Tom Swift & his Air Glider(汤姆·史威夫特和他的滑翔机)

VIP免费

2024-12-26 1 0 421.92KB 127 页 5.9玖币

侵权投诉

TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDER

TOM SWIFT AND HIS

AIR GLIDER

(or Seeking the Platinum Treasure)

VICTOR APPLETON

TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDER

CHAPTER I

A BREAKDOWN

"Well, Ned, are you ready?"

"Oh, I suppose so, Tom. As ready as I ever shall be."

"Why, Ned Newton, you're not getting afraid; are you? And after

you've been on so many trips with me?"

"No, it isn't exactly that, Tom. I'd go in a minute if you didn't have this

new fangled thing on your airship. But how do you know how it's going to

work--or whether it will work at all? We may come a cropper."

"Bless my insurance policy!" exclaimed a man who was standing near

the two lads who were conversing. "You'd better keep near the ground,

Tom."

"Oh, that's all right, Mr. Damon," answered Tom Swift. "There isn't

any more danger than there ever was, but I guess Ned is nervous since our

trip to the underground city of gold."

"I am not!" indignantly exclaimed the other lad, with a look at the

young inventor. "But you know yourself, Tom, that putting this new

propeller on your airship, changing the wing tips, and re-gearing the motor

has made an altogether different sort of a craft of it. You, yourself, said it

wasn't as reliable as before, even though it does go faster."

"Now look here, Ned!" burst out Tom. "That was last week that I said

it wasn't reliable. It is now, for I've tried it out several times, and yet, when

I ask you to take a trip with me, to act as ballast--"

"Is that all you want me for, Tom, to act as ballast? Then you'd better

take a bag of sand--or Mr. Damon here!"

"Me? I guess not! Bless my diamond ring! My wife hasn't forgiven me

for going off on that last trip with you, Tom, and I'm not going to take any

more right away. But I don't blame Ned--"

"Say, look here!" cried Tom, a little out of patience, "you know me

better than that, Ned. Of course your more than ballast--I want you to help

me manage the craft since I made the changes on her. Now if you don't

want to come, why say so, and I'll get Eradicate. I don't believe he'll be

TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDER

afraid, even if he--"

"Hold on dar now, Massa Tom!" exclaimed an aged colored man, who

was an all around helper at the Swift homestead, "was yo' referencin' t' me

when yo' spoke?"

"Yes, Rad, I was saying that if Ned wouldn't go up in the airship with

me you would."

"Well, now, Masa Tom, I shorely would laik t' 'blige yo', I shore would.

But de fack ob de mattah am dat I has a mos' particular job ob white

washin' t' do dish mornin', an' I 'spects I'd better be gittin' at it. It's a mos'

particiilar job, an', only fo' dat, I'd be mos' pleased t' go up in de airship.

But as it am, I mus' ax yo' t' 'scuse me, I really mus'," and the colored man

shuffled off at a faster gait than he was in the habit of using.

"Well, of all things!" gasped Tom. "I believe you're all afraid of the old

airship, just because I wade some changes in her. I'll go up alone, that's

what I will."

"No, I'll go with you," interposed Ned Newton who was Tom's most

particular chum. "I only wanted to be sure it was all right, that was all."

"Well, if you've fully made up your mind," went on the young inventor,

a little mollified, "lend me a hand to get her in shape for a run. I expect to

make faster time than I ever did before, and I'm going to head out

Waterford way. You'd better come along, Mr. Damon, and I'll drop you off

at your house."

"Bless my feather bed!" gasped the man. "Drop me off! I like that,

Tom Swift!"

"Oh, I didn't mean it exactly that way," laughed Tom. "But will you

come."

"No, thanks, I'm going home by trolley," and then as the odd man went

in the house to speak to Tom's father, the two lads busied themselves about

the airship.

This was a large aeroplane, one of the largest Tom Swift had ever

constructed, and he was a lad who had invented many kinds of machinery

besides crafts for navigating the upper regions. It was not as large as his

combined aeroplane and dirigible balloon of which I have told you in

other books, but it was of sufficient size to carry three persons besides

TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDER

other weight.

Tom had built it some years before, and it had seemed good enough

then. Later he constructed some of different models, besides the big

combination affair, and he had gone on several trips in that.

He and his chum Ned, together with Eradicate Sampson, the colored

man, and Mr. Damon, had been to a wonderful underground city of gold in

Mexico, and it was soon after their return from this perilous trip that Tom

had begun the work of changing his old aeroplane into a speedier craft.

This had occupied him most of the Winter, and now that Spring had

come he had a chance to try what a re-built motor, changed propellers, and

different wing tips would do for the machine.

