Tom Swift And His Electric Locomotive(汤姆·斯威夫特和他的电力机车)

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TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE

TOM SWIFT AND HIS

ELECTRIC

LOCOMOTIVE

(or Two Miles a Minute on the Rails)

VICTOR APPLETON

VICTOR APPLETONVICTOR APPLETON

VICTOR APPLETON

TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE

CHAPTER I

A Tempting Offer

A Tempting OfferA Tempting Offer

A Tempting Offer

"An electric locomotive that can make two miles a minute over a

properly ballasted roadbed might not be an impossibility," said Mr. Barton

Swift ruminatively. "It is one of those things that are coming," and he

flashed his son, Tom Swift, a knowing smile. It had been a topic of

conversation between them before the visitor from the West had been

seated before the library fire and had sampled one of the elder Swift's

good cigars.

"It is not only a future possibility," said the latter gentleman, shrugging

his shoulders. "As far as the Hendrickton and Pas Alos Railroad Company

goes, a two mile a minute gait--not alone on a level track but through the

Pas Alos Range--is an immediate necessity. It's got to be done now, or our

stock will be selling on the curb for about two cents a share."

"You do not mean just that, do you, Mr. Bartholomew?" asked Tom

Swift earnestly, and staring at the big-little man before the fire.

Mr. Richard Bartholomew was just that--a "big-little man." In the

railroad world, both in construction and management, he had made an

enviable name for himself.

He had actually built up the Hendrickton and Pas Alos from a narrow-

gauge, "jerkwater" road into a part of a great cross- continent system that

tapped a wonderfully rich territory on both sides of the Pas Alos Range.

For some years the H. & P. A. had a monopoly of that territory. Now,

as Mr. Bartholomew intimated, it was threatened with such rivalry from

another railroad and other capitalists, that the H. & P. A. was being looked

upon in the financial market as a shaky investment.

But Tom Swift repeated:

"You do not mean just that, do you, Mr. Bartholomew?"

Mr. Bartholomew, who was a little man physically, rolled around in his

chair to face the young fellow more directly. His own eyes sparkled in the

firelight. His olive face was flushed.

"That is much nearer the truth, young man," he said, somewhat harshly

TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE

because of his suppressed emotion, "than I want people at large to suspect.

As I have told your father, I came here to put all my cards on the table; but

I expect the Swift Construction Company to take anything I may say as

said in confidence."

"We quite understand that, Mr. Bartholomew," said the elder Swift,

softly. "You can speak freely. Whether we do business or not, these walls

are soundproof, and Tom and I can forget, or remember, as we wish. Of

course if we take up any work for you, we must confide to a certain extent

in our close associates and trusted mechanics."

"Humph!" grunted the visitor, turning restlessly again in his chair.

Then he said: "I agree as the necessity of that last statement; but I can only

hope that these walls are soundproof."

"What's that?" demanded Tom, rather sharply. He was a bright looking

young fellow with an alert air and a rather humorous smile. His father was

a semi-invalid; but Tom possessed all the mental vigor and muscular

energy that a young man should have. He had not neglected his Athletic

development while he made the best use of his mental powers.

"Believe me," said the visitor, quite as harshly as before, "I begin to

doubt the solidity of all walls. I know that I have been watched, and spied

upon, and that eavesdroppers have played hob with our affairs.

"Of late, there has been little planned in the directors' room of the H. &

P. A. that has not seeped out and aided the enemy in foreseeing our

moves."

"The enemy?" repeated Mr. Swift, with mild surprise.

"That's it exactly! The enemy!" replied Mr. Bartholomew shortly. "The

H. & P. A. has got the fight of its life on its hands. We had a hard enough

time fighting nature and the elements when we laid the first iron for the

road a score of years ago. Now I am facing a fight that must grow fiercer

and fiercer as time goes on until either the H. & P. A. smashes the

opposition, or the enemy smashes it."

"What enemy is this you speak of?" asked Tom, much interested.

"The proposed Hendrickton & Western. A new road, backed by new

capital, and to be officered and built by new men in the construction and

railroad game.

TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE

"Montagne Lewis--you've heard of him, I presume--is at the head of

the crowd that have bought the little old Hendrickton & Western, lock,

stock and barrel.

