CHAPTER III
A DIFFICULT TEST
Tom Swift opened the door of the improvised rifle gallery and lookedout. By the light of a full moon, which shone down from a cloudlesssky, he saw a man standing at the portal. The man's face wasdistorted with rage, and he shook his fist at the young inventor.
"What do you mean by shooting at me?" he demanded. "What do youmean, I say? The idea of scaring honest folks out of their wits, andmaking 'em think the end of the world has come! What do you mean byit? Why don't you answer me? I say, Tom Swift, why don't you answerme?"
"Because you don't give me a chance, Mr. Moker," replied our hero.
"I want to know why you shot at me? I demand to know!" and Mr.Moker, who was a sort of miserly town character, living all alone ina small house, just beyond Tom's home, again shook his fist almostin the lad's face. "Why don't you tell me? Why don't you tell me?"he shouted.
"I will, if you give me a chance!" fairly exploded Tom. "If you canbe cool for five minutes, and come inside and tell me what happenedI'll be glad to answer any of your questions, Mr. Moker. I didn'tshoot at you."
"Yes, you did! You tried to shoot a hole through me!"
"Tell me about it?" suggested Tom, as the excited man calmed downsomewhat. "Are you hurt?"
"No, but it isn't your fault that I'm not. You tried hard enough tohurt me. Here I am, sitting at my table reading, and, all at oncesomething goes through the side of the house, whizzes past my ear,makes my hair fairly stand up on end, and goes outside the otherside of the house. What kind of bullets do you use, Tom Swift?that's what I want to know. They went through the side of my house,and never left a mark. I demand to know what kind they are."
"I'll tell you, if you'll only give me a chance," went on Tomwearily. "How do you know it was me shooting?"
"How do I know? Why, doesn't the end of this shooting gallery ofyours point right at my house? Of course it does; you can't denyit!"
Tom did not attempt to, and Mr. Moker went on:
"Now what do you mean by it?"
"If any of the bullets from my electric gun went near you, it was amistake, and I'm sorry for it," said Tom.
"Well, they did, all right," declared the excited man. "They wentright past my ear."
"I don't see how they could," declared Tom. "I was trying my newelectric rifle, but I had the limit set for two hundred feet, thelength of the gallery. That is, the electrical discharge couldn't gobeyond that distance."
"I don't know what it was, but it went through the side of my houseall the same," insisted Mr. Moker. "It didn't make a hole, but itscorched the wall paper a little."
"I don't see how it could," declared Tom. "It couldn't possibly havegone over two hundred feet with the gage set for that distance." Hepaused suddenly, and hurried over to where he had placed his gun.Catching up the weapon he looked at the gage dial. Then he utteredan exclamation.
"I'm sorry to admit that you are right, Mr. Moker!" he said finally."I made a mistake. The gage is set for a thousand feet instead oftwo hundred. I forgot to change it. The charge, after passingthrough the steel plate, and the scarecrow figure, destroying thelatter, went on, and shot through the side of your house."
"Ha! I knew you were trying to shoot me!" exclaimed the still angryman. "I'll have the law on you for this!"
"Oh, that's all nonsense!" broke in Ned Newton. "Everybody knows TomSwift wouldn't try to shoot you, or any one else, Mr. Moker."
"Then why did he shoot at me?"
"That was a mistake," explained Tom, "and I apologize to you forit."
"Humph! A lot of good that would do me, if I'd been killed!"muttered the miser. "I'm going to sue you for this. You might haveput me in my grave."
"Impossible!" exclaimed Tom.
"Why impossible?" demanded the visitor.
"Because I had so set the rifle that almost the entire force of theelectrical bullet was expended in blowing apart the scarecrow figureI made for a test," explained Tom. "All that passed through yourhouse was a small charge, and, if it HAD hit you there would havebeen no more than a little shock, such as you would feel in takinghold of an electric battery."
"How do I know this?" asked the man cunningly. "You say so, but forall I know you may have wanted to kill me."
"Why?" asked Tom, trying not to laugh.
"Oh, so you might get some of my money. Of course I ain't got none,"the miser went on quickly, "but folks thinks I've got a lot, and Ihave to be on the lookout all the while, or they'd murder me forit."
"I wouldn't," declared the young inventor. "It was a mistake. Onlypart of the spent charge passed near you. Why, if it had been apowerful charge you would never have been able to come over here. Iset the main charge to go off inside the scarecrow, and it did so,as you can see by looking at what's left of it," and he pointed tothe pile of clothes and rags.
"How do I know this?" insisted the miser with a leer at the twolads.