The time had come for the test and, as we have seen, Tom had some

difficulty in persuading anyone to go along with him? But Ned finally got

over his feeling of nervousness.

"Understand, Tom," spoke Ned, "it isn't because I don't think you

know how to work an aeroplane that I hesitated. I've been up in the air

with you enough times to know that you're there with the goods, but I

don't believe even you know what this machine is going to do."

"I can pretty nearly tell. I'm sure my theory is right."

"I don't doubt that. But will it work out in practice?"

"She may not make all the speed I hope she will, and I may not be able

to push her high into the air quicker than I used to before I made the

changes," admitted Tom, "but I'm sure of one thing. She'll fly, and she

won't come down until I'm ready to let her. So you needn't worry about

getting hurt."

"All right--if you say so. Now what do you want me to do, Tom?"

"Go over the wire guys and stays for the first thing. There's going to be

lots of vibration, with the re-built motor, and I want everything tight."

"Aye, aye, sir!" answered Ned with a laugh.

Then he set at his task, tightening the small nuts, and screwing up the

turn-buckles, while Tom busied himself over the motor. There was some

small trouble with the carburetor that needed eliminating before it would

feed properly.

"How about the tires?" asked Ned, when he had finished the wires.

TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDER

"You might pump them up. There, the motor is all right. I'm going to

try it now, while you attend to the tires."

Ned had pumped up one of the rubber circlets of the small bicycle

wheels on which the aeroplane rested, and was beginning on the second,

when a noise like a battery of machine guns going off next to his ear

startled him so that he jumped, tripped over a stone and went down, the air

pump thumping him in the back.

"What in the world happened, Tom?" he yelled, for he had to use all

his lung power to be heard above that racket. "Did it explode?"

"Explode nothing!" shouted Tom. "That's the re-built motor in action."

"In action! I should say it was in action. Is it always going to roar like

that?"

Indeed the motor was roaring away, spitting fire and burnt gases from

the exhaust pipe, and enveloping the aeroplane in a whitish haze of

choking smoke.

No, I have the muffler cut out, and that's why she barks so. But she

runs easier that way, and I want to get her smoothed out a bit. "Whew!

That smoke!" gasped his chum. "Why don't you--whew- -this is more than

I can stand," and holding his hands to his smarting eyes, Ned, gasping and

choking, staggered away to where the air was better.

"It is sort of thick," admitted Tom. "But that's only because she's

getting too much oil. She'll clear in a few minutes. Stick around and we'll

go up."

Despite the choking vapor, the young inventor stuck to his task of

regulating the motor, and in a short while the smoke became less, while

the big propeller blades whirled about more evenly. Then Tom adjusted the

muffler, and most of the noise stopped.

"Come on back, and finish pumping up the tires," he shouted to Ned.

"I'm going to stop her now, and then I'll give her the pressure test, and

we'll take a trip."

Having cleared his eyes of smoke, Ned came back to his task, and this

having been finished, Tom attached a heavy spring balance, or scales, to

the rope that held the airship back from moving when her propellers were

whirling about.

TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDER

"How much pressure do you want?" asked Ned.

"I ought to get above twelve hundred With the way the motor is geared,

but I'll go up with ten. Watch the needle for me."

It may be explained that when aeroplanes are tested on the earth the

propellers are set in motion. This of course would send a craft whizzing

over the ground, eventually to rise in the air, but for the fact that a rope,

attached to the craft, and to some stationary object, holds it back.

Now if this rope is hooked to a spring balance, which in turn is made

fast to the stationary object, the "thrust" of the propellers will be registered

in pounds on the scale of the balance. Anywhere from five hundred to nine

hundred pounds of thrust will take a monoplane or biplane up. But Tom

wanted more than this.

Once more the motor coughed and spluttered, and the big blades

whirled about so fast that they seemed like solid pieces of wood. Tom

stood on the ground near the levers which controlled the speed, and Ned

watched the scale.

"How much?" yelled the young inventor.

"Eight hundred."

Tom turned on a little more gasolene.

"How much?" he cried again.

"Ten hundred. That'll do!"

"No, I'm going to try for more.

Again he advanced the spark and gasolene levers, and the

comparatively frail craft vibrated so that it seemed as if she would fly

apart.

"Now?" yelled Tom.

"Eleven hundred and fifty!" cried Ned.

"Good! That'll do it. She'll give more after she's been running a while.

We'll go up."

Ned scrambled to his seat, and Tom followed. He had an arrangement

so that he could slip loose the retaining rope from his perch whenever he

was ready.

Waiting until the motor had run another minute, the young inventor

pulled the rope that released them. Over the smooth starting ground that

TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDER

formed a part of the Swift homestead darted the aeroplane. Faster and

faster she moved, Ned gripping the sides of his seat.

