Chapter XI
Touch and Go
The mechanical equipment of the new locomotive was now complete and Tomwas establishing the electrical equipment as rapidly as possible. Henot only acted as overseer of this work, but in overalls and jumper hewas doing a good share of the work himself.
The weight of the electrical equipment when it was finally set up wasnot far from two hundred thousand pounds. Altogether, when the oil,sand, and water tanks were filled, the great machine would weigh twohundred and eighty-five tons--a monster indeed!
"She is going to take a lot of current to run her," said Tom to hisfather, who was standing by. "When I come to arrange with the ShoptonElectric Company for power, it's a question if they can give me all Ineed. And I must have plenty of current to make sure that my motorsfill the bill."
"As your tests will be made in the daytime, the company should be ableto furnish the power you need," rejoined Mr. Swift. "At night, ofcourse, when they must furnish so much light as well as power, it mightbe difficult for them to give you the proper current."
"Forty-four hundred horsepower is a big demand," went on Tom. "I'vegot to have at least a three-thousand-volt direct-current to feed mymotors. I will soon have to take up the matter with the ElectricCompany."
The heavy work of setting the electrical parts of the locomotive hadbeen finished the day previous, and the track-derrick was removed. Tomwas engaged in adjusting the more delicate parts of the equipment andhad merely stepped down from the cab to speak to Mr. Swift.
Now he climbed back into the interior of the great machine which, in ageneral way, looked like a box car. An electric locomotive has not muchof the appearance of a steam engine. The machinery is all boxed in andthe entire floor of the locomotive is above even the drivers.
These six pairs of driving wheels were about seventy inches indiameter, while the diameter of the leading and following truck-wheelswas but half that number of inches.
Mr. Swift had turned away from the locomotive when Tom put his head outof the door again.
"Do you hear that, father?" he demanded in a puzzled tone.
"Hear what, Tom?" asked the old inventor, looking up.
"That ticking sound? I declare, I'd think it was one of thosedeath-watch beetles had got in here. Sounds like a big watch ticking. Ican't make it out."
"Where is it? What is it?" repeated Mr. Swift. "I hear nothing downhere on the floor of the shed."
"Well, it gets me," muttered Tom, and disappeared again. In a moment hecalled out: "Say, you fellows! who left his bundle of overalls in here?Better take 'em out to be manicured. Whose are these?"
Two or three of the mechanics working near looked up from their tasks.Mr. Swift turned back to the door of the cab again.
"What is the matter now, Tom?" he asked, in added curiosity.
"That bundle, Dad."
Tom once more appeared and addressed the workmen: "Whose bundle ofdirty overalls is this in here? Come and take 'em away. They shouldn'thave been left here."
"Why, Mr. Tom," said the foreman who was near, "I didn't see any soiledoveralls in there when I left last evening. Any of you fellows," heasked the group of hands, "know anything about any overalls?"
"The bundle is here all right. Pushed back against the third seriesmotors. Come up here, one of you fellows--"
Suddenly there was a noise at the end of the shed where the door to theoffices lay. Two figures burst through from the glass doors and chargeddown the lanes between the lathes and cranes. Ned Newton led, RadSampson, his face a mouse-gray with fear, followed.
"Massa Tom! Massa Tom!" shouted the colored man. "Look out fo' de bomb!Look out fo' de bomb!"
The foreman sprang toward the high door of the locomotive where Tomstood, staring out. The young inventor, quick as his mind usuallyfunctioned, did not understand at all what Eradicate meant.
"There's something wrong in there, Mr. Tom!" shouted the foreman. "Comedown, sir, and let me get up there and see what it is."
But Mr. Barton Swift grasped the meaning of what was going on morequickly than anybody else. Tom's father, Tom frequently said, had spentso many years investigating chemical and mechanical mysteries that hesaw more clearly and more exactly into and through most problems thanother people.
His raised voice now cut through the rumble of machinery and all theother noises of the shop. Even Rad Sampson's delirious cry was dwarfedby Mr. Swift's sharp tone:
"Tom! The ticking of that watch! That means danger!"
The declaration seemed to rip away a curtain from Tom's thoughts.Perhaps Rad's cry about "de bomb" aided the young inventor tounderstand the peril that threatened.
The faint ticking sound that had begun to annoy him during the past fewminutes betrayed the nature of the threatening peril. Tom swung backfrom the open doorway of the locomotive cab, reached in to the spacebetween the motors, and seized the bundle of overall stuff that he hadpreviously spied.
He knew instantly that the rapid ticking came from that bundle. Itcould be nothing but a time bomb. He had heard of such things and,indeed, had seen one before, an infernal machine which, set like analarm clock, would go off at a certain time. That indicated time mightbe an hour hence, or might be within a few seconds! Ned Newton, almostat the spot, shouted to Tom when the latter reappeared with the bundlein his hands:
"Get down out of that, Tom Swift! Quick! For your life!"
But Tom was cool enough now. He saw his father's white, strained faceat one side and the young inventor could even smile at him. Behind theforeman was set a barrel of water in which tools were cooled andtempered.
"Stoop, McAvoy!" Tom shouted, and tossed the bundle from him.
Had the infernal machine exploded in midair Tom would not have beensurprised. But McAvoy dodged, Rad clapped his hands over his ears, and,even Ned Newton halted like a bird-dog at point.
The bundle splashed into the barrel of water. It sank to the bottom.There was no explosion. When a few seconds had passed the group ofexcited men began to relax. The barrel was carried carefully to aneighboring field.
"Fo' de lawsy sake!" gasped Rad, and got a full breath again.
"That was touch and go, sure enough," muttered Ned Newton.
"Those overalls sure went to the wash, Boss," declared the foreman."What was in 'em? And who put 'em in the cab up there?"
But Tom dropped down the ladder and went to his father. Their handssought each other and gripped, hard.
"Better not tell Mary about this," whispered Tom. "She's worried enoughas it is."
"Right, Tom," agreed the old inventor. "From this time on we cannot betoo careful. If there proves to be an infernal machine in that packagewe may be sure that we are dealing with desperate men. We've got tokeep our eyes open."
"Wide open," added Ned.
"I'll say we have," said Tom.
Tom Swift and His Electric Locomotive; Or, Two Miles a Minute on the Rails Page 11