"Because if the charge had gone off either before or after it passedthrough the figure, it would not have caused such havoc of the clothand straw," explained Tom. "First the charge would have destroyedthe steel plate, which it passed through without even denting it.Why, look here, I will now fire the rifle at short range, and set itto destroy the plate. See what happens."
He quickly adjusted the weapon, and aimed it at the plate, which,had again been set up on the range. This time Tom was careful to setthe gage so that even a small part of the spent charge would not gooutside the gallery.
The young inventor pressed the button, and instantly the heavy steelplate was bent, torn and twisted as though a small sized cannon ballhad gone through it.
"That's what the rifle will do at short range," said Tom. "Don'tworry, Mr. Moker, you didn't have a narrow escape. You were in nodanger at all, though I apologize for the fright I caused you."
"Humph! That's an easy way to get out of it!" exclaimed the miser."I believe I could sue you for damages, anyhow. Look at my scorchedwall paper."
"Oh, I'll pay for that," said Tom quickly, for he did not wish tohave trouble with the unpleasant man. "Will ten dollars be enough?"He knew that the whole room could be repapered for that, and he didnot believe the wall-covering was sufficiently damaged for such workto be necessary.
"Well, if you'll make it twelve dollars, I won't say anything moreabout it," agreed the miser craftily, "though it's worth thirteendollars, if it is a penny. Give me twelve dollars, Tom Swift, and Iwon't prosecute you."
"All right, twelve dollars it shall be," responded the younginventor, passing over the money, and glad to be rid of theunpleasant character.
"And after this, just fire that gun of yours the other way,"suggested Mr. Moker as he went out, carefully folding the billswhich Tom had handed him.
"Hum! that was rather queer," remarked Ned, after a pause.
"It sure was," agreed his chum. "This rifle will do more than Ithought it would. I'll have to be more careful. I was sure I set thegage for two hundred feet. I'll have to invent some automaticattachment to prevent it being discharged when the gage is setwrong." Let us state here that Tom did this, and never had anotheraccident.
"Well, does this end the test?" asked Ned.
"No, indeed. I want you to try it, while I look on," spoke Tom. "Wehaven't any more stuffed figures to fire at, but I'll set up sometargets. Come on, try your luck at a shot."
"I'm afraid I might disturb Mr. Moker, or some of the neighbors."
"No danger. I've got it adjusted right now. Come on, see if you canshatter this steel target," and Tom set up a small one at the end ofthe range.
Then, having properly fixed the weapon, Tom handed it to his chum,and, taking his place in a protected part of the gallery, preparedto watch the effect of the shot.
"Let her go!" cried Tom, and Ned pressed the button.
The effect was wonderful. Though there was no noise, smoke norflame, the steel plate seemed to crumple up, and collapse as if ithad been melted in the fire. There was a jagged hole through thecenter,
but some frail boards back of it were not even splintered.
"Good shot!" cried Tom enthusiastically. "I had the distance gageright that time."
"You sure did," agreed Ned. "The electric bullet stopped as soon asit did its work on the plate. What's next?"
"I'm going to try a difficult test," explained Tom. "You know I saidthe gun would shoot luminous charges?"
"Yes."
"Well, I'm going to try that, now. I wish we had another image toshoot at, but I'll take a big dry-goods box, and make believe it'san elephant. Now, this is going to be a hard test, such as we'd meetwith, if we were hunting in Africa. I want you to help me."
"What am I to do?" asked Ned.
"I want you to go outside," explained Tom, "set up a dry-goods boxagainst the side of the little hill back of the shed, and not tellme where you put it. Then I'll go out, and, by means of the luminouscharge, I'll locate the box, set the distance gage, and destroy it."
"Well, you can see it anyhow, in the moonlight," objected Ned.
"No, the moon is under a cloud now," explained Tom, looking out of awindow. "It's quite dark, and will give me just the test I want formy new electric rifle."
"But won't it be dangerous, firing in the dark? Suppose you misjudgethe distance, and the bullet, or charge, files off and hits someone?"
"It can't. I'll set the distance gage before I shoot. But if Ishould happen to make a mistake the charge will go into the side ofthe hill, and spend itself there. There is no danger. Go ahead, andset up the box, and then come and tell me. Mr. Jackson will helpyou."
Ned and the engineer left the gallery. As Tom had said, it was verydark now, and if Tom could see in the night to hit a box somedistance away, his weapon would be all that he claimed for it.
"This will do," said the engineer, as he pointed to a box, one ofseveral piled up outside the shed. The two could hardly see to maketheir way along, carrying it to the foot of the hill, and theystumbled several times. But at last it was in position, and then Neddeparted to call Tom, and have him try the difficult test--that ofhitting an object in the dark.
Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle; Or, Daring Adventures in Elephant Land Page 3