Tom Swift and His Electric Locomotive; Or, Two Miles a Minute on the Rails

by Victor Appleton

  Produced by Anthony Matonac

  TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE

  or

  Two Miles a Minute on the Rails

  By

  VICTOR APPLETON

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER

  I A TEMPTING OFFER II TROUBLE STARTS III TOM SWIFT'S FRIENDS IV MUCH TO THINK ABOUT V BARBED WIRE ENTANGLEMENTS VI THE CONTRACT SIGNED VII THE MAN WITH BIG FEET VIII AN ENEMY IN THE DARK IX WHERE WAS KOKU? X A STRANGE CONVERSATION XI TOUCH AND GO XII THE TRY-OUT DAY ARRIVES XIII HOPES AND FEARS XIV SPEED XV THE ENEMY STILL ACTIVE XVI OFF FOR THE WEST XVII THE WRECK OF FORTY-EIGHT XVIII ON THE HENDRICKTON & PAS ALOS XIX PERIL, THE MOTHER OF INVENTION XX THE RESULT XXI THE OPEN SWITCH XXII A DESPERATE CHASE XXIII MR. DAMON AT BAT XXIV PUTTING THE ENEMY TO FLIGHT XXV SPEED AND SUCCESS

  TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE

  Chapter I

  A Tempting Offer

  "An electric locomotive that can make two miles a minute over aproperly ballasted roadbed might not be an impossibility," said Mr.Barton Swift ruminatively. "It is one of those things that are coming,"and he flashed his son, Tom Swift, a knowing smile. It had been atopic of conversation between them before the visitor from the West hadbeen seated before the library fire and had sampled one of the elderSwift's good cigars.

  "It is not only a future possibility," said the latter gentleman,shrugging his shoulders. "As far as the Hendrickton and Pas AlosRailroad Company goes, a two mile a minute gait--not alone on a leveltrack but through the Pas Alos Range--is an immediate necessity. It'sgot to be done now, or our stock will be selling on the curb for abouttwo cents a share."

  "You do not mean just that, do you, Mr. Bartholomew?" asked Tom Swiftearnestly, and staring at the big-little man before the fire.

  Mr. Richard Bartholomew was just that--a "big-little man." In therailroad world, both in construction and management, he had made anenviable name for himself.

  He had actually built up the Hendrickton and Pas Alos from anarrow-gauge, "jerkwater" road into a part of a great cross-continentsystem that tapped a wonderfully rich territory on both sides of thePas Alos Range.

  For some years the H. & P. A. had a monopoly of that territory. Now,as Mr. Bartholomew intimated, it was threatened with such rivalry fromanother railroad and other capitalists, that the H. & P. A. was beinglooked upon in the financial market as a shaky investment.

  But Tom Swift repeated:

  "You do not mean just that, do you, Mr. Bartholomew?"

  Mr. Bartholomew, who was a little man physically, rolled around in hischair to face the young fellow more directly. His own eyes sparkled inthe firelight. His olive face was flushed.

  "That is much nearer the truth, young man," he said, somewhat harshlybecause of his suppressed emotion, "than I want people at large tosuspect. As I have told your father, I came here to put all my cards onthe table; but I expect the Swift Construction Company to take anythingI may say as said in confidence."

  "We quite understand that, Mr. Bartholomew," said the elder Swift,softly. "You can speak freely. Whether we do business or not, thesewalls are soundproof, and Tom and I can forget, or remember, as wewish. Of course if we take up any work for you, we must confide to acertain extent in our close associates and trusted mechanics."

  "Humph!" grunted the visitor, turning restlessly again in his chair.Then he said: "I agree as the necessity of that last statement; but Ican only hope that these walls are soundproof."

  "What's that?" demanded Tom, rather sharply. He was a bright lookingyoung fellow with an alert air and a rather humorous smile. His fatherwas a semi-invalid; but Tom possessed all the mental vigor and muscularenergy that a young man should have. He had not neglected his Athleticdevelopment while he made the best use of his mental powers.

