TOM SWIFT AND HIS AERIAL WARSHIP
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10 TOM SWIFT AND HIS AERIAL WARSHIP
or
The Naval Terror of the Seas
BY
VICTOR APPLETON
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I TOM IS PUZZLED
II A FIRE ALARM
III A DESPERATE BATTLE
IV SUSPICIONS
V A QUEER STRANGER
VI THE AERIAL WARSHIP
VII WARNINGS
VIII A SUSPECTED PLOT
IX THE RECOIL CHECK
X THE NEW MEN
XI A DAY OFF
XII A NIGHT ALARM
XIII THE CAPTURE
XIV THE FIRST FLIGHT
XV IN DANGER
XVI TOM IS WORRIED
XVII AN OCEAN FLIGHT
XVIII IN A STORM
XIX QUEER HAPPENINGS
XX THE STOWAWAYS
XXI PRISONERS
XXII APPREHENSIONS
XXIII ACROSS THE SEA
XXIV THE LIGHTNING BOLT
XXV FREEDOM
TOM SWIFT AND HIS AERIAL WARSHIP
CHAPTER I
TOM IS PUZZLED
"What's the matter, Tom? You look rather blue!"
"Blue! Say, Ned, I'd turn red, green, yellow, or any other
color of the rainbow, if I thought it would help matters any."
"Whew!"
Ned Newton, the chum and companion of Tom Swift, gave vent to a
whistle of surprise, as he gazed at the young fellow sitting
opposite him, near a bench covered with strange-looking tools and
machinery, while blueprints and drawings were scattered about.
Ranged on the sides of the room were models of many queer
craft, most of them flying machines of one sort or another, while
through the open door that led into a large shed could be seen
the outlines of a speedy monoplane.
"As bad as that, eh, Tom?" went on Ned. "I thought something
was up when I first came in, but, if you'll excuse a second
mention of the color scheme, I should say it was blue--decidedly
blue. You look as though you had lost your last friend, and I
want to assure you that if you do feel that way, it's dead wrong.
There's myself, for one, and I'm sure Mr. Damon--"
"Bless my gasoline tank!" exclaimed Tom, with a laugh, in
imitation of the gentleman Ned Newton had mentioned, "I know
that! I'm not worrying over the loss of any friends."
"And there are Eradicate, and Koku, the giant, just to mention
a couple of others," went on Ned, with a smile.
"That's enough!" exclaimed Tom. "It isn't that, I tell you."
"Well, what is it then? Here I go and get a half-holiday off
from the bank, and just at the busiest time, too, to come and see
you, and I find you in a brown study, looking as blue as indigo,
and maybe you're all yellow inside from a bilious attack, for all
I know."
"Quite a combination of colors," admitted Tom. "But it isn't
what you think. It's just that I'm puzzled, Ned."
"Puzzled?" and Ned raised his eyebrows to indicate how
surprised he was that anything should puzzle his friend.
"Yes, genuinely puzzled."
"Has anything gone wrong?" Ned asked. "No one is trying to take
any of your pet inventions away from you, is there?"
"No, not exactly that, though it is about one of my inventions
I am puzzled. I guess I haven't shown you my very latest; have I, Ned?"
"Well, I don't know, Tom. Time was when I could keep track of
you and your inventions, but that was in your early days, when
you started with a motorcycle and were glad enough to have a
motorboat. But, since you've taken to aerial navigation and
submarine work, not to mention one or two other lines of activity,
I give up. I don't know where to look next, Tom, for something new."
"Well, this isn't so very new," went on the young inventor, for
Tom Swift had designed and patented many new machines of the air,
earth and water. "I'm just trying to work out some new problems
in aerial navigation, Ned," he went on.
"I thought there weren't any more," spoke Ned, soberly enough.
"Come, now, none of that!" exclaimed Tom, with a laugh. "Why,
the surface of aerial navigation has only been scratched. The
science is far from being understood, or even made safe, not to
say perfected, as water and land travel have been. There's lots
of chance yet."
