The Tom Swift Megapack

by Victor Appleton

  “Hold on there, Andy Foger!” shouted the young inventor. “What are you doing in my shed? What right have you in there? What did you do?”

  Back came the answer through the night:

  “I told you I’d get square with you, and I’ve done it,” and then Andy’s footsteps died away, while a mocking laugh floated back to Tom. What was Andy’s revenge?

  CHAPTER IX

  The Whizzer Flies

  For a moment, Tom gazed after the fleeting figure of the cowardly bully. He was half-minded to give pursuit, and then, realizing that he could find Andy later if he wanted him, the young inventor decided his best plan would be to see what damage had been done. For that damage would follow Andy’s secret visit to the shop, Tom was certain.

  Nor was his surmise wrong. Stepping into the building, the lad switched on the lights, and he could not repress an exclamation of chagrin as he looked toward his trim little monoplane, the Butterfly.

  Now it was a Butterfly with broken wings, for Andy had slashed the canvas of the planes in a score of places.

  “The scoundrel!” growled Tom. “I’ll make him suffer for this! He’s all but ruined my aeroplane.”

  Tom walked around his pet machine. As he came in front, and saw the propeller, he gave another exclamation. The fine wooden blades of several layers, gracefully curved, which had cost him so much in time and labor to build up, and then fashion to the right shape, had been hacked, and cut with an axe. The propeller was useless!

  “More of Andy’s work,” murmured Tom. “This is about the worst yet!”

  There came over him a feeling of great despondency, which was succeeded by a justifiable rage. He wanted to take after the bully, and give him a merciless beating. Then a calmer mood came over Tom.

  “After all, what’s the use?” he reasoned. “Whipping Andy wouldn’t mend the Butterfly. She’s in bad shape, but I can repair her, when I get time. Luckily, he didn’t meddle with the engine. That’s all right.” A hasty examination had shown this. “I guess I won’t do anything now,” went on Tom. “I’ll have my hands full getting Mr. Fenwick’s airship to run. After that I can come back here and fix up my own. It’s a good thing I don’t have to depend on her for making the trip to Philadelphia. Poor Butterfly! you sure are in a bad way,” and Tom felt almost as if he was talking to some living creature, so wrapped up was he in his trim little monoplane.

  After another disheartening look at his air craft, the young inventor started to leave the shop. He looked at a door, the fastening of which Andy had broken to gain admittance.

  “I should have had the burglar alarm working, and this would never have happened,” reasoned Tom. All the buildings were arranged so that if any one entered them after a certain hour, an alarm would ring in the house. But of late, the alarm had not been set, as Tom and his father were not working on any special inventions that needed guarding. It was due to this oversight that Andy was able to get in undetected.

  “But it won’t happen again,” declared Tom, and he at once began connecting the burglar-apparatus. He went into the house, and told his father and the engineer what had occurred. They were both indignant, and the engineer declared that he would sleep with one eye open all night, ready to respond to the first alarm.

  “Oh, there’s no danger of Andy coming back right away,” said Tom. “He’s too frightened. I wouldn’t be surprised if he disappeared for a time. He’ll be thinking that I’m after him.”

  This proved true, as Andy had left town next morning, and to all inquiries his mother said he had gone to visit relatives. She was not aware of her son’s meanness, and Tom did not tell her.

  Mr. Damon arrived from his home in Waterfield that day, and, with many “blessings,” wanted to know if Tom was ready for the trial of the electrical airship.

  “Yes, we’ll leave for Philadelphia tomorrow,” was the answer.

  “Are we going in the Butterfly? Bless my watch chain, but I like that little machine!”

  “It will be some time before you again have a flight in her,” said Tom, sorrowfully, as he told of Andy’s act of vandalism.

  “Why, bless my individuality!” cried Mr. Damon, indignantly. “I never heard of such a thing! Never!”

  It did little good to talk of it, however, and Tom wanted to forget about it. He wished he had time to repair the monoplane before he left home, but there was much to do to get ready for the trial of the Whizzer.