  "Believe me," said the visitor, quite as harshly as before, "I begin todoubt the solidity of all walls. I know that I have been watched, andspied upon, and that eavesdroppers have played hob with our affairs.

  "Of late, there has been little planned in the directors' room of theH. & P. A. that has not seeped out and aided the enemy in foreseeingour moves."

  "The enemy?" repeated Mr. Swift, with mild surprise.

  "That's it exactly! The enemy!" replied Mr. Bartholomew shortly. "TheH. & P. A. has got the fight of its life on its hands. We had a hardenough time fighting nature and the elements when we laid the firstiron for the road a score of years ago. Now I am facing a fight thatmust grow fiercer and fiercer as time goes on until either the H. & P.A. smashes the opposition, or the enemy smashes it."

  "What enemy is this you speak of?" asked Tom, much interested.

  "The proposed Hendrickton & Western. A new road, backed by new capital,and to be officered and built by new men in the construction andrailroad game.

  "Montagne Lewis--you've heard of him, I presume--is at the head of thecrowd that have bought the little old Hendrickton & Western, lock,stock and barrel.

  "They have franchises for extending the road. In the old days thelegislatures granted blanket franchises that allowed any group ofmoneyed men to engage in any kind of business as side issues torailroading. Montagne Lewis and his crowd have got a 'plenty-big'franchise.

  "They have begun laying iron. It parallels, to a certain extent, ourown line. Their surveyors were smarter than the men who laid out the H.& P. A. I admit it. Besides, the country out there is developed morethan it was a score of years ago when I took hold.

  "All this enters into the fight between Montagne Lewis and me. Butthere is something deeper," said the little man, with almost a snarl,as he thrashed about again in his chair. "I beat Montagne Lewis at onebig game years ago. He is a man who never forgets--and who neverhesitates to play dirty politics if he has to, to bring about his ownends.

  "I know that I have been watched. I know that I was followed on thistrip East. He has private detectives on my track continually. Andworse. All the gunmen of the old and wilder West are not dead. There'sa fellow named Andy O'Malley--well, never mind him. The game at presentis to keep anybody in Lewis's employ from getting wise to why I came tosee you."

  "What you say is interesting," Mr. Swift here broke in quietly. "But Ihave already been puzzled by what you first said. Just why have youcome to us--to Tom and me--in reference to your railroad difficulties?"

  "And this suggestion you have made," added Tom, "about a possibleelectric locomotive of a faster type than has, ever yet been put on therails?"

  "That is it, exactly," replied Bartholomew, sitting suddenly upright inhis chair. "We want faster electric motor power than has ever yet beeninvented. We have got to have it, or the H. & P. A. might as well bescrapped and the whole territory out there handed over to MontagneLewis and his H. & W. That is the sum total of the matter, gentlemen.If the Swift Construction Company cannot help us, my railroad is goingto be junk in about three years from this beautiful evening."

  His emphasis could not fail to impress both the elder and the youngerSwift. They looked at each other, and the interest displayed upon thefather's countenance was reflected upon the features of the son.

  If there was anything Tom Swift liked it was a good fight. The clash ofdiverse interests was the breath of life to the young fellow. And forsome years now, always connected in some way with the development ofhis inventive genius, he had been entangled in battles both of wits andphysical powers. Here was the suggestion of something that would entaila struggle of both brain and brawn.

  "Sounds good," muttered Tom, gazi
ng at the railroad magnate withconsiderable admiration.

  "Let us hear all about it," Mr. Swift said to Bartholomew. "Whether wecan help you or not, we're interested."

  "All right," replied the visitor again. "Whether I was followed East,and here to Shopton, or not doesn't much matter. I will put myproposition up to you, and then I'll ask, if you don't want to go intoit, that you keep the business absolutely secret. I have got to putsomething over on Montagne Lewis and his crowd, or throw up the sponge.That's that!"

