Tom Swift and His Air Scout(汤姆·史威夫特和他的侦察机)

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TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR SCOUT

TOM SWIFT AND HIS

AIR SCOUT

(OR Uncle Sam's Mastery of the Sky)

Victor Appleton

TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR SCOUT

CHAPTER I A SKY RIDE

"Oh Tom, is it really safe?"

A young lady--an exceedingly pretty young lady, she could be called--

stood with one small, gloved hand on the outstretched wing of an

aeroplane, and looked up at a young man, attired in a leather, fur-lined suit,

who sat in the cockpit of the machine just above her.

"Safe, Mary?" repeated the pilot, as he reached in under the hood of

the craft to make sure about one of the controls. "Why, you ought to know

by this time that I wouldn't go up if it wasn't safe!"

"Oh, yes, I know, Tom. It may be all right for you, but I've never been

up in this kind of airship before, and I want to know if it's safe for me."

The young man leaned over the edge of the padded cockpit, and

clasped in his rather grimy hand the neatly gloved one of the young lady.

And though the glove was new, and fitted the hand perfectly, there was no

attempt to withdraw it. Instead, the young lady seemed to be very glad

indeed that her hand was in such safe keeping.

"Mary!" exclaimed the young man, "if it wasn't safe--as safe as a

church--I wouldn't dream of taking you up!" and at the mention of

"church" Mary Nestor blushed just the least bit. Or perhaps it was that the

prospective excitement of the moment caused the blood to surge into her

cheeks. Have it as you will.

"Come, Mary! you're not going to back out the last minute, are you?"

asked Tom Swift. "Everything is all right. I've made a trial flight, and

you've seen me come down as safely as a bird. You promised to go up with

me. I won't go very high if you don't like it, but my experience has been

that, once you're off the ground, it doesn't make any difference how high

you go. you'll find it very fascinating. So skip along to the house, and Mrs.

Baggert will help you get into your togs."

"Shall I have to wear all those things--such as you have on?" asked

Mary, blushing again.

"Well, you'll be more comfortable in a fur-lined leather suit," asserted

Tom. "And if it does make you look like an Eskimo, why I'm sure it will

be very becoming. Not that you don't look nice now," he hastened to

TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR SCOUT

assure Miss Nestor, "but an aviation suit will be very--well, fetching, I

should say."

"If I could be sure it would 'fetch' me back safe, Tom--"

"That'll do! That'll do!" laughed the young aviator. "One joke like that

is enough in a morning. It was pretty good, though. Now go on in and tog

up."

"You're sure it's safe, Tom?"

"Positive! Trot along now. I want to fix a wire and--"

"Oh, is anything broken?" and the girl, who had started away from the

aeroplane, turned back again.

"No, not broken. It's only a little auxiliary dingus I put on to make it

easier to read the barograph, but I think I'll go back to the old system.

Nothing to do with flying at all, except to tell how high up one is."

"That's just what I don't care to know, Tom," said Mary Nestor, with a

smile. "If I could imagine I was sailing along only about ten feet in the air

I wouldn't mind so much."

"Flying at that height would be the worst sort of danger. You leave it to

me, Mary. I won't take you up above the clouds on this sky ride; though,

later, I'm sure you'll want to try that. This is only a little flight. You've

been promising long enough to take a trip with me, and now I believe

you're trying to back out."

"No, really I'm not, Tom! Only, at the last minute, the machine looks

so small and frail, and the sky is so--big--"

She glanced up and seemed to shiver just a trifle.

"Don't be thinking of those things, Mary!" laughed Tom Swift. "Trot

along and get ready. The motor never worked better, and we may break a

few speed records this morning. No traffic cops to stop us, either, as there

might be if we were in an auto." "There you go, Mary !" exclaimed Tom,

as if struck with a new thought. "You've ridden in an auto with me many a

time, and you never were a bit afraid, though we were in more danger than

we'll be this morning."

"Danger, Tom, in an auto? How?"

"Why, danger of a wheel collapsing as we were going full speed; or

the steering knuckle breaking and sending us into a tree; danger of running

TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR SCOUT

into a stone wall or a ditch; danger of some one running into us, or of us

running into some one else. There isn't one of these dangers on a sky ride."