"They have franchises for extending the road. In the old days the

legislatures granted blanket franchises that allowed any group of moneyed

men to engage in any kind of business as side issues to railroading.

Montagne Lewis and his crowd have got a 'plenty-big' franchise.

"They have begun laying iron. It parallels, to a certain extent, our own

line. Their surveyors were smarter than the men who laid out the H. & P. A.

I admit it. Besides, the country out there is developed more than it was a

score of years ago when I took hold.

"All this enters into the fight between Montagne Lewis and me. But

there is something deeper," said the little man, with almost a snarl, as he

thrashed about again in his chair. "I beat Montagne Lewis at one big game

years ago. He is a man who never forgets--and who never hesitates to play

dirty politics if he has to, to bring about his own ends.

"I know that I have been watched. I know that I was followed on this

trip East. He has private detectives on my track continually. And worse.

All the gunmen of the old and wilder West are not dead. There's a fellow

named Andy O'Malley--well, never mind him. The game at present is to

keep anybody in Lewis's employ from getting wise to why I came to see

you."

"What you say is interesting," Mr. Swift here broke in quietly. "But I

have already been puzzled by what you first said. Just why have you come

to us--to Tom and me--in reference to your railroad difficulties?"

"And this suggestion you have made," added Tom, "about a possible

electric locomotive of a faster type than has, ever yet been put on the

rails?"

"That is it, exactly," replied Bartholomew, sitting suddenly upright in

his chair. "We want faster electric motor power than has ever yet been

invented. We have got to have it, or the H. & P. A. might as well be

scrapped and the whole territory out there handed over to Montagne Lewis

and his H. & W. That is the sum total of the matter, gentlemen. If the Swift

Construction Company cannot help us, my railroad is going to be junk in

TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE

about three years from this beautiful evening."

His emphasis could not fail to impress both the elder and the younger

Swift. They looked at each other, and the interest displayed upon the

father's countenance was reflected upon the features of the son.

If there was anything Tom Swift liked it was a good fight. The clash of

diverse interests was the breath of life to the young fellow. And for some

years now, always connected in some way with the development of his

inventive genius, he had been entangled in battles both of wits and

physical powers. Here was the suggestion of something that would entail a

struggle of both brain and brawn.

"Sounds good," muttered Tom, gazing at the railroad magnate with

considerable admiration.

"Let us hear all about it," Mr. Swift said to Bartholomew. "Whether we

can help you or not, we're interested."

"All right," replied the visitor again. "Whether I was followed East,

and here to Shopton, or not doesn't much matter. I will put my proposition

up to you, and then I'll ask, if you don't want to go into it, that you keep

the business absolutely secret. I have got to put something over on

Montagne Lewis and his crowd, or throw up the sponge. That's that!"

"Go ahead, Mr. Bartholomew," observed Tom's father, encouragingly.

"To begin with, four hundred miles of our road is already electrified.

We have big power stations and supply heat and light and power to several

of the small cities tapped by the H. & P. A. It is a paying proposition as it

stands. But it is only paying because we carry the freight traffic--all the

freight traffic--of that region.

"If the H. & W. breaks in on our monopoly of that, we shall soon be so

cut down that our invested capital will not earn two per cent.--No, by

glory! not one-and-a-half per cent.--and our stock will be dished. But I

have worked out a scheme, Gentlemen, by which we can counter-balance

any dig Lewis can give us in the ribs.

"If we can extend our electrified line into and through the Pas Alos

Range our freight traffic can be handled so cheaply and so effectively that

nothing the Hendrickton & Western can do for years to come will hurt us.

Get that?"

TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE

"I get your statement, Mr. Bartholomew," said Mr. Swift. "But it is

merely a statement as yet."

"Sure. Now I will give you the particulars. We are using the Jandel

locomotives on our electrified stretch of road. You know that patent?"

"I know something about it, Mr. Bartholomew," said the younger

inventor. "I have felt some interest in the electric locomotive, though I

have done nothing practical in the matter. But I know the Jandel patent."

"It is about the best there is--and the most recent; but it does not fill

the bill. Not for the H. & P. A., anyway," said Mr. Bartholomew, shortly.

