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diff --git a/954-h/954-h.htm b/954-h/954-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1ad955e --- /dev/null +++ b/954-h/954-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9377 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of Tom Swift and his War Tank, +by Victor Appleton +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.finis { text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tom Swift and his War Tank, by Victor Appleton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Tom Swift and his War Tank + or, Doing his Bit for Uncle Sam + +Author: Victor Appleton + +Posting Date: July 13, 2008 [EBook #954] +Release Date: June, 1997 +Last updated: May 20, 2012 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOM SWIFT AND HIS WAR TANK *** + + + + +Produced by Anthony Matonac, + + + + + +</pre> + + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +TOM SWIFT AND HIS WAR TANK +</H1> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +or +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +Doing His Bit For Uncle Sam +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +By +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +VICTOR APPLETON +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">Past Memories</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">Tom's Indifference</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">Ned is Worried</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">Queer Doings</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">"Is He a Slacker?"</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">Seeing Things</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">Up a Tree</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">Detective Rad</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">A Night Test</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">A Runaway Giant</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">Tom's Tank</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">Bridging a Gap</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">Into a Trench</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">The Ruined Factory</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">Across Country</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">The Old Barn</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">Veiled Threats</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">Ready for France</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">Tom Is Missing</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">The Search</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap21">A Prisoner</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap22">Rescued</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap23">Gone</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap24">Camouflaged</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap25">Foiled</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Past Memories +</H3> + +<P> +Ceasing his restless walk up and down the room, Tom Swift strode to the +window and gazed across the field toward the many buildings, where +machines were turning out the products evolved from the brains of his +father and himself. There was a worried look on the face of the young +inventor, and he seemed preoccupied, as though thinking of something +far removed from whatever it was his eyes gazed upon. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'll do it!" suddenly exclaimed Tom. "I don't want to, but I +will. It's in the line of 'doing my bit,' I suppose; but I'd rather it +was something else. I wonder—" +</P> + +<P> +"Ha! Up to your old tricks, I see, Tom!" exclaimed a voice, in which +energy and friendliness mingled pleasingly. "Up to your old tricks!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, hello, Mr. Damon!" cried Tom, turning to shake hands with an +elderly gentleman—that is, elderly in appearance but not in action, +for he crossed the room with the springing step of a lad, and there was +the enthusiasm of youth on his face. "What do you mean—my old tricks?" +</P> + +<P> +"Talking to yourself, Tom. And when you do that it means there is +something in the wind. I hope, as a sort of side remark, it isn't rain +that's in the wind, for the soldiers over at camp have had enough water +to set up a rival establishment with Mr. Noah. But there's something +going on, isn't there? Bless my memorandum book, but don't tell me +there isn't, or I shall begin to believe I have lost all my deductive +powers of reasoning! I come in here, after knocking two or three times, +to which you pay not the least attention, and find you mysteriously +murmuring to yourself. +</P> + +<P> +"The last time that happened, Tom, was just before you started to dig +the big tunnel—No, I'm wrong. It was just before you started for the +Land of Wonders, as we decided it ought to be called. You were talking +to yourself then, when I walked in on you, and—Say, Tom!" suddenly +exclaimed Mr. Damon eagerly, "don't tell me you're going off on another +wild journey like that—don't!" +</P> + +<P> +"Why?" asked Tom, smiling at the energy of his caller. +</P> + +<P> +"Because if you are, I'll want to go with you, of course, and if I go +it means I'll have to start in as soon as I can to bring my wife around +to my way of thinking. The last time I went it took me two weeks to get +her to consent, and then she didn't like it. So if—" +</P> + +<P> +"No, Mr. Damon," interrupted Tom, "I don't count on going on any sort +of a trip—that is, any long one. I was just getting ready to take a +little spin in the Hawk, and if you'd like to come along—" +</P> + +<P> +"You mean that saucy little airship of yours, Tom, that's always trying +to sit down on her tail, or tickle herself with one wing?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's the Hawk!" laughed Tom; "though that tickling business you +speak of is when I spiral. Don't you like it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Can't say I do," observed Mr. Damon dryly. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'll promise not to try any stunts if you come along," Tom went +on. +</P> + +<P> +"Where are you going?" asked his friend. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no place in particular. As you surmised, I've been doing a bit of +thinking, and—" +</P> + +<P> +"Serious thinking, too, Tom!" interrupted Mr. Damon. "Excuse me, but I +couldn't help overhearing what you said. It was something about going +to do something though you didn't want to, and that it was part of your +'bit'. That sounds like soldier talk. Are you going to enlist, Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +"No." +</P> + +<P> +"Um! Well, then—" +</P> + +<P> +"It's something I can't talk about, Mr. Damon, even to you, as yet," +Tom said, and there was a new quality in his voice, at which his friend +looked up in some surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, of course, Tom, if it's a secret—" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it hasn't even got that far, as yet. It's all up in the air, so +to speak. I'll tell you in due season. But, speaking of the air, let's +go for a spin. It may drive some of the cobwebs out of my brain. Did I +hear you say you thought it would rain?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, it's as clear as a bell. I said I hoped it wouldn't rain for the +sake of the soldiers in camp. They've had their share of wet weather, +and, goodness knows, they'll get more when they get to Flanders. It +seems to do nothing but rain in France." +</P> + +<P> +"It is damp," agreed Tom. "And, come to think of it, they are going to +have some airship contests over at camp to-day—for the men who are +being trained to be aviators, you know. It just occurred to me that we +might fly over there and watch them." +</P> + +<P> +"Fine!" cried Mr. Damon. "That's the very thing I should like. I'll +take a chance in your Hawk, Tom, if you'll promise not to try any +spiral stunts." +</P> + +<P> +"I promise, Mr. Damon. Come on! I'll have Koku run the machine out and +get her ready for a flight to Camp. It's a good day for a jaunt in the +air." +</P> + +<P> +"Get out the Hawk, Koku," ordered the young inventor, as he motioned to +a big man—a veritable giant—who nodded to show he understood. Koku +was really a giant, one of a race of strange beings, and Tom Swift had +brought the big man with him when he escaped from captivity, as those +will remember who have read that book. +</P> + +<P> +"Going far, Tom?" asked an aged man, coming to the door of one of the +many buildings of which the shed where the airship was kept formed one. +</P> + +<P> +"Not very far, Father," answered the young inventor. "Mr. Damon and I +are going for a little spin over to Camp Grant, to see some aircraft +contests among the army birdmen." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, all right, Tom. I just wanted to tell you that I think I've gotten +over that difficulty you found with the big carburetor you were working +on. You didn't say what you wanted it for, except that it was for a +heavy duty gasolene engine, and you couldn't get the needle valve to +work as you'd like. I think I've found a way." +</P> + +<P> +"Good, Dad! I'll look at it when I come back. That carburetor did +bother me, and if I can get that to work—well, maybe we'll have +something soon that will—" +</P> + +<P> +But Tom did not finish his sentence, for Koku was getting the aircraft +in operation and Mr. Damon was already taking his place behind the +pilot's seat, which would be occupied by Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"All ready, are you, Koku?" asked the young inventor. +</P> + +<P> +"All ready, Master," answered the giant. +</P> + +<P> +There was a roar like that of a machine gun as the Hawk's engine spun +the propeller, and then, after a little run across the sod, it mounted +into the air, carrying Tom and Mr. Damon with it. +</P> + +<P> +"Mind you, Tom, no stunts!" called the visitor to the young inventor +through the speaking tube apparatus, which enabled a conversation to be +carried on, even above the roar of the powerful engine. "Bless my +overshoes! if you try, looping the loop with me—" +</P> + +<P> +"I won't do anything like that!" promised Tom. +</P> + +<P> +Away they soared, swift as a veritable hawk, and soon, after there had +unrolled below their eyes a succession of fields and forest, there came +into view rows and rows of small brown objects, among which beings, +like ants, seemed crawling about. +</P> + +<P> +"There's the Camp!" exclaimed Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"I see," and Mr. Damon nodded. +</P> + +<P> +As they approached, they saw, starting up from a green space amid the +brown tents, what appeared to be big bugs of a dirty white color +splotched with green. +</P> + +<P> +"The aircraft—and they have camouflage paint on," said Tom. "We can +watch 'em from up here!" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Damon nodded, though Tom could not see him, sitting in front of his +friend as he was. +</P> + +<P> +Up and up circled the army aircraft, and they seemed to bow and nod a +greeting to the Hawk, which was soon in the midst of them. Tom and Mr. +Damon, flying high, though at no great speed, looked at the maneuvers +of the veterans and the learners—many of whom might soon be engaging +the Boches in far-off France. +</P> + +<P> +"Some of 'em are pretty good!" called Tom, through the tube. "That one +fellow did the loop as prettily as I've ever seen it done," and Tom +Swift had a right to speak as one of authority. +</P> + +<P> +Tom and his friend watched the aircraft for some time, and then started +off in a long flight, attaining a high speed, which, at first, made Mr. +Damon gasp, until he became used to it. He was no novice at flying, and +had even operated aeroplanes himself, though at no great height. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the Hawk seemed to falter, almost as does a bird stricken by a +hunter's gun. The craft seemed to hang in the air, losing motion as +though about to plunge to earth unguided. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter?" cried Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"One of the control wires broken!" was Tom's laconic answer. "I'll have +to volplane down. Sit tight, there's no danger!" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Damon knew that with so competent a pilot as Tom Swift in the +forward seat this was true, but, nevertheless, he was a bit nervous +until he felt the smooth, gliding motion, with now and then an upward +tilt, which showed that Tom was coming down from the upper regions in a +series of long glides. The engine had stopped, and the cessation of the +thundering noise made it possible for Tom and his passenger to talk +without the use of the speaking tube. +</P> + +<P> +"All right?" asked Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"All right," Tom answered, and a little later the machine was rolling +gently over the turf of a large field, a mile or so from the camp. +</P> + +<P> +Before Tom and Mr. Damon could get out of their seats, a man, seemingly +springing up from some hollow in the ground, walked toward them. +</P> + +<P> +"Had an accident?" he asked, in what he evidently meant for a friendly +voice. +</P> + +<P> +"A little one, easily mended," Tom answered. +</P> + +<P> +He was about to take off his goggles, but at sight of the man's face a +change came over the countenance of Tom Swift, and he replaced the eye +protectors. Then Tom turned to Mr. Damon, as if to ask a question, but +the stranger came so close, evidently curious to see the aircraft at +close quarters, that the young inventor could not speak without being +overheard. +</P> + +<P> +Tom got out his kit of tools to repair the broken control, and the man +watched him curiously. As he tinkered away, something was stirring +among the past memories of the inventor. A question he asked himself +over and over again was: +</P> + +<P> +"Where have I seen this man before? His face is familiar, but I can't +place him. He is associated with something unpleasant. But where have I +seen this man before?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Tom's Indifference +</H3> + +<P> +"Did you make this machine yourself?" asked the stranger of Tom, as the +young inventor worked at the damaged part of his craft. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Damon had also alighted, taken off his goggles, and was looking +aloft, where the army aircraft were going through various evolutions, +and down below, where the young soldiers were drilling under such +conditions, as far as possible, as they might meet with when some of +their number went "over the top." Mr. Damon was murmuring to himself +such remarks as: +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my fountain pen! look at that chap turning upside down! Bless my +inkwell!" +</P> + +<P> +"I beg your pardon," remarked Tom Swift, following the remark of the +man, whose face he was trying to recall. It was not that Tom had not +heard the question, but he was trying to gain time before answering. +</P> + +<P> +"I asked if you made this machine yourself," went on the man, as he +peered about at the Hawk. "It isn't like any I've ever seen before, and +I know something about airships. It has some new wrinkles on it, and I +thought you might have evolved them yourself. Not that it's an amateur +affair, by any means!" he added hastily, as if fearing the young +inventor might resent the implication that his machine was a home-made +product. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I originated this," answered Tom, as he put a new turn-buckle in +place; "but I didn't actually construct it—that is, except for some +small parts. It was made in the shop—" +</P> + +<P> +"Over at the army construction plant, I presume," interrupted the man +quickly, as he motioned toward the big factory, not far from Shopton, +where aircraft for Uncle Sam's Army were being turned out by the +hundreds. +</P> + +<P> +"Might as well let him think that," mused Tom; "at least until I can +figure out who he is and what he wants." +</P> + +<P> +"This is different from most of those up there," and the stranger +pointed toward the circling craft on high. "A bit more speedy, I guess, +isn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, yes, in a way," agreed Tom, who was bending over his craft. He +stole a side look at the man. The face was becoming more and more +familiar, yet something about it puzzled Tom Swift. +</P> + +<P> +"I've seen him before, and yet he didn't look like that," thought the +young inventor. "It's different, somehow. Now why should my memory play +me a trick like this? Who in the world can he be?" +</P> + +<P> +Tom straightened up, and tossed a monkey wrench into the tool box. +</P> + +<P> +"Get everything fixed?" asked the stranger. +</P> + +<P> +"I think so," and the young inventor tried to make his answer pleasant. +"It was only a small break, easily fixed." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you'll be on your way again?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. Are you ready?" called Tom to Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my timetable, yes! I didn't think you'd start back again so +soon. There's one young fellow up there who has looped the loop three +times, and I expect him to fall any minute." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I guess he knows his business," Tom said easily. "We'll be +getting back now." +</P> + +<P> +"One moment!" called the man. "I beg your pardon for troubling you, but +you seem to be a mechanic, and that's just the sort of man I'm looking +for. Are you open to an offer to do some inventive and constructive +work?" +</P> + +<P> +Tom was on his guard instantly. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I can't say that I am," he answered. "I am pretty busy—" +</P> + +<P> +"This would pay well," went on the man eagerly. "I am a stranger around +here, but I can furnish satisfactory references. I am in need of a good +mechanic, an inventor as well, who can do what you seem to have done so +well. I had hopes of getting some one at the army plant." +</P> + +<P> +"I guess they're not letting any of their men go," said Tom, as Mr. +Damon climbed to his seat in the Hawk. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I soon found that out. But I thought perhaps you—" +</P> + +<P> +Tom shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sorry," he answered, "but I'm otherwise engaged, and very busy." +</P> + +<P> +"One moment!" called the man, as he saw Tom about to start "Is the +Swift Company plant far from here?" +</P> + +<P> +Tom felt something like a thrill go through him. There was an +unexpected note in the man's voice. The face of the young inventor +lightened, and the doubts melted away. +</P> + +<P> +"No, it isn't far," Tom answered, shouting to be heard above the +crackling bangs of the motor. And then, as the craft soared into the +air, he cried exultingly: +</P> + +<P> +"I have it! I know who he is! The scoundrel! His beard fooled me, and +he probably didn't know me with these goggles on. But now I know him!" +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my calendar!" cried Mr. Damon. "What are you talking about?" +</P> + +<P> +But Tom did not answer, for the reason that just then the Hawk fell +into an "air pocket," and needed all his attention to straighten her +out and get her on a level course again. +</P> + +<P> +And while Tom Swift is thus engaged in speeding his aircraft along the +upper regions toward his home, it will take but a few moments to +acquaint my new readers with something of the history of the young +inventor. Those who have read the previous books in this series need be +told nothing about our hero. +</P> + +<P> +Tom Swift was an inventor of note, as was his father. Mr. Swift was now +quite aged and not in robust health, but he was active at times and +often aided Tom when some knotty point came up. +</P> + +<P> +Tom and his father lived on the outskirts of the town of Shopton, and +near their home were various buildings in which the different machines +and appliances were made. Tom's mother was dead, but Mrs. Baggert, the +housekeeper, was as careful in looking after Tom and his father as any +woman could be. +</P> + +<P> +In addition to these three, the household consisted of Eradicate +Sampson, an aged colored servant, and, it might almost be added, his +mule Boomerang; but Boomerang had manners that, at times, did not make +him a welcome addition to any household. Then there was the giant Koku, +one of two big men Tom had brought back with him from the land where +the young inventor had been held captive for a time. +</P> + +<P> +The first book of this series is called "Tom Swift and His Motor +Cycle," and it was in acquiring possession of that machine that Tom met +his friend Mr. Wakefield Damon, who lived in a neighboring town. Mr. +Damon owned the motor cycle originally, but when it attempted to climb +a tree with him he sold it to Tom. +</P> + +<P> +Tom had many adventures on the machine, and it started him on his +inventive career. From then on he had had a series of surprising +adventures. He had traveled in his motor boat, in an airship, and then +had taken to a submarine. In his electric runabout he showed what the +speediest car on the road could do, and when he sent his wireless +message, the details of which can be found set down in the volume of +that name, Tom saved the castaways of Earthquake Island. +</P> + +<P> +Tom Swift had many other thrilling escapes, one from among the diamond +makers, and another from the caves of ice; and he made the quickest +flight on record in his sky racer. +</P> + +<P> +Tom's wizard camera, his great searchlight, his giant cannon, his photo +telephone, his aerial warship and the big tunnel he helped to dig, +brought him credit, fame, and not a little money. He had not long been +back from an expedition to Honduras, dubbed "the land of wonders," when +he was again busy on some of his many ideas. And it was to get some +relief from his thoughts that he had taken the flight with Mr. Damon on +the day the present story opens. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you so excited about, Tom?" asked his friend, as the Hawk +alighted near the shed back of the young inventor's home. "Bless my +scarf pin! but any one would think you'd just discovered the true +method of squaring the circle." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it's almost as good as that, and more practical," Tom said, with +a smile, as he motioned to Koku to put away the aircraft "I know who +that man is, now." +</P> + +<P> +"What man, Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +"The one who was questioning me when I was fixing the airship. I kept +puzzling and puzzling as to his identity, and, all at once, it came to +me. Do you know who he is, Mr. Damon?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I can't say that I do, Tom. But, as you say, there was something +vaguely familiar about him. It seemed as if I must have seen him +before, and yet—" +</P> + +<P> +"That's just the way it struck me. What would you say if I told you +that man was Blakeson, of Blakeson and Grinder, the rival tunnel +contractors who made such trouble for us?" +</P> + +<P> +"You mean down in Peru, Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Damon started in surprise, and then exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my ear mufflers, Tom, but you're right! That was Blakeson! I +didn't know him with his beard, but that was Blakeson, all right! Bless +my foot-warmer! What do you suppose he is doing around here?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know, Mr. Damon, but I'd give a good deal to know. It isn't +any good, I'll wager on that. He didn't seem to know me or you, +either—unless he did and didn't let on. I suppose it was because of +my goggles—and you were gazing up in the air most of the time. I don't +think he knew either of us." +</P> + +<P> +"It didn't seem so, Tom. But what is he doing here? Do you think he is +working at the army camp, or helping make Liberty Motors for the +aircraft that are going to beat the Germans?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hardly. He didn't seem to be connected with the camp. He wanted a +mechanic, and hinted that I might do. Jove! if he really didn't know +who I was, and finds out, say! won't he be surprised?" +</P> + +<P> +"Rather," agreed Mr Damon. "Well, Tom, I had a nice little ride. And +now I must be getting back. But if you contemplate a trip anywhere, +don't forget to let me know." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't count on going anywhere soon," Tom answered. "I have something +on hand that will occupy all my time, though I don't just like it. +However, I'm going to do my best," and he waved good-bye to Mr. Damon, +who went off blessing various parts of his anatomy or clothing, an odd +habit he had. +</P> + +<P> +As Tom turned to go into the house, the unsettled look still on his +face, some one hailed him. +</P> + +<P> +"I say, Tom. Hello! Wait a minute! I've got something to show you!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, hello, Ned Newton!" Called back the young inventor. "Well, if +it's Liberty Bonds, you don't need to show me any, for dad and I will +buy all we can without seeing them." +</P> + +<P> +"I know that, Tom, and it was a dandy subscription you gave me. I +didn't come about that, though I may be around the next time Uncle Sam +wants the people to dig down in their socks. This is something +different," and Ned Newton, a young banker of Shopton and a lifelong +friend of Tom's, drew a paper from his pocket as he advanced across the +lawn. +</P> + +<P> +"There, Tom Swift!" he cried, flipping out an illustrated page, +evidently from some illustrated newspaper. "There's the very latest +from the other side. A London banker friend of mine sent it to me, and +it got past the censor all right. It's the first authentic photograph +of the newest and biggest British tank. Isn't that a wonder?" +</P> + +<P> +Ned held up the paper which had in it a fullpage photograph of a +monster tank—those weird machines traveling on endless steel belts of +caterpillar construction, armored, riveted and plated, with machine +guns bristling here and there. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't that great, Tom? Can you beat it? It's the most wonderful +machine of the age, even counting some of yours. Can you beat it?" +</P> + +<P> +Tom took the paper indifferently, and his manner surprised his chum. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what's the matter, Tom?" asked Ned. "Don't you think that great? +Why don't you say something? You don't mean to say you've seen that +picture before?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, Ned." +</P> + +<P> +"Then what's the matter with you? Isn't that wonderful?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Ned is Worried +</H3> + +<P> +Tom Swift did not answer for several seconds. He stood holding the +paper Ned had given him, the sun slanting on the picture of the big +British tank. But the young inventor did not appear to see it. Instead, +his eyes were as though contemplating something afar off. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, this gets me!" cried Ned, his voice showing impatience. "Here I +go and get a picture of the latest machine the British armies are +smashing up the Boches with, and bring it to you fresh from the mail—I +even quit my Liberty Bond business to do it, and I know some dandy +prospects, too—and here you look at it like a—like a fish!" burst out +Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, old man, I guess that's right!" admitted Tom. "I wasn't thinking +about it, to tell you the truth." +</P> + +<P> +"Why not?" Ned demanded. "Isn't it great, Tom? Did you ever see +anything like it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"You did?" Cried Ned, in surprise. "Where? Say, Tom Swift, are you +keeping something from me?" +</P> + +<P> +"I mean no, Ned. I never have seen a British tank." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, did you ever see a picture like this before?" Ned persisted. +</P> + +<P> +"No, not exactly like that But—" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what do you think of it?" cried the young banker, who was giving +much of his time to selling bonds for the Government. "Isn't it great?" +</P> + +<P> +Tom considered a moment before replying. Then he said slowly: +</P> + +<P> +"Well, yes, Ned, it is a pretty good machine. But—" +</P> + +<P> +"'But!' Howling tomcats! Say, what's the 'matter with you, anyhow, Tom? +This is great! 'But!' 'But me no buts!' This is, without exception, the +greatest thing out since an airship. It will win the war for us and the +Allies, too, and don't you forget it! Fritz's barbed wire and dugouts +and machine gun emplacements can't stand for a minute against these +tanks! Why, Tom, they can crawl on their back as well as any other way, +and they don't mind a shower of shrapnel or a burst of machine gun +lead, any more than an alligator minds a swarm of gnats. The only thing +that makes 'em hesitate a bit is a Jack Johnson or a Bertha shell, and +it's got to be a pretty big one, and in the right place, to do much +damage. These tanks are great, and there's nothing like 'em." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes there is, Ned!" +</P> + +<P> +"There is!" cried Ned. "What do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"I mean there may be something like them—soon." +</P> + +<P> +"There may? Say, Tom—" +</P> + +<P> +"Now don't ask me a lot of questions, Ned, for I can't answer them. +When I say there may be something like them, I mean it isn't beyond the +realms of possibility that some one—perhaps the Germans—may turn out +even bigger and better tanks." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" And Ned's voice showed his disappointment. "I thought maybe you +were in on that game yourself, Tom. Say, couldn't you get up something +almost as good as this?" and he indicated the picture in the paper. +"Isn't that wonderful?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, well, it's good, Ned, but there are others. Yes, Dad, I'm coming," +he called, as he saw his father beckoning to him from a distant +building. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I've got to get along," said Ned. "But I certainly am +disappointed, Tom. I thought you'd go into a fit over this +picture—it's one of the first allowed to get out of England, my London +friend said. And instead of enthusing you're as cold as a clam;" and +Ned shook his head in puzzled and disappointed fashion as he walked +slowly along beside the young inventor. +</P> + +<P> +They passed a new building, one of the largest in the group of the many +comprising the Swift plant. Ned looked at the door which bore a notice +to the effect that no one was admitted unless bearing a special permit, +or accompanied by Mr. Swift or Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"What's this, Tom?" asked Ned. "Some new wrinkle?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, an invention I'm working on. It isn't in shape yet to be seen." +</P> + +<P> +"It must be something big, Tom," observed Ned, as he viewed the large +building. +</P> + +<P> +"It is." +</P> + +<P> +"And say, what a whopping big fence you've got around the back yard!" +went on the young banker. "Looks like a baseball field, but it would +take some scrambling on the part of a back-lots kid to get over it." +</P> + +<P> +"That's what it's for—to keep people out." +</P> + +<P> +"I see! Well, I've got to get along. I'm a bit back in my day's quota +of selling Liberty Bonds, and I've got to hustle. I'm sorry I bothered +you about that tank picture, Tom." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it wasn't a bother—don't think that for a minute, Ned! I was glad +to see it." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, he didn't seem so, and his manner was certainly queer," mused +Ned, as he walked away, and turned in time to see Tom enter the new +building, which had such a high fence all around it. "I never saw him +more indifferent. I wonder if Tom isn't interested in seeing Uncle Sam +help win this war? That's the way it struck me. I thought surely Tom +would go up in the air, and say this was a dandy," and Ned unfolded the +paper and took another look at the British tank photograph. "If there's +anything can beat that I'd like to see it," he mused. +</P> + +<P> +"But I suppose Tom has discovered some new kind of air stabilizer, or a +different kind of carburetor that will vaporize kerosene as well as +gasolene. If he has, why doesn't he offer it to Uncle Sam? I wonder if +Tom is pro-German? No, of Course he can't be!" and Ned laughed at his +own idea. +</P> + +<P> +"At the same time, it is queer," he mused on. "There is something wrong +with Tom Swift." +</P> + +<P> +Once more Ned looked at the picture. It was a representation of one of +the newest and largest of the British tanks. In appearance these are +not unlike great tanks, though they are neither round nor square, being +shaped, in fact, like two wedges with the broad ends put together, and +the sharper ends sticking out, though there is no sharpness to a tank, +the "noses" both being blunt. +</P> + +<P> +Around each outer edge runs an endless belt of steel plates, hinged +together, with ridges at the joints, and these broad belts of steel +plates, like the platforms of some moving stairways used in department +stores, moving around, give motion to the tank. +</P> + +<P> +Inside, well protected from the fire of enemy guns by steel plates, are +the engines for driving the belts, or caterpillar wheels, as they are +called. There is also the steering apparatus, and the guns that fire on +the enemy. There are cramped living and sleeping quarters for the +tank's crew, more limited than those of a submarine. +</P> + +<P> +The tank is ponderous, the smallest of them, which were those first +constructed, weighing forty-two tons, or about as much as a good-sized +railroad freight car. And it is this ponderosity, with its slow but +resistless movement, that gives the tank its power. +</P> + +<P> +The tank, by means of the endless belts of steel plates, can travel +over the roughest country. It can butt into a tree, a stone wall, or a +house, knock over the obstruction, mount it, crawl over it, and slide +down into a hole on the other side and crawl out again, on the level, +or at an angle. Even if overturned, the tanks can sometimes right +themselves and keep on. At the rear are trailer wheels, partly used in +steering and partly for reaching over gaps or getting out of holes. The +tanks can turn in their own length, by moving one belt in one direction +and the other oppositely. +</P> + +<P> +Inside there is nothing much but machinery of the gasolene type, and +the machine guns. The tank is closed except for small openings out of +which the guns project, and slots through which the men inside look out +to guide themselves or direct their fire. +</P> + +<P> +Such, in brief, is a British tank, one of the most powerful and +effective weapons yet loosed against the Germans. They are useful in +tearing down the barbed-wire entanglements on the Boche side of No +Man's Land, and they can clear the way up to and past the trenches, +which they can straddle and wriggle across like some giant worm. +</P> + +<P> +"And to think that Tom Swift didn't enthuse over these!" murmured Ned. +"I wonder what's the matter with him!