “Queer that he should be near Lake Loraine, in an opposite direction from Lafayette. This will bear an investigation.”
The next day Tom made it his business to pass near the hammer that was so frequently out of order. He found Feldman busy instructing Koku in its operation. Tom resolved on a little strategy.
“How is it working, Feldman?” he asked.
“Very well, Mr. Swift. There doesn’t seem to be any trouble at all, but it may happen any minute. Koku seems to take to it like a duck to water.”
“Well, when he is ready to assume charge let me know.”
“And then am I to go into the aeroplane shop?”
“I’ll see. By the way, how is your mother?” he asked quickly, looking Feldman full in the face.
“She is much better. I took a day off yesterday to go to see her,” the man replied quietly enough, and without sign of embarrassment.
“That’s good. Let me see, she lives over near Lake Loraine, doesn’t she?”
This time Feldman could not repress a start. But he covered it admirably by stooping over to pick up a tool that fell to the floor.
“No, my mother is in Lafayette,” he said. “I don’t know where Lake Loraine is.”
“Oh,” said Tom, as he turned aside to hide a smile. He was sure now he knew at least one of the plotters.
But Tom was not yet ready to show his hand. He wanted better evidence than any he yet possessed. It would take a little more time.
Work on the aerial warship was rushed, and it seemed likely that a trial flight could be made before the date set. Lieutenant Marbury sent word that he would be on hand when needed, and in some of the shops, where fittings for the Mars were being made, night and day shifts were working.
“Well, if everything goes well, we’ll take her for a trial flight tomorrow,” said Tom, coming in from the shops one evening.
“Guns and all?” asked Ned, who had come over to pay his chum a visit. Mr. Damon was also on hand, invoking occasional blessings.
“Guns and all,” replied Tom.
Ned had a little vacation from the bank, and was to stay all night, as was Mr. Damon.
What time it was, save that it must be near midnight, Tom could not tell, but he was suddenly awakened by hearing yells from Eradicate:
“Massa Tom! Massa Tom!” yelled the excited colored man. “Git up! Git up! Suffin’ turrible am happenin’ in de balloon shop. Hurry! An’ yo’ stan’ still, Boomerang, or I’ll twist yo’ tail, dat’s what I will! Hurry, Massa Tom!”
Tom leaped out of bed.
CHAPTER XIII
THE CAPTURE
Tom Swift was something like a fireman. He had lived so long in an atmosphere of constant alarms and danger, that he was always ready for almost any emergency. His room was equipped with the end in view that he could act promptly and effectively.
So, when he heard Eradicate’s alarm, though he wondered what the old colored man was doing out of bed at that hour, Tom did not stop to reason out that puzzle. He acted quickly.
His first care was to throw on the main switch, connected with a big storage battery, and to which were attached the wires of the lighting system. This at once illuminated every shop in the plant, and also the grounds themselves. Tom wanted to see what was going on. The use of a storage battery eliminated the running of the dynamo all night.
And once he had done this, Tom began pulling on some clothes and a pair of shoes. At the same time he reached out with one hand and pressed a button that sounded an alarm in the sleeping quarters of Koku, the giant, and in the rooms of some of the older and most trusted men.
All this while Eradicate was shouting away, down in the yard.
“Massa Tom! Massa Tom!” he called. “Hurry! Hurry! Dey is killin’ Koku!”
“Killing Koku!” exclaimed Tom, as he finished his hasty dressing. “Then my giant must already be in the fracas. I wonder what it’s all about, anyhow.”
“What’s up, Tom?” came Ned’s voice from the adjoining room. “I thought I heard a noise.”
“Your thoughts do you credit, Ned!” Tom answered. “If you listen right close, you’ll hear several noises.”
“By Jove! You’re right, old man!”
Tom could hear his chum bound out of bed to the floor, and, at the same time, from the big shed where Tom was building his aerial warship came a series of yells and shouts.
“That’s Koku’s voice!” Tom exclaimed, as he recognized the tones of the giant.
“I’m coming, Tom!” Ned informed his chum. “Wait a minute.”
“No time to wait,” Tom replied, buttoning his co
at as he sped down the hall.
“Oh, Tom, what is it?” asked Mrs. Baggert, the housekeeper, looking from her room.
“I don’t know. But don’t let dad get excited, no matter what happens. Just put him off until I come back. I think it isn’t anything serious.”