  "Go ahead, Mr. Bartholomew," observed Tom's father, encouragingly.

  "To begin with, four hundred miles of our road is already electrified.We have big power stations and supply heat and light and power toseveral of the small cities tapped by the H. & P. A. It is a payingproposition as it stands. But it is only paying because we carry thefreight traffic--all the freight traffic--of that region.

  "If the H. & W. breaks in on our monopoly of that, we shall soon be socut down that our invested capital will not earn two per cent.--No, byglory! not one-and-a-half per cent.--and our stock will be dished. ButI have worked out a scheme, Gentlemen, by which we can counter-balanceany dig Lewis can give us in the ribs.

  "If we can extend our electrified line into and through the Pas AlosRange our freight traffic can be handled so cheaply and so effectivelythat nothing the Hendrickton & Western can do for years to come willhurt us. Get that?"

  "I get your statement, Mr. Bartholomew," said Mr. Swift. "But it ismerely a statement as yet."

  "Sure. Now I will give you the particulars. We are using the Jandellocomotives on our electrified stretch of road. You know that patent?"

  "I know something about it, Mr. Bartholomew," said the youngerinventor. "I have felt some interest in the electric locomotive, thoughI have done nothing practical in the matter. But I know the Jandelpatent."

  "It is about the best there is--and the most recent; but it does notfill the bill. Not for the H. & P. A., anyway," said Mr. Bartholomew,shortly.

  "What does it lack?" asked Mr. Swift.

  "Speed. It's got the power for heavy hauls. It could handle the freightthrough the Pas Alos Range. But it would slow up our traffic so thatthe shippers would at once turn to the Hendrickton & Western. Youunderstand that their rails do not begin to engage the grades that ourengineers thought necessary when the old H. & P. A. was built."

  "I get that," said Tom briskly. "You have come here, then, to interestus in the development of a faster but quite as powerful type ofelectric locomotive as the Jandel."

  "Stated to the line!" exclaimed Mr. Bartholomew, smiting the arm of hischair with his clenched fist. "That is it, young man. You get meexactly. And now I will go on to put my proposition to you."

  "Do so, Mr. Bartholomew," murmured the old inventor, quite as muchinterested as his son.

  "I want you to make a study of electric motive power as applied totrack locomotives, with the idea of utilizing our power plants andothers like them, and even with the possibility in mind of thecontinued use of the Jandel locomotives on our more level stretches ofroad.

  "But I want your investigation to result in the building of locomotivesthat will make a speed of two miles a minute, or as near that aspossible, on level rails, and be powerful enough to snake our heavyfreight trains through the hills and over the steep grades so rapidlythat even two engines, a pusher and a hauler, cannot beat the electricpower."

  "Some job, that, I'll say," murmured Tom Swift.

  "Exactly. Some job. And it is the only thing that will save the H. & P.A.," said Mr. Bartholomew decidedly. "I put it up to you Swifts. I haveheard of some of your marvelous inventions. Here is something that isalready invented. But it needs development."

  "I see," said Mr. Swift, and nodded.

  "It interests me," admitted Tom. "As I say, I have given some thoughtto the electric locomotive."

  "This is the age of speed," said Mr. Bartholomew earnestly. "Rapidityin handling freight and kindred things will be the salvation, and theonly salvation, of many railroads. Tapping a rich territory is notenough. The road that can offer the quickest and cheapest service isthe road that is going to keep out of a receivership. Believe me, Iknow!"

  "You should," said Mr. Swift mildly. "Your experience should havetaught you a great deal about the railroad business."

  "It has. But that knowledge is worth just nothing at all without swiftpower and cheap traffic. Those are the problems today. Now, I am goingto take a chance. If it doesn't work, my road is dished in any case. SoI feel that the desperate chance is the only chance."

  "What is that?" asked Tom Swift, sitting forward in his chair. "I, forone, feel so much interested that I will do anything in reason to findthe answer to your traffic problem."