"No," said Mary slowly. "But there's the danger of falling."

"One against twenty. That's the safety margin. And, if we do fall, it

will be like landing in a feather bed! There, don't wait any longer. Go and

get ready."

Mary sighed, and then, seeming to summon her nerve to her aid, she

smiled brightly, waved her hand to Tom, and hastened toward his home,

where Mrs. Baggert the matronly housekeeper, was waiting to help the girl

attire herself in a flying-suit of leather.

Mary Nestor, who had a very warm place in the heart of Tom Swift,

had, as he stated, some time since promised to take a trip in the air with

the young inventor. But she had kept putting it off, for one reason or

another, until Tom began to despair of ever getting her to accompany him.

To-day, however, when she had called to inquire about his father, who had

been slightly ill, Tom had, after the social visit, insisted on the promise

being kept.

He had his mechanic get out one of the safest, though a speedy, double

machine, and, with Mary to watch, Tom had taken a trial flight, just to

show her how easy it was. It was not the first time she had seen him take

to the air, but now she watched with different emotions, for she was vitally

interested.

Tom had sailed down from aloft, making a landing in the aviation field

he had constructed near his home, and then he had insisted that Mary

should keep her promise to take a sky ride with him.

"Don't be too long now!" called Tom to the girl, as she hurried toward

the house. "Never mind about your hair, or whether your hat's on straight.

You're going to wear a cap, anyhow, and tuck your hair up under that. It's

hot down here, but it will be cold up above; so tell Mrs. Baggert to see that

you're warmly dressed."

"All right," and gaily she waved her hand to him. Now that she had

made her decision, and was really going up, she was not half so frightened

as she had been in the contemplation of it.

As Tom climbed out of the machine, to give it a careful inspection,

TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR SCOUT

though he was certain there was nothing wrong, an aged colored man

shuffled toward him.

"Yo'--yo'll be mighty careful ob Miss Nestor now, won't yo', Massa

Tom?" asked the man.

"Of course I will, Eradicate," was the young inventor's answer.

"Case we ain't got many laik her no mo', an' dat's de truf, Massa Tom,"

went on the old man. "So be mighty careful laik!"

"That's what I will, Rad! And, while I'm up in the air, don't you and

Koku have any trouble."

"Ho! Trouble wif dat onery no-'count giant! I guess not!" and the

colored man limped off, highly indignant.

Satisfied, from an inspection of his machine, that it was as nearly

mechanically perfect as it was possible to be, Tom Swift finished his trip

around it and stood near the big propeller, waiting for Mary Nestor to

reappear. Presently she did so, and Tom gaily waved his hand to her.

"You're a picture!" he cried, as he saw how particularly "fetching" she

looked in the aviator's costume which was like his own. Because of the

danger of entanglement, Miss Nestor had doffed her skirts, and wore the

costume of all aviators--men and women.

"I wish I had my camera!" cried Tom. "You look--stunning!"

"I hope that isn't any comment on how I'm going to feel if we have to

make a--forced landing, I believe you call it," she retorted.

"Oh, I'll take care of that!" exclaimed Tom. "Now up you go, and we'll

start," and he helped her to climb into the padded seat of the cockpit,

behind where he was to sit.

"Oh, Tom! Don't be in such a hurry !" expostulated Mary. "Let me get

my breath!"

"No!" laughed the young inventor. "If I did you might back out. Get in,

fasten the strap around you and sit still. That's all you have to do. Don't be

afraid, I'll be very careful. And don't try to yell at me to go slower or lower

once we're up in the air.

"Why not?" Mary wanted to know, as she settled herself in her seat.

"Because I can't very well bear you, or talk to you. The motor makes

so much noise, you know. We can do a little talking through this speaking

TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR SCOUT

tube," and he indicated one, "but it isn't very satisfactory. So if you have

anything to say--"

"In the language of the poets," interrupted Mary, "if I have words to

spill, prepare to spill them now. Well, I haven't! Now I'm here, go ahead! I

shall probably be too frightened to talk, anyhow."

"Oh, no you won't--after the first little sensation," Tom assured her.

"You'll be crazy about it. Come on, Jackson!" he called to the

mechanician. "Start the ball rolling!"