"And you're working on something new?" asked Ned, as he looked
around the shop where he and Tom were sitting. As the young bank
employee had said, he had come away from the institution that
afternoon to have a little holiday with his chum, but Tom, seated
in the midst of his inventions, seemed little inclined to jollity.
Through the open windows came the hum of distant machinery, for
Tom Swift and his father were the heads of a company founded to
manufacture and market their many inventions, and about their
home were grouped several buildings. From a small plant the
business had grown to be a great tree, under the direction of Tom
and his father.
"Yes, I'm working on something new," admitted Tom, after a
moment of silence.
"And, Ned," he went on, "there's no reason why you shouldn't
see it. I've been keeping it a bit secret, until I had it a
little further advanced, but I've got to a point now where I'm
stuck, and perhaps it will do me good to talk to someone about
it."
"Not to talk to me, though, I'm afraid. What I don't know about
machinery, Tom, would fill a great many books. I don't see how I
can help you," and Ned laughed.
"Well, perhaps you can, just the same, though you may not know
a lot of technical things about machines. It sometimes helps me
just to tell my troubles to a disinterested person, and hear him
ask questions. I've got dad half distracted trying to solve the
problem, so I've had to let up on him for a while. Come on out
and see what you make of it."
"Sure, Tom, anything to oblige. If you want me to sit in front
of your photo-telephone, and have my picture taken, I'm
agreeable, even if you shoot off a flashlight at my ear. Or, if
you want me to see how long I can stay under water without
breathing I'll try that, too, provided you don't leave me under
too long, lead the way--I'm agreeable as far as I'm able, old
man."
"Oh, it isn't anything like that," Tom answered with a laugh.
"I might as well give you a few hints, so you'll know what I'm
driving at. Then I'll take you out and show it to you."
"What is it--air, earth or water?" asked Ned Newton, for he
knew his chum's activities led along all three lines.
"This happens to be air."
"A new balloon?"
"Something like that. I call it my aerial warship, though."
"Aerial warship, Tom! That sounds rather dangerous!"
"It will be dangerous, too, if I can get it to work. That's
what it's intended for."
"But a warship of the air!" cried Ned. "You can't mean it. A
warship carries guns, mortars, bombs, and--"
"Yes, I know," interrupted Tom, "and I appreciate all that when
I called my newest craft an aerial warship."
"But," objected Ned, "an aircraft that will carry big guns will
be so large that--"
"Oh, mine is large enough," Tom broke in.
"Then it's finished!" cried Ned eagerly, for he was much
interested in his chum's inventions.
"Well, not exactly," Tom said. "But what I was going to tell
you was that all guns are not necessarily large. You can get big
results with small guns and projectiles now, for high-powered
explosives come in small packages. So it isn't altogether a
question of carrying a certain amount of weight. Of course, an
aerial warship will have to be big, for it will have to carry
extra machinery to give it extra speed, and it will have to carry
a certain armament, and a large crew will be needed. So, as I said,
it will need to be large. But that problem isn't worrying me."
"Well, what is it, then?" asked Ned.
"It's the recoil," said Tom, with a gesture of despair.
"The recoil?" questioned Ned, wonderingly.
"Yes, from the guns, you know. I haven't been able to overcome that,
and, until I do, I'm afraid my latest invention will be a failure."
Ned shook his head.
"I'm afraid I can't help you any," he said. "The only thing I
know about recoils is connected with an old shotgun my father
used to own.
"I took that once, when he didn't know it," Ned proceeded. "It
was pretty heavily loaded, for the crows had been having fun in
our cornfield, and dad had been shooting at them. This time I
thought I'd take a chance.
"Well, I fired the gun. But it must have had a double charge in
it and been rusted at that. All I know is that after I pulled the
trigger I thought the end of the world had come. I heard a clap of
thunder, and then I went flying over backward into a blackberry patch."