"What does it lack?" asked Mr. Swift.

"Speed. It's got the power for heavy hauls. It could handle the freight

through the Pas Alos Range. But it would slow up our traffic so that the

shippers would at once turn to the Hendrickton & Western. You

understand that their rails do not begin to engage the grades that our

engineers thought necessary when the old H. & P. A. was built."

"I get that," said Tom briskly. "You have come here, then, to interest us

in the development of a faster but quite as powerful type of electric

locomotive as the Jandel."

"Stated to the line!" exclaimed Mr. Bartholomew, smiting the arm of

his chair with his clenched fist. "That is it, young man. You get me exactly.

And now I will go on to put my proposition to you."

"Do so, Mr. Bartholomew," murmured the old inventor, quite as much

interested as his son.

"I want you to make a study of electric motive power as applied to

track locomotives, with the idea of utilizing our power plants and others

like them, and even with the possibility in mind of the continued use of the

Jandel locomotives on our more level stretches of road.

"But I want your investigation to result in the building of locomotives

that will make a speed of two miles a minute, or as near that as possible,

on level rails, and be powerful enough to snake our heavy freight trains

through the hills and over the steep grades so rapidly that even two

engines, a pusher and a hauler, cannot beat the electric power."

"Some job, that, I'll say," murmured Tom Swift.

"Exactly. Some job. And it is the only thing that will save the H. & P.

TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE

A.," said Mr. Bartholomew decidedly. "I put it up to you Swifts. I have

heard of some of your marvelous inventions. Here is something that is

already invented. But it needs development."

"I see," said Mr. Swift, and nodded.

"It interests me," admitted Tom. "As I say, I have given some thought

to the electric locomotive."

"This is the age of speed," said Mr. Bartholomew earnestly. "Rapidity

in handling freight and kindred things will be the salvation, and the only

salvation, of many railroads. Tapping a rich territory is not enough. The

road that can offer the quickest and cheapest service is the road that is

going to keep out of a receivership. Believe me, I know!"

"You should," said Mr. Swift mildly. "Your experience should have

taught you a great deal about the railroad business."

"It has. But that knowledge is worth just nothing at all without swift

power and cheap traffic. Those are the problems today. Now, I am going to

take a chance. If it doesn't work, my road is dished in any case. So I feel

that the desperate chance is the only chance."

"What is that?" asked Tom Swift, sitting forward in his chair. "I, for

one, feel so much interested that I will do anything in reason to find the

answer to your traffic problem."

"That's the boy!" ejaculated Richard Bartholomew. "I will give it to

you in a few words. If you will experiment with the electric locomotive

idea, to develop speed and power over and above the Jandel patent, and

will give me the first call on the use of any patents you may contrive, I

will put up twenty-five thousand dollars in cash which shall be yours

whether I can make use of a thing you invent or not."

"Any time limit in this agreement, Mr. Bartholomew?" asked Tom,

making a few notes on a scratch pad before him on the library table.

"What do you say to three months?"

"Make it six, if you can," Tom said with continued briskness. "It

interests me. I'll do my best. And I want you to get your money's worth."

"All right. Make it six," said Mr. Bartholomew. "But the quicker you

dig something up, the better for me. Now, that is the first part of my

proposition." "All right, sir. And the second?"

TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE

"If you succeed in showing me that you can build and operate an

electric locomotive that will speed two miles a minute on a level track and

will get a heavy drag over the mountain grades, as I said, as surely as two

engines of the coal-burning or oil-burning type, I will pay you a hundred

thousand dollars bonus, besides buying all the engines you can build of

this new type for the first two years. I've got to have first call; but the

hundred thousand will be yours free and clear, and the price of the

locomotives you build can be adjusted by any court of agreement that you

may suggest."

Tom Swift's face glowed. He realized that this offer was not only

generous, but that it made it worth his while dropping everything else he

had in hand and devoting his entire time and thought for even six mouths

to the proposition of developing the electric locomotive.

He looked at his father and nodded. Mr. Swift said, calmly:

"We take you on that offer, Mr. Bartholomew. Tom has the facts on

paper, and we will hand it to Mr. Newton, our financial manager, in the

morning. If you will remain in town for twenty- four hours, the contract

can be signed."

