The Tom Swift Megapack

by Victor Appleton

  “Partly so, and yet I’m inclined to think if he does lose his money it will be due to some trickery. Mr. Damon is not the man to make bad investments by himself.”

  “Indeed he is not,” agreed Tom. “You say he spoke of some man?”

  “Yes, but not definitely. He did not mention any name. But Mr. Damon was certainly quite blue.”

  “That’s unlike him,” remarked Tom. “He is usually very jolly. He must be feeling quite badly. I’ll go over and have a talk with him, as soon as I can.”

  “Do. I think he would appreciate it. And now I must see about getting home.”

  “I’ll take you in one of my cars,” said Tom, who had several automobiles. “I don’t want to see you strain that injured leg of yours.”

  “You’re very good—especially after I tangled up your wireless aerials; but I didn’t see them until I was right into them,” apologized Mr. Halling.

  “They’re a new kind of wire,” said Tom, “and are not very plain to see. I must put up some warning signs. But don’t worry about damaging them. They were only up temporarily anyhow, and I was going to take them down to arrange for my photo telephone.”

  “Photo telephone, eh? Is that something new?”

  “It will be—if I can get it working,” said Tom, with a smile.

  A little later Tom had taken Mr. Halling home, and then he set about making arrangements for repairing the damaged airship. This took him the better part of a week, but he did not regret the time, for while he was working he was busy making plans for his newest invention—the photo telephone.

  One afternoon, when Tom had completed the repairs to the airship, and had spent some time setting up an experimental telephone line, the young inventor received a call from his chum, Ned Newton.

  “Well, well, what are you up to now?” asked Ned, as he saw his chum seated in a booth, with a telephone receiver to his ear, meanwhile looking steadily at a polished metal plate in front of him. “Trying to hypnotize yourself, Tom?”

  “Not exactly. Quiet, Ned, please. I’m trying to listen.”

  Ned was too familiar with his chum’s work to take offense at this. The young banker took a seat on a box, and silently watched Tom. The inventor shifted several switches, pressed one button after another, and tilted the polished metal plate at different angles. Then he closed the door of the little telephone booth, and Ned, through the ground glass door, saw a light shining.

  “I wonder what new game Tom is up to?” Ned mused.

  Presently the door opened, and Tom stuck out his head.

  “Ned, come here,” he invited. “Look at that metal plate and see if you can notice anything on it. I’ve been staring at it so steadily that my eyes are full of sticks. See what you can make out.”

  “What is this?” asked Ned. “No trick; is it? I won’t be blown up, or get my eyes full of pepper; will I?”

  “Nonsense! Of course not. I’m trying to make a photo telephone. I have the telephone part down pat, but I can’t see anything of the photo image. See if you can.”

  Ned stared at the polished plate, while Tom did things to it, making electrical connections, and tilting it at various angles.

  “See anything, Ned?” asked Tom.

  The other shook his head.

  “Whom am I supposed to see?” he asked.

  “Why, Koku is at the other end of the wire. I’m having him help me.”

  Ned gazed from the polished plate out of a side window of the shop, into the yard.

  “Well, that Koku is certainly a wonderful giant,” said Ned, with a laugh.

  “How so?” asked Tom.

  “Why he can not be in two places at once. You say he ought to be at the other end of this wire, and there he is out there, spading up the garden.”

  Tom stared for a second and then exclaimed:

  “Well, if that isn’t the limit! I put him in the telephone booth in the machine shop, and told him to stay there until I was through. What in the world is he doing out there?”

  “Koku!” he called to the giant, “why didn’t you stay at the telephone where I put you? Why did you run away?”

  “Ha!” exclaimed the giant, who, for all his great size was a simple chap, “little thing go ‘tick-tick’ and then ‘clap-clap!’ Koku no like—Koku t’ink bad spirit in telumfoam—Koku come out!”

  “Well, no wonder I couldn’t see any image on the plate!” exclaimed Tom. “There was nobody there. Now, Ned, you try it; will you, please?”

  “Sure. Anything to oblige!”

