“Who was he?” asked Tom, eagerly, on the alert for the slightest clue.
“I thought at the time,” said Mrs. Damon, “that it was one of the neighbors. I have learned since, however, that it was not. Anyhow, this man and Mr. Damon stood talking for a little while, and then they went off together. I didn’t think it strange at the time, supposing he was merely strolling up and down in front with Mr. Blackson, who lives next door, He often had done that before.”
“Well, I saw that the house was locked up, and then I sat down in a chair to wait for Mr. Damon to come back. I was getting sleepy, for we don’t usually stay up so late. I suppose I must have dozed off, but I was suddenly awakened by hearing a peculiar noise. I sat up in alarm, and then I realized that Mr. Damon had not come in.”
“I was frightened then, and I called my maid. It was nearly one o’clock, and my husband never stays out as late as that. We went next door, and found that Mr. Blackson had not been out of his house that evening. So it could not have been he to whom Mr. Damon was speaking.”
“We roused up other neighbors, and they searched all about the grounds, thinking he might have been overcome by a sudden faint. But we could not find him. My husband had disappeared—mysteriously disappeared!” and the lady broke into sobs.
“Now don’t worry,” said Tom, soothingly, as he put his arms about her as he would have done to his own mother, had she been alive, “We’ll get him back!”
“But how can you? No one knows where he is.”
“Oh, yes!” said Tom, confidently, “Mr. Damon himself knows where he is, and unless he has gone away voluntarily, I think you will soon hear from him.”
“What do you mean by—voluntarily?” asked the wife.
“First let me ask you a question,” came from Tom. “You said you were awakened by a peculiar noise. What sort of a sound was it?”
“Why, a whirring, throbbing noise, like—like—”
She paused for a comparison.
“Like an airship?” asked Tom, with a good deal of eagerness.
“That was it!” cried Mrs. Damon. “I was trying to think where I had heard the sound before. It was just like the noise your airship makes, Tom!”
“That settles it!” exclaimed the young inventor.
“Settles what?” asked Ned.
“The manner of Mr. Damon’s disappearance. He was taken away—or went away—in my airship—the airship that was stolen from my shed last night!”
Mrs. Damon stared at Tom in amazement.
“Why—why—how could that be?” she asked.
Quickly Tom told of what had happened at his place.
“I begin to see through it,” he said. “There is some plot here, and we’ve got to get to the bottom of it. Mr. Damon either went with these men in the airship willingly, or he was taken away by force. I’m inclined to think he went of his own accord, or you would have heard some outcry, Mrs. Damon.”
“Well, perhaps so,” she admitted. “But would he go away in that manner without telling me?”
“He might,” said Tom, willing to test his theory on all sides. “He might not have wanted you to worry, for you know you dislike him to go up an airships.”
“Yes, I do. Oh, if I only thought he did go away of his own accord, I could understand it. He went, if he did, to try and save his fortune.”
“It does look as though he had an appointment with someone, Tom,” suggested Ned. “His looking at the clock, and then going out, and all that.”
“Yes,” admitted the young inventor, “and now I’m inclined to change my theory a bit. It may have been some other airship than mine that was used.”
“How so?” asked Ned.
“Because the men who took mine were unprincipled fellows. Mr. Damon would not have gone away with men who would steal an airship.”
“Not if he knew it,” admitted Ned. “Well, then, let’s consider two airships—yours and the other that came to keep the appointment with Mr. Damon. If the last is true, why should he want to go away in an airship at midnight? Why couldn’t he take a train, or an auto?”
“Well, we don’t know all the ins and outs,” admitted Tom. “Taking a midnight airship ride is rather strange, but that may have been the only course open. We’ll have to let the explanation go until later. At any rate, Mrs. Damon, I feel sure that your husband did go off through the air—either in my Eagle or in some other craft.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear you say so, Tom Swift, though it sounds a dreadful thing to say. But if he did go off of his own accord, I know he did it for the best. And he may not have told me, for fear I would worry. I can understand that. But why isn’t he back now?”