"That was the recoil," said Tom.
"The what?" asked Ned.
"The recoil. The recoil of the gun knocked you over."
"Oh, yes," observed Ned, rubbing his shoulder in a reflective
sort of way. "I always thought it was something like that. But,
at the time I put it down to an explosion, and let it go at that."
"No, it wasn't an explosion, properly speaking," said Tom. "You
see, when powder explodes, in a gun, or otherwise, its force is
exerted in all directions, up, down and every way."
"This went mostly backward--in my direction," said Ned ruefully.
"You only thought so," returned Tom. "Most of the power went
out in front, to force out the shot. Part of it, of course, was
exerted on the barrel of the gun--that was sideways--but the
strength of the steel held it in. And part of the force went
backward against your shoulder. That part was the recoil, and it
is the recoil of the guns I figure on putting aboard my aerial
warship that is giving me such trouble."
"Is that what makes you look so blue?" asked Ned.
"That's it. I can't seem to find a way by which to take up the
recoil, and the force of it, from all the guns I want to carry,
will just about tear my ship to pieces, I figure."
"Then you haven't actually tried it out yet?" asked Ned.
"Not the guns, no. I have the warship of the air nearly done,
but I've worked out on paper the problem of the guns far enough
so that I know I'm up against it. It can't be done, and an aerial
warship without guns wouldn't be worth much, I'm afraid."
"I suppose not," agreed Ned. "And is it only the recoil that is
bothering you?"
"Mostly. But come, take a look at my latest pet," and Tom arose
to lead the way to another shed, a large one in the distance,
toward which he waved his hand to indicate to his chum that there
was housed the wonderful invention.
The two chums crossed the yard, threading their way through the
various buildings, until they stood in front of the structure to
which Tom had called attention.
"It's in here," he said. "I don't mind admitting that I'm quite
proud of it, Ned; that is, proud as far as I've gone. But the gun
business sure has me worried. I'm going to talk it off on you.
Hello!" cried Tom suddenly, as he put a key in the complicated
lock on the door, "someone has been in here. I wonder who it is?"
Ned was a little startled at the look on Tom's face and the
sound of alarm in his chum's voice.
CHAPTER II
A FIRE ALARM
Tom Swift quickly opened the door of the big shed. It was built
to house a dirigible balloon, or airship of some sort. Ned could
easily tell that from his knowledge of Tom's previous inventions.
"Something wrong?" asked the young bank clerk.
"I don't know," returned Tom, and then as he looked inside the
place, he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh, it's you, is it, Koku?" he asked, as a veritable giant of
a man came forward.
"Yes, master, it is only Koku and your father," spoke the big
chap, with rather a strange accent.
"Oh, is my father here?" asked Tom. "I was wondering who had
opened the door of this shed."
"Yes, Tom," responded the elder Swift, coming up to them, "I
had a new idea in regard to some of those side guy wires, and I
wanted to try it out. I brought Koku with me to use his strength
on some of them."
"That's all right, Dad. Ned and I came out to wrestle with that
recoil problem again. I want to try some guns on the craft soon,
but--"
"You'd better not, Tom," warned his father. "It will never
work, I tell you. You can't expect to take up quick-firing guns
and bombs in an airship, and have them work properly. Better give
it up."
"I never will. I'll make it work, Dad!"
"I don't believe you will, Tom. This time you have bitten off
more than you can chew, to use a homely but expressive
statement."
"Well, Dad, we'll see," began Tom easily. "There she is, Ned,"
he went on. "Now, if you'll come around here . . ."
But Tom never finished that sentence, for at that moment there
came running into the airship shed an elderly, short, stout,
fussy gentleman, followed by an aged colored man. Both of them
seemed very much excited.
"Bless my socks, Tom!" cried the short, stout man. "There sure
is trouble!"