  “Then go in the other telephone booth. You can talk to me on the wire. Say anything you like—the telephone part is all right. Then you just stand so that the light in the booth shines on your face. The machine will do the rest—if it works.”

  Ned hurried off and was soon talking to his chum over the wire from the branch telephone in the machine shop. Ned stood in the glare of an electric light, and looked at a polished plate similar to the one in the other booth.

  “Are you there, Ned?” asked Tom.

  “Yes, I’m here.”

  “Is the light on?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you’re looking at the plate?”

  “Sure. Can you see any reflection in your plate?”

  “No, not a thing,” answered Tom, and there was great discouragement in his voice. “The thing is a failure, Ned. Come on back,” and the young banker could hear his chum hang up the telephone receiver at the other end.

  “That’s too bad,” murmured Ned, knowing how Tom must feel. “I’ll have to cheer him up a bit.”

  CHAPTER IV

  RUN DOWN

  When Ned Newton got back to where Tom sat in the small telephone booth, the young banker found his chum staring rather moodily at the polished metal plate on the shelf that held the talking instrument.

  “So it was no go; eh, Tom?”

  “No go at all, Ned, and I thought sure I had it right this time.”

  “Then this isn’t your first experiment?”

  “Land no! I’ve been at it, off and on, for over a month, and I can’t seem to get any farther. I’m up against a snag now, good and hard.”

  “Then there wasn’t any image on your plate?”

  “Not a thing, Ned. I don’t suppose you caught any glimpse of me in your plate?” asked Tom, half hopefully.

  “No. I couldn’t see a thing. So you are going to try and make this thing work both ways, are you?”

  “That’s my intention, But I can fix it so that a person can control the apparatus at his end, and only see the person he is talking to, not being seen himself, unless he wishes it. That is, I hope to do that. Just now nobody can see anybody,” and Tom sighed.

  “Give it up,” advised Ned. “It’s too hard a nut to crack, Tom!”

  “Indeed, I’ll not give it up, Ned! I’m going to work along a new line. I must try a different solution of selenium on the metal plate. Perhaps I may have to try using a sensitized plate, and develop it later, though I do want to get the machine down so you can see a perfect image without the need of developing. And I will, too!” cried Tom. “I’ll get some new selenium.”

  Eradicate, who came into the shop just then, heard the end of Tom’s remarks. A strange look came over his honest black face, and he exclaimed:

  “What all am dat, Massa Tom? Yo’ah gwine t’ bring de new millenium heah? Dat’s de end of de world, ain’t it-dat millenium? Golly! Dish yeah coon neber ’spected t’ lib t’ see dat. De millenium! Oh mah landy!”

  “No, Rad!” laughed Tom. “I was speaking about selenium, a sort of metallic combination that is a peculiar conductor of electricity. The more light that shines on it the better conductor it is, and the less light, the poorer.”

  “It must be queer stuff,” said Ned.

  “It is,” declared Tom. “I think it is the only thing to use in this photo telephone experiment, though I might try the metal plate method, as they did between Monte Carlo and Paris. But I am not trying to make newspaper p
ictures.”

  “What is selenium, anyhow?” asked Ned. “Remember, Tom, I’m not up on this scientific stuff as you are.”

  “Selenium,” went on Tom, “was discovered in 1817, by J. J. Berzelius, and he gave it that name from the Greek word for moon, on account of selenium being so similar, in some ways, to tellurium. That last is named after the Latin word tellus, the earth.”

  “Do they dig it?” Ned wanted to know.

  “Well, sometimes selenium is found in combination with metals, in the form of selenides, the more important minerals of that kind being eucharite, crooksite, clausthalite, naumannite and zorgite—”

  “Good night!” interrupted Ned, with a laugh, holding up his hands. “Stop it, Tom!” he pleaded. “You’ll give me a headache with all those big words.”

  “Oh, they’re easy, once you get used to them,” said the young inventor, with a smile. “Perhaps it will be easier if I say that sometimes selenium is found in native sulphur. Selenium is usually obtained from the flue-dust or chamber deposits of some factory where sulphuric acid is made. They take this dust and treat it with acids until they get the pure selenium. Sometimes selenium comes in crystal forms, and again it is combined with various metals for different uses.”