  “When will you be back, Tom?” asked Mr. Swift, as his son and Mr. Damon departed for the Quaker City the following morning.

  “Hard to say, dad. If I can make a long flight in the Whizzer I’ll do so. I may even drop down here and pay you a visit. But if I find there are many more changes to make in her construction, which is more than likely, I can’t say when I’ll return. I’ll keep you posted, however, by writing.”

  “Can’t you arrange to send me some wireless messages?” asked the older inventor, with a smile.

  “I could, if I had thought to rig up the apparatus on Mr. Fenwick’s airship,” was the reply. “I’ll hardly have time to do it now, though.”

  “Send wireless messages from an aeroplane?” gasped Mr. Damon. “Bless my gizzard! I never heard of such a thing!”

  “Oh, it can be done,” Tom assured him. And this was a fact. Tom had installed a wireless apparatus on his Red Cloud recently, and it is well known that several of the modern biplanes can send wireless messages. The crossing and bracing wires of the frame are used for sending wires, and in place of ground conductors there are trailers which hang below the aeroplane. The current is derived directly from the engine, and the remaining things needed are a small step-up transformer, a key and a few other small parts. Tom had gone a step farther than this, and had also arranged to receive wireless messages, though few modern aeroplanes are thus equipped as yet.

  But, of course, there was no time now to install a wireless apparatus on Mr. Fenwick’s craft. Tom thought he would be lucky if he got the Whizzer to make even a short flight.

  “Well, let me hear from you when you can,” requested Mr. Swift, and Tom promised. It was some time after that, and many strange things happened before Tom Swift again communicated with his father, at any length.

  The young inventor had bidden farewell to Miss Nestor the night previous. She stated that she had a message that day from her parents aboard the Resolute, which spoke a passing steamer. Mr. and Mrs. Nestor, and the other guests of Mr. Hosbrook were well, and anticipated a fine time on reaching the West Indies.

  Tom now said good-by to his father, the housekeeper and Mr. Jackson, not forgetting, of course, Eradicate Sampson.

  “Don’t let Andy Foger come sneaking around here, Rad,” cautioned the young inventor.

  “’Deed an’ I won’t!” exclaimed the colored man. “Ef he do, I’ll hab Boomerang kick him t’ pieces, an’ den I’ll whitewash him so his own folks won’t know him! Oh, don’t you worry, Massa Tom. Dat Andy won’t do no funny business when I’m around!”

  Tom laughed, and started for the station with Mr. Damon. They arrived in Philadelphia that afternoon, the trip being very slow, as compared with the one made by the monoplane. They found Mr. Fenwick anxiously awaiting them, and Tom at once started work on the airship.

  He kept at it until late that night, and resumed early the next morning. Many more changes and adjustments were made, and that afternoon, the young inventor said:

  “I think we’ll give it a try-out, Mr. Fenwick.”

  “Do you mean make a flight?”

  “Yes, if she’ll take it; but only a short one. I want to get her up in the air, and see how she behaves.”

  “Well, if you find out, after you’re up, that she does well, you may want to take a long flight,” suggested Mr. Fenwick. “If you do, why I have everything aboard necessary for a long voyage. The Whizzer is well stocked with provisions.”

  An hour later, the big electric machine was wheeled out into the yard, for, in spite of her size, four men could easily move
the craft about, so well was she balanced. Aside from a few personal friends of the inventor, himself, his machinists, Tom and Mr. Damon, no one was present at the try-out.

  Tom, Mr. Damon and Mr. Fenwick climbed into the car which was suspended below the gas bag, and between the wing-like planes on either side. The young inventor had decided to make the Whizzer rise by scudding her across the ground on the bicycle wheels, with which she was equipped, and then by using the tilting planes to endeavor to lift her off the earth. He wanted to see if she would go up that way, without the use of the gas bag.

  All was in readiness. The motor was started and the machinery began to hum and throb. The propellers gained speed with every revolution. The airship had been made fast by a rope, to which was attached a strong spring balance, as it was desired to see how much pull the engine would give.