Mr. Damon, who roomed next to Ned, came out of his own apartment partially dressed.
“Bless my suspenders!” he cried to Tom, those articles just then dangling over his hips. “What is it? What has happened? Bless my steam gauge, don’t tell me it’s a fire!”
“I think it isn’t that,” Tom answered. “No alarm has rung. Koku seems to be in trouble.”
“Well, he’s big enough to look after himself, that’s one consolation,” chuckled Mr. Damon. “I’ll be right with you.”
By this time Ned had run out into the hall, and, together, he and Tom sped down the corridor. They could not hear the shouts of Eradicate so plainly now, as he was on the other side of the house.
But when the two young men reached the front porch, they could hear the yells given with redoubled vigor. And, in the glare of the electric lights, Tom saw Eradicate leading along Boomerang, the old mule.
“What is it, Rad? What is it?” demanded the young inventor breathlessly.
“Trouble, Massa Tom! Dat’s what it am! Trouble!”
“I know that—but what kind?”
“De worstest kind, I ’spects, Massa Tom. Listen to it!”
From the interior of the big shed, not far from the house, Tom and Ned heard a confused jumble of shouts, cries and pleadings, mingled with the rattle of pieces of metal, and the banging of bits of wood. And, above all that, like the bellowing of a bull, was noted the rumbling voice of Koku, the giant.
“Come on, Ned!” Tom cried.
“It’s suah trouble, all right,” went on Eradicate. “Mah mule, Boomerang, had a touch ob de colic, an’ I got up t’ gib him some hot drops an’ walk him around, when I heard de mostest terrific racket-sound, and den I ’spected trouble was comm.”
“It isn’t coming—it’s here!” called Tom, as he sped toward the big shop. Ned was but a step behind him. The big workshop where the aerial warship was being built was, like the other buildings, brilliantly illuminated by the lights Tom had switched on. The young inventor also saw several of his employees speeding toward the same point.
Tom was the first to reach the small door of the shed. This was built in one of the two large main doors, which could be swung open when it was desired to slide the Mars in from the ground, and not admit it through the roof.
“Look!” cried Tom, pointing.
Ned looked over his chum’s shoulder and saw the giant, Koku, struggling with four men—powerful men they were, too, and they seemed bent on mischief.
For they came at Koku from four sides, seeking to hold his hands and feet so that he could not fight them back. On the floor near where the struggle was taking place was a coil of rope, and it was evident that it had been the intention of the men to overcome Koku and truss him up, so that he would not interfere with what they intended to do. But Koku was a match for even the four men, powerful as they were.
“We’re here, Koku!” cried Tom. “Watch for an opening, Ned!” he called to his chum.
The sound of Tom’s voice disconcerted at least two of the attackers, for they looked around quickly, and this was fatal to their chances.
Though such a big man, Koku was exceptionally quick, and no sooner did he see his advantage, as two of the men turned their gaze away from him, than he seized it.
Suddenly tearing loose his hands from the grip of the two men who had looked around, Koku shot out his right and left fists, and secured good hold on the necks of two of his enemies. The other two, at his back, were endeavoring to pull him over, but the giant’s sturdy legs still held.
So big was Koku’s hands that they almost encircled the necks of his antagonists. Then happened a curious thing.
With a shout that might have done credit to some ancient cave-dweller of the stone age, Koku spread out his mighty arms, and held apart the two men he had grasped. In vain they struggled to free themselves from that terrible grip. Their faces turned purple, and their eyes bulged out.
“He’s choking them to death!” shouted Ned.
But Koku was not needlessly cruel.
A moment later, with a quick and sudden motion he bent his arms, bringing toward each other the two men he held as captives. Their heads came together with a dull thud, and a second later Koku allowed two limp bodies to slip from his grip to the floor.
“He’s done for them!” Tom cried. “Knocked them unconscious. Good for you, Koku!”
The giant grunted, and then, with a quick motion, slung himself around, hoping to bring the enemies at his back within reach of his powerful arms. But there was no need of this.
As soon as the other two ruffians had seen their companions fall to the floor of the shop they turned and fled, leaping from an open window.
“There they go!” cried Ned.
“Some of the other men can chase them,” said the young inventor. “We’ll tie up the two Koku has captured.”
As he approached nearer to the unconscious captives Tom uttered a cry of surprise, for he recognized them as two of the new men he had employed.