Tom had been rather dreading that question. It was one he had asked himself, and he had found no good answer for it. If there had been such need of haste, that an airship had to be used, why had not Mr. Damon come back ere this? Unless, as Tom feared to admit, even to himself, there had been some accident.
Half a dozen theories flashed through his mind, but he could not select a good, working one,—particularly as there were no clues. Disappearing in an airship was the one best means of not leaving a trace behind. An auto, a motor boat, a train, a horse and carriage—all these could be more or less easily traced. But an airship—
If Mr. Damon wanted to cover up his tracks, or if he had been taken away, and his captors wanted to baffle pursuit, the best means had been adopted.
“Now don’t you worry,” advised Tom to Mrs. Damon. “I know it looks funny, but I think it will come out all right. Ned and I will do all we can. Mr. Damon must have known what he was about. But, to be on the safe side, we’ll send out a general alarm through the police.”
“Oh, I don’t know what I’d done if you hadn’t come to help me!” exclaimed Mrs. Damon.
“Just you leave it to me!” said the young inventor, cheerfully. “I’ll find Mr. Damon!”
But, though he spoke thus confidently, Tom Swift had not the slightest notion, just then, of how to set about his difficult task. He had had hard problems to solve before, so he was not going to give up this one. First he wanted to think matters out, and arrange a plan of action.
He and Ned made a careful examination of the grounds of the Damon homestead. There was little they could learn, though they did find where an airship had landed in a meadow, not far away, and where it had made a flying start off again.
Carefully Tom looked at the marks made by the wheels of the airship.
“They’re the same distance apart as those on the Eagle,” he said to his chum, “and the tires are the same. But that isn’t saying anything, as lots of airships have the same equipment. So we won’t jump to any conclusions that way.”
Tom and Ned interviewed several of the neighbors, but beyond learning that some of them had heard the throbbing of the midnight airship, that was as far as they got on that line.
There was nothing more they could do in Waterford, and, leaving Mrs. Damon, who had summoned a relative to stay with her, the two chums made a quick trip back through the air to Shopton. As Eradicate came out to help put away the monoplane Tom noticed that the colored man was holding one hand as though it hurt him.
“What’s the matter, Rad?” asked the young investor.
“Oh, nuffin—jest natcherly nuffin, Massa Tom.”
But Eradicate spoke evasively and in a manner that roused Tom’s suspicions.
“Boomerang, your mule, didn’t kick you; did he?”
“No, sah, Massa Tom, no sah. ’Twern’t nuffin laik dat.”
“But what was it? Your hand is hurt!”
“Well, Massa Tom, I s’pose I done bettah tell yo’ all. I’se had a shock!”
“A shock?”
“Yas, sah. A shock. A lickrish shock.”
“Oh, you mean an electrical shock. That’s too bad. I suppose you must have touched a live wire.”
“No, sah. ’Twern’t dat way.”
“How was it, then?”
“Well, yo’ see, M
assa Tom, I were playin’ a joke on Koku.”
“Oh, you were; eh? Then I suppose Koku shocked you,” laughed Tom.
“No, sah. I—I’ll tell you. Dat giant man he were in de telefoam boof in de pattern shop—you know—de one where yo’ all been tryin’ to make pishures.”
“Yes, I know. Go on!” exclaimed Tom, impatiently.
“Well, he were in dere, Massa Tom, an’ I slipped into de boof in de next shop—de odder place where yo’ all been ’speermentin’. I called out on de telefoam, loud laik de Angel Gabriel gwine t’ holler at de last trump: ‘Look out, yo’ ole sinnah!’ I yell it jest t’ scare Koku.”
“I see,” said Tom, a bit severely, for he did not like Eradicate interfering with the instruments. “And did you scare Koku?”
“Oh, yas, sah, Massa Tom. I skeered him all right; but suffin else done happen. When I put down de telefoam I got a terrible shock. It hurts yit!”
“Well,” remarked Tom, “I suppose I ought to feel sorry for you, but I can’t. You should let things alone. Now I’ve got to see if you did any damage. Come along, Ned.”
Tom was the first to enter the telephone booth where Eradicate had played the part of the Angel Gabriel. He looked at the wires and apparatus, but could see nothing wrong.