  “Eight hundred pounds,” announced one of the machinists.

  “A thousand would be better, but we’ll try it,” Murmured Tom. “Cast off!”

  The rope was loosened, and, increasing the speed of the engine, Tom signalled to the men to give a little momentum to the craft. She began running over the smooth ground. There was a cheer from the few spectators. Certainly the Whizzer made good time on the earth.

  Tom was anxiously watching the gages and other instruments. He wanted a little more speed, but could not seem to get it. He ran the motor to the utmost, and then, seeing the necessity of making an attempt to get up into the air, before the end of the speeding ground was reached, he pulled the elevating plane lever.

  The front of the Whizzer rose, and then settled down. Tom quickly shut off the power, and jammed on the brake, an arrangement of spikes that dug into the earth, for the high board fence loomed up before him.

  “What’s the matter?” cried Mr. Fenwick, anxiously.

  “Couldn’t get up speed enough,” answered the young inventor. “We must have more momentum to make her rise.”

  “Can it be gotten?”

  “I think so. I’ll gear the motor higher.”

  It took an hour to do this. Once more the scale test was applied. It registered a pull of fifteen hundred pounds now.

  “We’ll go up,” said Tom, grimly.

  Once more the motors spit out fire, and the propellers whirled so that they looked like mere circles of light. Once more the Whizzer shot over the ground, but this time, as she neared the fence, she rose up like a bird, cleared it like a trick horse, and soared off into the air!

  The Whizzer was flying!

  CHAPTER X

  Over The Ocean

  “Hurrah!” cried Mr. Fenwick in delight. “My machine is really flying at last!”

  “Yes,” answered Tom, as he adjusted various levers and gears, “she is going. It’s not as high as I’d like, but it is doing very well, considering the weight of the craft, and the fact that we have not used the gas bag. I’m going to let that fill now, and we’ll go up. Don’t you want to steer, Mr. Fenwick?”

  “No, you manage it, Tom, until it’s in good running shape. I don’t want to ‘hoodoo’ it. I worked as hard as I could, and never got more than two feet off the ground. Now I’m really sailing. It’s great!”

  He was very enthusiastic, and Tom himself was not a little pleased at his own success, for certainly the airship had looked to be a very dubious proposition at first.

  “Bless my gaiters! But we are doing pretty well,” remarked Mr. Damon, looking down on the field where Mr. Fenwick’s friends and the machinists were gathered, cheering and waving their hands.

  “We’ll do better,” declared Tom.

  He had already set the gas machine in operation, and was now looking over the electric apparatus, to see that it was working well. It needed some adjustments, which he made.

  All this while the Whizzer was moving about in a big circle, for the rudder had been automatically set to so swing the craft. It was about two hundred feet high, but soon after the gas began to enter the bag it rose until it was nearly five thousand feet high. This satisfied Tom that the airship could do better than he expected, and he decided to return nearer earth.

  In going down, he put the craft through a number of evolutions designed to test her ability to answer the rudders promptly. The lad saw opportunity for making a number of changes, and suggested them to Mr. Fenwick.

  “Are you going any farther?” asked the owner of the Whizzer, as he saw that his craft was slowly settling.

  “No, I think we’ve done enough for the first day,” said Tom, “But I’d like you to handle her now, Mr. Fenwick. You can make the landing, while I watch the motor and other machines.”

  “Yes. I guess I can make a landing all right,” assented the inventor. “I’m better at coming down than going up.”

  He did make a good descent, and received the congratulation of his friends as he stepped from the airship. Tom was also given much praise for his success in making the craft go at all, for Mr. Fenwick and his acquaintances had about given up hope that she ever would rise.

  “Well, what do you think of her?” Mr. Fenwick wanted to know of the young inventor, who replied that, as soon as some further changes had been made, they would attempt a long flight.

  This promise was kept two days later. They were busy days for Tom, Mr. Fenwick and the latter’s assistants. Tom sent a short note to his father telling of the proposed long flight, and intimated that he might make a call in Shopton if all went well. He also sent a wire to Miss Nestor, hinting that she might have some apple turnovers ready for him.