  “There’s one good thing about it. There are several varieties, and I’ll try them all before I give up.”

  “That’s the way to talk!” cried Ned. “Never say die! Don’t give up the ship, and all that. But, Tom, what you need now is a little fun. You’ve been poking away at this too long. Come on out on the lake, and have a ride in the motor boat. It will do you good. It will do me good. I’m a bit rusty myself—been working hard lately. Come on—let’s go out on the lake.”

  “I believe I will!” exclaimed Tom, after thinking it over for a moment. “I need a little fresh air. Sitting in that telephone booth, trying to get an image on a plate, and not succeeding, has gotten on my nerves. I want to write out an order for Koku to take to town, though. I want to get some fresh selenium, and then I’m going to make new plates.”

  Tom made some memoranda, and then, giving Koku the order for the chemist, the young inventor closed up his shop, and went with Ned down to Lake Carlopa, where the motor boat was moored.

  This was not the same boat Tom had first purchased, some years ago, but a comparatively new and powerful craft.

  “It sure is one grand little day for a ride,” remarked Ned, as he got in the craft, while Tom looked over the engine.

  “Yes, I’m glad you came over, and routed me out,” said the young inventor. “When I get going on a thing I don’t know enough to stop. Oh, I forgot something!”

  “What?” asked Ned.

  “I forgot to leave word about Mr. Railing’s airship. It’s all fixed and ready for him, but I put on a new control, and I wanted to explain to him about it. He might not know how to work it. I left word with father, though, that if he came for it he must not try it until he had seen me. I guess it will be all right. I don’t want to go back to the house now.”

  “No, it’s too far,” agreed Ned.

  “I have it!” exclaimed Tom. “I’ll telephone to dad from here, not to let Halling go up until I come back. He may not come for his machine; but, if he does, it’s best to be on the safe side Ned.”

  “Oh, sure.”

  Accordingly, Tom ’phoned from his boat-house, and Mr. Swift promised to see the bird-man if he called. Then Ned and Tom gave themselves up to the delights of a trip on the water.

  The Kilo, which name Tom had selected for his new craft, was a powerful boat, and comfortable. It swept on down the lake, and many other persons, in their pleasure craft, turned to look at Tom’s fine one.

  “Lots of folks out today,” observed Ned, as they went around a point of the shore.

  “Yes, quite a number,” agreed Tom, leaning forward to adjust the motor. “I wonder what’s got into her?” he said, in some annoyance, as he made various adjustments. “One of the cylinders is missing.”

  “Maybe it needs a new spark plug,” suggested Ned.

  “Maybe. Guess I’ll stop and put one in.”

  Tom slowed down the motor, and headed his boat over toward shore, intending to tie up there for a while.

  As he shifted the wheel he heard a cry behind him, and at the same time a hoarse, domineering voice called out:

  “Here, what do you mean, changing your course that way? Look out, or I’ll run you down! Get out of my way, you land-lubber, you!”

  Startled, Ned and Tom turned. They saw, rushing up on them from astern, a powerful red motor boat, at the wheel of which sat a stout man, with a very florid face and a commanding air.

  “Get out of my way!” he cried. “I can’t stop so short! Look out, or I’ll run you down!”

  Tom, with a fierce feeling of resentment at the fellow, was about to shift the course of the Kilo, but he was too late.

  A moment later there came a smashing blow on the stern port quarter and the Kilo heeled over at a dangerous angle, while, with a rending, splintering sound of wood, the big red motorboat swept on past Tom and Ned, her rubstreak grinding along the side of the Kilo.

  CHAPTER V

  SHARP WORDS

  “Great Scott, Tom! What happened?”

  “I know as much as you, Ned. That fellow ran us down, that’s all.”

  “Are we leaking?” and with this question Ned sprang from his place near the bow, and looked toward the stern, where the heaviest blow had been struck.

  The Kilo had swung back to an even keel again, but was still bobbing about on the water.