"I should say So, Massa Tom!" added the colored man. "I done
did prognosticate dat some day de combustible material of which
dat shed am composed would conflaggrate--"
"What's the matter?" interrupted Tom, jumping forward. "Speak
out! Eradicate! Mr. Damon, what is it?"
"The red shed!" cried the short little man. "The red shed, Tom!"
"It's on fire!" yelled the colored man.
"Great thunderclaps!" cried Tom. "Come on--everybody on the
job!" he yelled. "Koku, pull the alarm! If that red shed goes--"
Instantly the place was in confusion. Tom and Ned, looking from
a window of the hangar, saw a billow of black smoke roll across
the yard. But already the private fire bell was clanging out its
warning. And, while the work of fighting the flames is under way,
I will halt the progress of this story long enough to give my new
readers a little idea of who Tom Swift is, so they may read this
book more intelligently. Those of you who have perused the
previous volumes may skip this part.
Tom Swift, though rather young in years, was an inventor of
note. His tastes and talents were developed along the line of
machinery and locomotion. Motorcycles, automobiles, motorboats,
submarine craft, and, latest of all, craft of the air, had occupied
the attention of Tom Swift and his father for some years.
Mr. Swift was a widower, and lived with Tom, his only son, in
the village of Shopton, New York State. Mrs. Baggert kept house
for them, and an aged colored man, Eradicate Sampson, with his
mule, Boomerang, did "odd jobs" about the Shopton home and
factories.
Among Tom's friends was a Mr. Wakefield Damon, from a nearby
village. Mr. Damon was always blessing something, from his hat to
his shoes, a harmless sort of habit that seemed to afford him
much comfort. Then there was Ned Newton, a boyhood chum of Tom's,
who worked in the Shopton bank. I will just mention Mary Nestor,
a young lady of Shopton, in whom Tom was more than ordinarily
interested. I have spoken of Koku, the giant. He really was a
giant of a man, of enormous strength, and was one of two whom Tom
had brought with him from a strange land where Tom was held
captive for a time. You may read about it in a book devoted to
those adventures.
Tom took Koku into his service, somewhat to the dismay of
Eradicate, who was desperately jealous. But poor Eradicate was
getting old, and could not do as much as he thought he could. So,
in a great measure, Koku replaced him, and Tom found much use for
the giant's strength.
Tom had begun his inventive work when, some years before this
story opens, he had bargained for Mr. Damon's motorcycle, after
that machine had shot its owner into a tree. Mr. Damon was,
naturally, perhaps, much disgusted, and sold the affair cheap.
Tom repaired it, made some improvements, and, in the first
volume of this series, entitled "Tom Swift and His Motorcycles,"
you may read of his rather thrilling adventures on his speedy
road-steed.
From then on Tom had passed a busy life, making many machines
and having some thrilling times with them. Just previous to the
opening of this story Tom had made a peculiar instrument,
described in the volume entitled "Tom Swift and His Photo-
Telephone." With that a person talking could not only see the
features of the person with whom he was conversing, but, by means
of a selenium plate and a sort of camera, a permanent picture
could be taken of the person at either end of the wire.
By means of this invention Tom had been able to make a picture
that had saved a fortune. But Tom did not stop there. With him to
invent was as natural and necessary as breathing. He simply could
not stop it. And so we find him now about to show to his chum,
Ned Newton, his latest patent, an aerial warship, which, however,
was not the success Tom had hoped for.
But just at present other matters than the warship were in
Tom's mind. The red shed was on fire.
That mere statement might not mean anything special to the
ordinary person, but to Tom, his father, and those who knew about
his shops, it meant much.
"The red shed!" Tom cried. "We mustn't let that get the best of
us! Everybody at work! Father, not you, though. You mustn't
excite yourself!"
Even in the midst of the alarm Tom thought of his father, for
the aged man had a weak heart, and had on one occasion nearly
expired, being saved just in time by the arrival of a doctor,
whom Tom brought to the scene after a wonderful race through the
air.
"But, Tom, I can help," objected the aged inventor.