  But Tom never called for that particular pastry, though it was gotten ready for him when the girl received his message.

  All was in readiness for the long flight, and a preliminary test had demonstrated that the Whizzer had been wonderfully improved by the changes Tom made. The young inventor looked over the supply of food Mr. Fenwick had placed aboard, glanced at the other stores, and asked:

  “How long do you expect to be gone, Mr. Fenwick?”

  “Why, don’t you think we can stay out a week?”

  “That’s quite a while,” responded Tom. “We may be glad to return in two days, or less. But I think we’re all ready to start. Are any of your friends going?”

  “I’ve tried to pursuade some of them to accompany me, but they are a bit timid,” said the inventor. “I guess we three will make up the party this time, though if our trip is a successful one I’ll be overwhelmed with requests for rides, I suppose.”

  As before, a little crowd gathered to see the start. The day was warm, but there was a slight haziness which Tom did not like. He hoped, though, that it would pass over before they had gone far.

  “Do you wish to head for any particular spot, Mr. Fenwick?” asked Tom, as they were entering the cabin.

  “Yes, I would like to go down and circle Cape May, New Jersey, if we could. I have a friend who has a summer cottage there, and he was always laughing at my airship. I’d just like to drop down in front of his place now, and pay him a call.”

  “We’ll try it,” assented Tom, with a smile.

  An auspicious start was made, the Whizzer taking the air after a short flight across the ground, and then, with the lifting gas aiding in pulling the craft upward, the airship started to sail high over the city of Philadelphia.

  So swiftly did it rise that the cheers of the little crowd of Mr. Fenwick’s friends were scarcely heard. Up and up it went, and then a little later, to the astonishment of the crowds in the streets, Tom put the airship twice in a circle around the statue of William Penn, on the top of the City Hall.

  “Now you steer,” the lad invited Mr. Fenwick. “Take her straight across the Delaware River, and over Camden, New Jersey, and then head south, for Cape May. We ought to make it in an hour, for we are getting up good speed.”

  Leaving the owner in charge of his craft, to that gentleman’s no small delight, Tom and Mr. Damon began an inspection of the electrical and other machinery. There was much that needed attention, but Tom soon had the automatic apparat
us in working order, and then less attention need be given to it.

  Several times the young investor looked out of the windows with which the cabin was fitted. Mr. Damon noticed this.

  “Bless my shoe laces, Tom,” he said. “What’s the matter?”

  “I don’t like the looks of the weather,” was the answer. “I think we’re in for a storm.”

  “Then let’s put back.”

  “No, it would be too bad to disappoint Mr. Fenwick, now that we have made such a good start. He wants to make a long flight, and I can’t blame him,” spoke Tom, in a low voice.

  “But if there’s danger—”

  “Oh, well, we can soon be at Cape May, and start back. The wind is freshening rather suddenly, though,” and Tom looked at the anemometer, which showed a speed of twenty miles an hour. However, it was in their favor, aiding them to make faster time.

  The speed of the Whizzer was now about forty miles an hour, not fast for an air craft, but sufficiently speedy in trying out a new machine. Tom looked at the barograph, and noted that they had attained an altitude of seven thousand five hundred feet.

  “That’s better than millionaire Daxtel’s distance of seven thousand one hundred and five feet,” remarked the lad, with a smile, “and it breaks Jackson’s climb of seven thousand three hundred and three feet, which is pretty good for your machine, Mr. Fenwick.”

  “Do you really think so?” asked the pleased inventor.

  “Yes. And we’ll do better than that in time, but it’s best to go slow at first, until we see how she is standing the strain. This is high and fast enough for the present.”

  They kept on, and as Tom saw that the machinery was working well, he let it out a little, The Whizzer at once leaped forward, and, a little later they came within sight of Cape May, the Jersey coast resort.

  “Now to drop down and visit my friend,” said Mr. Fenwick, with a smile. “Won’t he be surprised!”