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Queer Doings +</H3> + +<P> +There was a subdued air of activity about the Swift plant. Subdued, +owing to the fact that it was mostly confined to one building—the new, +large one, about which stretched a high and strong fence, made with +tongue-and-groove boards so that no prying eyes might find a crack, +even, through which to peer. +</P> + +<P> +In and out of the other buildings the workmen went as they pleased, +though there were not many of them, for Tom and his father were +devoting most of their time and energies to what was taking place in +the big, new structure. But here there was an entirely different +procedure. +</P> + +<P> +Workmen went in and out, to be sure, but each time they emerged they +were scrutinized carefully, and when they went in they had to exhibit +their passes to a man on guard at the single entrance; and the passes +were not scrutinized perfunctorily, either. +</P> + +<P> +Near the building, about which there seemed to be an air of mystery, +one day, a week after the events narrated in the opening chapters, +strolled the giant Koku. Not far away, raking up a pile of refuse, was +Eradicate Sampson, the aged colored man of all work. Eradicate +approached nearer and nearer the entrance to the building, pursuing his +task of gathering up leaves, dirt and sticks with the teeth of his +rake. Then Koku, who had been lounging on a bench in the shade of a +tree, Called: +</P> + +<P> +"No more, Eradicate!" +</P> + +<P> +"No mo' whut?" asked the negro quickly. "I didn't axt yo' fo' nuffin +yit!" +</P> + +<P> +"No more come here!" said the giant, pointing to the building and +speaking English with an evident effort. "Master say no one come too +close." +</P> + +<P> +"Huh! He didn't go fo' t' mean me!" exclaimed Eradicate. "I kin go +anywheres; I kin!" +</P> + +<P> +"Not here!" and Koku interposed his giant frame between the old man and +the first step leading into the secret building. "You no come in here." +</P> + +<P> +"Who say so?" +</P> + +<P> +"Me—I say so! I on guard. I what you call special +policeman—detectiff—no let enemies in!" +</P> + +<P> +"Huh! You's a hot deteckertiff, yo' is!" snorted Eradicate. "Anyhow, +dem orders don't mean me! I kin go anywhere, I kin!" +</P> + +<P> +"Not here!" said Koku firmly. "Master Tom say let nobody come near but +workmen who have got writing-paper. You no got!" +</P> + +<P> +"No, but I kin git one, an' I's gwine t' hab it soon! I'll see Massa +Tom, dat's whut I will. I guess yo' ain't de only deteckertiff on de +place. I kin go on guard, too!" and Eradicate, dropping his rake, +strolled away in his temper to seek the young inventor. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Rad, what is it?" asked Tom, as he met the colored man. The +young inventor was on his way to the mysterious shop. "What is +troubling you?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's dat dar giant. He done says as how he's on guard—a +deteckertiff—an' I can't go nigh dat buildin' t' sweep up de refuse." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, that's right, Rad. I'd prefer that you keep away. I'm doing +some special work in there and it's—" +</P> + +<P> +"Am it dangerous, Massa Tom? I ain't askeered! Anybody whut kin drive +mah mule Boomerang—" +</P> + +<P> +"I know, Eradicate, but this isn't so dangerous. It's just secret, and +I don't want too many people about. You can go anywhere else except +there. Koku is on guard." +</P> + +<P> +"Den can't I be, Massa Tom?" asked the colored man eagerly. "I kin +guard an' detect same as dat low-down, good-fo'-nuffin white trash +Koku!" +</P> + +<P> +Tom hesitated. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose I could get you a sort of officer's badge," he mused, half +aloud. +</P> + +<P> +"Dat's whut I want!" eagerly exclaimed Eradicate. "I ain't gwine hab +dat Koku—dat cocoanut—crowin' ober me! I kin guard an' detect as +good's anybody!" +</P> + +<P> +And the upshot of it was that Eradicate was given a badge, and put on a +special post, far enough from Koku to keep the two from quarreling, and +where, even if he failed in keeping a proper lookout, the old servant +could do no harm by his oversight. +</P> + +<P> +"It'll please him, and won't hurt us," said Tom to his father. "Koku +will keep out any prying persons." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose you are doing well to keep it a secret, Tom," said Mr. +Swift, "but it seems as if you might announce it soon." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps we may, Dad, if all goes well. I've given her a partial +shop-tryout, and she works well. But there is still plenty to do. Did I +tell you about meeting Blakeson?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and I can't understand why he should be in this vicinity. Do you +think he has had any intimation of what you are doing?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's hard to say, and yet I would not be surprised. When Uncle Sam +couldn't keep secret the fact of our first soldiers sailing for France. +How can I expect to keep this secret? But they won't get any details +until I'm ready, I'm sure of that." +</P> + +<P> +"Koku is a good discourager," said Mr. Swift, with a chuckle. "You +couldn't have a better guard, Tom." +</P> + +<P> +"No, and if I can keep him and Eradicate from trying to pull off rival +detective stunts, or 'deteckertiff,' as Rad calls it, I'll be all +right. Now let's have another go at that carburetor. There's our weak +point, for it's getting harder and harder all the while to get +high-grade gasolene, and we'll have to come to alcohol of low proof, or +kerosene, I'm thinking." +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't be surprised, Tom. Well, perhaps we can get up a new style +of carburetor that will do the trick. Now look at this needle valve; +I've given it a new turn," and father and son went into technical +details connected with their latest invention. +</P> + +<P> +These were busy days at the Swift plant. Men came and went—men with +queerly shaped parcels frequently—and they were admitted to the big +new building after first passing Eradicate and then Koku, and it would +be hard to say which guard was the more careful. Only, of course, Koku +had the final decision, and more than one person was turned back after +Eradicate had passed him, much to the disgust of the negro. +</P> + +<P> +"Pooh! Dat giant don't know a workman when he sees 'im!" snorted +Eradicate. "He so lazy his own se'f dat he don't know a workman! Ef I +sees a spy, Massa Tom, or a crook, I's gwine git him, suah pop!" +</P> + +<P> +"I hope you do, Rad. We can't afford to let this secret get out," said +the young inventor. +</P> + +<P> +It was one evening, when taking a short cut to his home, that Mr. +Nestor, the father of Mary Nestor, in whom Tom was more than ordinarily +interested, passed not far from the big enclosure which was guarded, on +the factory side, day and night. Inside, though out of sight and hidden +by the high fence, were other guards. +</P> + +<P> +As Mr. Nestor passed along the fence, rather vaguely wondering why it +was so high, tight and strong, he felt the ground trembling beneath his +feet. It rumbled and shook as though a distant train were passing, and +yet there was none due now, for Mr. Nestor had just left one, and +another would not arrive for an hour. +</P> + +<P> +"That's queer," mused Mary's father. "If I didn't know to the contrary, +I'd say that sounded like heavy guns being fired from a distance, or +else blasting. It seems to come from the Swift place," he went on. "I +wonder what they're up to in there." +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the rumbling became more pronounced, and mingled with it, in +the dusk of the evening, were the shouts of men. +</P> + +<P> +"Look out!" some one cried. "She's going for the fence!" +</P> + +<P> +A second later there was a cracking and straining of boards, and the +fence near Mr. Nestor bulged out as though something big, powerful and +mighty were pressing it from the inner side. +</P> + +<P> +But the fence held, or else the pressure was removed, for the bulge +went back into place, though some of the boards were splintered. +</P> + +<P> +"Have to patch that up in the morning," called another voice, and Mr. +Nestor recognized it as that of Tom Swift. +</P> + +<P> +"What queer doings are going on here?" mused Mary's father. "Have they +got a wild bull shut up in there, and is he trying to get out? Lucky +for me he didn't," and he hurried on, the rumbling noise become fainter +until it died away altogether. +</P> + +<P> +That night, after his supper and while reading the paper and smoking a +cigar, Mr. Nestor spoke to his daughter. +</P> + +<P> +"Mary, have you seen anything of Tom Swift lately?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, yes, Father. He was over for a little while the other night, but +he didn't stay long. Why do you ask?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, nothing special. I just came past his place and I heard some queer +noises, that's all. He's up to some more of his tricks, I guess. Has be +enlisted yet?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. +</P> + +<P> +"Is he going to?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," and Mary seemed a bit put out by this simple question. +"What do you mean by his tricks?" she asked, and a close observer might +have thought she was anxious to get away from the subject of Tom's +enlistment. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, like that one when he sent you something in a box labeled +'dynamite,' and gave us all a scare. You can't tell what Tom Swift is +going to do next. He's up to something now, I'll wager, and I don't +believe any good will come of it." +</P> + +<P> +"You didn't think so after he sent his wireless message, and saved us +from Earthquake Island," said Mary, smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"Hum! Well, that was different," snapped Mr. Nestor. "This time I'm +sure he's up to some nonsense! The idea of crashing down a fence! Why +doesn't he enlist like the other chaps, or sell Liberty Bonds like Ned +Newton?" and Mr. Nestor looked sharply at his daughter. "Ned gave up a +big salary as the Swifts financial man—a place he had held for a +year—to go back to the bank for less, just so he could help the +Government in the financial end of this war. Is Tom doing as much for +his country?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sure I don't know," answered Mary; and soon after, with averted +face, she left the room. +</P> + +<P> +"Hum! Queer goings on," mused Mr. Nestor. "Tom Swift may be all right, +but he's got an unbalanced streak in him that will bear looking out +for, that's what I think!" +</P> + +<P> +And having settled this matter, at least to his own satisfaction, Mr. +Nestor resumed his smoking and reading. +</P> + +<P> +A little later the bell rang. There was a murmur of voices in the hall, +and Mr. Nestor, half listening, heard a voice he knew. +</P> + +<P> +"There's Tom Swift now!" he exclaimed. "I'm going to find out why he +doesn't enlist!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +"Is He a Slacker?" +</H3> + +<P> +Mr. Nestor, whatever else he was, proved to be a prudent father. He did +not immediately go into the front room, whither Mary and Tom hastened, +their voices mingling in talk and laughter. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Nestor, after leaving the young folks alone for a while, with a +loud "Ahem!" and a rattling of his paper as he laid it aside, started +for the parlor. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-evening, Mr. Nestor!" said Tom, rising to shake hands with the +father of his young and pretty hostess. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Tom!" was the cordial greeting, in return. "What's going on up +at your place?" went on Mr. Nestor, as he took a chair. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, nothing very special," Tom answered. "We're turning out different +kinds of machines as usual, and dad and I are experimenting, also as +usual." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose so. But what nearly broke the fence to-night?" +</P> + +<P> +Tom started, and looked quickly at his host. +</P> + +<P> +"Were you there?" he asked quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I happened to be passing—took a short cut home—and I heard +some queer goings on at your place. I was speaking to Mary about them, +and wondering—" +</P> + +<P> +"Father, perhaps Tom doesn't want to talk about his inventions," +interrupted Mary. "You know some of them are secret—" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I wasn't exactly asking for information!" exclaimed Mr. Nestor +quickly. "I just happened to hear the fence crash, and I was wondering +if something was coming out at me. Didn't know but what that giant of +yours was on a rampage, Tom," and he laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"No, it wasn't anything like that," and Tom's voice was more sober than +the occasion seemed to warrant. "It was one of our new machines, and it +didn't act just right. No great damage was done, though. How do you +find business, Mr. Nestor, since the war spirit has grown stronger?" +asked Tom, and it seemed to both Mary and her father that the young +inventor deliberately changed the subject. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it isn't all it might be," said the other. "It's hard to get +good help. A lot of our boys enlisted, and some were taken in the +draft. By the way, Tom, have they called on you yet?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. Not yet." +</P> + +<P> +"You didn't enlist?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ned Newton tried to," broke in Mary, "but the quota for this locality +was filled, and they told him he'd better wait for the draft. He +wouldn't do that and tried again. Then the bank people heard about it +and had him exempted. They said he was too valuable to them, and he has +been doing remarkably well in selling Liberty Bonds!" and Mary's eyes +sparkled with her emotions. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Ned is a crackerjack salesman!" agreed Tom, no less +enthusiastically. "He's sold more bonds, in proportion, for his bank, +than any other in this county. Dad and I both took some, and have +promised him more. I am glad now that we let him go, although we valued +his services highly. We hope to have him back later." +</P> + +<P> +"He can put me down for more bonds too!" said Mr. Nestor. "I'm going +to see Germany beaten if it takes every last dollar I have!" +</P> + +<P> +"That's what I say!" Cried Mary. "I took out all my savings, except a +little I'm keeping to buy a wedding present for Jennie Morse. Did you +know she was going to get married, Tom?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I heard so." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, all but what I want for a wedding present to her has gone into +Liberty Bonds. Isn't this a history-making time, Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed it is, Mary!" +</P> + +<P> +"Everybody who has a part in it—whether he fights as a soldier or only +knits like the Red Cross girls—will be telling about it for years +after," went on the girl, and she looked at Tom eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he agreed. "These are queer times. We don't know exactly where +we're at. A lot of our men have been called. We tried to have some of +them exempted, and did manage it in a few cases." +</P> + +<P> +"You did?" cried Mr. Nestor, as if in surprise. "You stopped men from +going to war!" +</P> + +<P> +"Only so they could work on airship motors for the Government," Tom +quietly explained. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! Well, of course, that's part of the game," agreed Mary's father. +"A lot more of our boys are going off next week. Doesn't it make you +thrill, Tom, when you see them marching off, even if they haven't their +uniforms yet? Jove, if I wasn't too old, I'd go in a minute!" +</P> + +<P> +"Father!" cried Mary. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I would!" he declared. "The German government has got to be +beaten, and we've got to do our bit; everybody has—man, woman and +child!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," agreed Tom, in a low voice, "that's very true. But every one, in +a sense, has to judge for himself what the 'bit' is. We can't all do +the same." +</P> + +<P> +There was a little silence, and then Mary went over to the piano and +played. It was a rather welcome relief, under the circumstances, from +the conversation. +</P> + +<P> +"Mary, what do you think of Tom?" asked Mr. Nestor, when the visitor +had gone. +</P> + +<P> +"What do I think of him?" And she blushed. +</P> + +<P> +"I mean about his not enlisting. Do you think he's a slacker?" +</P> + +<P> +"A slacker? Why, Father!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I don't mean he's afraid. We've seen proof enough of his courage, +and all that. But I mean don't you think he wants stirring up a bit?" +</P> + +<P> +"He is going to Washington to-morrow, Father. He told me so to-night. +And it may be—" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, well, then maybe it's all right," hastily said Mr. Nestor. "He may +be going to get a commission in the engineer corps. It isn't like Tom +Swift to hang back, and yet it does begin to look as though he cared +more for his queer inventions—machines that butt down fences than for +helping Uncle Sam. But I'll reserve judgment." +</P> + +<P> +"You'd better, Father!" and Mary laughed—a little. Yet there was a +worried look on her face. +</P> + +<P> +During the next few nights Mr. Nestor made it a habit to take the short +cut from the railroad station, coming past the big fence that enclosed +one particular building of the Swift plant. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder if there's a hole where I could look through," said Mr. +Nestor to himself. "Of course I don't believe in spying on what another +man is doing, and yet I'm too good a friend of Tom's to want to see him +make a fool of himself. He ought to be in the army, or helping Uncle +Sam in some way. And yet if he spends all his time on some foolish +contraption, like a new kind of traction plow, what good is that? If I +could get a glimpse of it, I might drop a friendly hint in his ear." +</P> + +<P> +But there were no cracks in the fence, or, if there were, it was too +dark to see them, and also too dark to behold anything on the other +side of the barrier. So Mr. Nestor, wondering much, kept on his way. +</P> + +<P> +It was a day or so after this that Ned Newton paid a visit to the Swift +home. Mr. Swift was not in the house, being out in one of the various +buildings, Mrs. Baggert said. +</P> + +<P> +"Where's Tom?" asked the bond salesman. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, he hasn't come back from Washington yet," answered the housekeeper. +</P> + +<P> +"He is making a long stay." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, he went about a week ago on some business. But we expect him back +to-day." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, then I'll see him. I called to ask if Mr. Swift didn't want to +take a few more bonds. We want to double our allotment for Shopton, and +beat out some of the other towns in this section. I'll go to see Mr. +Swift." +</P> + +<P> +On his way to find Tom's father Ned passed the big building in front of +which Eradicate and Koku were on guard. They nodded to Ned, who passed +them, wondering much as to what it was Tom was so secretive about. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the first time I remember when he worked on an invention without +telling me something about it," mused Ned. "Well, I suppose it will +all come out in good time. Anything new, Rad?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, Massa Ned, nuffin much. I'm detectin' around heah; keepin' +Dutchmen spies away!" +</P> + +<P> +"And Koku is helping you, I suppose?" +</P> + +<P> +"Whut, him? Dat big, good-fo'-nuffin white trash? No, sah! I's +detectin' by mahse'f, dat's whut I is!" and Eradicate strutted proudly +up and down on his allotted part of the beat, being careful not to +approach the building too closely, for that was Koku's ground. +</P> + +<P> +Ned smiled, and passed on. He found Mr. Swift, secured his subscription +to more bonds, and was about to leave when he heard a call down the +road and saw Tom coming in his small racing car, which had been taken +to the depot by one of the workmen. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, old man!" cried Ned affectionately, as his chum alighted with a +jump. "Where have you been?" +</P> + +<P> +"Down to Washington. Had a bit of a chat with the President and gave +him some of my views." +</P> + +<P> +"About the war, I suppose?" laughed Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you get your commission?" +</P> + +<P> +"Commission?" And there was a wondering look on Tom's face. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. Mary Nestor said she thought maybe you were going to Washington +to take an examination for the engineering corps or something like +that. Did you get made an officer?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," answered Tom slowly. "I went to Washington to get exempted." +</P> + +<P> +"Exempted?" Cried Ned, and his voice sounded strained. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Seeing Things +</H3> + +<P> +For a moment Tom Swift looked at his chum. Then something of what was +passing in the mind of the young bond salesman must have been reflected +to Tom, for he said, +</P> + +<P> +"Look here, old man; I know it may seem a bit strange to go to all that +trouble to get exempted from the draft, to which I am eligible, but, +believe me, there's a reason. I can't say anything now, but I'll tell +you as soon as I can—tell everybody, in fact. Just now it isn't in +shape to talk about." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, that's all right, Tom," and Ned tried to make his voice sound +natural. "I was just wondering, that's all. I wanted to go to the front +the worst way, but they wouldn't let me. I was sort of hoping you +could, and come back to tell me about it." +</P> + +<P> +"I may yet, Ned." +</P> + +<P> +"You may? Why, I thought—" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I'm only exempted for a time. I've got certain things to do, and I +couldn't do 'em if I enlisted or was drafted. So I've been excused for +a time. Now I've got a pile of work to do. What are you up to Ned? Same +old story?" +</P> + +<P> +"Liberty Bonds—yes. Your father just took some more." +</P> + +<P> +"And so will I, Ned. I can do that, anyhow, even if I don't enlist. Put +me down for another two thousand dollars' worth." +</P> + +<P> +"Say, Tom, that's fine! That will make my share bigger than I counted +on. Shopton will beat the record." +</P> + +<P> +"That's good. We ought to pull strong and hearty for our home town. +How's everything else?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, so-so. I see Koku and Eradicate trying to outdo one another in +guarding that part of your plant," and Ned nodded toward the big new +building. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I had to let Rad play detective. Not that he can do +anything—he's too old. But it keeps him and Koku from quarreling all +the while. I've got to be pretty careful about that shop. It's got a +secret in it that—Well, the less said about it the better." +</P> + +<P> +"You're getting my curiosity aroused, Tom," remarked Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"It'll have to go unsatisfied for a while. Wait a bit and I'll give you +a ride. I've got to go over to Sackett on business, and if you're going +that way I'll take you." +</P> + +<P> +"What in?" +</P> + +<P> +"The Hawk." +</P> + +<P> +"That's me!" cried Ned. "I haven't been in an aircraft for some time." +</P> + +<P> +"Tell Miles to run her out," requested Tom. "I've got to go in and say +hello to dad a minute, and then I'll be with you." +</P> + +<P> +"Seems like something was in the wind, Tom—big doings?" hinted Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, maybe there is. It all depends on how she turns out." +</P> + +<P> +"You might be speaking of the Hawk or—Mary Nestor!" said Ned, with a +sidelong look at his chum. +</P> + +<P> +"As it happens, it's neither one," said Tom, and then he hastened away, +to return shortly and guide his fleet little airship, the Hawk, on her +aerial journey. +</P> + +<P> +From then on, at least for some time, neither Tom nor Ned mentioned the +matters they had been discussing—Tom's failure to enlist, his +exemption, and what was being built in the closely guarded shop. +</P> + +<P> +Tom's business in Sackett did not take him long, and then he and Ned +went for a little ride in the air. +</P> + +<P> +"It's like old times!" exclaimed Ned, his eyes shining, though Tom +could not see them for two reasons. One was that Ned was sitting behind +him, and the other was that Ned wore heavy goggles, as did the young +pilot. Also, they had to carry on their talk through the speaking tube +arrangement. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it is a bit like old times," agreed Tom. "We've had some great +old experiences together, Ned, haven't we?" +</P> + +<P> +"We surely have! I wonder if we'll have any more? When we were in the +submarine, and in your big airship. Say, that big one is the one I +always liked! I like big things." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you?" asked Tom. "Well, maybe, when I get—" +</P> + +<P> +But Tom did not finish, for the Hawk unexpectedly poked her nose into +an empty pocket in the air just then, and needed a firm hand on the +controls. Furthermore, Tom decided against making the confidence that +was on the tip of his tongue. +</P> + +<P> +At last the aircraft was straightened out and the pilot guided her on +toward the army encampment. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the place I'd like to be," called Ned through the tube as the +faint, sweet notes of a bugle floated up from the parade ground. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it would be great," admitted Tom. "But there are other things to +do for Uncle Sam besides wearing khaki." +</P> + +<P> +"Tom's up to some game," mused Ned. "I mustn't judge him too hastily, +or I might make a mistake. And Mary mustn't, either. I'll tell her so." +</P> + +<P> +For Mary Nestor had spoken to Ned concerning Tom, and the curiously +secretive air about certain of his activities. And the girl, moreover, +had spoken rather coldly of her friend. Ned did not like this. It was +not like Mary and Tom to be at odds. +</P> + +<P> +Once more the Hawk came to the ground, this time near the airship sheds +adjoining the Swift works. Just as Tom and Ned alighted, one of the +workmen summoned the young inventor toward the shop, which was so +closely guarded by Koku and Eradicate on the outside. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll have to leave you, Ned," remarked Tom, as he turned away from his +chum. "There's a conference on about a new invention." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, that's all right. Business is business, you know. I've got some +bond calls to make myself. I'll see you later." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, by the way, Ned!" exclaimed Tom, turning back for a moment, "I met +an old friend the other day; or rather an old enemy." +</P> + +<P> +"Hum! When you spoke first, I thought you might mean Professor +Swyington Bumper, that delightful scientist," remarked Ned. "But he +surely was no enemy." +</P> + +<P> +"No; but I meant some one I met about the same time. I met Blakeson, +one of the rival contractors when I helped dig the big tunnel." +</P> + +<P> +"Is that so? Where'd you meet him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Right around here. It was certainly a surprise, and at first I +couldn't place him. Then the memory of his face came back to me," and +Tom related the incident which had taken place the day he and Mr. Damon +were out in the Hawk. +</P> + +<P> +"What's he doing around here?" asked Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"That's more than I can say," Tom answered. +</P> + +<P> +"Up to no good, I'll wager!" +</P> + +<P> +"I agree with you," came from Tom. "But I'm on the watch." +</P> + +<P> +"That's wise, Tom. Well, I'll see you later." +</P> + +<P> +During the week which followed this talk Ned was very busy on Liberty +Bond work, and, he made no doubt, his chum was engaged also. This +prevented them from meeting, but finally Ned, one evening, decided to +walk over to the Swift home. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll pay Tom a bit of a call," he mused. "Maybe he'll feel more like +talking now. Some of the boys are asking why he doesn't enlist, and +maybe if I tell him that he'll make some explanation that will quiet +things down a bit. It's a shame that Tom should be talked about." +</P> + +<P> +With this intention in view, Ned kept on toward his chum's house, and +he was about to turn in through a small grove of trees, which would +lead to a path across the fields, when the young bond salesman was +surprised to hear some one running toward him. He could see no one, for +the path wound in and out among the trees, but the noise was plain. +</P> + +<P> +"Some one in a hurry," mused Ned. +</P> + +<P> +A moment later he caught sight of a small lad named Harry Telford +running toward him. The boy had his hat in his hand, and was speeding +through the fast-gathering darkness as though some one were after him. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the rush?" asked Ned. "Playing cops and robbers?" That was a +game Tom and Ned had enjoyed in their younger days. +</P> + +<P> +"I—I'm runnin' away!" panted Harry. "I—I seen something!" +</P> + +<P> +"You saw something?" repeated Ned. "What was it—a ghost?" and he +laughed, thinking the boy would do the same. +</P> + +<P> +"No, it wasn't no ghost!" declared Harry, casting a look over his +shoulder. "It was a wild elephant that I saw, and it's down in a big +yard with a fence around it." +</P> + +<P> +"Where's that?" asked Ned. "The circus hasn't come to town this +evening, has it?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," answered Harry, "it wasn't no circus. I saw this elephant down in +the big yard back of one of Mr. Swift's factories." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, down there, was it!" exclaimed Ned. "What was it like?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I was walking along the top of the hill," explained Harry, "and +there's one place where, if you climb a tree, you can look right down +in the big fenced-in yard. I guess I'm about the only one that knows +about it." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't believe Tom does," mused Ned, "or he'd have had that tree cut +down. He doesn't want any spying, I take it. Well, what'd you see?" he +asked Harry aloud. +</P> + +<P> +"Saw an elephant, I tell you!", insisted the younger boy. "I was in +the tree, looking down, for a lot of us kids has tried to peek through +the fence and couldn't I wanted to see what was there." +</P> + +<P> +"And did you?" asked Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"I sure did! And it scared me, too," admitted Harry. "All at once, when +I was lookin', I saw the big doors at the back of the shed open, and +the elephant waddled out." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you sure you weren't 'seeing things,' like the little boy in the +story?" asked Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I sure did see something!" insisted Harry. "It was a great big +gray thing, bigger'n any elephant I ever saw in any circus. It didn't +seem to have any tail or trunk, or even legs, but it went slow, just +like an elephant does, and it shook the ground, it stepped so hard!" +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense!" cried Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure I saw it!" cried Harry. "Anyhow," he added, after a moment's +thought, "it was as big as an elephant, though not like any I ever saw." +</P> + +<P> +"What did it do?" asked Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it moved around and then it started for the fence nearest me, +where I was up in the tree. I thought it might have seen me, even +though it was gettin' dark, and it might bust through; so I ran!" +</P> + +<P> +"Hum! Well, you surely were seeing things," murmured Ned, but, while he +made light of what the boy told him, the young bank clerk was thinking: +"What is Tom up to now?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Up a Tree +</H3> + +<P> +"Want to come and have a look?" asked Harry, as Ned paused in the patch +of woods, which were in deeper darkness than the rest of the +countryside, for night was fast falling. +</P> + +<P> +"Have a look at what?" asked Ned, who was thinking many thoughts just +then. +</P> + +<P> +"At the elephant I saw back of the Swift factory. I wouldn't be skeered +if you came along." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm going over to see Tom Swift, anyhow," answered Ned, "so I'll +walk that way. You can come if you like. I don't care about spying on +other people's property—" +</P> + +<P> +"I wasn't spyin'!" exclaimed Harry quickly. "I just happened to look. +And then I seen something." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, come on," suggested Ned. "If there's anything there, we'll have +a peep at it." +</P> + +<P> +His idea was not to try to see what Tom was evidently endeavoring to +conceal, but it was to observe whence Harry had made his observation, +and be in a position to tell Tom to guard against unexpected lookers-on +from that direction. +</P> + +<P> +During the walk back along the course over which Harry had run so +rapidly a little while before, Ned and the boy talked of what the +latter had seen. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think it could be some new kind of elephant?" asked Harry. "You +know Tom Swift brought back a big giant from one of his trips, and +maybe he's got a bigger elephant than any one ever saw before." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense!" laughed Ned. "In the first place, Tom hasn't been on any +trip, of late, except to Washington, and the only kind of elephants +there are white ones." +</P> + +<P> +"Really?" asked Harry. +</P> + +<P> +"No, that was a joke," explained Ned. "Anyhow, Tom hasn't any giant +elephants concealed up his sleeve, I'm sure of that." +</P> + +<P> +"But what could this be?" asked Harry. "It moved just like some big +animal." +</P> + +<P> +"Probably some piece of machinery Tom was having carted from one shop +to another," went on the young bank clerk. "Most likely he had it +covered with a big piece of canvas to keep off the dew, and it was that +you saw." +</P> + +<P> +"No, it wasn't!" insisted Harry, but he could not give any further +details of what he had seen so that Ned could recognize it. They kept +on until they reached the hill, at the bottom of which was the Swift +home and the grounds on which the various shops were erected. +</P> + +<P> +"Here's the place where you can look down right into the yard with the +high fence around it," explained Harry, as he indicated the spot. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't see anything." +</P> + +<P> +"You have to climb up the tree," Harry went on. "Here, this is the one, +and he indicated a stunted and gnarled pine, the green branches of +which would effectually screen any one who once got in it a few feet +above the ground. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I may as well have a look," decided Ned. "It can't do Tom any +harm, and it may be of some service to him. Here goes!" +</P> + +<P> +Up into the tree he scrambled, not without some difficulty, for the +branches were close together and stiff, and Ned tore his coat in the +effort. But he finally got a position where, to his surprise, he could +look down into the very enclosure from which Tom was so particular to +keep prying eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"You can see right down in it!" Ned exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"I told you so," returned Harry. "But do you see—it?" +</P> + +<P> +Ned looked long and carefully. It was lighter, now that they were out +of the clump of woods, and he had the advantage of having the last glow +of the sunset at his back. Even with that it was difficult to make out +objects on the surface of the enclosed field some hundred or more feet +below. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you see anything?" asked Harry again. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I can't say I do," Ned answered. "The place seems to be deserted." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, there was something there," insisted Harry. "Maybe you aren't +lookin' at the right place." +</P> + +<P> +"Have a look yourself, then," suggested Ned, as he got down, a task no +more to his liking than the climb upward had been. +</P> + +<P> +Harry made easier work of it, being smaller and more used to climbing +trees, a luxury Ned had, perforce, denied himself since going to work +in the bank. +</P> + +<P> +Harry peered about, and then, with a sigh that had in it somewhat of +disappointment, said: +</P> + +<P> +"No; there's nothing there now. But I did see something." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you sure?" asked Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"Positive!" asserted the other. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, whatever it was—some bit of machinery he was moving, I +fancy—Tom has taken it in now," remarked Ned. "Better not say +anything about this, Harry. Tom mightn't like it known." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I won't." +</P> + +<P> +"And don't come here again to look. I know you like to see strange +things, but if you'll wait I'll ask Tom, as soon as it's ready, to let +you have a closer view of whatever it was you saw. Better keep away +from this tree." +</P> + +<P> +"I will," promised the younger lad. "But I'd like to know what it +was—if it really was a giant elephant Say! if a fellow had a troop of +them he could have a lot of fun with 'em, couldn't he?" +</P> + +<P> +"How?" asked Ned, hardly conscious of what his companion was saying. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, he could dress 'em up in coats of mail, like the old knights used +to wear, and turn 'em loose against the Germans. Think of a regiment of +elephants, wearin' armor plates like a battleship, carryin' on their +backs a lot of soldiers with machine guns and chargin' against Fritz! +Cracky, that would be a sight!" +</P> + +<P> +"I should say so!" agreed Ned, with a laugh. "There's nothing the +matter with your imagination, Harry, my boy!" +</P> + +<P> +"And maybe that's what Tom's doin'!" +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"I mean maybe he is trainin' elephants to fight in the war. You know he +made an aerial warship, so why couldn't he have a lot of armor plated +elephants?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I suppose he could if he wanted to," admitted Ned. "But I guess +he isn't doing that. Don't get to going too fast in high speed, Harry, +or you may have nightmare. Well, I'm going down to see Tom." +</P> + +<P> +"And you won't tell him I was peekin'?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not if you don't do it again. I'll advise him to have that tree cut +down, though. It's too good a vantage spot." +</P> + +<P> +Harry turned and went in the direction of his home, while Ned kept on +down the hill toward the house of his chum. The young bond salesman was +thinking of many things as he tramped, along, and among them was the +information Harry had just given. +</P> + +<P> +But Ned did not pay a visit to his chum that evening. When he reached +the house he found that Tom had gone out, leaving no word as to when he +would be back. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, well, I can tell him to-morrow," thought Ned. +</P> + +<P> +It was not, however, until two days later that Ned found the time to +visit Tom again. On this occasion, as before, he took the road through +the clump of woods where he had seen Harry running. +</P> + +<P> +"And while I'm about it," mused Ned, "I may as well go on to the place +where the tree stands and make sure, by daylight, what I only partially +surmised in the evening—that Tom's place can be looked down on from +that vantage point." +</P> + +<P> +Sauntering slowly along, for he was in no special hurry, having the +remainder of the day to himself, Ned approached the hill where the tree +stood from which Harry had said he had seen what he took to be a giant +elephant, perhaps in armor. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a good clear day," observed Ned, "and fine for seeing. I wonder +if I'll be able to see anything." +</P> + +<P> +It was necessary first to ascend the hill to a point where it overhung, +in a measure, the Swift property, though the holdings of Tom and his +father were some distance beyond the eminence. The tree from which Ned +and Harry had made their observations was on a knob of the hill, the +stunted pine standing out from among others like it. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, here goes for another torn coat," grimly observed Ned, as he +prepared to climb. "But I'll be more careful. First, though, let's see +if I can see anything without getting up." +</P> + +<P> +He paused a little way from the pine, and peered down the hill. Nothing +could be seen of the big enclosed field back of the building about +which Tom was so careful. +</P> + +<P> +"You have to be up to see anything," mused Ned. "It's up a tree for me! +Well, here goes!" +</P> + +<P> +As Ned started to work his way up among the thick, green branches, he +became aware, suddenly and somewhat to his surprise, that he was not +the only person who knew about the observation spot. For Ned saw, a +yard above his head, as he started to climb, two feet, encased in +well-made boots, standing on a limb near the trunk of the tree. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, ho!" mused Ned. "Some one here before me! Where there are feet +there must be legs, and where there are legs, most likely a body. And +it isn't Harry, either! The feet are too big for that. I wonder—" +</P> + +<P> +But Ned's musings were suddenly cut short, for the person up the tree +ahead of him moved quickly and stepped on Ned's fingers, with no light +tread. +</P> + +<P> +"Ouch!" exclaimed the young bank clerk involuntarily, and, letting go +his hold of the limb, he dropped to the ground, while there came a +startled exclamation from the screen of pine branches above him. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Detective Rad +</H3> + +<P> +"Who's there?" came the demand from the unseen person in the tree. +</P> + +<P> +"I might ask you the same thing," was Ned's sharp retort, as he nursed +his skinned and bruised fingers. "What are you doing up there?" +</P> + +<P> +There was no answer, but a sound among the branches indicated that the +person up the tree was coming down. In another moment a man leaped to +the ground lightly and stood beside Ned. The lad observed that the +stranger was clean shaven, except for a small moustache which curled up +at the ends slightly. +</P> + +<P> +"For all the world like a small edition of the Kaiser's," Ned described +it afterward. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you doing here?" demanded the man, and his voice had in it +the ring of authority. It was this very quality that made Ned bristle +up and "get on his ear," as he said later. The young clerk did not +object to being spoken to authoritatively by those who had the right, +but from a stranger it was different. +</P> + +<P> +"I might ask you the same thing," retorted Ned. "I have as much right +here as you, I fancy, and I can climb trees, too, but I don't care to +have my fingers stepped on," and he looked at the scarified members of +his left hand. +</P> + +<P> +"I beg your pardon. I'm sorry if I hurt you. I didn't mean to. And of +course this is a public place, in a way, and you have a right here. I +was just climbing the tree to—er—to get a fishing pole!" +</P> + +<P> +Ned had all he could do to keep from laughing. The idea of getting a +fishing pole from a gnarled and stunted pine struck him as being +altogether novel and absurd. Yet it was not time to make fun of the +man. The latter looked too serious for that. +</P> + +<P> +"Rather a good view to be had from up where you were, eh?" asked Ned +suggestively. +</P> + +<P> +"A good view?" exclaimed the other. "I don't know what you mean!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, then you didn't see anything," Ned went on. "Perhaps it's just as +well. Are you fond of fishing?" +</P> + +<P> +"Very. I have—But I forget, I do not know you nor you me. Allow me to +introduce myself. I am Mr. Walter Simpson, and I am here on a visit I +just happened to walk out this way, and, seeing a small stream, thought +I should like to fish. I usually carry lines and hooks, and all I +needed was the pole. I was looking for it when I heard you, and—" +</P> + +<P> +"I felt you!" interrupted Ned, with a short laugh. He told his own +name, but that was all, and seemed about to pass on. +</P> + +<P> +"Are there any locomotive shops around here?" asked Mr. Simpson. +</P> + +<P> +"Locomotive shops?" queried Ned. "None that I know of. Why?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I heard heavy machinery being used down there;" and he waved his +hand toward Tom's shops, "and I thought—" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you mean Shopton!" exclaimed Ned. "That's the Swift plant. No, +they don't make locomotives, though they could if they wanted to, for +they turn out airships, submarines, tunnel diggers, and I don't know +what." +</P> + +<P> +"Do they make munitions there—for the Allies?" asked Mr. Simpson, and +there was an eager look on his face. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I don't believe so," Ned answered; "though, in fact, I don't know +enough of the place to be in a position to give you any information +about it," he told the man, not deeming it wise to go into particulars. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps the man felt this, as he did not press for an answer. +</P> + +<P> +The two stood looking at one another for some little time, and then the +man, with a bow that had in it something of insolence, as well as +politeness, turned and went down the path up which Ned had come. +</P> + +<P> +The young bank clerk waited a little while, and then turned his +attention to the tree which seemed to have suddenly assumed an +importance altogether out of proportion to its size. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, since I'm here I'll have a look up that tree," decided Ned. +</P> + +<P> +Favoring his bruised hand, Ned essayed the ascent of the tree more +successfully this time. As he rose up among the branches he found he +could look down directly into the yard with the high fence about it. He +Could see only a portion, good as his vantage point was, and that +portion had in it a few workmen—nothing else. +</P> + +<P> +"No elephants there," said Ned, with a smile, as he remembered Harry's +excitement. "Still it's just as well for Tom to know that his place can +be looked down on. I'll go and tell him." +</P> + +<P> +As Ned descended the tree he caught a glimpse, off to one side among +some bushes, of something moving. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder if that's my Simp friend, playing I spy?" mused Ned. "Guess +I'd better have a look." +</P> + +<P> +He worked his way carefully close to the spot where he had seen the +movement. Proceeding then with more caution, watching each step and +parting the bushes with a careful hand, Ned beheld what he expected. +</P> + +<P> +There was the late occupant of the pine tree the man who had stepped on +Ned's fingers, applying a small telescope to his eye and gazing in the +direction of Tom Swift's home. +</P> + +<P> +The man stood concealed in a screen of bushes with his back toward Ned, +and seemed oblivious to his surroundings. He moved the glass to and +fro, and seemed eagerly intent on discovering something. +</P> + +<P> +"Though what he can see of Tom's place from there isn't much," mused +Ned. "I've tried it myself, and I know; you have to be on an elevation +to look down. Still it shows he's after something, all right. Guess +I'll throw a little scare into him." +</P> + +<P> +As yet, Ned believed himself unobserved, and that his presence was not +suspected was proved a moment later when he shouted: +</P> + +<P> +"Hey! What are you doing there?" +</P> + +<P> +He had his eye on the partially concealed man, and the latter, as Ned +said afterward, jumped fully two feet in the air, dropping his +telescope as he did so, and turning to face the lad. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it's you, is it?" he faltered. +</P> + +<P> +"No one else;" and Ned grinned. "Looking for a good place to fish, I +presume?" +</P> + +<P> +Then, at least for once, the man's suave manner dropped from him as if +it had been a mask. He bared his teeth in a snarl as he answered: +</P> + +<P> +"Mind your own business!" +</P> + +<P> +"Something I'd advise you also to do," replied Ned smoothly. "You can't +see anything from there," he went on. "Better go back to the tree +and—cut a fishing pole!" +</P> + +<P> +With this parting shot Ned sauntered down the hill, and swung around to +make his way toward Tom's home. He paid no further attention to the +man, save to determine, by listening, that the fellow was searching +among the bushes for the dropped telescope. +</P> + +<P> +The young inventor was at home, taking a hasty lunch which Mrs. Baggert +had set out for him, the while he poured over some blueprint drawings +that, to Ned's unaccustomed eyes, looked like the mazes of some +intricate puzzle. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, where have you been keeping yourself, old man?" asked Tom Swift, +after he had greeted his friend. +</P> + +<P> +"I might ask the same of you," retorted Ned, with a smile. "I've been +trying to find you to give you some important information, and I made +up my mind, after what happened to-day, to write it and leave it for +you if I didn't see you." +</P> + +<P> +"What happened to-day?" asked Tom, and there was a serious look on his +face. +</P> + +<P> +"You are being spied upon—at least, that part of your works enclosed +in the new fence is," replied Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't mean it!" Cried Tom. "This accounts for some of it, then." +</P> + +<P> +"For some of what?" asked Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"For some of the actions of that Blakeson. He's been hanging around +here, I understand, asking too many questions about things that I'm +trying to keep secret—even from my best friends," and as Tom said this +Ned fancied there was a note of regret in his voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, you are keeping some things secret, Tom," said Ned, determined +"to take the bull by the horns," as it were. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sorry, but it has to be," went on Tom. "In a little while—" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, don't think that I'm at all anxious to know things!" broke in Ned. +"I was thinking of some one else, Tom—another of your friends." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean Mary?" +</P> + +<P> +Ned nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"She feels rather keenly your lack of explanations," went on the young +bank clerk. "If you could only give her a hint—" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sorry, but it can't be done," and Tom spoke firmly. "But you +haven't told me all that happened. You say I am being spied upon." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," and Ned related what had taken place in the tree. +</P> + +<P> +"Whew!" whistled Tom. "That's going some with a vengeance! I must have +that tree down in a jiffy. I didn't imagine there was a spot where the +yard could be overlooked. But I evidently skipped that tree. +Fortunately it's on land owned by a concern with which I have some +connection, and I can have it chopped down without any trouble. Much +obliged to you, Ned. I shan't forget this in a hurry. I'll go right +away and—" +</P> + +<P> +Tom's further remark was interrupted by the hurried entrance of +Eradicate Sampson. The old man was smiling in pleased anticipation, +evidently, at the same time, trying hard not to give way to too much +emotion. +</P> + +<P> +"I's done it, Massa Tom!" he cried exultingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Done what?" asked the young inventor. "I hope you and Koku haven't had +another row." +</P> + +<P> +"No, sah! I don't want nuffin t' do wif dat ornery, low-down white +trash! But I's gone an' done whut I said I'd do!" +</P> + +<P> +"What's that, Rad? Come on, tell us! Don't keep us in suspense." +</P> + +<P> +"I's done some deteckertiff wuk, lest laik I said I'd do, an' I's +cotched him! By golly, Massa Tom! I's cotched him black-handed, as it +says!" +</P> + +<P> +"Caught him? Whom have you caught, Rad?" cried Tom. "Do you suppose he +means he's caught the man you saw up the tree, Ned? The man you think +is a German spy?" +</P> + +<P> +"It couldn't be. I left him only a little while ago hunting for his +telescope." +</P> + +<P> +"Then whom have you caught, Rad?" cried Tom. "Come on, I'll give you +credit for it. Tell us!" +</P> + +<P> +"I's cotched dat Dutch Sauerkrauter, dat's who I's cotched, Massa Tom! +By golly, I's cotched him!" +</P> + +<P> +"But who, Rad? Who is he?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know his name, Massa Tom, but he's a Sauerkrauter, all right. +Dat's whut he eats for lunch, an' dat's why I calls him dat. I's +cotched him, an' he's locked up in de stable wif mah mule Boomerang. +An' ef he tries t' git out Boomerang'll jest natchully kick him into +little pieces—dat's whut Boomerang will do, by golly!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A Night Test +</H3> + +<P> +"Come on, Ned," said Tom, after a moment or two of silent contemplation +of Eradicate. "I don't know what this cheerful camouflager of mine is +talking about, but we'll have to go to see, I suppose. You say you have +shut some one up in Boomerang's stable, Rad?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sah, Massa Tom, dat's whut I's gone an done." +</P> + +<P> +"And you say he's a German?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know as to dat, Massa Tom, but he suah done eat sauerkraut +'mostest ebery meal. Dat's whut I call him—a Sauerkrauter! An' he suah +was spyin'." +</P> + +<P> +"How do you know that, Rad?" +</P> + +<P> +"'Cause he done went from his own shop on annuder man's ticket into de +secret shop, dat's whut he went an' done!" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean to tell me, Rad," went on Tom, "that one of the workmen +from another shop entered Number Thirteen on the pass issued in the +name of one of the men regularly employed in my new shop?" +</P> + +<P> +"Dat's whut he done, Massa Tom." +</P> + +<P> +"How do you know?" +</P> + +<P> +"'Cause I detected him doin' it. Yo'-all done made me a deteckertiff, +an' I detected." +</P> + +<P> +"Go on, Rad." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, sah, Massa Tom, I seen dish yeah Dutchman git a ticket-pass +offen one ob de reg'lar men. Den he went in de unlucky place an' stayed +fo' a long time. When he come out I jest natchully nabbed him, dat's +whut I done, an' I took him to Boomerang's stable." +</P> + +<P> +"How'd you get him to go with you?" asked Ned, for the old colored man +was feeble, and most of the men employed at Tom's plant were of a +robust type. +</P> + +<P> +"I done fooled him. I said as how I'd jest brought from town in mah +mule cart some new sauerkraut, an' he could sample it if he liked. So +he went wif me, an' when I got him to de stable I pushed him in and +locked de door!" +</P> + +<P> +"Come on!" cried Tom to his chum. "Rad may be right, after all, and one +of my workmen may be a German spy, though I've tried to weed them all +out. +</P> + +<P> +"However, no matter about that, if he was employed in another shop, he +had no right to go into Number Thirteen. That's a violation of rules. +But if he's in Rad's ramshackle stable he can easily get out." +</P> + +<P> +"No, sah, dat's whut he can't do!" insisted the colored man. +</P> + +<P> +"Why not?" asked Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"'Cause Boomerang's on guard, an' yo'-all knows how dat mule of mine +can use his heels!" +</P> + +<P> +"I know, Rad," went on Tom; "but this fellow will find a way of keeping +out of their way. We must hurry." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, he's safe enough," declared the colored man. "I done tole Koku to +stan' guard, too! Dat low-down white trash ob a giant is all right fo' +guardin', but he ain't wuff shucks at detectin'!" said Eradicate, with +pardonable pride. "By golly, maybe I's too old t' put on guard, but I +kin detect, all right!" +</P> + +<P> +"If this proves true, I'll begin to believe you can," replied Tom. "Hop +along, Ned!" +</P> + +<P> +Followed by the shuffling and chuckling negro, Tom and Ned went to the +rather insecure stable where the mule Boomerang was kept. That is, the +stable was insecure from the standpoint of a jail. But the sight of the +giant Koku marching up and down in front of the place, armed with a big +club, reassured Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"Is he in there, Koku?" asked the young inventor. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Master! He try once come out, but he approach his head very close +my defense weapon and he go back again." +</P> + +<P> +"I should think he would," laughed Ned, as he noted the giant's club. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Rad, let's have a look at your prisoner. Open the door, Koku," +commanded Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"Better look out," advised Ned. "He may be armed." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll have to take a chance. Besides, I don't believe he is, or he'd +have fired at Koku. There isn't much to fear with the giant ready for +emergencies. Now we'll see who he is. I can't imagine one of my men +turning traitor." +</P> + +<P> +The door was opened and a rather miserable-looking man shuffled out. +There was a bloody rag on his head, and he seemed to have made more of +an effort to escape than Koku described, for he appeared to have +suffered in the ensuing fight. +</P> + +<P> +"Carl Schwen!" exclaimed Tom. "So it was you, was it?" +</P> + +<P> +The German, for such he was, did not answer for a moment. He appeared +downcast, and as if suffering. Then a change came over him. He +straightened up, saluted as a soldier might have done, and a sneering +look came into his face. It was succeeded by one of pride as the man +exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it is I! And I tried to do what I tried to do for the Fatherland! +I have failed. Now you will have me shot as a spy, I suppose!" he added +bitterly. +</P> + +<P> +Tom did not answer directly. He looked keenly at the man, and at last +said: +</P> + +<P> +"I am sorry to see this. I knew you were a German, Schwen, but I kept +you employed at work that could not, by any possibility, be considered +as used against your country. You are a good machinist, and I needed +you. But if what I hear about you is true, it is the end." +</P> + +<P> +"It is the end," said the man simply. "I tried and failed. If it had +not been for Eradicate—Well, he's smarter than I gave him credit for, +that's all!" +</P> + +<P> +The man spoke very good English, with hardly a trace of German accent, +but there was no doubt as to his character. +</P> + +<P> +"What will you do with him, Tom?" asked Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know. I'll have to do a little investigating first. But he +must be locked up. Schwen," went on the young inventor, "I'm sorry +about this, but I shall have to give you into the custody of a United +States marshal. You are not a naturalized citizen, are you?" +</P> + +<P> +The man muttered something in German to the effect that he was not +naturalized and was glad of it. +</P> + +<P> +"Then you come under the head of an enemy alien," decided Tom, who +understood what was said, "and will have to be interned. I had hoped to +avoid this, but it seems it cannot be. I am sorry to lose you, but +there are more important matters. Now let's get at the bottom of this." +</P> + +<P> +Schwen was, after a little delay, taken in charge by the proper +officer, and then a search was made of his room, for, in common with +some of the other workmen, he lived in a boarding house not far from +the plant. +</P> + +<P> +There, by a perusal of his papers, enough was revealed to show Tom the +danger he had escaped. +</P> + +<P> +"And yet I don't know that I have altogether escaped it," he said to +Ned, as they talked it over. "There's no telling how long this spy work +may have been going on. If he has discovered all the secrets of Shop +Thirteen it may be a bad thing for the Allies and—" +</P> + +<P> +"Look out!" warned Ned, with a laugh. "You'll be saying things you +don't want to, Tom and not at all in keeping with your former silence." +</P> + +<P> +"That's so," agreed the young inventor, with a sigh. "But if things go +right I'll not have to keep silent much longer. I may be able to tell +you everything." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't tell me—tell Mary," advised his chum. "She feels your silence +more than I do. I know how such things are." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'll be able to tell her, too," decided Tom. "That is, if Schwen +hasn't spoiled everything. Look here, Ned, these papers show he's been +in correspondence with Blakeson and Grinder." +</P> + +<P> +"What about, Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +"I can't tell. The letters are evidently written in code, and I can't +translate it offhand. But I'll make another attempt at it. And here's +one from a person who signs himself Walter Simpson, but the writing is +in German." +</P> + +<P> +"Walter Simpson!" cried Ned. "That's my friend of the tree!" +</P> + +<P> +"It is?" cried Tom. "Then things begin to fit themselves together. +Simpson is a spy, and he was probably trying to communicate with +Schwen. But the latter didn't get the information he wanted, or, if he +did get it, he wasn't able to pass it on to the man in the tree. +Eradicate nipped him just in time." +</P> + +<P> +And, so it seemed, the colored man had done. By accident he had +discovered that Schwen had prevailed on one of the workmen in Shop 13 +to change passes with him. This enabled the German spy to gain +admittance to the secret place, which Tom thought was so well guarded. +The man who let Schwen take the pass was in the game, too, it appeared, +and he was also placed under arrest. But he was a mere tool in the pay +of the others, and had no chance to gain valuable information. +</P> + +<P> +A hasty search of Shop 13 did not reveal anything missing, and it was +surmised (for Schwen would not talk) that he had not found time to go +about and get all that he was after. +</P> + +<P> +Soon after Schwen's arrest the "Spy Tree," as Tom called it, was cut +down. +</P> + +<P> +"Eradicate certainly did better than I ever expected he would," +declared Tom. "Well, if all goes well, there won't be so much need for +secrecy after a day or so. We're going to give her a test, and then—" +</P> + +<P> +"Give who a test?" asked Ned, with a smile. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll soon see," answered Tom, with an answering grin. "I hereby +invite you and Mr. Damon to come over to Shop Thirteen day after +to-morrow night and then—Well, you'll see what you'll see." +</P> + +<P> +With this Ned had to be content, and he waited anxiously for the +appointed time to come. +</P> + +<P> +"I surely will be glad when Tom is more like himself," he mused, as he +left his chum. "And I guess Mary will be, too. I wonder if he's going +to ask her to the exhibition?" +</P> + +<P> +It developed that Tom had done so, a fact which Ned learned on the +morning of the day set for the test. +</P> + +<P> +"Come over about nine o'clock," Tom said to his chum. "I guess it will +be dark enough then." +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile Schwen and Otto Kuhn, the other man involved, had been locked +up, and all their papers given into the charge of the United States +authorities. A closer guard than ever was kept over No. 13 shop, and +some of the workmen, against whom there was a slight suspicion, were +transferred. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we'll see what we shall see," mused Ned on the appointed +evening, when a telephone message from Mr. Damon informed the young +bank clerk that the eccentric man was coming to call for him before +going on to the Swift place. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A Runaway Giant +</H3> + +<P> +"What do you think it's all about, Mr. Damon?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sure I don't know, Ned." +</P> + +<P> +The two were at the home of the young bank clerk, preparing to start +for the Swift place, it being nearly nine o'clock on the evening named +by the youthful inventor. +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my hat-rack!" went on the eccentric man, "but Tom isn't at all +like himself of late. He's working on some invention, I know that, but +it's all I do know. He hasn't given me a hint of it." +</P> + +<P> +"Nor me, nor any of his friends," added Ned. "And he acts so oddly +about enlisting—doesn't want even to speak of it. How he got exempted +I don't know, but I do know one thing, and that is Tom Swift is for +Uncle Sam first, last and always!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, of course!" agreed Mr. Damon. "Well, we'll soon know, I guess. +We'd better start, Ned." +</P> + +<P> +"It's useless to try to guess what it is Tom is up to. He has kept his +secret well. The nearest any one has come to it was when Harry figured +out that Tom had a band of giant elephants which he was fitting with +coats of steel armor to go against the Germans," observed Ned, when he +and Mr. Damon were on their way. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, that mightn't be so bad," agreed Mr. Damon. +"But—um—elephants—and wild giant ones, too! Bless my circus ticket, +Ned! do you think we'd better go in that case?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Tom hasn't anything like that!" laughed Ned. "That was only +Harry's crazy notion after he saw something big and ungainly careening +about the enclosed yard of Shop Thirteen. Hello, there go Mary Nestor +and her father!" and Ned pointed to the opposite side of the street +where the girl and Mr. Nestor could be seen in the light of a street +lamp. +</P> + +<P> +"They're going out to see Tom's secret," said Mr. Damon. "There's +plenty of room in my car. Let's ask them to go with us." +</P> + +<P> +"Surely," agreed Ned, and a moment later he and Mary were in the rear +seat while Mr. Damon and Mr. Nestor were in the front, Mr. Damon at the +wheel, and they were soon speeding down the road. +</P> + +<P> +"I do hope everything will go all right," observed Mary. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" asked Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"I mean Tom is a little bit anxious about this test." +</P> + +<P> +"Did he tell you what it was to be?