Tom Swift and His Air Glider; Or, Seeking the Platinum Treasure

by Victor Appleton

  CHAPTER IX

  THE SPIES

  "We're certainly going up!" yelled Ned, as he sat beside Tom in thecabin of the air glider.

  "That's right!" agreed the young inventor rather proudly, as he graspedtwo levers, one of which steered the craft, the other being used toshift the weights. "We're going up. I was pretty sure of that. The nextthing is to see if it will remain stationary in the air, and answer therudder."

  "Bless my top knot!" cried Mr. Damon. "You don't mean to tell me youcan stand still in a gale of wind, Tom Swift."

  "That's exactly what I do mean. You can't do it in an aeroplane, forthat depends on motion to keep itself up in the air. But the glider isdifferent. That's one of its specialties, remaining still, and that'swhy it will be valuable if we ever get to Siberia. We can hover over acertain spot in a gale of wind, and search about below with telescopesfor a sign of the lost platinum mine.

  "How high are you going up?" demanded Ned, for the air glider was stillmounting upward on a slant. If you ever scaled a flat piece of tin, ora stone, you'll remember how it seems to slide up a hill of air, whenit was thrown at the right angle. It was just this way with the airglider--it was mounting upward on a slant.

  "I'm going up a couple of hundred feet at least," answered Tom, "andhigher if the gale-strata is there. I want to give it a good test whileI'm at it."

  Ned looked down through a heavy plate of glass in the floor of thecabin, and could see Mr. Petrofsky and Eradicate looking up at them.

  "Bless my handkerchief!" cried Mr. Damon, when his attention had beencalled to this. "It's just like an airship."

  "Except that we haven't a bit of machinery on board," said Tom. "Theseweights do everything," and he shifted them forward on the slidingrods, with the effect that the air glider dipped down with a startlinglurch.

  "We're falling!" cried Ned.

  "Not a bit of it," answered Tom. "I only showed you how it worked. Bysliding the weights back we go up."

  He demonstrated this at once, sending his craft sliding up another hillof air, until it reached an elevation of four hundred feet, asevidenced by the barograph.

  "I guess this is high enough," remarked Tom after a bit. "Now to see ifshe'll stand still."

  Slowly he moved the weights along, by means of the compound levers,until the air glider was on an "even keel" so to speak. It was stillmoving forward, with the wind now, for Tom had warped his wing tips.

  "The thing to do," said the young inventor, "is to get it exactlyparallel with the wind-strata, so that the gale will blow through thetwo sets of planes, just as the wind blows through a box kite. Only wehave no string to hold us from moving. We have to depend on theequalization of friction on the surfaces of the wings. I wonder if Ican do it."

  It was a delicate operation, and Tom had not had much experience inthat sort of thing, for his other airships and aeroplanes worked on anentirely different principle. But he moved the weights along, inch byinch, and flexed the tips, planes and rudders until finally Ned, whowas looking down through the floor window, cried out:

  "We're stationary!"

  "Good!" exclaimed Tom. "Then it's a success."

  "And we can go to Siberia?" added Mr. Damon.

  "Sure," assented the young inventor. "And if we have luck we'll rescueMr. Petrofsky's brother, and get a lot of platinum that will be morevaluable than gold."

  It would not be true to say that the air glider was absolutelystationary. There was a slight forward motion, due to the fact that itwas not yet perfected, and also because Tom was not expert enough inhandling it.

  The friction on the plane surfaces was not equalized, and the galeforced the craft along slightly. But, compared to the terrific power ofthe wind, the air glider was practically at a standstill, and this wasremarkable when one considers the force of the hurricane that wasblowing above, below and through it.

  For actually that was what the hurricane was doing. It was as if animmense box kite was suspended in the air, without a string to hold itfrom moving, and as though a cabin was placed amidships to hold humanbeings.

  "This sure is great!" cried Ned. "Have you got her in control, Tom?"

  "I think so. I'll try and see how she works."

  By shifting the weights, changing the balance, and warping the wings,the young inventor sent the craft higher up, made it dip down almost tothe earth, and then swoop upward like some great bird. Then he turnedit completely about and though he developed no great speed in this testmade it progress quarteringly against the wind.

  "It's almost perfect," declared Tom. "A few touches and she'll be allright."

  "Is it all right?" asked Ivan Petrofsky anxiously, as the three leftthe cabin, and Eradicate hitched his mule to the glider to take it backto the shed.

  "I see where it can be improved," he said, as they made ready todescend. "I'll soon have it in shape."

  "Then we can go to Siberia?"

  "In less than a month. The big airship needs some repairs, and thenwe'll be off."

  The Russian said nothing, but he looked his thanks to Tom, and themanner in which he grasped the hand of our hero showed his deepfeelings.

  The glider was given several more trials, and each time it workedbetter. Tom decided to change some of the weights, and he devoted allhis time to this alteration, while Ned, Mr. Damon, and the otherslabored to get the big airship in shape for the long trip to the landof the exiles.

  So anxious was Tom to get started, that he put in several nightsworking on the glider. Ned occasionally came over to help him, whileMr. Damon was on hand as often as his wife would allow. Mr. Petrofskyspent his nights writing to friends in Russia, hoping to get some clewas to the whereabouts of his brother.

  It was on one of these nights, when Tom and Ned were laboring hard,with Eradicate to help them that an incident occurred which worriedthem all not a little. Tom was adjusting some of the new weights on thesliding rods, and called to Ned:

  "I say, old man, hand me that big monkey wrench, will you. I can'tloosen this nut with the small one. You'll find it on the bench by thatback window."

  As Ned went to get the tool he looked from the casement. He started,stood staring through the glass for a moment into the outer darkness,and then cried out:

  "Tom, we're being watched! There are some spies outside!"

  "What?" exclaimed the young inventor "Where are they? Who are they?"

  "I don't know. Those Russian police, maybe out front, and maybe we cancatch them!"

  Grabbing up the big monkey wrench, Ned made a dash for the largesliding doors, followed by Tom who had an iron bar, and Eradicate witha small pair of pliers.

  "By golly!" cried the colored man, "ef I gits 'em I'll pinch dere nosesoff!"