Then he glanced at the selenium plate, on which he hoped, some day, to imprint an image from over the wire. And, as he saw the smooth surface he started, and cried.
“Ned! Ned, come here quick!”
“What is it?” asked his chum, Crowding into the booth.
“Look at that plate! Tell me what you see!”
Ned looked.
“Why—why it’s Koku’s picture!” he gasped.
“Exactly!” cried Tom. “In some way my experiment has succeeded when I was away. Eradicate must have made some new connection by his monkeying. Ned, it’s a success! I’ve got my first photo telephone picture! Hurray!”
CHAPTER XIV
MAKING IMPROVEMENTS
Tom Swift was so overjoyed and excited that for a few moments he capered about, inside the booth, and outside, knocking against his chum Ned, clapping him on the back, and doing all manner of boyish “stunts.”
“It’s a success, Ned! I’ve struck it!” cried Tom, in delight.
“Ouch! You struck me, you mean!” replied Ned, rubbing his shoulder, where the young inventor had imparted a resounding blow of joy.
“What of it?” exclaimed Tom. “My apparatus works! I can send a picture by telephone! It’s great, Ned!”
“But I don’t exactly understand how it happened,” said Ned, in some bewilderment, as he gazed at the selenium plate.
“Neither do I,” admitted Tom, when he had somewhat calmed down. “That is, I don’t exactly understand what made the thing succeed now, when it wouldn’t work for me a little while ago. But I’ve got to go into that. I’ll have to interview that rascal Eradicate, and learn what he did when he played that trick on Koku. Yes, and I’ll have to see Koku, too. We’ve got to get at the bottom of this, Ned.”
“I suppose so. You’ve got your hands full, Tom, with your photo telephone, and the disappearance of Mr. Damon.”
“Yes, and my own airship, too. I must get after that. Whew! A lot of things to do! But I like work, Ned. The more the better.”
“Yes, that’s like you, Tom. But what are you going to get at first?”
“Let me see; the telephone, I think. I’ll have Rad and Koku in here and talk to them. I say, you Eradicate!” he called out of the door of the shop, as he saw the colored man going past, holding his shocked arm tenderly.
“Yas, sah, Massa Tom, I’se comin’! What is it yo’ all wants, Massa Tom?”
“I want you to show me exactly what you did to the wires, and other things in here, when you played that Angel Gabriel trick on your partner Koku.”
“Partner! He ain’t mah partner!” exclaimed Eradicate with a scowl, for there was not the best of feeling between the two. Eradicate had served in the Swift family many years, and he rather resented the coming of the giant, who performed many services formerly the province of the colored man.
“Well, never mind what he is, Rad,” laughed Tom. “You just show me what you did. Come now, something happened in here, and I want to find out what it was.”
“Oh, suffin done happened all right, Massa Tom. Yas, sah! Suffin done happened!” cried Eradicate, with such odd emphasis that Tom and Ned both laughed.
“An’ suffin happened to me,” went on the colored man, rubbing his shocked arm.
“Well, tell us about it,” suggested Tom.
“It was dish yeah way,” proceeded Eradicate. And he told more in detail how, seeing Koku cleaning and sweeping out the other telephone booth, he had thought of the trick to play on him. Both telephones had what are called “amplifiers” attached, that could be switched on when needed. These amplifiers were somewhat like the horn of a phonograph—they increased, or magnified the sound, so that one could hear a voice from any part of the shop, and need not necessarily have the telephone receiver at his ear.
Seeing Koku near the instrument, Eradicate had switched on the amplifier, and had called into his instrument, trying to scare the giant. And he did startle Koku, for the loud voice, coming so suddenly, sent the giant out of the booth on the run.
“But you must have done something else,” insisted Tom. “Look here, Rad,” and the young inventor pointed to the picture on the plate.
“Mah gracious sakes!” gasped the colored man. “Why dat’s Koku hisse’f!” and he looked in awe at the likeness.
“That’s what you did, Rad!”
“Me? I done dat? No, sah, Massa Tom. I neber did! No, sah!” Eradicate spoke emphatically.