  “Any hole there?” cried Tom, as he swung the wheel over to point his craft toward shore, in case she showed a tendency to sink.

  “I can’t see any hole,” answered Ned. “But water is coming in here.”

  “Then there’s a leak all right! Probably some of the seams are opened, or it may be coming in around the shaft stuffing-box. Here, Ned, take the wheel, and I’ll start up the engine again,” for with the blow the motor had stopped.

  “What are you going to do?” asked Ned, as he again made his way forward.

  “Take her to shore, of course. It’s deep out here and I don’t want her to go down at this point.”

  “Say, what do you think of that fellow, anyhow, Tom?”

  “I wouldn’t like to tell you. Look, he’s coming back.”

  This was so, for, as the boys watched, the big red motor boat had swung about in a circle and was headed for them.

  “I’ll tell him what I think of him, at any rate,” murmured Tom, as he bent over his motor. “And, later on, I’ll let the lawyers talk to him.”

  “You mean you’ll sue him, Tom?”

  “Well, I’m certainly not going to let him run into me and spring a leak, for nothing. That won’t go with me!”

  By this time Tom had the motor started, but he throttled it down so that it just turned the propeller. With it running at full speed there was considerable vibration, and this would further open the leaking seams. So much water might thus be let in that the craft could not be gotten ashore.

  “Head her over, Ned,” cried Tom, when he found he had sufficient headway. “Steer for Ramsey’s dock. There’s a marine railway next to him, and I can haul her out for repairs.”

  “That’s the talk, Tom!” cried his chum.

  By this time the big, red motor boat was close beside Tom’s craft.

  The man at the wheel, a stout-bodied and stout-faced man, with a complexion nearly the color of his boat, glared at the two young men.

  “What do you fellows mean?” called out the man, in deep booming tones—tones that he tried to make imposing, but which, to the trained ears of Tom and Ned, sounded only like the enraged bellow of some bully. “What do you mean, I say? Getting on my course like that!”

  Ned could see Tom biting his lips, and clenching his hands to keep down his temper. But it was too much. To be run into, and then insulted, was more than Tom could stand.

  “Look he
re!” he cried, standing up and facing the red-faced man, “I don’t know who you are, and I don’t care. But I’ll tell you one thing—you’ll pay for the damage you did to my boat!”

  “I’ll pay for it? Come, that’s pretty good! Ha! Ha!” laughed the self-important man. “Why, I was thinking of making a complaint against you for crossing my course that way. If I find my boat is damaged I shall certainly do so anyhow. Have we suffered any damage, Snuffin?” and he looked back at a grimy-faced mechinician who was oiling the big, throbbing motor, which was now running with the clutch out.

  “No, sir, I don’t think we’re damaged, sir,” answered the man, deferentially.

  “Well, it’s a lucky thing for these land-lubbers that we aren’t. I should certainly sue them. The idea of crossing my course the way they did. Weren’t they in the wrong, Snuffin?”

  The man hesitated for a moment, and glanced at Tom and Ned, as though asking their indulgence.

  “Well, I asked you a question, Snuffin!” exclaimed the red-faced man sharply.

  “Yes—yes, sir, they shouldn’t have turned the way they did,” answered the man, in a low voice.

  “Well, of all the nerve!” murmured Tom, and stopped his motor. Then, stepping to the side of his disabled and leaking boat, he exclaimed:

  “Look here! Either you folks don’t know anything about navigation rules, or you aren’t heeding them. I had a perfect right to turn and go ashore when I did, for I found my engine was out of order, and I wanted to fix it. I blew the usual signal on the whistle, showing my intention to turn off my course, and if you had been listening you would have heard it.”

  “If you had even been watching you would have seen me shift, and then, coming on at the speed you did, it was your place to warn me by a whistle, so that I could keep straight on until you had passed me.”

  “But you did not. You kept right on and ran into me, and the only wonder is that you didn’t sink me. Talk about me getting in your way! Why, you deliberately ran me down after I had given the right signal. I’ll make a complaint against you, that’s what I will.”

  If possible the red-faced man got even more rosy than usual. He fairly puffed up, he was so angry.