"Now, you just take care of yourself, Father!" Tom cried.
"There are enough of us to look after this fire, I think."
"But, Tom, it--it's the red shed!" gasped Mr. Swift.
"I realize that, Dad. But it can't have much of a start yet. Is
the alarm ringing, Koku?"
"Yes, Master," replied the giant, in correct but stilted
English. "I have set the indicator to signal the alarm in every
shop on the premises."
"That's right." Tom sprang toward the door. "Eradicate!" he
called.
"Yais, sah! Heah I is!" answered the colored man. "I'll go git
mah mule, Boomerang, right away, an' he--"
"Don't you bring Boomerang on the scene!" Tom yelled. "When I
want that shed kicked apart I can do it better than by using a
mule's heels. And you know you can't do a thing with Boomerang
when he sees fire."
"Now dat's so, Massa Tom. But I could put blinkers on him,
an'--"
"No, you let Boomerang stay where he is. Come on, Ned. We'll
see what we can do. Mr. Damon--"
"Yes, Tom, I'm right here," answered the peculiar man, for he
had come over from his home in Waterford to pay a visit to his
friends, Tom and Mr. Swift. "I'll do anything I can to help you,
Tom, bless my necktie!" he went on. "Only say the word!"
"We've got to get some of the stuff out of the place!" Tom
cried. "We may be able to save it, but I can't take a chance on
putting out the fire and letting some of the things in there go
up in smoke. Come on!"
Those in the shed where was housed what Tom hoped would prove
to be a successful aerial warship rushed to the open. From the
other shops and buildings nearby were pouring men and boys, for
the Swift plant employed a number of hands now.
Above the shouts and yells, above the crackle of flames, could
be heard the clanging of the alarm bell, set ringing by Koku, who
had pulled the signal in the airship shed. From there it had gone
to every building in the plant, being relayed by the telephone
operator, whose duty it was to look after that.
"My, you've got a big enough fire-fighting force, Tom!" cried
Ned in his chum's ear.
"Yes, I guess we can master it, if it hasn't gotten the best of
us. Say, it's going some, though!"
Tom pointed to where a shed, painted red--a sign of danger--
could be seen partly enveloped in smoke, amid the black clouds of
which shot out red tongues of flame.
"What have you got it painted red for?" Ned asked pantingly, as
they ran on.
"Because--" Tom began, but the rest of the sentence was lost in
a yell.
Tom had caught sight of Eradicate and the giant, Koku,
unreeling from a central standpipe a long line of hose.
"Don't take that!" Tom cried. "Don't use that hose! Drop it!"
"What's the matter? Is it rotten?" Ned wanted to know.
"No, but if they pull it out the water will be turned on
automatically."
"Well, isn't that what you want at a fire--water?" Ned
demanded.
"Not at this fire," was Tom's answer. "There's a lot of calcium
carbide in that red shed--that's why it's red--to warn the men of
danger. You know what happens when water gets on carbide--there's
an explosion, and there's enough carbide in that shed to send the
whole works sky high.
"Drop that hose!" yelled Tom in louder tones. "Drop it, Rad--
Koku! Do you want to kill us all!"
CHAPTER III
A DESPERATE BATTLE
Tom's tones and voice were so insistent that the giant and the
colored man had no choice but to obey. They dropped the hose
which, half unreeled, lay like some twisted snake in the grass.
Had it been pulled out all the way the water would have spurted
from the nozzle, for it was of the automatic variety, with which
Tom had equipped all his plant.
"But what are you going to do, Tom, if you don't use water?"
asked Ned, wonderingly.
"I don't know--yet, but I know water is the worst thing you can
put on carbide," returned Tom. For all he spoke Slowly his brain
was working fast. Already, even now, he was planning how best to
give battle to the flames.