“Yes you did, Rad. You took that picture of Koku over my photo telephone, and I want you to show me exactly what you did—what wires and switches you touched and changed, and all that.”
“Yo—yo’ done say I tuck dat pishure, Massa Tom?”
“You sure did, Rad.”
“Well—well, good land o’ massy! An’ I done dat!”
Eradicate stared in wonder at the image of the giant on the plate, and shook his head doubtingly.
“I—I didn’t know I could do it. I never knowed I had it in me!” he murmured.
Tom and Ned laughed long and loud, and then the young inventor said:
“Now look here, Rad. You’ve done me a mighty big service, though you didn’t know it, and I want to thank you. I’m sorry about your arm, and I’ll have the doctor look at it. But now I want you to show me all the things you touched when you played that joke on Koku. In some way you did what I haven’t been able to do, You took the picture. There’s probably just one little thing I’ve overlooked, and you stumbled on it by accident. Now go ahead and show me.”
Eradicate thought for a moment, and then said:
“Well, I done turned on de current, laik I seen you done, Massa Tom.”
“Yes, go on. You connected the telephone.”
“Yas, sah. Den I switched on that flyer thing yo’ all has rigged up.”
“You switched on the amplifier, yes. Go on.”
“An’—an’ den I plugged in dish year wire,” and the colored man pointed to one near the top of the booth.
“You switched on that wire, Rad! Why, great Scott, man! That’s connected to the arc light circuit—it carries over a thousand volts. And you switched that into the telephone circuit?”
“Dat’s what I done did, Massa Tom; yas, Bah!”
“What for?”
“Why, I done want t’ make mah voice good an’ loud t’ skeer dat rascal Koku!”
Tom stared at the colored man in amazement.
“No wonder you got a shock!” exclaimed the young inventor. “You didn’t get all the thousand volts, for part of it was shunted off; but you got a good charge, all right. So that’s what did the business; eh? It was the combination of the two electrical circuits that sent the photograph over the wire.”
“I und
erstand it now, Rad; but you did more than I’ve been able to do. I never, in a hundred years, would have thought of switching on that current. It never occurred to me. But you, doing it by accident, brought out the truth. It’s often that way in discoveries. And Koku was standing in the other telephone booth, near the plate there, when you switched in this current, Rad?”
“Yas, sah, Massa Tom. He were. An’ yo’ ought t’ see him hop when he heard mah voice yellin’ at him. Ha! ha! ha!”
Eradicate chuckled at the thought. Then a pain in his shocked arm made him wince. A wry look passed over his face.
“Yas, sah, Koku done jump about ten feet,” he said. “An’—an’ den I jump too. Ain’t no use in denyin’ dat fact. I done jump when I got dat shock!”
“All right, Rad. You may go now. I think I’m on the right track!” exclaimed Tom. “Come on, Ned, we’ll try some experiments, and we’ll see what we can do.”
“No shocks though—cut out the shocks, Tom,” stipulated his chum.
“Oh, sure! No shocks! Now let’s bet busy and improve on Eradicate’s Angel Gabriel system.”
Tom made a quick examination of the apparatus.
“I understand it, I think,” he said. “Koku was near the plate in the other booth when Rad put on the double current. There was a light there, and in an instant his likeness was sent over the wire, and imprinted on this plate. Now let’s see what we can do. You go to that other booth, Ned. I’ll see if I can get your picture, and send you mine. Here, take some extra selenium plates along. You know how to connect them.”
“I think so,” answered Ned.
“This image is really too faint to be of much use,” went on Tom, as he looked at the one of Koku. “I think I can improve on it. But we’re on the right track.”
A little later Ned stood in the other booth, while Tom arranged the wires, and made the connections in the way accidently discovered by Eradicate. The young inventor had put in a new plate, carefully putting away the one with the picture of the giant, This plate could be used again, when the film, into which the image was imprinted, had been washed off.
“All ready, Ned,” called Tom, over the wire, when he was about to turn the switch. “Stand still, and I’ll get you.”
The Tom Swift Megapack Page 211