“What can this mean?” he asked wonderingly.
He glanced toward the window through which the two men had jumped to escape, and he was just in time to see one of them run past the open door. The face of this one was under a powerful electric light, and Tom at once recognized the man as Feldman, the worker who had had so much trouble with the trip-hammer.
“This sure is a puzzle,” marveled Tom. “My own men in the plot! But why did they attack Koku?”
The giant, bending over the men he had knocked unconscious by beating their heads together, seemed little worse for the attack.
“We tie ’em up,” he said grimly, as he brought over the rope that had been intended for himself.
CHAPTER XIV
THE FIRST FLIGHT
Little time was lost in securing the two men who bad been so effectively rendered helpless by Koku’s ready, if rough, measures. One of them was showing signs of returning consciousness now, and Tom, not willing to inflict needless pain, even on an enemy, told one of his men, summoned by the alarm, to bring water. Soon the two men opened their eyes, and looked about them in dazed fashion.
“Did—did anything hit me?” asked one meekly.
“It must have been a thunderbolt,” spoke the other dreamily. “But it didn’t look like a storm.”
“Oh, dere was a storm, all right,” chuckled Eradicate, who, having left his mule, Boomerang outside, came into the shed. “It was a giant storm all right.”
The men put their hands to their heads, and seemed to comprehend. They looked at the rope that bound their feet. Their forearms had been loosened to allow them to take a drink of water.
“What does this mean—Ransom—Kurdy?” asked Tom sternly, when the men seemed able to talk. “Did you attack Koku?”
“It looks as though he had the best of us, whether we did or not,” said the man Tom knew as Kurdy. “Whew, how my head aches!”
“Me sorry,” said Koku simply.
“Not half as sorry as we are,” returned Ransom ruefully.
“What does it mean?” asked Tom sternly. “There were four of you. Feldman and one other got away.”
“Oh, trust Feldman for getting away,” sneered Kurdy. “He always leaves his friends in the lurch.”
“Was this a conspiracy?” demanded Tom.
The two captives looked at one another, sitting bound on the floor of the shop, their backs against some boxes.
“I guess it’s all up, and we might as well make a clean breast of it,” admitted Kurdy.
“Perhaps it would be better,” said Tom quietly. “Eradicate,” he went on, to the colored man, “go to the house and tell Mrs. Baggert that everything is all right and no one hurt.”
/> “No one hurt, Massa Tom? What about dem dere fellers?” and the colored man pointed to the captives.
“Well, they’re not hurt much,” and Tom permitted himself a little smile. “I don’t want my father to worry. Tell him everything is all right.”
“All right, Massa Tom. I’se gwine right off. I’se got t’ look after mah mule, Boomerang, too. I’se gwine,” and he shuffled away.
“Who else besides Feldman got away?” asked Tom, looking alternately at the prisoners.
They hesitated a moment about answering.
“We might as well give up, I tell you,” spoke Kurdy to Ransom.
“All right, go ahead, we’ll have to take our medicine. I might have known it would turn out this way—going in for this sort of thing. It’s the first bit of crooked business I ever tried,” the man said earnestly, “and it will be the last—believe me!”
“Who was the fourth man?” Tom repeated.
“Harrison,” answered Kurdy, naming one of the most efficient of the new machinists Tom had hired during the rush.
“Harrison, who has been working on the motor?” cried the young inventor.
“Yes,” said Ransom.
“I’m sorry to learn that,” Tom went on in a low voice. “He was an expert in his line. But what was your object, anyhow, in attacking Koku?”
“We didn’t intend to attack him,” explained Ransom, “but he came in when we were at work, and as he went for us we tried to stand him off. Then your colored man heard the racket, and—well, I guess you know the rest.”
“But I don’t understand why you came into this shed at night,” went on Tom. “No one is allowed in here. You had no right, and Koku knew that. What did you want?”
“Look here!” exclaimed Kurdy, “I said we’d make a clean breast of it, and we will. We’re only a couple of tools, and we were foolish ever to go in with those fellows; or rather, in with that Frenchman, who promised us big money if we succeeded.”
“Succeeded in what?” demanded the young inventor.
“In damaging your new aerial warship, or in getting certain parts of it so he could take them away with him.”
Tom gave a surprised whistle.
“A frenchman!” he exclaimed. “Is he one of the—?”
The Tom Swift Megapack Page 224