"Suits me," declared. Richard Bartholomew, rising quickly from his

chair. "I confess I hoped you would take me up quite as promptly as you

have. I want to get back West again.

"We will see you in the office of the company at two o'clock

tomorrow," said Tom Swift confidently.

"Better than good! And now, if that trailer that I am pretty sure

Montagne Lewis sent after me does not get wise to the subject of our talk,

it may be a slick job we have done and will do. I admit I am rather afraid

of the enemy. You Swifts must keep your plans in utter darkness."

After a little talk on more ordinary affairs, Mr. Bartholomew took his

departure. It was getting late in the evening, and Tom Swift had an

engagement. While old Rad, their colored servant, was helping him on

with his coat preparatory to Tom's leaving the house, his father called from

the library:

"Got those notes in a safe place, Tom?"

"Safest in the world, Dad," his son replied. But he did not go into

TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE

details. Tom considered the "safest place in the world" just then was his

own wallet, which was tucked into an inside pocket of his vest "I'm going

to see Mary Nestor, Father," said Tom, as he went to the front door and

opened it.

He halted a moment with the knob of the door in his hand. The porch

was deep in shadows, but he thought he had seen something move there.

"That you, Koku?" asked Tom in an ordinary voice. Sometimes his

gigantic servant wandered about the house at night. He was a strange

person, and he had a good many thoughts in his savage brain that even his

young master did not understand.

There was no reply to Tom's question, so he walked down the steps

and out at the gate. It was not a long distance to the Nestor house, and the

air was brisk and keen, in spite of the fact that threatening clouds masked

the stars.

Two blocks from the house he came to a high wall which separated the

street from the grounds of an old dwelling. Tom suddenly noticed that the

usual street lights on this block had been extinguished--blown out by the

wind, perhaps.

Involuntarily he quickened his steps. He reached the archway in the

wall. Here was the gate dividing the private grounds from the street. As he

strode into the shadow of this place a voice suddenly halted Tom Swift.

"Hands up! Put 'em up and don't be slow about it!" A bulky figure

loomed in the dark. Tom saw the highwayman's club poised threateningly

over his head.

TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE

CHAPTER II

Trouble Starts

Trouble StartsTrouble Starts

Trouble Starts

The fact that he was stopped by a footpad smote Tom Swift's mind as

not a particularly surprising adventure. He had heard that several of that

gentry had been plying their trade about the outskirts of the town. To a

degree he was prepared for this sudden event.

Then there flashed into Tom's mind the thought of what Mr. Richard

Bartholomew had said regarding the spy he believed had followed him

from the West. Could it be possible that some hired thug sent by Montagne

Lewis and his crooked crowd of financiers considered that Tom Swift had

obtained information from the president of the H. & P. A. that might do his

employers signal service?

Tom Swift had fallen in with many adventures--and some quite

thrilling ones--since, as a youth, he was first introduced to the reader in the

initial volume of this series, entitled "Tom Swift and His Motor Cycle."

His first experiences as an inventor, coached by his father, who had spent

his life in the experimental laboratory and workshop, was made possible

by his purchase from Mr. Wakefield Damon, now one of his closest

friends, of a broken- down motor cycle.

Through a series of inventions, some of them of a marvelous kind,

Tom Swift, aided by his father, had forged ahead, building motor boats,

airships, submarines, monoplanes, motion picture cameras, searchlights,

cannons, photo-telephones, war tanks. Of late, as related in "Tom Swift

Among the Fire Fighters," he had engaged in the invention of an explosive

bomb carrying flame- quenching chemicals that would, in time,

revolutionize fire- fighting in tall buildings.

The matter that Mr. Richard Bartholomew, the railroad magnate, had

brought to Tom's and his father's attention had deeply interested the young

inventor. Thought of the electric locomotive, the development of which

the railroad president stated was the only salvation of the finances of the H.

& P. A., had so held Tom's attention as he walked along the street that

being stopped in this sudden way was even more startling than such an

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Tom Swift And His Electric Locomotive(汤姆·斯威夫特和他的电力机车)

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