  "That's the boy!" ejaculated Richard Bartholomew. "I will give it toyou in a few words. If you will experiment with the electric locomotiveidea, to develop speed and power over and above the Jandel patent, andwill give me the first call on the use of any patents you may contrive,I will put up twenty-five thousand dollars in cash which shall be yourswhether I can make use of a thing you invent or not."

  "Any time limit in this agreement, Mr. Bartholomew?" asked Tom, makinga few notes on a scratch pad before him on the library table.

  "What do you say to three months?"

  "Make it six, if you can," Tom said with continued briskness. "Itinterests me. I'll do my best. And I want you to get your money'sworth."

  "All right. Make it six," said Mr. Bartholomew. "But the quicker youdig something up, the better for me. Now, that is the first part of myproposition."

  "All right, sir. And the second?"

  "If you succeed in showing me that you can build and operate anelectric locomotive that will speed two miles a minute on a level trackand will get a heavy drag over the mountain grades, as I said, assurely as two engines of the coal-burning or oil-burning type, I willpay you a hundred thousand dollars bonus, besides buying all theengines you can build of this new type for the first two years. I'vegot to have first call; but the hundred thousand will be yours free andclear, and the price of the locomotives you build can be adjusted byany court of agreement that you may suggest."

  Tom Swift's face glowed. He realized that this offer was not onlygenerous, but that it made it worth his while dropping everything elsehe had in hand and devoting his entire time and thought for even sixmonths to the proposition of developing the electric locomotive.

  He looked at his father and nodded. Mr. Swift said, calmly:

  "We take you on that offer, Mr. Bartholomew. Tom has the facts onpaper, and we will hand it to Mr. Newton, our financial manager, in themorning. If you will remain in town for twenty-four hours, the contractcan be signed."

  "Suits me," declared. Richard Bartholomew, rising quickly from hischair. "I confess I hoped you would take me up quite as promptly as youhave. I want to get back West again.

  "We will see you in the office of the company at two o'clock tomorrow,"said Tom Swift confidently.

  "Better than good! And now, if that trailer that I am pretty sureMontagne Lewis sent after me does not get wise to the subject of ourtalk, it may be a slick job we have done and will do. I admit I amrather afraid of the enemy. You Swifts must keep your plans in utterdarkness."

  After a little talk on more ordinary affairs, Mr. Bartholomew took hisdeparture. It was getting late in the evening, and Tom Swift had anengagement. While old Rad, their colored servant, was helping him onwith his coat preparatory to Tom's leaving the house, his father calledfrom the library:

  "Got those notes in a safe place, Tom?"

  "Safest in the world, Dad," his son replied. But he did not go intodetails. Tom considered the "safest place in the world" just then washis own wallet, which was tucked into an inside pocket of his vest "I'mgoing to see Mary Nestor, Father," said Tom, as he went to the frontdoor and opened it.

  He halted a moment with the knob of the door in his hand. The porch wasdeep in shadows, but he thought he had seen something move there.
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br />   "That you, Koku?" asked Tom in an ordinary voice. Sometimes hisgigantic servant wandered about the house at night. He was a strangeperson, and he had a good many thoughts in his savage brain that evenhis young master did not understand.

  There was no reply to Tom's question, so he walked down the steps andout at the gate. It was not a long distance to the Nestor house, andthe air was brisk and keen, in spite of the fact that threateningclouds masked the stars.

  Two blocks from the house he came to a high wall which separated thestreet from the grounds of an old dwelling. Tom suddenly noticed thatthe usual street lights on this block had been extinguished--blown outby the wind, perhaps.

  Involuntarily he quickened his steps. He reached the archway in thewall. Here was the gate dividing the private grounds from the street.As he strode into the shadow of this place a voice suddenly halted TomSwift.

  "Hands up! Put 'em up and don't be slow about it!" A bulky figureloomed in the dark. Tom saw the highwayman's club poised threateninglyover his head.