It needed but an instant's thought on the part of Ned to make
him understand that Tom was right. It would be well-nigh fatal to
use water on carbide. Those of you who have bicycle lanterns, in
which that not very pleasant-smelling chemical is used, know that
if a few drops of water are allowed to drip slowly on the gray
crystals acetylene gas is generated, which makes a brilliant
light. But, if the water drips too fast, the gas is generated too
quickly, and an explosion results. In lamps, of course, and in
lighting plants where carbide is used, there are automatic
arrangements to prevent the water flowing too freely to the
chemical. But Tom knew if the hose were turned on the fire in the
red shed a great explosion would result, for some of the tins of
carbide would be melted by the heat.
Yet the fire needed to be coped with. Already the flames were
coming through the roof, and the windows and door were spouting
red fire and volumes of smoke.
Several other employees of Tom's plant had made ready to unreel
more hose, but the warning of the young inventor, shouted to
Eradicate and Koku, had had its effect. Every man dropped the
line he had begun to unreel.
"Ha! Massa Tom say drop de hose, but how yo' gwine t' squirt
watah on a fire wifout a hose; answer me dat?" and Eradicate
looked at Koku.
"Me no know," was the slow answer. "I guess Koku go pull shed
down and stamp out fire."
"Huh! Maybe yo' could do dat in cannibal land, where yo' all
come from," spoke Eradicate, "but yo' can't do dat heah! 'Sides,
de red shed will blow up soon. Dere's suffin' else in dere except
carbide, an' dat's gwine t' go up soon, dat's suah!"
"Maybe you get your strong man-mule, Boomerang," suggested
Koku. "Nothing ever hurt him--explosion or nothing. He can kick
shed all to pieces, and put out fire."
"Dat's what I wanted t' do, but Massa Tom say I cain't,"
explained the colored man. "Golly! Look at dat fire!"
Indeed the blaze was now assuming alarming proportions. The red
shed, which was not a small structure, was blazing on all sides.
About it stood the men from the various shops.
"Tom, you must do something," said Mr. Swift. "If the flames
once reach that helmanite--"
"I know, Father. But that explosive is in double vacuum
containers, and it will be safe for some time yet. Besides, it's
in the cellar. It's the carbide I'm most worried about. We
daren't use water."
"But something will have to be done!" exclaimed Mr. Damon.
"Bless my red necktie, if we don't--"
"Better get back a way," suggested Tom. "Something may go off!"
His words of warning had their effect, and the whole circle
moved back several paces.
"Is there anything of value in the shed?" asked Ned.
"I should say there was!" Tom answered. "I hoped we could get
some of them out, but we can't now--until the fire dies down a
bit, at any rate."
"Look, Tom! The pattern shop roof is catching!" shouted Mr.
Swift, pointing to where a little spurt of flame showed on the
roof of a distant building.
"It's from sparks!" Tom said.
"Any danger of using water there?" Ned wanted to know.
"No, use all you like! That's the only thing to do. Come on,
you with the hose!" Tom yelled. "Save the other buildings!"
"But are you going to let the red shed burn?" asked Mr. Swift.
"You know what it means, Tom."
"Yes, Father, I know. And I'm going to fight that fire in a new
way. But we must save the other buildings, too. Play water on all
the other sheds and structures!" ordered the young inventor.
"I'll tackle this one myself. Oh, Ned!" he called.
"Yes," answered his chum. "What is it?"
"You take charge of protecting the place where the new aerial
warship is stored. Will you? I can't afford to lose that."
"I'll look after it, Tom. No harm in using water there, though;
is there?"
"Not if you don't use too much. Some of the woodwork isn't
varnished yet, and I wouldn't want it to be wet. But do the best
you can. Take Koku and Eradicate with you. They can't do any good
here."
"Do you mean to say you're going to give up and let this burn?"
"Not a bit of it, Ned. But I have another plan I want to try.
Lively now! The wind's changing, and it's blowing over toward my
aerial warship shed. If that catches--"
Tom shook his head protestingly, and Ned set off on the run,
calling to the colored man and the giant to get out another line
of hose.
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