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; but when he called to invite father and me to be present he seemed +worried. I guess it's a big thing, for he never has acted this way +before—not talking about his work." +</P> + +<P> +"That's right," assented Ned. "But the secret will soon be disclosed, I +fancy. But how is it you aren't going to the dance with Lieutenant +Martin? He told me you had half accepted for to-night." +</P> + +<P> +"I had." And if it had been light enough Ned would have seen Mary +blushing. "I was going with him. It's a dance for the benefit of the +Red Cross to get money for comfort kits for the soldiers. But when Tom +sent word that he'd like to have me present to-night, why—" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I see!" broke in Ned, with a little laugh. "'Nough said!" +</P> + +<P> +Mary's blushes were deeper, but the kindly night hid them. +</P> + +<P> +Then they conversed on matters connected with the big war—the selling +of Liberty Bonds, the Red Cross work and the Surgical Dressings +Committee, in which Mary was the head of a junior league. +</P> + +<P> +"Everybody in Shopton seems to be doing something to help win the war," +said Mary, and as there was just then a lull in the talk between her +father and Mr. Damon her words sounded clearly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, everybody—that is, all but a few," said Mr. Nestor, "and they +ought to get busy. There are some young fellows in this town that ought +to be wearing khaki, and I don't mean you, Ned Newton. You're doing +your bit, all right." +</P> + +<P> +"And so is Tom Swift!" exclaimed Mr. Damon, as if there had been an +implied accusation against the young inventor. "I heard, only to-day, +that one of his inventions—a gas helmet that he planned—is in use on +the Western front in Europe. Tom gave his patents to the government, +and even made a lot of the helmets free to show other factories how to +turn them out to advantage." +</P> + +<P> +"He did?" cried Mr. Nestor. +</P> + +<P> +"That's what he did. Talk about doing your bit—" +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't know that," observed Mary's father slowly. "Do you suppose +it's a test of another gas helmet that Tom has asked us out to see +to-night?" +</P> + +<P> +"I hardly think so," said Ned. "He wouldn't wait until after dark for +that. This is something big, and Tom must intend to have it out in the +open. He probably waited until after sunset so the neighbors wouldn't +come out in flocks. There's been a lot of talk about what is going on +in Shop Thirteen, especially since the arrest of the German spies, and +the least hint that a test is under way would bring out a big crowd." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose so," agreed Mr. Nestor. "Well, I'm glad to know that Tom is +doing something for Uncle Sam, even if it's only helping with gas +helmets. Those Germans are barbarians, if ever there were any, and +we've got to fight them the same way they fight us! That's the only way +to end the war! Now if I had my way, I'd take every German I could lay +my hands on—" +</P> + +<P> +"Father, pretzels!" exclaimed Mary. +</P> + +<P> +"Eh? What's that, my dear?" +</P> + +<P> +"I said pretzels!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" and Mr. Nestor's voice lost its sharpness. +</P> + +<P> +"That's my way of quieting father down when he gets too strenuous in +his talk about the war," explained Mary. "We agreed that whenever he +got excited I was to say 'pretzels' to him, and that would make him +remember. We made up our little scheme after he got into an argument +with a man on the train and was carried past his station." +</P> + +<P> +"That's right," admitted Mr. Nestor, with a laugh. "But that fellow was +the most obstinate, pig-headed Dutchman that ever tackled a plate of +pig's knuckles and sauerkraut, and if he had the least grain of common +sense he'd—" +</P> + +<P> +"Pretzels!" cried Mary. +</P> + +<P> +"Eh? Oh, yes, my dear. I was forgetting again." +</P> + +<P> +There was a moment of merriment, and then, after the talk had run for a +while in other and safer channels, Mr. Damon made the announcement: +</P> + +<P> +"I think we're about there. We'll be at Tom's place when we make the +turn and—" +</P> + +<P> +He was interrupted by a low, heavy rumbling. +</P> + +<P> +"What's that?" asked Mr. Nestor. +</P> + +<P> +"It's getting louder—the noise," remarked Mary. "It sounds as if some +big body were approaching down the road—the tramp of many feet. Can it +be that troops are marching away?" +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my spark plug!" suddenly cried Mr. Damon. "Look!" +</P> + +<P> +They gazed ahead, and there, seen in the glare of the automobile +headlights, was an immense, dark body approaching them from across a +level field. The rumble and roar became more pronounced and the ground +shook as though from an earthquake. +</P> + +<P> +A glaring light shone out from the ponderous moving body, and above the +roar and rattle a voice called: +</P> + +<P> +"Out out of the way! We've lost control! Look out!" +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my steering wheel!" gasped Mr. Damon, "that was Tom Swift's +voice! But what is he doing in that—thing?" +</P> + +<P> +"It must be his new invention!" exclaimed Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" asked Mr. Nestor. +</P> + +<P> +"A giant," ventured Ned. "It's a giant machine of some sort and—" +</P> + +<P> +"And it's running away!" cried Mr. Damon, as he quickly steered his car +to one side—and not a moment too soon! An instant later in a cloud of +dust, and with a rumble and a roar as of a dozen express trains fused +into one, the runaway giant—of what nature they could only +guess—flashed and lumbered by, Tom Swift leaning from an opening in +the thick steel side, and shouting something to his friends. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Tom's Tank +</H3> + +<P> +"What was it?" gasped Mary, and, to her surprise, she found herself +close to Ned, clutching his arm. +</P> + +<P> +"I have an idea, but I'd rather let Tom tell you," he answered. +</P> + +<P> +"But where's it going?" asked Mr. Nestor. "What in the world does Tom +Swift mean by inviting us out here to witness a test, and then nearly +running us down under a Juggernaut?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, there must be some mistake, I'm sure," returned his daughter. "Tom +didn't intend this." +</P> + +<P> +"But, bless my insurance policy, look at that thing go! What in the +world is it?" cried Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +The "thing" was certainly going. It had careened from the road, tilted +itself down into a ditch and gone on across the fields, lights shooting +from it in eccentric fashion. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe we'd better take after it," suggested Mr. Nestor. "If Tom is—" +</P> + +<P> +"There, it's stopping!" cried Ned. "Come on!" +</P> + +<P> +He sprang from the automobile, helped Mary to get out, and then the +two, followed by Mr. Damon and Mr. Nestor, made their way across the +fields toward the big object where it had come to a stop, the rumbling +and roaring ceasing. +</P> + +<P> +Before the little party reached the strange machine—the "runaway +giant," as they dubbed it in their excitement—a bright light flashed +from it, a light that illuminated their path right up to the monster. +And in the glare of this light they saw Tom Swift stepping out through +a steel door in the side of the affair. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you all right?" he called to his friends, as they approached. +</P> + +<P> +"All right, as nearly as we can be when we've been almost scared to +death, Tom," said Mr. Nestor. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm surely sorry for what happened," Tom answered, with a relieved +laugh. "Part of the steering gear broke and I had to guide it by +operating the two motors alternately. It can be worked that way, but it +takes a little practice to become expert." +</P> + +<P> +"I should say so!" cried Mr. Damon. "But what in the world does it all +mean, Tom Swift? You invite us out to see something—" +</P> + +<P> +"And there she is!" interrupted the young inventor. "You saw her a +little before I meant you to, and not under exactly the circumstances I +had planned. But there she is!" And he turned as though introducing the +metallic monster to his friends. +</P> + +<P> +"What is she, Tom?" asked Ned. "Name it!" +</P> + +<P> +"My latest invention, or rather the invention of my father and myself," +answered Tom, and his voice showed the love and reverence he felt for +his parent. "Perhaps I should say adaptation instead of invention," Tom +went on, "since that is what it is. But, at any rate, it's my +latest—dad's and mine—and it's the newest, biggest, most improved and +powerful fighting tank that's been turned out of any shop, as far as I +can learn. +</P> + +<P> +"Ladies—I mean lady and gentlemen—allow me to present to you War Tank +A, and may she rumble till the pride of the Boche is brought low and +humble!" cried Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurray! That's what I say!" cheered Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"That's what I have been at work on lately. I'll give you a little +history of it, and then you may come inside and have a ride home." +</P> + +<P> +"In that?" cried Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. I can't promise to move as speedily as your car, but I can make +better time than the British tanks. They go about six miles an hour, I +understand, and I've got mine geared to ten. That's one improvement dad +and I have made." +</P> + +<P> +"Ride in that!" cried Mr. Nestor. "Tom, I like you, and I'm glad to see +I've been mistaken about you. You have been doing your bit, after all; +but—" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I've only begun!" laughed Tom Swift. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, no matter about that. However much I like you," went on Mr. +Nestor, "I'd as soon ride on the wings of a thunderbolt as in Tank A, +Tom Swift." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it isn't as bad as that!" laughed the young scientist. "But +neither is it a limousine. However, come inside, anyhow, and I'll tell +you something about it. Then I guess we can guide it back. The men are +repairing the break." +</P> + +<P> +The visitors entered the great craft through the door by which Tom had +emerged. At first all they saw was a small compartment, with walls of +heavy steel, some shelves of the same and a seat which folded up +against the wall made of like powerful material. +</P> + +<P> +"This is supposed to be the captain's room, where he stays when he +directs matters." Tom explained. "The machinery is below and beyond +here." +</P> + +<P> +"How'd you come to evolve this?" asked Ned. "I haven't seen half enough +of the outside, to say nothing of the inside." +</P> + +<P> +"You'll have time enough," Tom said. "This is my first completed tank. +There are some improvements to be made before we send it to the other +side to be copied. +</P> + +<P> +"Then they'll make them in England as well as here, and from here we'll +ship them in sections." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see how you ever thought of it!" exclaimed the girl, in wonder. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I didn't all at once," Tom answered, with a laugh. "It came by +degrees. I first got the idea when I heard of the British tanks. +</P> + +<P> +"When I had read how they went into action and what they accomplished +against the barbed wire entanglements, and how they crossed the +trenches, I concluded that a bigger tank, one capable of more speed, +say ten or twelve miles an hour, and one that could cross bigger +excavations—the English tanks up to this time can cross a ditch of +twelve feet—I thought that, with one made on such specifications, more +effective work could be done against the Germans." +</P> + +<P> +"And will yours do that?" asked Ned. "I mean will it do ten miles an +hour, and straddle over a wider ditch than twelve feet?" +</P> + +<P> +"It'll do both," promptly answered Tom. "We did a little better than +eleven miles an hour a while ago when I yelled to you to get out of the +way just now. It's true we weren't under good control, but the speed +had nothing to do with that. And as for going over a big ditch, I think +we straddled one about fourteen feet across back there, and we can do +better when I get my grippers to working." +</P> + +<P> +"Grippers!" exclaimed Mary. +</P> + +<P> +"What kind of trench slang is that, Tom Swift?" asked Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, that's a new idea I'm going to try out It's something like +this," and while from a distant part of the interior of Tank A came the +sound of hammering, the young inventor rapidly drew a rough pencil +sketch. +</P> + +<P> +It showed the tank in outline, much as appear the pictures of tanks +already in service—the former simile of two wedge-shaped pieces of +metal put together broad end to broad end, still holding good. From one +end of the tank, as Tom drew it, there extended two long arms of +latticed steel construction. +</P> + +<P> +"The idea is," said Tom, "to lay these down in front of the tank, by +means of cams and levers operated from inside. If we get to a ditch +which we can't climb down into and out again, or bridge with the belt +caterpillar wheels, we'll use the grippers. They'll be laid down, +taking a grip on the far side of the trench, and we'll slide across on +them." +</P> + +<P> +"And leave them there?" asked Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"No, we won't leave them. We'll pick them up after we have passed over +them and use them in front again as we need them. A couple of extra +pairs of grippers may be carried for emergencies, but I plan to use the +same ones over and over again." +</P> + +<P> +"But what makes it go?" asked Mary. "I don't want all the details, +Tom," she said, with a smile, "but I'd like to know what makes your +tank move." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be able to show you in a little while," he answered. "But it may +be enough now if I tell you that the main power consists of two big +gasolene engines, one on either side. They can be geared to operate +together or separately. And these engines turn the endless belts made +of broad, steel plates, on which the tank travels. The belts pass along +the outer edges of the tank longitudinally, and go around cogged wheels +at either end of the blunt noses. +</P> + +<P> +"When both belts travel at the same rate of speed the tank goes in a +straight line, though it can be steered from side to side by means of a +trailer wheel in the rear. Making one belt—one set of caterpillar +wheels, you know—go faster than the other will make the tank travel to +one side or the other, the turn being in the direction of the slowest +moving belt. In this way we can steer when the trailer wheels are +broken." +</P> + +<P> +"And what does your tank do except travel along, not minding a hail of +bullets?" asked Mr. Nestor. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," answered Tom, "it can do anything any other tank can do, and +then some more. It can demolish a good-sized house or heavy wall, break +down big trees, and chew up barbed-wire fences as if they were +toothpicks. I'll show you all that in due time. Just now, if the +repairs are finished, we can get back on the road—" +</P> + +<P> +At that moment a door leading into the compartment where Tom and his +friends were talking opened, and one of the workmen said: +</P> + +<P> +"A man outside asking to see you, Mr. Swift." +</P> + +<P> +"Pardon me, but I won't keep you a moment," interrupted a suave voice. +"I happened to observe your tank, and I took the liberty of entering to +see—" +</P> + +<P> +"Simpson!" cried Ned Newton, as he recognized the man who had been up +the tree. "It's that spy, Simpson, Tom!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Bridging a Gap +</H3> + +<P> +Such surprise showed both on the face of Ned Newton and that of the man +who called himself Walter Simpson that it would be hard to say which +was in the greater degree. For a moment the newcomer stood as if he had +received all electric shock, and was incapable of motion. Then, as the +echoes of Ned's voice died away and the young bank clerk, being the +first to recover from the shock, made a motion toward the unwelcome and +uninvited intruder, Simpson exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"I will not bother now. Some other time will do as well." +</P> + +<P> +Then, with a haste that could be called nothing less than precipitate, +he made a turn and fairly shot out of the door by which he had entered +the tank. +</P> + +<P> +"There he goes!" cried Mr. Damon. "Bless my speedometer, but there he +goes!" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll stop him!" cried Ned. "We've got to find out more about him! I'll +get him, Tom!" +</P> + +<P> +Tom Swift was not one to let a friend rush alone into what might be +danger. He realized immediately what his chum meant when he called out +the identity of the intruder, and, wishing to clear up some of the +mystery of which he became aware when Schwen was arrested and the paper +showing a correspondence with this Simpson were found, Tom darted out +to try to assist in the capture. +</P> + +<P> +"He went this way!" cried Ned, who was visible in the glare of the +searchlight that still played its powerful beams over the stern of the +tank, if such an ungainly machine can be said to have a bow and stern. +"Over this way!" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm with you!" cried Tom. "See if you can pick up that man who just +ran out of here!" he cried to the operator of the searchlight in the +elevated observation section of what corresponded to the conning tower +of a submarine. This was a sort of lookout box on top of the tank, +containing, among other machines, the searchlight. "Pick him up!" cried +Tom. +</P> + +<P> +The operator flashed the intense white beam, like a finger of light, +around in eccentric circles, but though this brought into vivid relief +the configuration of the field and road near which the tank was +stalled, it showed no running fugitive. Tom and Ned were +observed—shadows of black in the glare—by Mary and her friends in the +tank, but there was no one else. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on!" cried Ned. "We can find him, Tom!" +</P> + +<P> +But this was easier said than done. Even though they were aided by the +bright light, they caught no glimpse of the man who called himself +Simpson. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess he got away," said Tom, when he and Ned had circled about and +investigated many clumps of bushes, trees, stumps and other barriers +that might conceal the fugitive. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess so," agreed Ned. "Unless he's hiding in what we might call a +shell crater." +</P> + +<P> +"Hardly that," and Tom smiled. "Though if all goes well the men who +operate this tank later may be searching for men in real shell holes." +</P> + +<P> +"Is this one going to the other side?" asked Ned, as the two walked +back toward the tank. +</P> + +<P> +"I hope it will be the first of my new machines on the Western front," +Tom answered. "But I've still got to perfect it in some details and +then take it apart. After that, if it comes up to expectations, we'll +begin making them in quantities." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you get him?" asked Mr. Damon eagerly, as the two young men came +back to join Mary and her friends. +</P> + +<P> +"No, he got away," Tom answered. +</P> + +<P> +"Did he try to blow up the tank?" asked Mr. Nestor, who had an abnormal +fear of explosives. "Was he a German spy?" +</P> + +<P> +"I think he's that, all right," said Ned grimly. "As to his endeavoring +to blow up Tom's tank, I believe him capable of it, though he didn't +try it to-night—unless he's planted a time bomb somewhere about, Tom." +</P> + +<P> +"Hardly, I guess," answered the young inventor. "He didn't have a +chance to do that. Anyhow we won't remain here long. Now, Ned, what +about this chap? Is he really the one you saw up in the tree?" +</P> + +<P> +"I not only saw him but I felt him," answered Ned, with a rueful look +at his fingers. "He stepped right on me. And when he came inside the +tank to-night I knew him at once. I guess he was as surprised to see me +as I was to see him." +</P> + +<P> +"But what was his object?" asked Mr. Nestor. +</P> + +<P> +"He must have some connection with my old enemy, Blakeson," answered +Tom, "and we know he's mixed up with Schwen. From the looks of him I +should say that this Simpson, as he calls himself, is the directing +head of the whole business. He looks to be the moneyed man, and the +brains of the plotters. Blakeson is smart, in a mechanical way, and +Schwen is one of the best machinists I've ever employed. But this +Simpson strikes me as being the slick one of the trio." +</P> + +<P> +"But what made him come here, and what did he want?" asked Mary. "Dear +me! it's like one of those moving picture plots, only I never saw one +with a tank in it before—I mean a tank like yours, Tom." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it is a bit like moving picture—especially chasing Simpson by +searchlight," agreed the young inventor. "As to what he wanted, I +suppose he came to spy out some of my secret inventions—dad's and +mine. He's probably been hiding and sneaking around the works ever +since we arrested Schwen. Some of my men have reported seeing +strangers about, but I have kept Shop Thirteen well guarded. +</P> + +<P> +"However, this fellow may have been waiting outside, and he may have +followed the tank when we started off a little while ago for the night +test. Then, when he saw our mishap and noticed that we were stalled, he +came in, boldly enough, thinking, I suppose, that, as I had never seen +him, he would take a chance on getting as much information as he could +in a hurry." +</P> + +<P> +"But he didn't count on Ned's being here!" chuckled Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"No; that's where he slipped a cog," remarked Mr. Nestor. "Well, Tom, +I like your tank, what I've seen of her, but it's getting late and I +think Mary and I had better be getting back home." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll be ready to start in a little while," Tom said, after a brief +consultation with one of his men. "Still, perhaps it would be just as +well if you didn't ride back with me. She may go all right, and then, +again, she may not. And as it's dark, and we're in a rough part of the +field, you might be a bit shaken up. Not that the tank minds it!" the +young inventor hastened to add "She's got to do her bit over worse +places than this—much worse—but I want to get her in a little better +working shape first. So if you don't mind, Mary, I'll postpone your +initial trip." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I don't mind, Tom! I'm so glad you've made this! I want to see the +war ended, and I think machines like this will help." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll ride back with you, Tom, if you don't mind," put in Ned. "I guess +a little shaking up won't hurt me." +</P> + +<P> +"All right—stick. We're going to start very soon." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm coming over to-morrow to have a look at it by daylight," +said Mr. Damon, as he started toward his car. +</P> + +<P> +"So am I," added Mary. "Please call for me, Mr. Damon." +</P> + +<P> +"I will," he promised. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Nestor, his daughter, and Mr. Damon went back to the automobile, +while Ned remained with Tom. In a little while those in the car heard +once more the rumbling and roaring sound and felt the earth tremble. +Then, with a flashing of lights, the big, ungainly shape of the tank +lifted herself out of the little ditch in which she had come to a halt, +and began to climb back to the road. +</P> + +<P> +Ned Newton stood beside Tom in the control tower of the great tank as +she started on her homeward way. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't it wonderful!" murmured Mary, as she saw Tank A lumbering along +toward the road. "Oh, and to think that human beings made that. To think +that Tom should know how to build such a wonderful machine!" +</P> + +<P> +"And run it, too, Mary! That's the point! Make it run!" cried her +father. "I tell you, that Tom Swift is a wonder!" +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my dictionary, he sure is!" agreed Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +Along the road, back toward the shop whence it had emerged, rumbled the +tank. The noise brought to their doors inhabitants along the country +thoroughfare, and some of them were frightened when they saw Tom +Swift's latest war machine, the details of which they could only guess +at in the darkness. +</P> + +<P> +"She'll butt over a house if it gets in her path, knock down trees, +chew up barbed-wire, and climb down into ravines and out again, and go +over a good-sized stream without a whimper," said Tom, as he steered +the great machine. +</P> + +<P> +There was little chance then for Ned to see much of the inside +mechanism of the tank. He observed that Tom, standing in the forward +tower, steered it very easily by a small wheel or by a lever, +alternately, and that he communicated with the engine room by means of +electric signals. +</P> + +<P> +"And she steers by electricity, too," Tom told his friend. "That was +one difficulty with the first tanks. They had to be steered by brute +force, so to speak, and it was a terrific strain on the man in the +tower. Now I can guide this in two ways: by the electric mechanism +which swings the trailer wheels to either side, or by varying the speed +of the two motors that work the caterpillar belts. So if one breaks +down, I have the other." +</P> + +<P> +"Got any guns aboard her—I mean machine guns?" asked Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"Not yet. But I'm going to install some. I wanted to get the tank in +proper working order first. The guns are only incidental, though of +course they're vitally necessary when she goes into action. I've got +'em all ready to put in. But first I'm going to try the grippers." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you mean the gap-bridgers?" asked Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"That's it," answered Tom. "Look out, we're going over a rough spot +now." +</P> + +<P> +And they did. Ned was greatly shaken up, and fairly tossed from side to +side of the steering tower. For the tank contained no springs, except +such as were installed around the most delicate machinery, and it was +like riding in a dump cart over a very rough road. +</P> + +<P> +"However, that's part of the game," Tom observed. +</P> + +<P> +Tank A reached her "harbor" safely—in other words, the machine shop +enclosed by the high fence, inside of which she had been built. +</P> + +<P> +Tom and Ned made some inquiries of Koku and Eradicate as to whether or +not there had been any unusual sights or sounds about the place. They +feared Simpson might have come to the shop to try to get possession of +important drawings or data. +</P> + +<P> +But all had been quiet, Koku reported. Nor had Eradicate seen or heard +anything out of the ordinary. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I guess we'll lock up and turn in," decided Tom. "Come over +to-morrow, Ned." +</P> + +<P> +"I will," promised the young bank clerk. "I want to see more of what +makes the wheels go round." And he laughed at his own ingenuousness. +</P> + +<P> +The next day Tom showed his friends as much as they cared to see about +the workings of the tank. They inspected the powerful gasolene engines, +saw how they worked the endless belts made of plates of jointed steel, +which, running over sprocket wheels, really gave the tank its power by +providing great tractive force. +</P> + +<P> +Any self-propelled vehicle depends for its power, either to move itself +or to push or to pull, on its tractive force—that is, the grip it can +get on the ground. +</P> + +<P> +In the case of a bicycle little tractive power is needed, and this is +provided by the rubber tires, which grip the ground. A locomotive +depends for its tractive power on its weight pressing on its driving +wheels, and the more driving wheels there are and the heavier the +locomotive, the more it can pull, though in that case speed is lost. +This is why freight locomotives are so heavy and have so many large +driving wheels. They pull the engine along, and the cars also, by their +weight pressing on the rails. +</P> + +<P> +The endless steel belts of a tank are, the same as the wheels of a +locomotive. And the belts, being very broad, which gives them a large +surface with which to press on the ground, and the tank being very +heavy, great power to advance is thus obtained, though at the sacrifice +of speed. However, Tom Swift had made his tank so that it would do +about ten miles and more an hour, nearly double the progress obtained +up to that time by the British machines. +</P> + +<P> +His visitors saw the great motors, they inspected the compact but not +very attractive living quarters of the crew, for provision had to be +made for the men to stay in the tank if, perchance, it became stalled +in No Man's Land, surrounded by the enemy. +</P> + +<P> +The tank was powerfully armored and would be armed. There were a number +of machine guns to be installed, quick-firers of various types, and in +addition the tank could carry a number of riflemen. +</P> + +<P> +It was upon the crushing power of the tank, though, that most reliance +was placed. Thus it could lead the way for an infantry advance through +the enemy's lines, making nothing of barbed wire that would take an +artillery fire of several days to cut to pieces. +</P> + +<P> +"And now, Ned," said Tom, about a week after the night test of the +tank, "I'm going to try what she'll do in bridging a gap." +</P> + +<P> +"Have you got her in shape again?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, everything is all right. I've taken out the weak part in the +steering gear that nearly caused us to run you down, and we're safe in +that respect now. And I've got the grippers made. It only remains to +see whether they're strong enough to bear the weight of my little +baby," and Tom affectionately patted the steel sides of Tank A. +</P> + +<P> +While his men were getting the machine ready for a test out on the +road, and for a journey across a small stream not far away, Tom told +his chum about conceiving the idea for the tank and carrying it out +secretly with the aid of his father and certain workmen. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the reason the government exempted me from enlisting," Tom +said. "They wanted me to finish this tank. I didn't exactly want to, +but I considered it my 'bit.' After this I'm going into the army, Ned." +</P> + +<P> +"Glad to hear it, old man. Maybe by that time I'll have this Liberty +Bond work finished, and I'll go with you. We'll have great times +together! Have you heard anything more of Simpson, Blakeson and +Scoundrels?" And Ned laughed as he named this "firm." +</P> + +<P> +"No," answered Tom. "I guess we scared off that slick German spy." +</P> + +<P> +Once more the tank lumbered out along the road. It was a mighty engine +of war, and inside her rode Tom and Ned. Mary and her father had been +invited, but the girl could not quite get her courage to the point of +accepting, nor did Mr. Nestor care to go. Mr. Damon, however, as might +be guessed, was there. +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my monkey wrench, Tom!" cried the eccentric man, as he noted +their advance over some rough ground, "are you really going to make +this machine cross Tinkle Creek on a bridge of steel you carry with +you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to try, Mr. Damon." +</P> + +<P> +A little later, after a successful test up and down a small gully, Tank +A arrived at the edge of Tinkle Creek, a small stream about twenty feet +wide, not far from Tom's home. At the point selected for the test the +banks were high and steep. +</P> + +<P> +"If she bridges that gap she'll do anything," murmured Ned, as the tank +came to a stop on the edge. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Into a Trench +</H3> + +<P> +Tom cast a hasty glance over the mechanism of the machine before he +started to cross the stream by the additional aid of the grippers, or +spanners, as he sometimes called this latest device. +</P> + +<P> +Along each side, in a row of sockets, were two long girders of steel, +latticed like the main supports of a bridge. They were of peculiar +triangular construction, designed to support heavy weights, and each +end was broadly flanged to prevent its sinking too deeply into the +earth on either side of a gully or a stream. +</P> + +<P> +The grippers also had a sort of clawlike arrangement on either end, +working on the principle of an "orange-peel" shovel, and these claws +were designed to grip the earth to prevent slipping. +</P> + +<P> +The spanners would be pulled out from their sockets on the side of the +tank by means of steel cables, which were operated from within. They +would be run out across the gap and fastened in place. The tank was +designed to travel along them to the other side of the gap, and, once +there, to pick up the girders, slip them back into place on the sides, +and the engine of war would travel on. +</P> + +<P> +"You are mightily excited, Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"I admit it, Ned. You see, I have not tried the grippers out except on +a small model. They worked there, but whether they will work in +practice remains to be seen. Of course, at this stage, I'm willing to +stake my all on the results, but there is always a half-question until +the final try-out under practical conditions." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we'll soon see," said one of the workmen. "Are you ready, Mr. +Swift?" +</P> + +<P> +"All ready," answered Tom. +</P> + +<P> +Tank A, as she was officially known, had come to a stop, as has been +said, on the very edge of Tinkle Creek. The banks were fairly solid +here, and descended precipitously to the water ten feet below. The +shores were about twenty feet apart. +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose the spanners break when you're halfway over, Tom?" asked his +chum. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't like to suppose anything of the sort. But if they do, we're +going down!" +</P> + +<P> +"Can you get up again?" +</P> + +<P> +"That remains to be seen," was the non-committal reply. "Well, here +goes, anyhow!" +</P> + +<P> +Going up into the observation tower, which was only slightly raised +above the roof of the highest part of the tank, Tom gave the signal for +the motors to start. There was a trembling throughout the whole of the +vast structure. Tom threw back a lever and Ned, peering from a side +observation slot, beheld a strange sight. +</P> + +<P> +Like the main arm of some great steam shovel, two long, latticed +girders of steel shot out from the sides of the tank. They gave a half +turn, as they were pulled forward by the steel ropes, so that they lay +with their broader surfaces uppermost. +</P> + +<P> +Straight across the stream they were pulled, their clawlike ends coming +to a rest on the opposite bank. Then they were tightened into place by +a backward pull on the operating cables, and Tom, with a sigh of +relief, announced: +</P> + +<P> +"Well, so far so good!" +</P> + +<P> +"Do we go over now?" inquired Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"Over the top—yes, I hope," answered Tom, with a laugh. "How about +you down there?" he called to the engine room through a telephone which +could only be used when the machinery was not in action, there being +too much noise to permit the use of any but visual signals after that. +</P> + +<P> +"All right," came back the answer. "We're ready when you are." +</P> + +<P> +"Then here we go!" said Tom. "Hold fast, Ned! Of course there's no real +telling what will happen, though I believe we'll come out of it alive." +</P> + +<P> +"Cheerful prospect," murmured Ned. +</P> + +<P> +The grippers were now in place. It only remained for the tank to propel +herself over them, pick them up on the other side of Tinkle Creek, and +proceed on her course. +</P> + +<P> +Tom Swift hesitated a moment, one hand on the starting lever and the +other on the steering wheel. Then, with a glance at Ned, half whimsical +and half resolute, Tom started Tank A on what might prove to be her +last journey. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly the ponderous caterpillar belts moved around on the sprocket +wheels. They ground with a clash of steel on the surface of the +spanners. So long was the tank that the forward end, or the "nose," was +halfway across the stream before the bottom part of the endless belts +gripped the latticed bridge. +</P> + +<P> +"If we fall, we'll span the creek, not fall into it," murmured Ned, as +he looked from the observation slot. +</P> + +<P> +"That's what I counted on," Tom said. "We'll get out, even if we do +fall." +</P> + +<P> +But Tank A was not destined to fall. In another moment her entire +weight rested on the novel and transportable bridge Tom Swift had +evolved. Then, as the gripping ends of the girders sank farther into +the soil, the tank went on her way. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly, at half speed, she crawled over the steel beams, making +progress over the creek and as safely above the water as though on a +regularly constructed bridge. +</P> + +<P> +On and on she went. Now her entire weight was over the middle of the +temporary structures. If they were going to give way at all, it would +be at this point. But they did not give. The latticed and triangular +steel, than which there is no stronger form of construction, held up +the immense weight of Tank A, and on this novel bridge she propelled +herself across Tinkle Creek. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, the worst is over," remarked Ned, as he saw the nose of the tank +project beyond the farthermost bank. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, even if they collapse now nothing much can happen," Tom answered. +"It won't be any worse than wallowing down into a trench and out again. +But I think the spanners will hold." +</P> + +<P> +And hold they did! They held, giving way not a fraction of an inch, +until the tank was safely across, and then, after a little delay, due +to a jamming of one of the recovery cables, the spanners were picked +up, slid into the receiving sockets, and the great war engine was ready +to proceed again. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurrah!" cried Ned. "She did it, Tom, old man!" and he clapped his +chum resoundingly on the back. +</P> + +<P> +"She certainly did!" was the answer. "But you needn't knock me apart +telling me that. Go easy!" +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my apple pie!" cried Mr. Damon, who was as much pleased as +either of the boys, "this is what I call great!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, she did all that I could have hoped for," said Tom. "Now for the +next test." +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my collar button! is there another?" +</P> + +<P> +"Just down into a trench and out again." Tom said. "This is +comparatively simple. It's only what she'll have to do every day in +Flanders." +</P> + +<P> +The tank waddled on. A duck's sidewise walk is about the only kind of +motion that can be compared to it. The going was easier now, for it was +across a big field, and Tom told his friends that at the other end was +a deep, steep and rocky ravine in which he had decided to give the tank +another test. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll imagine that ravine is a trench," he said, "and that we've got +to get on the other side of it. Of course, we won't be under fire, as +the tanks will be at the front, but aside from that the test will be +just as severe." +</P> + +<P> +A little later Tank A brought her occupants to the edge of the "trench." +</P> + +<P> +"Now, little girl," cried Tom exultingly, patting the rough steel side +of his tank, "show them what you can do!" +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my plum pudding!" cried Mr. Damon, "are you really going down +there, Tom Swift?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am," answered the young inventor. "It won't be dangerous. We'll +crawl down and crawl out. Hold fast!" +</P> + +<P> +He steered the machine straight for the edge of the ravine, and as the +nose slipped over and the broad steel belts bit into the earth the tank +tilted downward at a sickening angle. +</P> + +<P> +She appeared to be making the descent safely, when there was a sudden +change. The earth seemed to slip out from under the broad caterpillar +belts, and then the tank moved more rapidly. +</P> + +<P> +"Tom, we're turning over!" shouted Ned. "We're capsizing!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Ruined Factory +</H3> + +<P> +Only too true were the words Ned Newton shouted to his chum. Tank A was +really capsizing. She had advanced to the edge of the gully and started +down it, moving slowly on the caterpillar bands of steel. Then had come +a sudden lurch, caused, as they learned afterward, by the slipping off +of a great quantity of shale from an underlying shelf of rock. +</P> + +<P> +This made unstable footing for the tank. One side sank lower than the +other, and before Tom could neutralize this by speeding up one motor +and slowing down the other the tank slowly turned over on its side. +</P> + +<P> +"But she isn't going to stop here!" cried Ned, as he found himself +thrown about like a pill in a box. "We're going all the way over!" +</P> + +<P> +"Let her go over!" cried Tom, not that he could stop the tank now. "It +won't hurt her. She's built for just this sort of thing!" +</P> + +<P> +And over Tank A did go. Over and over she rolled, sidewise, tumbling +and sliding down the shale sides of the great gully. +</P> + +<P> +"Hold fast! Grab the rings!" cried Tom to his two companions in the +tower with him. "That's what they're for!" +</P> + +<P> +Ned and Mr. Damon understood. In fact, the latter had already done as +Tom suggested. The young inventor had read that the British tanks +frequently turned turtle, and he had this in mind when he made +provision in his own for the safety of passengers and crew. +</P> + +<P> +As soon as he felt the tank careening, Tom had pressed the signal +ordering the motors stopped, and now only the force of gravity was +operating. But that was sufficient to carry the big machine to the +bottom of the gulch, whither she slid with a great cloud of sand, shale +and dust. +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my—bless my—" Mr. Damon was murmuring, but he was so flopped +about, tossed from one side to the other, and it took so much of his +attention and strength to hold on to the safety ring, that he could not +properly give vent; to one of his favorite expressions. +</P> + +<P> +But there comes an end to all things, even to the descent of a tank, +and Tom's big machine soon stopped rolling, sliding, and turning +improvised somersaults, and rested in a pile of soft shale at the +bottom of the gully. And the tank was resting on her back! +</P> + +<P> +"We've turned turtle!" cried Ned, as he noted that he was standing on +what, before, had been the ceiling of the observation tower. But as +everything was of steel, and as there was no movable furniture, no +great harm was done. In fact, one could as well walk on the ceiling of +the tank as on the floor. +</P> + +<P> +"But how are you going to get her right side up?" asked Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, turning upside down is only one of the stunts of the game. I can +right her," was the answer. +</P> + +<P> +"How?" asked Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, she'll right herself if there's ground enough for the steel +belts to get a grip on. +</P> + +<P> +"But can the motors work upside down?" +</P> + +<P> +"They surely can!" responded Tom. "I made 'em that way on purpose. The +gasolene feeds by air pressure, and that works standing on its head, as +well as any other way. It's going to be a bit awkward for the men to +operate the controls, but we won't be this way long. Before I start to +right her, though, I want to make sure nothing is broken." +</P> + +<P> +Tom signaled to the engine room, and, as the power was off and the +speaking tube could be used, he called through it: +</P> + +<P> +"How are you down there?" +</P> + +<P> +"Right-o!" came back the answer from a little Englishman Tom had hired +because he knew something about the British tanks. "'Twas a bit of +nastiness for a while, but it won't take us long to get up ag'in." +</P> + +<P> +"That's good!" commented Tom. "I'll come down and have a look at you." +</P> + +<P> +It was no easy matter, with the tank capsized, to get to the main +engine room, but Tom Swift managed it. To his delight, aside from a +small break in one of the minor machines, which would not interfere +with the operation or motive force of the monster war engine, +everything was in good shape. There was no leak from the gasolene +tanks, which was one of the contingencies Tom feared, and, as he had +said, the motors would work upside down as well as right side up, a +fact he had proved more than once in his Hawk. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we'll make a start," he told his chief engineer. "Stand by when +I give the signal, and we'll try to crawl out of this right side up." +</P> + +<P> +"How are you going to do it?" asked Ned, as his chum crawled back into +the observation tower. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm going to run her part way up the very steepest part of the +ravine I can find—the side of a house would do as well if it could +stand the strain. I'm going to stand the tank right up on her nose, so +to speak, and tip her over so she'll come right again." +</P> + +<P> +Slowly the tank started off, while Tom and his friends in the +observation tower anxiously awaited the result of the novel progress. +Ned and Mr. Damon clung to the safety rings. Tom put his arm through +one and hung on grimly, while he used both hands on the steering +apparatus and the controls. +</P> + +<P> +Of course the trailer wheels were useless in a case of this kind, and +the tank had to be guided by the two belts run at varying speeds. +</P> + +<P> +"Here we go!" cried Tom, and the tank started. It was a queer sensation +to be moving upside down, but it did not last very long. Tom steered +the tank straight at the opposite wall of the ravine, where it rose +steeply. One of the broad belts ran up on that side. The other was +revolved in the opposite direction. Up and up, at a sickening angle, +went Tank A. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly the tank careened, turning completely over on her longer axis, +until, as Tom shut off the power, he and his friends once more found +themselves standing where they belonged—on the floor of the +observation tower. +</P> + +<P> +"Right side up with care!" quoted Ned, with a laugh. "Well, that was +some stunt—believe me!" +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my corn plaster, I should say so!" cried Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm glad it happened," commented Tom. "It showed what she can do +when she's put to it. Now we'll get out of this ditch." +</P> + +<P> +Slowly the tank lumbered along, proper side up now, the men in the +motor room reporting that everything was all right, and that with the +exception of a slight unimportant break, no damage had been done. +</P> + +<P> +Straight for the opposite steep side of the gully Tom directed his +strange craft, and at a point where the wall of the gulch gave a good +footing for the steel belts, Tank A pulled herself out and up to level +ground. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm glad that's over," remarked Ned, with a sigh of relief, as +the tank waddled along a straight stretch. "And to think of having to +do that same thing under heavy fire!" +</P> + +<P> +"That's part of the game," remarked Tom. "And don't forget that we can +fire, too—or we'll be able to when I get the guns in place. They'll +help to balance the machine better, too, and render her less likely to +overturn." +</P> + +<P> +Tom considered the test a satisfactory one and, a little later, guided +his tank back to the shop, where men were set to work repairing the +little damage done and making some adjustments. +</P> + +<P> +"What's next on the program?" asked Ned of his chum one day about a +week later. "Any more tests in view?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," answered Tom. "I've got the machine guns in place now. We are +going to try them out and also endeavor to demolish a building and some +barbed wire. Like to come along?" +</P> + +<P> +"I would!" cried Ned. +</P> + +<P> +A little later the tank was making her way over a field. Tom pointed +toward a deserted factory, which had long been partly in ruins, but +some of the walls of which still stood. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to bombard that," he announced, and then try to batter it +down and roll over it like a Juggernaut. Are you game?" +</P> + +<P> +"Do your worst!" laughed Ned. "Let me man one of the machine guns!" +</P> + +<P> +"All right," agreed Tom. "Concentrate your fire. Make believe you're +going against the Germans!" +</P> + +<P> +Slowly, but with resistless energy, the tank approached the ruined +factory. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you sure there's no one in it, Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure! Blaze away!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Across Country +</H3> + +<P> +Ned Newton sighted his machine gun. Tom had showed him how to work it, +and indeed the young bank clerk had had some practice with a weapon +like this, erected on a stationary tripod. But this was the first time +Ned had attempted to fire from the tank while it was moving, and he +found it an altogether different matter. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, it sure is hard to aim where you want to!" he shouted across to +Tom, it being necessary, even in the conning tower, where this one gun +was mounted, to speak loudly to make one's self heard above the hum, +the roar and rattle of the machinery in the interior of Tank A, and +below and to the rear of the two young men. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, that's part of the game," Tom answered. "I'm sending her along +over as smooth ground as I can pick out, but it's rough at best. Still +this is nothing to what you'll get in Flanders." +</P> + +<P> +"If I get there!" exclaimed Ned grimly. "Well, here goes!" and once +more he tried to aim the machine gun at the middle of the brick wall of +the ruined factory. +</P> + +<P> +A moment later there was a rattle and a roar as the quick-firing +mechanism started, and a veritable hail of bullets swept out at the +masonry. Tom and Ned could see where they struck, knocking off bits of +stone, brick and cement. +</P> + +<P> +"Sweep it, Ned! Sweep it!" cried Tom. "Imagine a crowd of Germans are +charging out at you, and sweep 'em out of the way!" +</P> + +<P> +Obeying this command, the young man moved the barrel of the machine gun +from side to side and slightly up and down. The effect was at once +apparent. The wall showed spatter-marks of the bullets over a wider +area, and had a body of Teutons been before the factory, or even inside +it, many of them would have been accounted for, since there were +several holes in the wall through which Ned's bullets sped, carrying +potential death with them. +</P> + +<P> +"That's better!" shouted Tom. "That'll do the business! Now I'm going +to open her up, Ned!" +</P> + +<P> +"Open her up?" cried the young bank clerk, as he ceased firing. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; crack the wall of that factory as I would a nut! Watch me take +it on high—that is, if the old tank doesn't go back on me!" +</P> + +<P> +"You mean you're going to ride right over that building, Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +"I mean I'm going to try! If Tank A does as I expect her to, she'll +butt into that wall, crush it down by force and weight, and then waddle +over the ruins. Watch!" +</P> + +<P> +Tom sent some signals to the motor room. At once there was noticed an +increase in the vibrations of the ponderous machine. +</P> + +<P> +"They're giving her more speed," said Tom. "And I guess we'll need it." +</P> + +<P> +Straight for the old factory went Tank A. In spite of its ruined +condition, some of the walls were still firm, and seemed to offer a big +obstacle to even so powerful an engine of war as this monstrous tank. +</P> + +<P> +"Get ready now, Ned," Tom advised. "And when I crack her open for you +cut loose with the machine gun again. This gun is supposed to fire +straight ahead and a little to either side. There are other guns at +left and right, amidships, as I might say, and there's also one in the +stern, to take care of any attack from that direction. +</P> + +<P> +"The men in charge of them will fire at the same time you do, and it +will be as near like a real attack as we can make it—with the +exception of not being fired back at. And I wouldn't mind if such were +the case, for I don't believe anything, outside of heavy artillery, +will have any effect on this tank." +</P> + +<P> +Tank A was now almost at her maximum speed as she approached closer to +the deserted factory. Ned and Tom, in the conning tower, saw the +largest of the remaining walls looming before them. Straight at it +rushed the ponderous machine, and the next moment there came a shock +which almost threw Ned away from his gun and back against the steel +wall behind him. +</P> + +<P> +"Hold fast!" cried Tom. "Here we go! Fire. Ned! Fire!" +</P> + +<P> +There was a crash as the blunt nose of the great war tank hit the wall +and crumpled it up. +</P> + +<P> +A great hole was made in the masonry, and what was not crushed under +the caterpillar belts of the tank fell in a shower of bricks, stone and +cement on top of the machine. +</P> + +<P> +Like a great hail storm the broken masonry pelted the steel sides and +top of the tank. But she felt them no more than does an alligator the +attacks of a colony of ants. Right on through the dust the tank +crushed her way. Added to the noise of the falling walls was that of +the machine guns, which were barking away like a kennel of angry hounds +eager to be unleashed at the quarry. +</P> + +<P> +Ned kept his gun going until the heat of it warned him to stop and let +the barrel cool, or he knew he would jam some of the mechanism. The +other guns were firing, too, and the bullets sent up little spatter +points of dust as they hit. +</P> + +<P> +"Great jumping hoptoads!" yelled Ned above the riot of racket outside +and inside. "Feel her go, Tom!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, she's just chewing it up, all right!" cried the young inventor, +his eyes shining with delight. +</P> + +<P> +The tank had actually burst her way through the solid wall of the old +factory, permission to complete the demolition of which Tom had secured +from the owners. Then the great machine kept right on. She fairly +"walked" over the piles of masonry, dipped down into what had been a +basement, now partly filled with debris, and kept on toward another +wall. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going through that, too!" cried Tom. +</P> + +<P> +And he did, knocking it down and sending his tank over the piled-up +ruins, while the machine guns barked, coughed and spluttered, as Ned +and the others inside the tank held back the firing levers. +</P> + +<P> +Right through the opposite wall, as through the one she had already +demolished, the tank careened on her way, to emerge, rather battered +and dust-covered, on the other side of what was left of the factory. +And there was not much of it left. Tank A had well-nigh completed its +demolition. +</P> + +<P> +"If there'd been a nest of Germans in there," said Tom, as he brought +the machine to a stop in a field beyond the factory, "they'd have +gotten out in a hurry." +</P> + +<P> +"Or taken the consequences," added Ned, as he wiped the sweat from his +powder-blackened and oil-smeared face. "I certainly kept my gun going." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and so did the others," reported one of the mechanics, as he +emerged from the "cubby hole," where the great motors had now ceased +their hum and roar. +</P> + +<P> +"How'd she stand it?" asked Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"All right inside," answered the man. "I was wondering how she looks +from the outside." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it would take more than that to damage her," said Tom, with +pardonable pride. "That was pie for her! Solid concrete, which she may +have to chew up on the Western front, may present another kind of +problem, but I guess she'll be able to master that too. Well, let's +have a look." +</P> + +<P> +He and Ned, with some of the crew and gunners, went outside the tank. +She was a sorry-looking sight, very different from the trim appearance +she had presented when she first left the shop. Bricks, bits of stone, +and piles of broken cement in chunks and dust lay thick on her broad +back. But no real damage had been done, as a hasty examination showed. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, are you satisfied, Tom?" asked his chum. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and more," was the answer. "Of course this wasn't the hardest +test to which she could have been submitted, but it will do to show +what punishment she can stand. Being shot at from big guns is another +matter. I'll have to wait until she gets to Flanders to see what effect +that will have. But I know the kind of armor skin she has, and that +doesn't worry me. There's one thing more I want to do while I have her +out now." +</P> + +<P> +"What's that?" asked Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"Take her for a long trip cross country, and then shove her through +some extra heavy barbed wire. I'm certain she'll chew that up, but I +want to see it actually done. So now, if you want to come along, Ned, +we'll go cross country." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm with you!" +</P> + +<P> +"Get inside then. We'll let the dust and masonry blow and rattle off as +we go along." +</P> + +<P> +The tank started off across the fields, which stretched for many miles +on either side of the deserted factory, when suddenly Ned, who was +again at his post in the observation tower, called: +</P> + +<P> +"Look, Tom!" +</P> + +<P> +"What at?" +</P> + +<P> +"That corner of the factory which is still standing. Look at those men +coming out and running away!" +</P> + +<P> +Ned pointed, and his chum, leaning over from the steering wheel and +controls, gave a start of surprise as he saw three figures clambering +down over the broken debris and making their way out of what had once +been a doorway. +</P> + +<P> +"Did they come out of the factory, Ned?" +</P> + +<P> +"They surely did! And unless I miss my guess they were in it, or around +it, when we went through like a fellow carrying the football over the +line for a touchdown." +</P> + +<P> +"In there when the tank broke open things?" +</P> + +<P> +"I think so. I didn't see them before, but they certainly ran out as we +started away." +</P> + +<P> +"This has got to be looked into!" decided Tom. "Come on, Ned! It may be +more of that spy business!" +</P> + +<P> +Tom Swift stopped the tank and prepared to get out. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Old Barn +</H3> + +<P> +"There's no use chasing after 'em, Tom," observed Ned, as the two chums +stood side by side outside the tank and gazed after the three men +running off across the fields as fast as they could go. "They've got +too much a start of us." +</P> + +<P> +"I guess you're right, Ned," agreed Tom. "And we can't very well pursue +them in the tank. She goes a bit faster than anything of her build, but +a running man is more than a match for her in a short distance. If I +had the Hawk here, there'd be a different story to tell." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, seeing that you haven't," replied Ned, "suppose we let them +go—which we'll have to, whether we want to or not—and see where they +were hiding and if they left any traces behind." +</P> + +<P> +"That's a good idea," returned Tom. +</P> + +<P> +The place whence the men had emerged was a portion of the old factory +farthest removed from the walls the tank had crunched its way through. +Consequently, that part was the least damaged. +</P> + +<P> +Tom and Ned came to what seemed to have been the office of the building +when the factory was in operation. A door, from which most of the glass +had been broken, hung on one hinge, and, pushing this open, the two +chums found themselves in a room that bore evidences of having been the +bookkeeper's department. There were the remains of cabinet files, and a +broken letter press, while in one corner stood a safe. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe they were cracking that," said Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"They were wasting their time if they were," observed Tom, "for the +combination is broken—any one can open it," and he demonstrated this +by swinging back one of the heavy doors. +</P> + +<P> +A quantity of papers fell out, or what had been papers, for they were +now torn and the edges charred, as if by some recent fire. +</P> + +<P> +"They were burning these!" cried Ned. "You can smell the smoke yet. +They came here to destroy some papers, and we surprised them!" +</P> + +<P> +"I believe you're right," agreed Tom. "The ashes are still warm." And +he tested them with his hand. "They wanted to destroy something, and +when they found we were here they clapped the blazing stuff into the +safe, thinking it would burn there. +</P> + +<P> +"But the closing of the doors cut off the supply of air and the fire +smouldered and went out. It burned enough so that it didn't leave us +very much in the way of evidence, though," went on Tom ruefully, as he +poked among the charred scraps. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe you can read some of 'em," suggested Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"Part of the writing is in German," Tom said, as he looked over the +mass. "I don't believe it would be worth while to try it. Still, I +can save it. Here, I'll sweep the stuff into a box, and if we get a +chance we can try to patch it together," and finding a broken box in +what had been the factory office the young inventor managed to get into +it the charred remains of the papers. +</P> + +<P> +A further search failed to reveal anything that would be useful in the +way of evidence to determine what object the three men could have had +in hiding in the ruins, and Tom and Ned returned to the tank. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think about them, Tom?" asked Ned, as they were about to +start off once more for the cross-country test. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it seems like a silly thing to say—as if I imagined my tank was +all there was in this part of the country to make trouble—but I +believe those men had some connection with Simpson and with that spy +Schwen!" +</P> + +<P> +"I agree with you!" exclaimed Ned. "And I think if we could get head or +tail of those burned papers we'd find that there was some +correspondence there between the man I saw up the tree and the workman +you had arrested." +</P> + +<P> +"Too bad we weren't a bit quicker," commented Tom. "They must have been +in the factory when we charged it—probably came there to be in +seclusion while they talked, plotted and planned. They must have been +afraid to go out when the tank was walking through the walls." +</P> + +<P> +"I guess that's it," agreed Ned. "Did you recognize any of the men, +Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I didn't see 'em as soon as you did, and when they were running +they had their backs toward me. Was Simpson one?" +</P> + +<P> +"I can't be sure. If one was, I guess he'll think we are keeping pretty +closely after him, and he may give this part of the country a wide +berth." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope he does," returned Tom. "Do you know, Ned, I have an idea that +these fellows—Schwen Simpson, and those back of them, including +Blakeson—are trying to get hold of the secret of my tank for the +Germans." +</P> + +<P> +"I shouldn't be surprised. But you've got it finished now, haven't you? +They can't get your patents away from you." +</P> + +<P> +"No, it isn't that," said Tom. "There are certain secrets about the +mechanism of the tank—the way I've increased the speed and power, the +use of the spanners, and things like that—which would be useful for +the Germans to know. I wouldn't want them to find out these secrets, +and they could do that if they were in the tank a while, or had her in +their possession." +</P> + +<P> +"They couldn't do that, Tom—get possession of her—could they?" +</P> + +<P> +"There's no telling. I'm going to be doubly on the watch. That fellow +Blakeson is in the pay of the plotters, I believe. He has a big machine +shop, and he might try to duplicate my tank if he knew how she was made +inside." +</P> + +<P> +"I see! That's why he was inquiring about a good machinist, I suppose, +though he'll be mightily surprised when he learns it was you he was +talking to the time your Hawk met with the little mishap." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I guess maybe he will be a bit startled," agreed Tom. "But I +haven't seen him around lately, and maybe he has given up." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't trust to that!" warned Ned. +</P> + +<P> +The tank was now progressing easily along over fields, hesitating not +at small or big ditches, flow going uphill and now down, across a +stretch of country thinly settled, where even fences were a rarity. +When they came to wooden ones Tom had the workmen get out and take down +the bars. Of course the tank could have crushed them like toothpicks, +but Tom was mindful of the rights of farmers, and a broken fence might +mean strayed cows, or the letting of cattle into a field of grain or +corn, to the damage of both cattle and fodder. +</P> + +<P> +"There's a barbed-wire fence," observed Ned, as he pointed to one off +some distance across the field. "Why don't you try demolishing that?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it would be too easy! Besides, I don't want the bother of putting +it up again. When I make the barbed-wire test I want some set up on +heavy posts, and with many strands, as it is in Flanders. Even that +won't stop the tank, but I'm anxious to see how she breaks up the wire +and supports—just what sort of a breach she makes. But I have a +different plan in mind now. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to try to find a wooden building we can charge as we did the +masonry factory. I want to smash up a barn, and I'll have to pick out +an old one for choice, for in these war days we must conserve all we +can, even old barns." +</P> + +<P> +"What's the idea of using a barn, Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I want to test the tank under all sorts of conditions—the same +conditions she'll meet with on the Western front. We've proved that a +brick and stone factory is no obstacle." +</P> + +<P> +"Then how could a flimsy wooden barn be?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, that's just it. I don't think that it will, but it may be that a +barn when smashed will get tangled up in the endless steel belts, and +clog them so they'll jam. That's the reason I want to try a wooden +structure next." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know where to find one?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; about a mile from here is one I've had my eyes on ever since I +began constructing the tank. I don't know who owns it, but it's such a +ramshackle affair that he can't object to having it knocked into +kindling wood for him. If he does holler, I can pay him for the damage +done. So now for a barn, Ned, unless you're getting tired and want to +go back?" +</P> + +<P> +"I should say not! Speaking of barns, I'm with you till the cows come +home! Want any more machine gun work?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I guess not. This barn isn't particularly isolated, and the +shooting might scare horses and cattle. We can smash things up without +the guns." +</P> + +<P> +The tank was going on smoothly when suddenly there was a lurch to one +side, and the great machine quickly swung about in a circle. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello!" cried Ned. "What's up now? Some new stunt?" +</P> + +<P> +"Must be something wrong," answered the young inventor. "One of the +belts has stopped working. That's why we're going in a circle." +</P> + +<P> +He shut off the power and hastened down to the motor room. There he +found his men gathered about one of the machines. +</P> + +<P> +"What's wrong?" asked Tom quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"Just a little accident," replied the head machinist. "One of the boys +dropped his monkey wrench and it smashed some spark plugs. That caused +a short circuit and the left hand motor went out of business. We'll +have her fixed in a jiffy." +</P> + +<P> +Tom looked relieved, and the machinist was as good as his word. In a +few minutes the tank was moving forward again. It crossed out to the +road, to the great astonishment of some farmers, and the fright of +their horses, and then Tom once more swung her into the fields. +</P> + +<P> +"There's the old barn I spoke of," he remarked to Ned. "It's almost as +bad a ruin as the factory was. But we'll have a go at it." +</P> + +<P> +"Going to smash it?" asked Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going right through it!" Tom cried. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Veiled Threats +</H3> + +<P> +Like some prehistoric monster about to charge down upon another of its +kind, Tank A, under the guidance of Tom Swift, reeled and bumped her +way over the uneven fields toward the old barn. Within the monster of +steel and iron were raucous noises: the clang and clatter of the +powerful gasolene motors; the rattle of the wheels and gears; all +making so much noise that, in the engine room proper, not a word could +be heard. Every order had to be given by signs, and Tom sent his +electric signals from the conning tower in the same way. When running +at full speed, it was almost impossible, even in the tower, which was +some distance removed from the engine room, to hear voices unless the +words were shouted. +</P> + +<P> +"Why don't you go at it?" cried Ned to his "friend, who was peering +through the observation slot in the tower." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm getting in good position," Tom answered. "Or rather, the worst +position I can find. I want to give the tank a good try-out, and I'm +going at the barn on the assumption that this is in enemy country and +that I can't pick and choose my advance. +</P> + +<P> +"So I want to come up through that gully, and go at the barn from the +long way. That will be the worst possible way I could do it, and if old +Tank A stands the gaff I'll know she's a little bit nearer all right." +</P> + +<P> +"I think she's all right as she is!" asserted Ned in a yell, for just +then Tom signaled for more speed, and the consequent increase in the +rattling and banging noises made it correspondingly difficult for talk +to be heard. +</P> + +<P> +The big machine now tipped into the little gully spoken of by Tom. This +meant a dip downward, and then a climb out again and an attack on the +barn going uphill and at an angle. But, as the young inventor had said, +it would make a severe test and that was what he wanted to give his +ponderous machine. +</P> + +<P> +Ned grasped one of the safety rings, as, with a reel to one side, +almost as if it were going to capsize, the tank rumbled on. Tom cast a +half-amused smile at his chum, and then threw over the guiding lever. +</P> + +<P> +The tank rolled down into the gully. It was rough and filled with +stones and boulders, some of considerable size. But Tank A made less +than nothing even of the largest rocks. Some she crushed beneath her +steel belts. Others she simply "walked" over, smashing them down into +the soil. +</P> + +<P> +Now the big machine reached the bottom of the gulch and started up the +sides, which, though not as steep as the trench in which she had +capsized, still were not easy going. +</P> + +<P> +"Now for it!" cried Tom, as he signaled for full speed. +</P> + +<P> +Up climbed the tank. Now she was halfway. A moment later, and she was +at the top, and then a forward careening motion told that she had +passed over the summit and was ready for the attack proper. +</P> + +<P> +Ned gave a quick glance through the slot nearest him. He had a glimpse +of the barn, and then he saw something else. This was the sight of a +man running away from the dilapidated structure—a man who glanced +toward the tank with a face that showed great fright. +</P> + +<P> +"Stop! Stop!" yelled Ned. "There may be folks in there, Tom! I just saw +a man run out!" +</P> + +<P> +"All right!" Tom cried, though Ned could hardly hear him. "Tell me +when we get on the other side! We're going through now!" +</P> + +<P> +"But," shouted Ned, "don't you understand? I saw a man come out of +there! Maybe there's more inside! Wait, Tom, and—" +</P> + +<P> +But it was too late. The next instant there was a smashing, grinding, +splintering crash, a noise as of a thunder-clap, and Tank A fairly ate +her way through the old barn as a rat might eat his way into a soft +cheese, only infinitely more quickly. +</P> + +<P> +On and on and through and through went the tank, knocking beams, +boards, rafters and timbers hither and thither. Minding not at all the +weight of great beams on her back, caring nothing for those that got in +the way of her steel belts, heeding not the wall of wood that reared +itself before her in a barrier of splinters and slivers, Tank A went on +and on until finally, with another grinding crash, as she smashed her +way through the farthermost wall, the great engine of war emerged on +the other side and came panting into the field, dragging with her a +part of the structure clinging to her steel sides. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," cried Tom, with a laugh, as he signaled for the power to be +shut off, thereby making it possible for ordinary conversation to be +heard, "I guess we didn't do a thing to that barn!" +</P> + +<P> +"Not much left of it, for a fact, Tom," agreed Ned, as he looked +through the after observation slots at the ruin in the rear. "But +didn't you hear what I was saying?" +</P> + +<P> +"I heard you yelling something to me, but I was too anxious to go at it +as fast as I could. I didn't want to stop then. What was the trouble?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's what I'm afraid of, Tom—there may be trouble. Just before you +tackled the barn for a knockdown, instead of a touchdown, as we might +say, I saw a man running out of it. I thought if there was one there, +perhaps there might be more. That's why I yelled to you." +</P> + +<P> +"A man running from the old barn!" cried Tom. "Whew!" he whistled. "I +wish I had seen him. But, Ned, if one ran out of harm's way, any others +who might possibly be in there would do the same thing, wouldn't they?" +</P> + +<P> +"I hope so," returned Ned doubtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Great Scott!" cried Tom, as the possibility was borne home to him. "If +anything has happened—" +</P> + +<P> +He sprang for the door of the tower and threw over the catch, springing +out, followed by Ned. From the engine room of the armored tank the men +came, smiles of gratification on their faces. +</P> + +<P> +"We certainly busted her wide open, Mr. Swift!" called the chief +mechanician. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," assented the young inventor; but there was not as much +gratification in his voice as there should have been. "There isn't +much of a barn left, but Ned thinks he saw some one run out, and if +there was one man there may have been more. We'd better have a look +around, I guess." +</P> + +<P> +The engineering force exchanged glances. Then Hank Baldwin, who was in +charge of the motors, said: +</P> + +<P> +"Well, if there was anybody in that barn when we chewed her up I +wouldn't give much for his hide, German or not." +</P> + +<P> +"Let us hope no one was in there," murmured Tom. +</P> + +<P> +They turned to go back to the demolished structure, fear and worry in +their hearts. No more complete ruin could be imagined. If a cyclone had +swept over the barn it could not have more certainly leveled it. And, +not only was it leveled, crushed down in the center by the great weight +of the tank, but the boards and beams were broken into small pieces. +Parts of them clung in long, grotesque splinters to the endless steel +belts. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see how we're going to find anybody if he's in there," +remarked Hank. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll have to," insisted Tom. "We can look about and call. If any one +is there he may have been off to one side or to one end, and be +protected under the debris. I wish I had heard you call, Ned." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish you had, Tom. I yelled for all I was worth." +</P> + +<P> +"I know you did. I was too eager to go on, and, at the same time, I +really couldn't stop well on that hill. I had to keep on going. Well, +now to learn the worst!" +</P> + +<P> +They walked back toward the demolished barn. But they had not reached +it when from around the corner swung a big automobile. In it were +several men, but chief, in vision at least, among them, was a burly +farmer who had a long, old-fashioned gun in his hands. On his bearded +face was a grim look as he leaped out before the machine had fairly +stopped, and called: +</P> + +<P> +"Hold on, there! I guess you've done damage enough! Now you can pay for +it or take the consequences!" And he motioned to Tom, Ned, and the +others to halt. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XVIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Ready for France +</H3> + +<P> +Such was the reaction following the crashing through of the barn, +coupled with the sudden appearance of the men in the automobile and the +threat of the farmer, that, for the moment, Tom, Ned, or their +companions from the tank could say nothing. They just stood staring at +the farmer with the gun, while he grimly regarded them. It was Tom who +spoke first. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the idea?" asked the young inventor. "Why don't you want us to +look through the ruins?" +</P> + +<P> +"You'll learn soon enough!" was the grim answer. +</P> + +<P> +But Tom was not to be put off with undecided talk. +</P> + +<P> +"If there's been an accident," he said, "we're sorry for it. But delay +may be dangerous. If some one is hurt—" +</P> + +<P> +"You'll be hurt, if I have my way about it!" snapped the farmer, "and +hurt in a place where it always tells. I mean your pocketbook! That's +the kind of a man I am—practical." +</P> + +<P> +"He means if we've killed or injured any one we'll have to pay +damages," whispered Ned to Tom. "But don't agree to anything until you +see your lawyer. That's a hot one, though, trying to claim damages +before he knows who's hurt!" +</P> + +<P> +"I've got to find out more about this," Tom answered. He started to +walk on. +</P> + +<P> +"No you don't!" cried the farmer, with a snarl. "As I said, you folks +has done damage enough with your threshing machine, or whatever you +call it. Now you've got to pay!" +</P> + +<P> +"We are willing to," said Tom, as courteously as he could. "But first +we want to know who has been hurt, or possibly killed. Don't you think +it best to get them to a doctor, and then talk about money damages +later?" +</P> + +<P> +"Doctor? Hurt?" cried the farmer, the other men in the auto saying +nothing. "Who said anything about that?" +</P> + +<P> +"I thought," began Tom, "that you—" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm talkin' about damages to my barn!" cried the farmer. "You had no +right to go smashing it up this way, and you've got to pay for it, or +my name ain't Amos Kanker!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" and there was great relief in Tom's voice. "Then we haven't +killed any one?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know what you've done," answered the farmer, and his voice was +not a pleasant one. "I'm sure I can't keep track of all your ructions. +All I know is that you've ruined my barn, and you've got to pay for it, +and pay good, too!" +</P> + +<P> +"For that old ramshackle?" cried Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"Hush!" begged Tom, in a low voice. "I'm willing to pay, Ned, for the +sake of having proved what my tank could do. I'm only too glad to +learn no one was hurt. Was there?" he asked, turning to the farmer. +</P> + +<P> +"Was there what?" +</P> + +<P> +"Was there anybody in your barn?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not as I knows on," was the grouchy answer. "A man who saw your +machine coming thought she was headed for my building, and he run and +told me. Then some friends of mine brought me here in their machine. I +tell you I've got all the evidence I need ag'in you, an' I'm going to +have damages! That barn was worth three thousand dollars if it was +worth a cent, and—" +</P> + +<P> +"This matter can easily be settled," said Tom, trying to keep his +temper. "My name is Swift, and—" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't get swift with me, that's all I ask!" and the farmer laughed +grimly at his clumsy joke. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll do whatever is right," Tom said, with dignity. "I live over near +Shopton, and if you want to send your lawyer to see mine, why—" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't believe in lawyers!" broke in the farmer. "All they think of +is to get what they can for theirselves. And I can do that myself. I'll +get it out of you before you leave, or, anyhow, before you take your +contraption away," and he glanced at the tank. +</P> + +<P> +The same suspicion came at once to Tom and Ned, and the latter gave +voice to it when he murmured in a low voice to his chum: +</P> + +<P> +"This is a frame-up—a scheme, Tom. He doesn't care a rap for the +barn. It's some of that Blakeson's doing, to make trouble for you." +</P> + +<P> +"I believe you!" agreed Tom. "Now I know what to do." +</P> + +<P> +He looked toward the collapsed barn, as if making a mental computation +of its value, and then turned toward the farmer. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm very sorry," said Tom, "if I have caused any trouble. I wanted to +test my machine out on a wooden structure, and I picked your barn. I +suppose I should have come to you first, but I did not want to waste +time. I saw the barn was of practically no value." +</P> + +<P> +"No value!" broke in the farmer. "Well, I'll show you, young man, that +you can't play fast and loose with other people's property and not +settle!" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm perfectly willing to, Mr. Kanker. I could see that the barn was +almost ready to fall, and I had already determined, before sending my +tank through it, to pay the owner any reasonable sum. I am willing to +do that now." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, of course if you're so ready to do that," replied the farmer, +and Ned thought he caught a glance pass between him and one of the men +in the auto, "if you're ready to do that, just hand over three thousand +dollars, and we'll call it a day's work. It's really worth more, but +I'll say three thousand for a quick settlement." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, this barn," cried Ned, "isn't worth half that! I know something +about real estate values, for our bank makes loans on farms around +here—" +</P> + +<P> +"Your bank ain't made me no loans, young man!" snapped Mr. Kanker. "I +don't need none. My place is free and clear! And three thousand dollars +is the price of my barn you've knocked to smithereens. If you don't +want to pay, I'll find a way to make you. And I'll hold you, or your +tank, as you call it, security for my damages! You can take your choice +about that." +</P> + +<P> +"You can't hold us!" cried Tom. "Such things aren't done here!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, then, I'll hold your tank!" cried the farmer. "I guess it'll +sell for pretty nigh onto what you owe me, though what it's good for I +can't see. So you pay me three thousand dollars or leave your machine +here as security." +</P> + +<P> +"That's the game!" whispered Ned. "There's some plot here. They want +to get possession of your tank, Tom, and they've seized on this chance +to do it." +</P> + +<P> +"I believe you," agreed the young inventor. "Well, they'll find that +two can play at that game. Mr. Kanker," he went on, "it is out of the +question to claim your barn is worth three thousand dollars." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, is it?" sneered the farmer. "Well, I didn't ask you to come here +and make kindling wood of it! That was your doings, and you've had your +fun out of it. Now you can pay the piper, and I'm here to make you +pay!" And he brought the gun around in a menacing manner. +</P> + +<P> +"He's right, in a way," said Ned to his chum. "We should have secured +his permission first. He's got us in a corner, and almost any jury of +farmers around here, after they heard the story of the smashed barn, +would give him heavy damages. It isn't so much that the barn is worth +that as it is his property rights that we've violated. A farmer's barn +is his castle, so to speak." +</P> + +<P> +"I guess you're right," agreed Tom, with a rather rueful face. "But I'm +not going to hand him over three thousand dollars. In fact, I haven't +that much with me." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, well, I don't suppose he'd want it all in cash." +</P> + +<P> +But, it appeared, that was just what the farmer wanted. He went over +all his arguments again, and it could not be denied that he had the law +on his side. As he rightly said, Tom could not expect to go about the +country, "smashing up barns and such like," without being willing to +pay. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what you going to do?" asked the farmer at last. "I can't stay +here all day. I've got work to do. I can't go around smashing barns. I +want three thousand dollars, or I'll hold your contraption for +security." +</P> + +<P> +This last he announced with more conviction after he had had a talk +with one of the men in the automobile. And it was this consultation +that confirmed Tom and Ned in their belief that the whole thing was a +plot, growing out of Tom's rather reckless destruction of the barn; a +plot on the part of Blakeson and his gang. That they had so speedily +taken advantage of this situation carelessly given them was only +another evidence of how closely they were on Tom's trail. +</P> + +<P> +"That man who ran out of the barn must have been the same one who was +in the factory," whispered Ned to his chum. "He probably saw us coming +this way and ran on ahead to have the farmer all primed in readiness. +Maybe he knew you had planned to ram the barn." +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe he did. I've had it in mind for some time, and spoken to some of +my men about it." +</P> + +<P> +"More traitors in camp, then, I'm afraid, Tom. We'll have to do some +more detective work. But let's get this thing settled. He only wants to +hold your tank, and that will give the man, into whose hands he's +playing, a chance to inspect her." +</P> + +<P> +"I believe you. But if I have to leave her here I'll leave some men on +guard inside. It won't be any worse than being stalled in No Man's +Land. In fact, it won't be so bad. But I'll do that rather than be +gouged." +</P> + +<P> +"No, Tom, you won't. If you did leave some one on guard, there'd be too +much chance of their getting the best of him. You must take your tank +away with you." +</P> + +<P> +"But how can I? I can't put up three thousand dollars in cash, and he +says he won't take a check for fear I'll stop payment. I see his game, +but I don't see how to block it." +</P> + +<P> +"But I do!" cried Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"What!" exclaimed Tom. "You don't mean to say, even if you do work in a +bank, that you've got three thousand in cash concealed about your +person, do you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Pretty nearly, Tom, or what is just as good. I have that amount in +Liberty Bonds. I was going to deliver them to a customer who has +ordered them but not paid for them. They are charged up against me at +the bank, but I'm good for that, I guess. Now I'll loan you these +bonds, and you can give them to this cranky old farmer as security for +damages. Mind, don't make them as a payment. They're simply +security—the same as when an autoist leaves his car as bail. Only we +don't want to leave our car, we'd rather have it with us," and he +looked over at the tank, bristling with splinters from the demolished +barn. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I guess that's the only way out," said Tom. "Lucky you had those +bonds with you. I'll take them, and give you a receipt for them. In +fact, I'll buy them from you and let the farmer hold them as security." +</P> + +<P> +And this, eventually, was done. After much hemming and hawing and +consultation with the men in the automobile, Mr. Kanker said he would +accept the bonds. It was made clear that they were not in payment of +any damages, though Tom admitted he was liable for some, but that Uncle +Sam's war securities were only a sort of bail, given to indicate that, +some time later, when a jury had passed on the matter, the young +inventor would pay Mr. Kanker whatever sum was agreed upon as just. +</P> + +<P> +"And now," said Tom, as politely as he could under the circumstances, +"I suppose we will be allowed to depart." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, take your old shebang offen my property!" ordered Mr. Kanker, +with no very good grace. "And if you go knocking down any more barns, +I'll double the price on you!" +</P> + +<P> +"I guess he's a bit roiled because he couldn't hold the tank," observed +Ned to Tom, as they walked together to the big machine. "His +friends—our enemies—evidently hoped that was what could be done. They +want to get at some of the secrets." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose so," conceded Tom. "Well, we're out of that, and I've proved +all I want to." +</P> + +<P> +"But I haven't—quite," said Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"What's missing?" asked his chum, as they got back in the tank. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'd like to make sure that the fellow who ran from the factory +was the same one I saw sneaking out of the barn. I believe he was, and +I believe that Simpson's crowd engineered this whole thing." +</P> + +<P> +"I believe so, too," Tom agreed. "The next thing is to prove it. But +that will keep until later. The main thing is we've got our tank, and +now I'm going to get her ready for France." +</P> + +<P> +"Will she be in shape to ship soon?" asked Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, if nothing more happens. I've got a few little changes and +adjustments to make, and then she'll be ready for the last test—one of +long distance endurance mainly. After that, apart she comes to go to +the front, and we'll begin making 'em in quantities here and on the +other side." +</P> + +<P> +"Good!" cried Ned. "Down with the Huns!" +</P> + +<P> +Without further incident of moment they went back to the headquarters +of the tank, and soon the great machine was safe in the shop where she +had been made. +</P> + +<P> +The next two weeks were busy ones for Tom, and in them he put the +finishing touches on his machine, gave it a long test over fields and +through woods, until finally he announced: +</P> + +<P> +"She's as complete as I can make her! She's ready for France!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XIX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Tom is Missing +</H3> + +<P> +With Tom Swift's announcement, that his tank was at last ready for real +action, came the end of the long nights and days given over on the part +of his father, himself, and his men to the development and refinement +of the machine, to getting plans and specifications ready so that the +tanks could be made quickly and in large numbers in this country and +abroad and to the actual building of Tank A. Now all this was done at +last, and the first completed tank was ready to be shipped. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile the matter of the demolished barn had been left for legal +action. Tom and Ned, it developed, had done the proper thing under the +circumstances, and they were sure they had foiled at least one plan of +the plotters. +</P> + +<P> +"But they won't stop there," declared Ned, who had constituted himself +a sort of detective. "They're lying back and waiting for another +chance, Tom." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, they won't get it at my tank!" declared the young inventor, with +a smile. "I've finished testing her on the road. All I need do now is +to run her around this place if I have to; and there won't be much need +of that before she's taken apart for shipment. Did you get any trace of +Simpson or the men who are with him—Blakeson and the others?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," Ned answered. "I've been nosing around about that farmer, Kanker, +but I can't get anything out of him. For all that, I'm sure he was +egged on to his hold-up game by some of your enemies. Everything points +that way." +</P> + +<P> +"I think you're right," agreed Tom. "Well, we won't bother any more +about him. When the trial comes on, I'll pay what the jury says is +right. It'll be worth it, for I proved that Tank A can eat up brick, +stone or wooden buildings and not get indigestion. That's what I set +out to do. So don't worry any more about it, Ned." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not worrying, but I'd like to get the best of those fellows. The +idea of asking three thousand dollars for a shell of a barn!" +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind," replied Tom. "We'll come out all right." +</P> + +<P> +Now that the Liberty Loan drive had somewhat slackened, Ned had more +leisure time, and he spent parts of his days and not a few of his +evenings at Tom Swift's. Mr. Damon was also a frequent visitor, and he +never tired of viewing the tank. Every chance he got, when they tested +the big machine in the large field, so well fenced in, the eccentric +man was on hand, with his "bless my—!" whatever happened to come most +readily to his mind. +</P> + +<P> +Tom, now that his invention was well-nigh perfected, was not so worried +about not having the tank seen, even at close range, and the enclosure +was not so strictly guarded. +</P> + +<P> +This in a measure was disappointing to Eradicate, who liked the +importance of strutting about with a nickel shield pinned to his coat, +to show that he was a member of the Swift & Company plant. As for the +giant Koku, he really cared little what he did, so long as he pleased +Tom, for whom he had an affection that never changed. Koku would as +soon sit under a shady tree doing nothing as watch for spies or +traitors, of whose identity he was never sure. +</P> + +<P> +So it came that there was not so strict a guard about the place, and +Tom and Ned had more time to themselves. Not that the young inventor +was not busy, for the details of shipping Tank A to France came to him, +as did also the arrangements for making others in this country and +planning for the manufacture abroad. +</P> + +<P> +It was one evening, after a particularly hard day's work, when Tom had +been making a test in turning the tank in a small space in the enclosed +yard, that the two young men were sitting in the machine shop, +discussing various matters. +</P> + +<P> +The telephone bell rang, and Ned, being nearest, answered. +</P> + +<P> +"It's for you, Tom," he said, and there was a smile on the face of the +young bank clerk. +</P> + +<P> +"Um!" murmured Tom, and he smiled also. +</P> + +<P> +Ned could not repress more smiles as Tom took up the conversation over +the wire, and it did not take long for the chum of the youthful +inventor to verify his guess that Mary Nestor was at the other end of +the instrument. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes," Tom was heard to say. "Why, of course, I'll be glad to come +over. Yes, he's here. What? Bring him along? I will if he'll come. Oh, +tell him Helen is there! 'Nough said! He'll come, all right!" +</P> + +<P> +And Tom, without troubling to consult his friend, hung up the receiver. +</P> + +<P> +"What's that you're committing me to?" asked Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Mary wants us to come over and spend the evening. Helen Sever is +there, and they say we can take them downtown if we like." +</P> + +<P> +"I guess we like," laughed Ned. "Come along! We've had enough of musty +old problems," for he had been helping Tom in some calculations +regarding strength of materials and the weight-bearing power of +triangularly constructed girders as compared to the arched variety. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I guess it will do us good to get out," and the two friends were +soon on their way. +</P> + +<P> +"What's this?" asked Mary, with a laugh, as Tom held out a package tied +with pink string. "More dynamite?" she added, referring to an incident +which had once greatly perturbed the excitable Mr. Nestor. +</P> + +<P> +"If she doesn't want it, perhaps Helen will take it," suggested Ned, +with a twinkle in his eyes. "Halloran said they were just in fresh—" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you delightful boy!" cried Helen. "I'm just dying for some +chocolates! Let me open them, Mary, if you're afraid of dynamite." +</P> + +<P> +"The only powder in them," said Tom, "is the powdered sugar. That can't +blow you up." +</P> + +<P> +And then the young people made merry, Tom, for the time being, +forgetting all about his tank. +</P> + +<P> +It was rather late when the two young men strolled back toward the +Swift home, Ned walking that way with his chum. Tom started out in the +direction of the building where the tank was housed. +</P> + +<P> +"Going to have a good-night look at her?" asked Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I want to make sure the watchman is on guard. We'll begin taking +her apart in a few days, and I don't want anything to happen between +now and then." +</P> + +<P> +They walked on toward the big structure, and, as they approached from +the side, they were both startled to see a dark shadow—at least so it +seemed to the youths—dart away from one of the windows. +</P> + +<P> +"Look!" gasped Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, there!" cried Tom sharply. "Who's that? Who are you?" +</P> + +<P> +There was no answer, and then the fleeing shadow was merged in the +other blackness of the night. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe it was the watchman making his rounds," suggested Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"No," answered Tom, as he broke into a run. "If it was, he'd have +answered. There's something wrong here!" +</P> + +<P> +But he could find nothing when he reached the window from which he and +Ned had seen the shadow dart. An examination by means of a pocket +electric light betrayed nothing wrong with the sash, and if there were +footprints beneath the casement they indicated nothing, for that side +of the factory was one frequently used by the workmen. +</P> + +<P> +Tom went into the building, and, for a time, could not find the +watchman. When he did come upon the man, he found him rubbing his eyes +sleepily, and acting as though he had just awakened from a nap. +</P> + +<P> +"This isn't any way to be on duty!" said Tom sharply. "You're not paid +for sleeping!" +</P> + +<P> +"I know it, Mr. Swift," was the apologetic answer. "I don't know what's +come over me to-night. I never felt so sleepy in all my life. I had my +usual sleep this afternoon, too, and I've drunk strong coffee to keep +awake." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you sure you didn't drink anything else?" +</P> + +<P> +"You know I'm a strict temperance man." +</P> + +<P> +"I know you are," said Tom; "but I thought maybe you might have a cold, +or something like that." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I haven't taken a thing. I did have a drink of soda water before I +came on duty, but that's all." +</P> + +<P> +"Where'd you get it?" asked Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, a man treated me." +</P> + +<P> +"Who?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know his name. He met me on the street and asked me how to get +to Plowden's hardware store. I showed him—walked part of the way, in +fact—and when I left he said he was going to have some soda, and asked +me to have some. I did, and it tasted good." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, don't go to sleep again," suggested Tom good-naturedly. "Did +you hear anything at the side window a while ago?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not a thing, Mr. Swift. I'll be all right now. I'll take a turn +outside in the air." +</P> + +<P> +"All right," assented the young inventor. +</P> + +<P> +Then, as he turned to go into the house and was bidding Ned good-night, +Tom said: +</P> + +<P> +"I don't like this." +</P> + +<P> +"What?" asked his chum. +</P> + +<P> +"My sleepy watchman and the figure at the window. I more than half +suspect that one of Blakeson's tools followed Kent for the purpose of +buying him soda, only I think they might have put a drop or two of +chloral in it before he got it. That would make him sleep." +</P> + +<P> +"What are you going to do, Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +"Put another man on guard. If they think they can get into the factory +at night, and steal my plans, or get ideas from my tank, I'll fool 'em. +I'll have another man on guard." +</P> + +<P> +This Tom did, also telling Koku to sleep in the place, to be ready if +called. But there was no disturbance that night, and the next day the +work of completing the tank went on with a rush. +</P> + +<P> +It was a day or so after this, and Tom had fixed on it as the time for +taking the big machine apart for shipment, that Ned received a +telephone message at the bank from Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"Is Tom Swift over with you?" inquired the eccentric man. +</P> + +<P> +"No. Why?" Ned answered. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm at his shop, and he isn't here. His father says he received +a message from you a little while ago, saying to come over in a hurry, +and he went. Says you told him to meet you out at that farmer Kanker's +place. I thought maybe—" +</P> + +<P> +"At Kanker's place!" cried Ned. "Say, something's wrong, Mr. Damon! +Isn't Tom there?