Tom was in his place, his goggles and cap well down over his face,

and he was adjusting the switch as the mechanic prepared to spin the

propellers.

Suddenly a man came running from the Swift house, waving his arms

not unlike the blades of an aircraft propeller, he also shouted, but Tom,

whose ears were covered with his fur cap, could not hear. However,

Jackson did, and stopped whirling the blades, turning about to see what

was wanted.

"Why, it's Mr. Damon!" exclaimed Tom, as he caught sight of the

excited man. "Hello, what's the matter?" the youth asked, pulling aside one

flap of his head-covering so he might hear the answer.

"Tom! Wait a minute! Bless my mouse trap!" exclaimed Mr. Damon,

"I want to speak to you!" He was panting from his run across the field. "I

just got to your house--saw your father--he said you were going up with

Miss Nestor, but--bless my dog biscuit--"

"Can't stop now, Mr. Damon!" answered Tom, with a laugh. "I have

only just succeeded, by hard work, in getting Mary to a point where she

has consented to take a sky ride. If I stop now she'll back out and I'll never

get her in again. See you when I come back," and Tom pulled the covering

over his ear once more.

"But, Tom, bless my shoe laces! This is important!"

"So's this!" answered Tom, with a grin. He saw, by the motion of Mr.

Damon's lips, what the latter had said.

Around swung the propeller blades. The gasoline vapor in the

cylinders was being compressed.

"Contact!" called Tom sharply, as he pressed the switch to give the

TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR SCOUT

igniting spark at the proper moment. The mechanic had stepped back out

of the way, in case there should be a premature starting of the powerful

engine, in which event the blades would have cut him to pieces.

"Wait, Tom! Wait! This is very important! Bless my collar button, Tom

Swift, but this is--"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

With a series of explosions, like those of a machine gun, the motor

started, and further talk was out of the question. Tom turned on more gas.

The propellers became almost invisible blades of light and shadow, and

the aeroplane began moving over the grassy field. The mechanic had

sprung out of the way, pulling Mr. Damon with him.

"Come back! Come back! Wait a minute, Tom Swift! Bless my pansy

blossoms, I want to tell you something!" cried the little man.

But Tom Swift was away and out of hearing. He had started on his sky

ride with Mary Nestor.

TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR SCOUT

CHAPTER II A NEW IDEA

Any one who has taken a flight in an aeroplane or gone up in a

balloon, will know exactly how Mary Nestor felt on this, her first sky ride

of any distance. For a moment, as she looked over the side of the machine,

she had a distinct impression, not that she was going up, but that some one

had pulled the earth down from beneath her and, at the same time, given

her a shove off into space. Such is the first sensation of going aloft. Then

the rush of air all about her, the slightly swaying motion of the craft, and

the vibration caused by the motor took her attention. But the sensation of

the earth dropping away from beneath her remained with Mary for some

time.

This sensation is much greater in a balloon than in an aeroplane, for a

balloon, unless there is a strong wind blowing, goes straight up, while an

aeroplane ascends on a long slant, and always into the teeth of the wind, to

take advantage of its lifting power on the underside of the planes. The

reason for this sensation--that of the earth's dropping down, instead of

one's feeling, what really happens, that one is ascending--is because there

are no objects by which comparison can be made. If one starts off on the

earth's surface at slow, or at great speed, one passes stationary objects--

houses, posts, trees, and the like-- and judges the speed by the rapidity

with which these are left behind.

Going up is unlike this. There is nothing to pass. One simply cleaves

the air, and only as it rushes past can one be sure of movement. And as the

air is void of color and form, there is no sensation of passing anything.

So Mary Nestor, as she shot into the air with Tom Swift, had a

sensation as though the earth were dropping from beneath her. For a

moment she felt as though she were in some vast void--floating in space--

and she had a great fear. Then she calmed herself. She looked at Tom

sitting in front of her. Of course, all she could see was his back, but it

looked to be a very sturdy back, indeed, and he sat there in the aircraft as

calmly as though in a chair on the ground. Then Mary took courage, and

ceased to grasp the sides of the cockpit with a grip that stiffened all her

muscles. She was beginning to "find herself."

TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR SCOUT

On and on, and up and up, went Mary and Tom, in this the girl's first

big sky ride. The earth below seemed farther and farther away. The wide,

green fields became little emerald squares, and the houses like those in a

toy Noah's ark.

Down below, Mr. Wakefield Damon, who had hurried over from his

home in Waterfield to see Tom Swift, gazed aloft at the fast disappearing

aeroplane and its passengers.

"Bless my coal bin!" cried the eccentric man, "but Tom is in a hurry

this morning. Too bad he couldn't have stopped and spoken to me. It might

have been greatly to his advantage. But I suppose I shall have to wait."

"You want to see Master?" asked a voice behind Mr. Damon, and,

turning, he beheld a veritable giant.

"Yes, Koku, I did," Mr. Damon answered, and he did not appear at all

surprised at the sight of the towering form beside him. "I wanted to see

Tom most particularly. But I shall have to wait. I'll go in and talk to Mr.

Swift."

"Yaas, an' I go talk to Radicate," said the giant. "Him diggin' up

ground where Master told me to make garden. Radicate not strong enough

for dat!"

"Huh! there's trouble as soon as those two get to disputing," mused Mr.

Damon, as he went toward the house.

Meanwhile, Mary was beginning to enjoy herself. The sensation of

moving rapidly through the air in a machine as skillfully guided as was the

one piloted by Tom Swift was delightful. Up and up they went, and then

suddenly Mary felt a lurch, and the plane, which was now about a

thousand feet high, seemed to slip to one side.

Mary screamed, and began reaching for the buckle of the safety belt

that fastened her to her seat. She saw that something unusual had occurred,

for Tom was working frantically at the mechanism in front of him.

But, in spite of this, he seemed aware that Mary was in danger, not so

much, perhaps, from what might happen to the machine, as what she

might do in her terror.

"Oh! Oh!" cried the girl, and Tom heard her above the terrific noise of

the motor, for she was speaking with her lips close to the tube that served

TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR SCOUT

as a sort of inter-communicating telephone for the craft. "Oh, we are

falling! I'm going to jump!"

"Sit still! Sit still for your life!" cried Tom Swift. "I'll save you all right!

Only sit still! Don't jump!"

Mary, her red cheeks white, sank back, and the young inventor

redoubled his efforts at the controls and other mechanisms.

And that Tom was perfectly qualified to make a safe landing, even

with engine trouble, Mary Nestor well knew. Those of you who have read

the previous books of this series know it also, but, for the benefit of my

new readers, I shall state that this was by no means Tom's first ride in an

aeroplane.

He had operated and built gasoline engines ever since he was about

sixteen years old. As related in the initial volume of this series, entitled,

"Tom Swift and His Motorcycle," he became possessed of this machine

after it had started to climb a tree with Mr. Damon on board. After that

experience the eccentric man --blessing everything he could think of--had

no liking for the speedy motorcycle and sold it to Tom at a low price.

That was the beginning of a friendship between the two, and also

started Tom on his career as an inventor and a possessor of many gasoline

craft. For he was not content with merely riding the repaired motorcycle.

He made improvements on it.

Tom lived with his father in the town of Shopton, their home being

looked after, since the death of Mrs. Swift, by Mrs. Baggert. Mr.

Wakefield Damon lived in the neighboring town of Waterfield, and spent

much time at Tom's home, often going on trips with him in various

vehicles of the land, sea or air.

As related in the various volumes of this series, Tom was not content

to remain on earth. He built a speedy motor boat, and then secured an

airship, following that with a submarine. He also made an electric

runabout that was the speediest car on the road. Sending wireless

messages, having thrilling experiences among the diamond makers,

journeying to the caves of ice, and making perilous trips in his sky racer

took up part of the young inventor's time.

With his electric rifle he did some wonderful shooting, and in the "City

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TOMSWIFTANDHISAIRSCOUT1TOMSWIFTANDHISAIRSCOUT(ORUncleSam'sMasteryoftheSky)VictorAppletonTOMSWIFTANDHISAIRSCOUT2CHAPTERIASKYRIDE"OhTom,isitreallysafe?"Ayounglady--anexceedinglyprettyyounglady,shecouldbecalled--stoodwithonesmall,glovedhandontheoutstretchedwingofanaeroplane,andlookedupatayoungman,attir...

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