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; I'm at his home, and he's been gone for some time. His father +supposed he was with you. I thought I would telephone to make sure." +</P> + +<P> +"Whew!" whistled Ned. "There's something doing here, all right, and +something wrong! I'll be right over!" he added, as he hung up the +receiver. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Search +</H3> + +<P> +"Haven't you seen anything of him?" asked Mr. Damon, as Ned jumped out +of his small runabout at the Swift home as soon as possible after +receiving the telephone message that seemed to presage something wrong. +</P> + +<P> +"Seen him? No, certainly not!" answered the young bank clerk. "I'm as +much surprised as you are over it. What happened, anyhow?" +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my memorandum pad, but I hardly know!" answered the eccentric +man. "I arrived here a little while ago, stopping in merely to pay Tom +a visit, as I often do, and he wasn't here. His father was anxiously +waiting for him, too, wishing to consult him about some shop matters. +Mr. Swift said Tom had gone out with you, or over to your house—I +wasn't quite sure which at first—and was expected back any minute. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I called you up," went on Mr. Damon, "and I was surprised to +learn you hadn't seen Tom. There must be something wrong, I think." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sure of it!" exclaimed Ned. "Let's find Mr. Swift. And what's +this about his going to meet me over at the place of that farmer, Mr. +Kanker, where we had the trouble about the barn Tom demolished?" +</P> + +<P> +"I hardly know, myself. Perhaps Mr. Swift can tell us." +</P> + +<P> +But Mr. Swift was able to throw but little light on Tom's +disappearance—whether a natural or forced disappearance remained to be +seen. +</P> + +<P> +"No matter where he is, we'll get him," declared Ned. "He hasn't been +away a great while, and it may turn out that his absence is perfectly +natural." +</P> + +<P> +"And if it's due to the plots of any of his rivals," said Mr. Damon, +"I'll denounce them all as traitors, bless my insurance policy, if I +don't! And that's what they are! They're playing into the hands of the +enemy!" +</P> + +<P> +"All right," said Ned. "But the thing to do now is to get Tom. Perhaps +Mrs. Baggert can help us." +</P> + +<P> +It developed that the housekeeper was of more assistance in giving +information than was Mr. Swift. +</P> + +<P> +"It was several hours ago," she said, "that the telephone rang and some +one asked for Tom. The operator shifted the call to the phone out in +the tank shop where he was, and Tom began to talk. The operator, as Tom +had instructed her, listened in, as Tom wants always a witness to most +matters that go on over his wires of late." +</P> + +<P> +"What did she hear?" asked Ned eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"She heard what she thought was your voice, I believe," the housekeeper +said. +</P> + +<P> +"Me!" cried the young bank clerk. "I haven't talked to Tom to-day, over +the phone or any other way. But what next?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, the operator didn't listen much after that, knowing that any +talk between Tom and you was of a nature not to need a witness. Tom +hung up and then he came in here, quite excited, and began to get ready +to go out." +</P> + +<P> +"What was he excited about?" asked Mr. Damon. "Bless my unlucky stars, +but a person ought to keep calm under such circumstances! That's the +only way to do! Keep calm! Great Scott! But if I had my way, all those +German spies would be—Oh, pshaw! Nothing is too bad for them! It makes +my blood boil when I think of what they've done! Tom should have kept +cool!" +</P> + +<P> +"Go on. What was Tom excited about?" Ned turned to the housekeeper. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, he said you had called him to tell him to meet you over at that +farmer's place," went on Mrs. Baggert. "He said you had some news for +him about the men who had tried to get hold of some of his tank +secrets, and he was quite worked up over the chance of catching the +rascals." +</P> + +<P> +"Whew!" whistled Ned. "This is getting more complicated every minute. +There's something deep here, Mr. Damon." +</P> + +<P> +"I agree with you, Ned. And the sooner we find Tom Swift the better. +What next, Mrs. Baggert?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Tom got ready and went away in his small automobile. He said +he'd be back as soon as he could after meeting you." +</P> + +<P> +"And I never said a word to him!" cried Ned. "It's all a plot—a scheme +of that Blakeson gang to get him into their power. Oh, how could Tom be +so fooled? He knows my voice, over the phone as well as otherwise. I +don't see how he could be taken in." +</P> + +<P> +"Let's ask the telephone operator," suggested Mr. Damon. "She knows +your voice, too. Perhaps she can give us a clew." +</P> + +<P> +A talk with the young woman at the telephone switchboard in the Swift +plant brought out a new point. This was that the speaker, in response +to whose information Tom Swift had left home, had not said he was Ned +Newton. +</P> + +<P> +"He said," reported Miss Blair, "that he was speaking for you, Mr. +Newton, as you were busy in the bank. Whoever it was, said you wanted +Tom to meet you at the Kanker farm. I heard that much over the wire, +and naturally supposed the message came from you." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, that puts a little different face on it," said Mr. Damon. "Tom +wasn't deceived by the voice, then, for he must have thought it was +some one speaking for you, Ned." +</P> + +<P> +"But the situation is serious, just the same," declared Ned. "Tom has +gone to keep an appointment I never made, and the question is with whom +will he keep it?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's it!" cried the eccentric man. "Probably some of those +scoundrels were waiting at the farm for him, and they've got him no one +knows where by this time!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, hardly as bad as that," suggested Ned. "Tom is able to look out +for himself. He'd put up a big fight before he'd permit himself to be +carried off." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what do you think did happen?" asked Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"I think they wanted to get him out to the farm to see if they couldn't +squeeze some more money out of him," was the answer. "Tom was pretty +easy in that barn business, and I guess Kanker was sore because he +haven't asked a larger sum. They knew Tom wouldn't come out on their +own invitation, so they forged my name, so to speak." +</P> + +<P> +"Can you get Tom back?" asked Mrs. Baggert anxiously. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course!" declared Ned, though it must be admitted he spoke with +more confidence than he really felt. "We'll begin the search right +away." +</P> + +<P> +"And if I can get my hands on any of those villains—" spluttered Mr. +Damon, dancing around, as Mrs. Baggert said, "like a hen on a hot +griddle," which seemed to describe him very well, "if I can get hold of +any of those scoundrels, I'll—I'll—Bless my collar button, I don't +know what I will do! Come on, Ned!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I guess we'd better get busy," agreed the young bank clerk. "Tom +has gone somewhere, that's certain, and under a misapprehension. It may +be that we are needlessly alarmed, or they may mean bad business. At +any rate, it's up to us to find Tom." +</P> + +<P> +In Ned's runabout, which was a speedier car than that of the eccentric +man, the two set off for Kanker's farm. On the way they stopped at +various places in town, where Tom was in the habit of doing business, +to inquire if he had been seen. +</P> + +<P> +But there was no trace of him. The next thing to do was to learn if he +had really started for the Kanker farm. +</P> + +<P> +"For if he didn't go there," suggested Ned, "it will look funny for us +to go out there making inquiries about him. And it may be that after he +got that message Tom decided not to go." +</P> + +<P> +Accordingly they made enough inquiries to establish the fact that Tom +had started for the farm of the rascally Kanker, who had been so +insistent in the matter of his almost worthless barn. +</P> + +<P> +A number of people who knew Tom well had seen him pass in the direction +of Kanker's place, and some had spoken to him, for the young inventor +was well known in the vicinity of Shopton and the neighboring towns. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, out to Kanker's we'll go!" decided Ned. "And if anything has +happened to Tom there—well, we'll make whoever is responsible wish it +hadn't!" +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my fountain pen, but that's what we will!" chimed in Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +And so the two began the search for the missing youth. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XXI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A Prisoner +</H3> + +<P> +Amos Kanker came to the door of his farmhouse as Ned and Mr. Damon +drove up in the runabout. There was an unpleasant grin on the not very +prepossessing face of the farmer, and what Ned thought was a cunning +look, as he slouched out and asked: +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what do you want? Come to smash up any more of my barns at three +thousand dollars a smash?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hardly," answered Ned shortly. "Your prices are too high for such +ramshackle barns as you have. Where's Tom Swift?" he asked sharply. +</P> + +<P> +"Huh! Do you mean that young whipper-snapper with his big traction +engine?" demanded Mr. Kanker. +</P> + +<P> +"Look here!" blustered Mr. Damon, "Tom Swift is neither a +whipper-snapper nor is his machine a traction engine. It's a war tank." +</P> + +<P> +"That doesn't matter much to me," said the farmer, with a grating +laugh. "It looks like a traction engine, though it smashes things up +more'n any one I ever saw." +</P> + +<P> +"That isn't the point," broke in Ned. "Where is my friend, Tom Swift? +That's what we want to know." +</P> + +<P> +"Huh! What makes you think I can tell you?" demanded Kanker. +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't he come out here?" asked Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"Not as I knows of," was the surly answer. +</P> + +<P> +"Look here!" exclaimed Ned, and his tones were firm, with no bluster +nor bluff in them, "we came out here to find Tom Swift, and we're going +to find him! We have reason to believe he's here—at least, he started +for here," he substituted, as he wished to make no statement he could +not prove. "Now we don't claim we have any right to be on your +property, and we don't intend to stay here any longer than we can help. +But we do claim the right, in common decency, to ask if you have seen +anything of Tom. There may have been an accident; there may have been +foul play; and there may be international complications in this +business. If there are, those involved won't get off as easily as they +think. I'd advise you to keep a civil tongue in your head and answer +our questions. If we have to get the police and detectives out here, as +well as the governmental department of justice, you may have to answer +their questions, and they won't be as decent to you as we are!" +</P> + +<P> +"Hurray!" whispered Mr Damon to Ned. "That's the way to talk!" +</P> + +<P> +And indeed the forceful remarks of the young bank clerk did appear to +have a salutary effect on the surly farmer. His manner changed at once +and his grin faded. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know nothing about Tom Swift or any of your friends," he said. +"I've got my farm work to do, and I do it. It's hard enough to earn a +living these war times without taking part in plots. I haven't seen Tom +Swift since the trouble he made about my barn." +</P> + +<P> +"Then he hasn't been here to-day?" asked Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"No; and not for a good many days." +</P> + +<P> +Ned looked at Mr. Damon, and the two exchanged uneasy glances. Tom had +certainly started for the Kanker farm, and indeed had come to within a +few miles of it. That much was certain, as testified to by a number of +residents along the route from Shopton, who had seen the young inventor +passing in his car. +</P> + +<P> +Now it appeared he had not arrived. The changed air of the farmer +seemed to indicate that he was speaking the truth. Mr. Damon and Ned +were inclined to believe him. If they had any last, lingering doubts in +the matter, they were dispelled when Mr. Kanker said: +</P> + +<P> +"You can search the place if you like. I haven't any reason to feel +friendly toward you, but I certainly don't want to get into trouble +with the Government. Look around all you like." +</P> + +<P> +"No, we'll take your word for it," said Ned, quickly concluding that +now they had got the farmer where they wanted him, they could gain more +by an appearance of friendliness than by threats or harsh words. "Then +you haven't seen him, either?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not a sign of him." +</P> + +<P> +"One thing more," went on Tom's chum, "and then we'll look farther. +Weren't you induced by a man named Simpson, or one named Blakeson, to +make the demand of three thousand dollars' damage for your barn?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, it wasn't anybody of either of those names," admitted Mr. Kanker, +evidently a bit put out by the question. +</P> + +<P> +"It was some one, though, wasn't it?" insisted Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"Waal, a man did come to me the day the barn was smashed, and just +afore it happened, and said an all-fired big traction engine was headed +this way, and that a young feller who was half crazy was running it. +This man—I don't know who he was, being a stranger to me—said if the +engine ran into any of my property and did damages I should collect for +it on the spot, or hold the machine. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure enough, that's what happened, and I did it. That man had an auto, +and he brought me and some of my men out to the smashed barn. That's +all I know about it." +</P> + +<P> +"I thought some one put you up to it," commented Ned. "This was some +of the gang's work," he went on to Mr. Damon. "They hoped to get +possession of Tom's tank long enough to find out some of the secrets. +By having the Liberty Bonds, I fooled 'em." +</P> + +<P> +"That's what you did!" said Mr. Damon. "But what can we do now?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," Ned was forced to admit. "But I should think we'd +better go back to the last place where he was seen to pass in his auto, +and try to get on his trail." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Damon agreed that this was a wise plan, and, after a casual look +around the farmhouse and other buildings on Kanker's place and finding +nothing to arouse their suspicions, the two left in Ned's speedy little +machine. +</P> + +<P> +"It is mighty queer!" remarked the young bank clerk, as they shot along +the country road. "It isn't like Tom to get caught this way." +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe he isn't caught," suggested the other. "Tom has been in many a +tight place and gotten out, as you and I well know. Maybe it will be +the same now, though it does look suspicious, that fake message coming +from you." +</P> + +<P> +"Not coming from me, you mean," corrected Ned. "Well, we'll do the best +we can." +</P> + +<P> +They proceeded back to where they had last had a trace of Tom in his +machine, and there could only confirm what they had learned at first, +namely, that the young inventor had departed in the direction of the +Kanker farm, after having filled his radiator with water, and chatting +with a farmer he knew. +</P> + +<P> +"Then this is where the trail divides," said Ned, as they went back +over the road, coming to a point where the highway branched off. "If he +went this way, he went to Kanker's place, or he would be in the way of +going. He isn't there, it seems, and didn't go there." +</P> + +<P> +"If he took the other road, where would he go?" asked Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"Any one of a dozen places. I guess we'll have to follow the trail and +make all the inquiries we can." +</P> + +<P> +But from the point where the two roads branched, all trace of Tom Swift +was lost. No one had seen him in his machine, though he was known to +more than one resident along the highway. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what are we going to do?" asked Mr. Damon, after they had +traveled some distance and had obtained no news. +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose we call up his home," suggested Ned, as they came to a country +store where there was a telephone. "It may be he has returned. In that +case, all our worry has gone for nothing." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't believe it has," said Mr. Damon. "But if we call up and ask if +Tom is back it will show we haven't found him, and his father will be +more worried than ever." +</P> + +<P> +"We can ask the telephone girl, and tell her to keep quiet about it," +decided Ned; and this they did. +</P> + +<P> +But the answer that came back over the wire was discouraging. For Tom +had not returned, and there was no word from him. There was an urgent +message for him, too, from government officials regarding the tank, the +girl reported. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we've just got to find him—that's all!" declared Ned. "I guess +we'll have to make a regular search of it. I did hope we'd find him out +at the Kanker farm. But since he isn't there, nor anywhere about, as +far as we can tell, we've got to try some other plan." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean notify the authorities?"—asked Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"Hardly that—yet. But I'll get some of Tom's friends who have +machines, and we'll start them out on the trail. In that way we can +cover a lot of ground." +</P> + +<P> +Late that afternoon, and far into the night, a number of the friends of +Tom and Ned went about the country in automobiles, seeking news of the +young inventor. Mr. Swift became very anxious over the non-return of +his son, and felt the authorities should be notified; but as all agreed +that the local police could not handle the matter and that it would +have to be put into the hands of the United States Secret Service, he +consented to wait for a while before doing this. +</P> + +<P> +All the next day the search was kept up, and Ned and Mr. Damon were +getting discouraged, not to say alarmed, when, most unexpectedly, they +received a clew. +</P> + +<P> +They had been traveling around the country on little-frequented roads +in the hope that perhaps Tom might have taken one and disabled his +machine so that he was unable to proceed. +</P> + +<P> +"Though in that case he could, and would, have sent word," said Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"Unless he's hurt," suggested Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, maybe that is what's happened," Ned was saying, when they +noticed coming toward them a very much dilapidated automobile, driven +by a farmer, and on the seat beside him was a small, barefoot boy. +</P> + +<P> +"Which is the nearest road to Shopton?" asked the man, bringing his +wheezing machine to a stop. +</P> + +<P> +"Who are you looking for in Shopton?" asked Ned, while a strange +feeling came over him that, somehow or other, Tom was concerned in the +question. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm looking for friends of a Tom Swift," was the answer. +</P> + +<P> +"Tom Swift? Where is he? What's happened to him?" cried Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my dyspepsia tablets!" exclaimed Mr. Damon. "Do you know where +he is?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not exactly," answered the farmer; "but here's a note from some one +that signs himself 'Tom Swift,' and it says he's a prisoner!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap22"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XXII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Rescued +</H3> + +<P> +For a moment Ned and Mr. Damon gazed at the farmer in his rattletrap of +an auto, and then they looked at the fluttering piece of paper in his +hand. Thence their gaze traveled to the ragged and barefoot lad sitting +beside the farmer. +</P> + +<P> +"I found it!" announced the boy. +</P> + +<P> +"Found what?" asked Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"That there note!" +</P> + +<P> +Without asking any more questions, reserving them until they knew more +about the matter, Mr. Damon and Ned each reached out a hand for the +paper the farmer held. The latter handed it to Ned, being nearest him, +and at a sight of the handwriting the young bank clerk exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"It's from Tom, all right!" +</P> + +<P> +"What happened to him?" cried Mr. Damon. "Where is he? Is he a +prisoner?" +</P> + +<P> +"So it seems," answered Ned. "Wait, I'll read it to you," and he read: +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<P> +"'Whoever picks this up please send word at once to Mr. Swift or to Ned +Newton in Shopton, or to Mr. Damon of Waterfield. I am a prisoner, +locked in the old factory. Tom Swift'." +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my quinine pills!" cried Mr Damon. "What in the world does it +mean? What factory?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's just what we've got to find out," decided Ned. "Where did you +get this?" he asked the farmer's boy. +</P> + +<P> +"Way off over there," and he pointed across miles of fields. "I was +lookin' for a lost cow, and I went past an old factory. There wasn't +nobody in the place, as far as I knowed, but all at once I heard some +one yell, and then I seen something white, like a bird, sail out of a +high window. I was scared for a minute, thinkin' it might be tramps +after me." +</P> + +<P> +"And what did you do, Sonny?" asked Mr. Damon, as the boy paused. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, after a while I went to where the white thing lay, and I picked +it up. I seen it was a piece of paper, with writin' on it, and it was +wrapped around part of a brick." +</P> + +<P> +"And did you go near the factory to find out who called or who threw +the paper out?" Ned queried. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't," the boy answered. "I was scared. I went home, and didn't +even start to find the lost cow. +</P> + +<P> +"No more he did," chimed in the farmer. "He come runnin' in like a +whitehead, and as soon as I saw the paper and heard what Bub had to +say, I thought maybe I'd better do somethin'." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you go to the factory?" asked Ned eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"No. I thought the best thing to do would be to find this Mr. Swift, or +the other folks mentioned in this letter. I knowed, in a general way, +where Shopton was, but I'd never been there, doing my tradin' in the +other direction, and so I had to stop and ask the road. If you can tell +me—" +</P> + +<P> +"We're two of the persons spoken of in that note," said Mr. Damon, as +he mentioned his name and introduced Ned. "We have been looking for our +friend Tom Swift for two days now. We must find him at once, as there +is no telling what he may be suffering." +</P> + +<P> +"Where is this old factory you speak of," continued Mr. Damon, "and how +can we get there? It's too bad one of you didn't go back, after finding +the note, to tell Tom he was soon to be rescued." +</P> + +<P> +"Waal, maybe it is," said the farmer, a bit put out by the criticism. +"But I figgered it would be better to look up this young man's friends +and let them do the rescuin', and not lose no time, 'specially as it's +about as far from my place to the factory as it is to Shopton." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I suppose that's so," agreed Ned. "But what is this factory?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's an old one where they started to make beet sugar, but it didn't +pan out," the farmer said. "The place is in ruins, and I did hear, not +long ago, that somebody run a threshin' machine through it, an' busted +it up worse than before." +</P> + +<P> +"Great horned toads!" cried Ned. "That must be the very factory Tom ran +his tank through. And to think he should be a prisoner there!" +</P> + +<P> +"Held by whom, do you suppose?" asked Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"By that Blakeson gang, I imagine," Ned answered. "There's no time to +lose. We must go to his rescue!" +</P> + +<P> +"Of course!" agreed Mr. Damon. "We're much obliged to you for bringing +this note," he went on to the farmer. "And here is something to repay +you for your trouble," and he took out his wallet. +</P> + +<P> +"Shucks! I didn't do this for pay!" objected the farmer. "It's a pity +I wouldn't help anybody what's in trouble! If I'd a-knowed what it +meant, me and Bub here would have gone to the factory ourselves, maybe, +and done the work quicker. But I didn't know—what with war times and +such-like—but that it would be better to deliver the note." +</P> + +<P> +"It turns out as well, perhaps," agreed Ned. "We'll look after Tom now." +</P> + +<P> +"And I'll come along and help," said the farmer. "If there's a gang of +tramps in that factory, you may need some reinforcements. I've got a +couple of new axe handles in my machine, and they'll come in mighty +handy as clubs." +</P> + +<P> +"That's so," said Mr. Damon. "But I fancy Tom is simply locked in the +deserted factory office, with no one on guard. We can get him out once +we get there, and we'll be glad to have you come with us. So if you +won't take any reward, maybe your boy will, as he found the note," and +Mr. Damon pressed some bills into the hands of the boy, who, it is +needless to say, was glad to get them. +</P> + +<P> +It was a run of several miles back to the deserted factory, and though +they passed houses on the way, it was decided that no addition to their +force was necessary, though they did stop at a blacksmith shop, where +they borrowed a heavy sledge to batter down a door if such action +should be needed. +</P> + +<P> +The farmer's rattletrap of a car, in spite of its appearance, was not +far behind Ned's runabout, and in a comparatively short time all were +within sight of the ruined place—a ruin made more complete by the +passage through it of Tom Swift's war tank. +</P> + +<P> +"And to think of his being there all this while!" exclaimed Mr. Damon, +as he and Ned leaped from their machine. +</P> + +<P> +"If he only is there!" murmured the young bank clerk. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean? Didn't the note he threw out say he was there?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but something may have happened in the meanwhile. Those +plotters, if they'd do a thing like this, are capable of anything. They +may have kidnapped Tom again." +</P> + +<P> +"Anyway, we'll soon find out," murmured Ned, as they advanced toward +the ruin, Mr. Damon and the farmer each armed with an axe helve, while +Ned carried the blacksmith's sledge. +</P> + +<P> +They went into the end of the factory that was less ruined than the +central part, where the tank had crashed through, and made their way +into what had been the office—the place where they had found the +burned scraps of paper. +</P> + +<P> +"Hark!" exclaimed Ned, as they climbed up the broken steps. "I heard a +noise." +</P> + +<P> +"It's him yellin'—like he did afore he threw out the note," said the +boy. Then, as they listened, they heard a distant voice calling: +</P> + +<P> +"Hello! Hello, there! If that is any friend of mine, let me out, or +send word to Mr. Damon or Ned Newton! Hello!" +</P> + +<P> +"Hello yourself, Tom Swift!" yelled Ned, too delighted to wait for any +other confirmation that it was his friend who was shouting. "We've come +to rescue you, Tom!" +</P> + +<P> +There was a moment of silence, and then a voice asked: +</P> + +<P> +"Who is there?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ned Newton, Mr. Damon, and some other friends of yours!" answered the +young bank clerk, for surely the farmer and his son could be called +Tom's friends. +</P> + +<P> +An indistinguishable answer came back, and then Ned cried: +</P> + +<P> +"Where are you, Tom? Tell us, so we can get you out!" +</P> + +<P> +They all listened, and faintly heard: +</P> + +<P> +"I'm in some sort of an old vault, partly underground. It's below what +used to be the office. There's a flight of steps, but be careful, as +they're rotten." +</P> + +<P> +Eagerly they looked around Mr. Damon saw a door in one corner of the +office, and tried to open it. It was locked, but a few blows from the +sledge smashed it, and then some steps were revealed. +</P> + +<P> +Down these, using due caution, went Ned and the others, and at the +bottom they came upon another door. This was of sheet iron and was +fastened on the outside by a big padlock. +</P> + +<P> +"Stand back!" cried Ned, as he swung the sledge, and with a few blows +broke the lock to pieces. +</P> + +<P> +Then they pulled open the door, and into the light staggered Tom Swift, +a most woe-begone figure, and showing the effects of his imprisonment. +But he was safe and unharmed, though much disheveled from his attempts +to escape. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank Heaven, you've come!" he murmured, as he clasped Ned's hand. "Is +the tank all right?" +</P> + +<P> +"All right!" cried Ned. "And now tell us about yourself. How in the +world did you get here?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's quite a yarn," answered Tom. "I've got to pull myself together +before I answer," and he sank wearily down on a step, looking very +haggard and worn. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap23"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XXIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Gone +</H3> + +<P> +"Here, eat some of this," and Ned held something out to his chum. +"It'll bring you up quicker than anything else, except a cup of hot +tea, and we'll get that as soon as you can get away from here," went on +the young bank clerk. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" Tom asked, and his voice was very weary. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a mixture of chocolate and nuts," replied Ned. "It's a new form +of emergency ration issued to soldiers before they go over the top. Our +Y.M.C.A. is sending a lot to the boys from around here who are in +France. I was helping pack the boxes ready for shipment, and I kept out +some to show you. Lucky I had it with me. Eat it, and you'll feel a lot +better in a few minutes. You haven't had much to eat, have you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Very little," answered Tom, as he nibbled half-heartedly at the +confection Ned gave him, while Mr. Damon went out to the automobile and +came back with a thermos bottle filled with cool water. He always +provided himself with this on taking an automobile trip. +</P> + +<P> +Tom managed to eat some of the chocolate, and then took a drink of the +cool water. In a little while he declared that he felt better. +</P> + +<P> +"Then come out of here!" exclaimed Ned. "You can tell us how it all +happened and what they did to you. But I can see that last—they +treated you like a dog, didn't they?" +</P> + +<P> +"Pretty nearly," answered Tom; "but they didn't have things all their +own way. I think I made one or two of them remember me," and he glanced +at his swollen and bruised hands. Indeed, he bore the marks of having +been in a fierce fight. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you sure the tank's all right?" he asked Ned again. "That has +been worrying me more than my own condition. I could think of only one +reason why they got me here and held me prisoner, and that was to get +me out of the way while they captured my tank. Then they haven't got +her?" he asked eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"Not a look at her," Ned answered. "She was safe in the shop when we +set out this morning." +</P> + +<P> +"And now it's late afternoon," murmured Tom. "Well, I hope nothing has +happened since," and there was vague alarm in his voice, an alarm at +which Ned and Mr. Damon wondered. +</P> + +<P> +"Couldn't you stop at some farmhouse and get fixed up a little?" asked +Mr. Kimball, the farmer who had brought the note to Ned and Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"I need to get fixed up somewhere," replied Tom, with a rueful look at +himself—his hands, his torn clothes, and his general dilapidated +appearance. "But I don't want to lose any time. I'm afraid something +has happened at home, Ned." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense! How could there, with Koko on guard, to say nothing of +Eradicate!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, maybe you're right," agreed Tom; "but I'll feel better when I +see my tank in her shed. Let's have some more of that concentrated +porterhouse steak of yours, Ned. It is good, and it fills out my +stomach, which was getting more intimate with my backbone than I liked +to feel." +</P> + +<P> +More of the really good confection and another drink of refreshing +water made Tom feel better, and he was soon able to walk along without +staggering from weakness. +</P> + +<P> +"And now let's get out of here," advised Ned, "unless you've left +something back in that vault you want, Tom," and he motioned to his +chum's late prison. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing there but bad memories," was the reply, with a rueful smile. +"I'm as ready to go as you are, Ned. It was good of you and Mr. Damon +to come for me, and you"—and he looked questioningly at Mr. Kimball. +</P> + +<P> +"If it hadn't been for Mr. Kimball and his boy, we wouldn't have found +you—at least so soon," said Ned, and he told of the finding of the +note and what had followed. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the only way I could think of for getting help," said Tom. +"They took every scrap of paper from me, but I found some in the lining +of my hat—some I'd stuffed in after I had a hair cut and my hat was +too large. For a pencil I used burnt matches. Oh, but I'm glad to be +out!" and he breathed deep of the fresh air. +</P> + +<P> +"How did you get in there?" asked Ned wonderingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Those fellows—of course. The German plotters, I'm going to call them, +for I believe that Blakeson and his gang—though I didn't see him—are +really working in the interests of Germany to get the secret of my +tank." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, they haven't got her yet," said Ned, "and they're not likely to +now. Go on, Tom, if you feel able tell us in a few words what happened. +We've been trying to think, but can't." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it all happened because I didn't think enough," said Tom, who +was rapidly recovering his strength and nerve. "When I got that +message that seemed to come from you, Ned, I should have known better +than to take a chance. But it seemed genuine, and as I had no reason to +suspect a trap, I started off at once. I thought maybe Kanker had +repented and was going to make amends for all the trouble he caused. +</P> + +<P> +"Anyhow, I started off in my machine, and I hadn't got more than to the +crossroads when I saw a fellow out tinkering with his auto. Of course I +stopped to ask if I could help, for I can't bear to see any machinery +out of order, and as I was stooping over the engine to see what was +wrong I was pounced on from behind, bound and tied, and before I could +do a thing I was bundled into the car—a big limousine, and taken away. +</P> + +<P> +"The crossroads was as far as we could trace you," remarked Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it wasn't as far as they took me, by any means," Tom said. "They +brought me here, took me out of the machine—and I noticed that they'd +brought mine along—and then they carted me into the vault. +</P> + +<P> +"But they didn't have it all their own way," said Tom grimly. "I +managed to get the ropes loose, and I had a regular knock down and drag +out with them for a while. But they were too many for me, and locked me +up in that place after taking away everything I had in my pockets." +</P> + +<P> +"Were they highwaymen?" asked Mr. Kimtall. +</P> + +<P> +"No, for they tossed back my money, watch and some trifles like that," +Tom answered. "I didn't recognize any of the men, though one of them +must have known me, for when they had me tied I heard one of them ask +if I was the right party, and another said I was. I know they must +belong to the same gang that Simpson, Blakeson, and Schwen are members +of—the German spies." +</P> + +<P> +"But what was their object?" asked Ned. "Did they try to force you to +tell them the secrets of the tank?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; and that's the funny part which makes me so suspicious," Tom +answered. "If they'd tried to force something out of me, I would +understand it better. But they just kept me a prisoner after taking +away what papers I had." +</P> + +<P> +"Were they of any value?" asked Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"Not as regards the tank. That is, there was nothing of my plans of +construction, control or anything like that, though there was some +foreign correspondence that I am sorry fell into their hands. However, +that can't be helped." +</P> + +<P> +"And did they just keep you locked up?" asked Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"That's about all they did. After the fight—and it was some fight!" +declared Tom, as he recalled it with a shake of his head—"they left me +here with the door shut. There must have been some one on guard, for I +could faintly hear somebody moving about. +</P> + +<P> +"I tried to get out, of course, but I couldn't. That vault must have +been made to hold something very valuable, for it was almost as strong +and solid as one in your bank, Ned. The only window was placed so high +that I couldn't reach it, and it was barred at that. +</P> + +<P> +"They opened the door a little, several times, to toss in once some old +bags that I made into a bed, and next they gave me a little water and +some sandwiches—German bologna sausage sandwiches, Ned! What do you +think of that—adding insult to injury?" +</P> + +<P> +"That was tough!" Ned admitted. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I had to put up with it, for I was half starved, and as sore as +a boil from the fight. I didn't know what to do. I knew that you'd miss +me sooner or later, and set out to find me, but I hardly thought you'd +think of this place. They couldn't have picked out a much better +prison to hold me, for, naturally, you wouldn't suppose enough of it +was left standing, after my tank had walked through it, to make a +hiding place. +</P> + +<P> +"However, there was, and here I've been kept. At last I thought of the +plan of sending out a message on the scrap of paper I could tear out of +my hat. So I wrote it, and after several trials I managed to toss it +out of the window. Then I just had to wait, and that was the hardest of +all. The last twelve hours I've been without food, and I haven't heard +any one around, so I guess they've skipped out and don't intend to come +back." +</P> + +<P> +"We didn't see any one," Ned reported. "Maybe they became frightened, +Tom." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish I could think that," was the answer. "What is more likely to be +the case is that they're up to some new tricks. I must get back home +quickly." +</P> + +<P> +And after a stop had been made at a farmhouse belonging to a business +acquaintance of Ned's, where Tom was able to wash and get a cup of hot +tea, which added to his recuperative powers, the young inventor, with +Ned and Mr. Damon, set out for Shopton. +</P> + +<P> +Before Mr. Kimball started for his home, renewed thanks had been made +to the farmer and his son for the part they had played in the rescue, +and the young inventor, learning that the boy had a liking for things +mechanical, promised to aid him in his intention to become a machinist. +</P> + +<P> +"But first get a good education," Tom advised. "Keep on with your +school work, and when the time comes I'll take you into my shop." +</P> + +<P> +"And maybe he'll make a tank that will rival yours, Tom," said Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe he will! I hope he does. If he comes along fast enough, he can +help with something else I'm going to start soon." +</P> + +<P> +"Whats that?" asked Mr. Damon. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it's something on the same order, designed to help batter down the +German lines," Tom answered. "I haven't quite made up my mind what to +call it yet. But let's get home. I want to see that my tank is safe. +The absence of the plotters from the factory makes me suspicious." +</P> + +<P> +On the way back Tom told more of the details of the attack. +</P> + +<P> +"But we'll forget about it all, now you're out," remarked Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"And the sooner we get home, the better," added Tom. "Can't you get a +little more speed out of this machine?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it isn't the Hawk," replied Ned, "but we'll see what we can do," +and he made the runabout fairly fly. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Baggert was the first to greet Tom as they arrived at his home. +She did not seem as surprised as either Tom, Ned or Mr. Damon expected +her to be. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm glad you're all right," she said. "And it's a good thing you +sent that note, for your father was so excited and worried I was +getting apprehensive about him." +</P> + +<P> +"What note?" asked Tom, while a queer look came into his face. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, the one you sent saying you were detained on business and would +probably not be home for a week, and to have Koku and the men bring the +tank to you." +</P> + +<P> +"Bring the tank! A note from me!" exclaimed Tom. "The plotters again! +And they've got the tank!" +</P> + +<P> +He ran to the big shop followed by the others. Throwing open the doors, +they went inside. A glance sufficed to disclose the worst. +</P> + +<P> +The place where the great tank had stood was empty. +</P> + +<P> +"Gone!" gasped Tom. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap24"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XXIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Camouflaged +</H3> + +<P> +Two utterances Tom Swift made when the fact of the disappearance of the +tank became known to him were characteristic of the young inventor. The +first was: +</P> + +<P> +"How did they get it away?" +</P> + +<P> +And the second was: +</P> + +<P> +"Come on, let's get after 'em!" +</P> + +<P> +Then, for a few moments, no one said anything. Tom, Ned, and Mr. Damon, +with Mrs. Baggert in the background, stood looking at the great empty +machine shop. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, they got her," went on Tom, with a sigh. "I was afraid of this +as soon as they left me alone at the factory." +</P> + +<P> +"Is anything wrong?" faltered the housekeeper. "Didn't you send for the +tank, Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, Mrs. Baggert, I didn't," Tom answered. +</P> + +<P> +"But I don't understand," the housekeeper said. "A man came with a note +from you, Tom, and in it you said to have him take the tank, with Koku +and the men who know how to run it. We were so glad to hear from you, +and know that you were all right, that we didn't think of anything +else, your father and I. So he went out and saw that the tank got off +all right. Koku was glad, for it's the first chance he'd had to ride in +it." +</P> + +<P> +"Who was the man who brought the note?" asked Tom, and he was striving +to be calm. "To think of poor old dad playing right into the hands of +the plotters!" he added, in an aside to Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I don't know who the man was," said Mrs. Baggert. "He seemed +all right, and of course having a note from you—" +</P> + +<P> +"Who has that note now?" asked Tom quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"Your father." +</P> + +<P> +"Come on," and Tom led the way back to the house. "I'll have a look at +that document, which of course I never wrote, and then we'll get after +the plotters and the tank." +</P> + +<P> +"She ought to be easy to trace," observed Mr. Damon. "Bless my +fountain pen, but she ought to be easy to trace! She will leave a +track like a giant boa constrictor crawling along." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I guess we can trace her, all right," assented Tom Swift; "but +the point is, will there be anything left of her? That's what I'm +afraid of now." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Swift was still excited, but his worry had subsided as soon as he +knew Tom was safe. +</P> + +<P> +"The whole thing is a forgery, but fairly well done," Tom said, as he +looked at the paper his father gave him—a brief note stating that Tom +was well, but detained on business, and that the tank was to be brought +to him, just where the bearer of the note would indicate. Koku, the +giant, and several of the machinists, who knew how to operate the big +machine, were to go with it, the note said. +</P> + +<P> +"That made me sure everything was all right," said Mr. Swift. "I knew, +of course, Tom, that plotters might try to get hold of your war secret, +but I didn't see how they could if Koku and some of your own men were +in possession." +</P> + +<P> +"They couldn't—as long as they remained in possession," Tom said. "But +that's the trouble. I'm afraid they haven't. What has probably +happened is that under the direction of this man, who brought the +forged note from me, Koku and the others took the tank where he +directed them, thinking to meet me. Then, reaching the place where the +rest of the plotters were concealed, they overpowered Koku and the +others and took possession of the machine." +</P> + +<P> +"They'd have trouble with Koku," suggested Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but even a giant can't fight too big a crowd, especially if he is +taken by surprise, and that's probably what happened," remarked Tom. +"Now the question is where is the tank, and how can we get her back? +Every minute counts. If those German spies and their helpers remain in +possession long, they'll find out enough of my secrets to enable them +to duplicate the machine, and especially some of the most exclusive +features. We've got to get after 'em!" +</P> + +<P> +"They imitated your writing pretty well, Tom," Observed Ned, as he +looked at the forged note. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; that's why they took all my papers away from me—to get specimens +of my handwriting. I half suspected that, but I didn't quite figure out +what their game was. Well, we know the worst now, and that's better +than working in the dark. Now I'm going to have a bath and get into +some decent clothes, and we'll see what we can do." +</P> + +<P> +"Count on me, Tom!" exclaimed Ned. "I'll go the limit with you!" +</P> + +<P> +"I knew you would, old man!" +</P> + +<P> +"And me, too!" cried Mr. Damon. "Bless my open fireplace, but I'll send +word to my wife that I'm not coming home to-night, and we can start the +first thing in the morning, Tom." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; there isn't much use in going now, as it will soon be dark." +</P> + +<P> +"How are you going to trace the tank, Tom?" asked Ned, when his chum +had bathed and gotten into fresh clothes. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to tour the country around here in an auto. The tank can +make ten miles an hour, but that's nothing to what an auto can do. And +we oughtn't to have much trouble in tracing her. No one whose house she +passed would forget her in a hurry." +</P> + +<P> +"That's so," agreed Ned. "But if they took her across country—" +</P> + +<P> +"A different story," agreed Tom. "Come to think of it, maybe we'd +better start to-night, Ned. We can make inquiries after dark as well as +by daylight and get ready for an early morning hunt." +</P> + +<P> +"Let's do it, then!" suggested his chum. "I'm ready. I'll send word +that I'll not be home to-night." +</P> + +<P> +"Good!" cried the young inventor. "We'll have an old-fashioned hunt +after our enemies, Ned!" +</P> + +<P> +"And don't leave me out!" begged Mr. Damon. Hurried preparations were +made for the night trip. Tom ordered out one of his speediest, though +not largest, automobiles, and told his helper to get the Hawk ready, to +have her so she could start at a moment's notice if needed. +</P> + +<P> +"You're not going in her, are you, Tom?" asked Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"I may need her to-morrow for daylight hunting. If the tank's hidden +somewhere, I can spot her from above more easily than from the ground. +So if we get any trace of my machine, I can phone in and have the +aeroplane brought to me." +</P> + +<P> +"That's a good idea!" +</P> + +<P> +Inquiry at the shop where the tank had been built and kept disclosed +the fact that, in addition to Koku, three of Tom's men had gone in her +to help manage the machine under the direction of the man who bore the +forged note. That he was one of the plotters not hitherto observed by +either Ned or Tom seemed certain. +</P> + +<P> +"And they took Koku and some of the men merely to make it look natural +and as if it were all right," Tom said. "Naturally that deceived my +father, who thought, of course, that I was waiting for the machine. +Well, it was a slick trick, Ned, but we may fool them yet." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope so, Tom." +</P> + +<P> +Night had fully fallen when Tom, Ned, and Mr. Damon started away in the +touring car. +</P> + +<P> +Out onto the road rolled the automobile. During the little daylight +that had remained after his arrival at home and following the discovery +of the loss of the tank Tom and Ned had traced it, by the marks of the +big steel caterpillar belts, to the main road. It had gone along that +some distance, just how far could not be said. +</P> + +<P> +"But by using the searchlight of the auto we can trace her as long as +they keep her on the road," said Tom. "After that we'll have to trust +to luck, and to what inquiries we can make." +</P> + +<P> +The touring car carried a powerful lamp, and by its gleams it was easy +to trace for a time the progress of the ponderous tank. There was no +need to make inquiries of persons living along the way, though once or +twice Tom did get out to ask, confirming the fact that the big machine +had rumbled past in a direction away from the Swift home. +</P> + +<P> +"I had an idea they might have doubled on their tracks for a time, and +backed her up just to fool us," Tom said. "They might do that, keeping +her in the same tracks." +</P> + +<P> +But this, evidently, had not been done, and the tank was making good +speed away from the Swift house. They kept up the search until about +midnight, and then a heavy rain began just before they reached a point +where several roads branched. +</P> + +<P> +"Luck's with them!" exclaimed Tom. "This will wash away the marks, and +we'll have to go it blind. Might as well put up here for the night," he +added, as they came to a village hotel. +</P> + +<P> +It was evident that little more could be done in the rain and darkness, +and there was danger of over-running the trail of the tank if they kept +on. So they turned in at the hotel and got what little rest they could +in their anxious state of minds. +</P> + +<P> +Tom tried to be cheerful and to look for the best, but it was hard +work. The tank was his pet invention, and, moreover, that her secrets +should fall into the hands of the enemy and be used for Germany and +against the United States eventually, made the young inventor feel that +everything was going wrong. +</P> + +<P> +The rain kept up all night, and this would make it correspondingly hard +for them to pick up the trail in the morning. +</P> + +<P> +"The only thing we can do is to make inquiries," decided Tom. +"Fortunately, the tank can't easily be hidden." +</P> + +<P> +They started off after an early breakfast. The roads were so muddy and +wet that traveling was difficult and dangerous for the automobile, and +they were disappointed in finding no one who had seen or heard the tank +pass up to a point not far from the hotel where they had stayed +overnight. From then on the big machine seemed to have disappeared. +</P> + +<P> +"I know what they've done," Tom said, when noon came and they had found +no trace of the ponderous war machine. "They've left the road and +taken her cross country, and we can't find the spot where they did this +because the rain has washed out the marks. Well, there's only one thing +left to do." +</P> + +<P> +"What's that?" asked Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"Get the Hawk! In that we can look down and over a big extent of +country. That's what I'll do—I'll phone for the airship. The rain is +stopping, I think." +</P> + +<P> +The rain did cease by the time one of Tom's men brought the speedy +aircraft to the place named by the young inventor in his telephone +message. There were still several hours of daylight left, and Tom +counted on them to allow him to rise in the air and look down on the +tanks possible hiding place. +</P> + +<P> +"One thing's sure," he told Ned: "I know the limit of her speed, and +she can't be farther off than at some place within a circle of about +one hundred and twenty-five miles from my house. And it's in the +direction we're in. So if I circle around up above, I may spot her." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope so," murmured Ned. +</P> + +<P> +It was arranged that Mr. Damon should take the automobile back, with +Tom's mechanician in it, and Tom and Ned would scout around in the +aircraft, which carried only two. +</P> + +<P> +"You ought to have a machine gun with you, Tom, if you plan to attack +those fellows to get back the tank," Ned said. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I don't imagine I'll need it," he said. "Anyhow, a machine gun +wouldn't be of much effect against the tank. And they can't fire on us, +for there wasn't any ammunition for the guns in Tank A, unless they got +some of their own, and I hardly believe they'd do that. I'll take a +chance, anyhow." +</P> + +<P> +And so the search from the air began. It was disappointing at first. +Around and around circled Tom and Ned, their eyes peering eagerly down +from the heights for a sight of the tank, possibly hidden in some +little-known ravine or gully. +</P> + +<P> +Back and forth, like a speck in the sky, Tom guided the Hawk, while Ned +took observation after observation with the binoculars. +</P> + +<P> +At last, when the low-sinking sun gave warning that night would soon be +upon them, Ned's glasses picked up something on the ground far below +that made him sit suddenly straighter in his seat. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" asked Tom through the speaking apparatus, feeling the +movement on the part of his chum. +</P> + +<P> +"I see something down there, Tom," was the answer. "It doesn't look +like the tank, and yet it doesn't look as a clump of trees and bushes +ought to look. Have a peep yourself. It's just beyond that river, +against the side of the hill—a lonesome place, too." +</P> + +<P> +Tom took the glasses while Ned assumed control of the Hawk, there being +a dual system for operating and steering her. +</P> + +<P> +No sooner had the young inventor got the focus on what Ned had +indicated than he gave a cry. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" asked the young bank clerk. +</P> + +<P> +"Camouflaged!" cried Tom, and without stopping to explain what he +meant, he handed the binoculars back to Ned and began to guide the Hawk +down toward the earth at high speed. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap25"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XXV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Foiled +</H3> + +<P> +"Is it really Tank A, Tom?" cried Ned, through the tube, as soon as he +became aware of his companion's intention. "Are you sure?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's the girl, and just where you spotted her with the glasses—in +that clump of bushes. But they've daubed her with green and brown +paint—camouflaged her, so to speak—until she looks like part of the +landscape. What made you suspicious of that particular place?" +</P> + +<P> +"The green was such a bright one in contrast to the rest of the foliage +around it.' +</P> + +<P> +"That's what struck me," Tom answered, as he continued to drive the +Hawk earthward. "They thought they were doing a smart trick—imitating +the tactics of the Allies with their tanks—but they must be color +blind." +</P> + +<P> +Ned took another observation through the glasses. He could see the tank +more easily now. There she was, fairly well hidden in a clump of bushes +and small trees on the banks of a river, about a hundred miles away +from Shopton. It was in a wild and desolate country, and only with the +airship could the trail have thus been followed. +</P> + +<P> +Ned saw that the tank had been daubed with green, yellow, and brown +paint, in fantastic blotches, to make the big machine blend with the +foliage; and, to a certain extent, this had been accomplished. +</P> + +<P> +But, as Ned had remarked, the green used was of too vivid a hue. No +natural tree put forth leaves like that, and the glass had further +revealed the error. +</P> + +<P> +"Look, Tom!" suddenly cried Ned. "She's moving!" +</P> + +<P> +"You're right!" answered the young inventor. "They've seen us and are +trying to get away." +</P> + +<P> +"But they can't beat your airship, Tom." +</P> + +<P> +"I know that. But their game—Oh, Ned, they're going to wreck her!" +cried Tom, and there was anguish in his voice. +</P> + +<P> +As the two looked down from their seats In the Hawk they saw the tank, +in its fantastic dress of splotchy paint, leave her lair amid the +bushes and trees, and head toward the river. Like some ponderous +prehistoric monster about to take a drink, she careened her way toward +the stream, which, at this point, ran between high banks. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the game?" cried Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"They're going to send her to smash!" cried Tom. "She's pretty tough, +Tom, but she'll never stand a tumble down into the river without +breaking a lot of machinery inside her." +</P> + +<P> +"But if they demolish the tank they'll kill themselves, won't they? +And Koku and your men, too, who must be prisoners in her!" +</P> + +<P> +"They won't risk their own worthless hides, you may be sure of that!" +exclaimed Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"There they go, but they must have left Koku and the others to their +fate!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, if they could only get loose and take control now, Tom, they'd +save your tank for you!" shouted Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; but they can't, I'm afraid. They may be killed, or so securely +bound that they can't get loose!" +</P> + +<P> +"Can't you get the Hawk there in time to stop her?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm afraid not. By that time she'll have attained top speed and it +would be taking our lives in our hands to try to make a flying jump, +get inside, and shut off the motors." +</P> + +<P> +"Then the tank's got to smash!" said Ned gloomily. +</P> + +<P> +Tom did not answer for a moment. He and his chum watched the fleeing +figures running away from the war engine. What the plotters had done, +as soon as they saw the aircraft and realized that Tom had discovered +them, was to start the motors and leap from the tank, closing the doors +after them. Whether or not they had left Koku and the others prisoners +inside remained to be seen. +</P> + +<P> +But the tank was plunging her way toward the steep bank of the river, +doomed, it seemed, to great damage, if not to destruction. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, if we could only halt her!" murmured Ned. +</P> + +<P> +Tom Swift was busy with some apparatus on the Hawk. Ned heard the hum +of an electric motor which was connected with the engine, and there +soon sounded the crackle of the wireless. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you doing? Signaling for help from those inside the tank?" +asked Ned, for the big machine was fitted to receive and send messages +of this sort. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm trying something more desperate than that," Tom answered. +</P> + +<P> +Again the wireless crackled, Tom working it with one hand while, with +the other, he guided the aircraft. Ned looked downward with wondering +eyes. +</P> + +<P> +The tank was still plunging her way toward the steep bank of the river. +If she tumbled down this, there would be little left of the expensive +and complicated machinery inside. +</P> + +<P> +"The rascals did their work well," mused Ned. "They've probably gotten +all the secrets they want and now they're going to spoil all Tom's hard +work. It's a shame! If only—" +</P> + +<P> +Ned ceased his musing. Something was taking place down below that he +could not explain. The tank seemed to be slackening her progress. More +and more slowly she approached the edge of the cliff. +</P> + +<P> +"Tom! Tom!" yelled Ned. "You must have waked some of them up inside and +they've thrown the motors out of gear! Hurrah! She's stopping!" +</P> + +<P> +"I believe she is!" yelled Tom. "Oh, if it only works!" +</P> + +<P> +The tank was still moving, though more slowly. Still the crackle of the +wireless was heard. +</P> + +<P> +And then, just as Tom shut off his own motor and let the Hawk glide on +her downward way in a volplane to earth, the great, ponderous tank came +to a stop, on the very edge of the precipice at the foot of which +rolled the river. +</P> + +<P> +"Whew!" whistled Ned, as the aircraft rolled along the ground near the +war machine. "That was touch and go, Tom! They stopped her just in +time." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean the wireless stopped her," said Tom quietly. "I'm very much +afraid that if Koku and the others are alive they're still prisoners in +the craft." +</P> + +<P> +"The wireless!" gasped Ned, as he and his chum got out of the Hawk. "Do +you mean that you stopped her by wireless, Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's what I did. It was a desperate chance, but I took it. I had +just installed in the tank a system of wireless control, so she could +be guided as some torpedos and submarines are, by wireless impulses +from the shore. +</P> + +<P> +"Only I'd never given the tank system a tryout. It was all installed, +and had worked perfectly on the small model I constructed. And when I +saw her running away, out of control as she was, I realized the +wireless was the only thing that would stop her, if that would. It +might operate just opposite to what I wanted, though, and increase her +speed." +</P> + +<P> +"But I took the chance. I set the airship wireless current to working, +and tuned it in to coincide with the control of the tank. Then, by +means of the wireless impulse I shut off the motors, which can be +stopped or started by hand or by electricity. I shut 'em off." +</P> + +<P> +"And only just in time!" cried Ned. "Whew, Tom Swift, but that was a +close call!" +</P> + +<P> +"I realize that myself!" said the young inventor. "This is a new idea +and has to be worked out further for our newer tanks." +</P> + +<P> +"Gee!" ejaculated Ned. "Out of date before got into use! Now let's see +about our friends!" +</P> + +<P> +It was the work of but a moment to enter the tank, and, after making +sure that the machinery was all right, Tom and Ned made their way to +the interior. In one of the smallest rooms they found Koku and the +others bound with ropes, and in a bad way. Koku was so tied with cords +and hemp as to resemble a bale of Manilla cable. +</P> + +<P> +"Cut 'em loose, Ned!" cried Tom, and the bonds were soon severed. Then +came explanations. +</P> + +<P> +As has been told, one of the plotters, whose identity was not learned +until later, came with the forged note. The giant and Tom's men set out +in the tank, and the machine was stopped at a certain place where the +plotter, who gave the name of Crossleigh, told them Tom was to meet his +men. +</P> + +<P> +Out of ambush leaped Simpson and others, who overpowered the mechanics, +even subduing Koku after a fierce fight, and then they took possession +of the tank, making the others prisoners. +</P> + +<P> +What happened after that could only be conjectured by Tom's men, for +they were shut up in an inner room. It seemed certain, though, that the +tank was taken to some secret place and there painted to resemble the +verdure. Then she went on again, coming to rest where Tom and Ned saw +her. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile the plotters were gradually getting at the secrets of +construction, and they were in the midst of this work when one of them +saw the aeroplane. Rightly guessing what it portended, they left +hurriedly, still leaving the hapless men bound, and started the tank on +what they thought would be her last trip. +</P> + +<P> +"But you saved her, Tom!" cried Ned. "You saved her with the wireless." +</P> + +<P> +And word was sent back to Shopton by the same means to tell Mr. Swift, +Mr. Damon, and the others that Tom and his tank were safe. And then, a +little later, when the bound men had recovered the use of their cramped +limbs, the tank was backed away from the ledge and started on her +homeward way, Tom and Ned preceding her in the Hawk. +</P> + +<P> +Without further incident, save a slight break which was soon repaired, +Tank A soon reached her harbor again, and a double guard was posted +about the shop. +</P> + +<P> +"And they won't get much more chance to steal her secrets," said Tom +that night, when the stories had been told. +</P> + +<P> +"Why?" asked Ned. +</P> + +<P> +"We start to dismantle her at once," Tom answered, "and she goes to +England to be reproduced for France." +</P> + +<P> +"If only those plotters haven't stolen the secrets," mused Ned. +</P> + +<P> +But if they had they got little good of them. For shortly afterward +government secret service agents rounded up the chief members of the +gang, including Simpson and Blakeson. They, with Schwen, were sent to +an internment camp for the period of the war, and enough information +was obtained from them to disclose all the workings of the plot. +</P> + +<P> +"It was just like lots of other stunts the German spies tried to put +over on the good old U.S.A.," said Tom to Ned, the day after the +dismantled tank was shipped to Great Britain. "In some way the spies +found out what I was making, and then they got hold of Blakeson and +Grinder. Those fellows, who so nearly queered me in the big tunnel game +promised to make a tank that would beat those the British at first put +out, and they took some German money in advance for doing it. +</P> + +<P> +"When they found they couldn't make good, the German spies agreed to +help them get possession of my secrets. They worked hard enough at it, +too, but, thanks to you, Ned, and to Eradicate, who gave us the tip on +Schwen, we beat 'em out." +</P> + +<P> +"And so it's all over, Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, practically all over. I've given all my interests in the tank to +Uncle Sam. It was the only way I could do my bit, at this time. But +I've something else up my sleeve." +</P> + +<P> +And those of you who care to learn what the young inventor next did may +do so by reading the next volume of this series. +</P> + +<P> +It was about a week after Tank A, as she was still officially called, +had been shipped in sections that Ned Newton called at Tom's home. He +found his chum, with a flower in his buttonhole, about to leave in his +small runabout. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, excuse me!" exclaimed Ned. "This is Wednesday night. I might have +known. Give Mary my regards." +</P> + +<P> +"I will," promised Tom, with a smile. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Tom Swift and his War Tank, by Victor Appleton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOM SWIFT AND HIS WAR TANK *** + +***** This file should be named 954-h.htm or 954-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/9/5/954/ + +Produced by Anthony Matonac, + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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