"Here we go!" cried Tom, and the next instant they shot up into the air.

Ned Newton had ridden many times with his chum Tom, and the

sensation of gliding through the upper regions was not new to him. But

this time there was something different. The propellers seemed to take

hold of the air with a firmer grip. There was more power, and certainly the

speed was terrific.

"We're going fast!" yelled Ned into Tom's ear.

"That's right," agreed the young inventor. "She'll beat anything but my

Sky Racer, and she'd do that if she was the same size." Tom referred to a

very small aeroplane he had made some time before. It was like some big

bird, and very swift.

Up and onward went the remodeled airship, faster and faster, until,

when several miles had been covered, Ned realized that the young

inventor had achieved another triumph.

"It's great, Tom! Great!" he yelled.

"Yes, I guess it will do, Ned. I'm satisfied. If there was an international

meet now I'd capture some of the prizes. As it is--"

Tom stopped suddenly. His voice which had been raised to overcome

the noise of even the muffled motor, sounded unnaturally loud, and no

wonder, for the engine had ceased working!

"What's the matter?" gasped Ned.

"I don't know--a breakdown of some kind."

"Can you get it going again?"

"I'm going to try."

Tom was manipulating various levers, but with no effect. The

aeroplane was shooting downward with frightful rapidity.

"No use!" exclaimed the young inventor. "Something has broken."

"But We're falling, Tom!"

"I know it. We've done it before. I'm going to volplane to earth."

This, it may be explained, is gliding downward from a height with the

engine shut off. Aeroplanists often do it, and Tom was no novice at the art.

They shot downward with less speed now, for the young inventor had

TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDER

thrown up his headplanes to act as a sort of brake. Then, a little later they

made a good landing in a field near a small house, in a rather lonely

stretch of country, about ten miles from Shopton, where Tom lived.

"Now to see what the trouble is," remarked our hero, as he climbed out

of his seat and began looking over the engine. He poked in among the

numerous cogs, wheels and levers, and finally uttered an exclamation.

"Find it?" asked Ned.

"Yes, it's in the magneto. All the platinum bearings and contact

surfaces have fused and crystallized. I never saw such poor platinum as

I've been getting lately, and I pay the highest prices for it, too. The trouble

is that the supply of platinum is giving out, and they'll have to find a

substitute I guess."

"Can't we go home in her?" asked Ned.

"I'm afraid not. I've got to put in new platinum bearings and contacts

before she'll spark. I only wish I could get hold of some of the better kind

of metal."

The magneto of an aeroplane performs a service similar to one in an

automobile. It provides the spark that explodes the charge of gas in the

cylinders, and platinum is a metal, more valuable now than gold, much

used in the delicate parts of the magneto.

"Well, I guess it's walk for ours," said Ned ruefully.

"I'm afraid so," went on Tom. "If I only had some platinum, I could--"

"Perhaps I could be of service to you," suddenly spoke a voice behind

them, and turning, the youths saw a tall, bearded man, who had evidently

come from the lonely house. "Did I hear you say you needed some

platinum?" he asked. He spoke with a foreign accent, and Tom at once put

him down for a Russian.

"Yes, I need some for my magneto," began the young inventor.

"If you will kindly step up to my house, perhaps I can give you what

you want," went on the man. "My name is Ivan Petrofsky, and I have only

lately come to live here."

"I'm Tom Swift, of Shopton, and this is my chum, Ned Newton,"

replied the young inventor, completing the introductions. He was

wondering why the man, who seemed a cultured gentleman, should live in

TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDER

such a lonely place, and he was wondering too how he happened to have

some platinum.

"Will that answer?" asked Mr. Petrofsky, when they had reached his

house, and he had handed Tom several strips of the precious silverlike

metal.

"Do? I should say it would! My, but that is the best platinum I've seen

in a long while!" exclaimed Tom, who was an expert judge of this metal.

"Where did you get it, if I may ask?"

"It came from a lost mine in Siberia," was the unexpected answer.

"A lost mine?" gasped Tom.

"In Siberia?" added Ned.

Mr. Petrofsky slowly nodded his head, and smiled, but rather sadly.

"A lost mine," he said slowly, "and if it could be found I would be the

happiest man on earth for I would then be able to locate and save my

brother, who is one of the Czar's exiles," and he seemed shaken by

emotion.

Tom and Ned stood looking at the bearded man, and then the young

inventor glanced at the platinum strips in his hand while a strange and

daring thought came to him.

TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDER

CHAPTER II

A DARING PROJECT

While Tom and his chum are in the house of the Russian, who so

strangely produced the platinum just when it was most needed, I am going

to take just a little time to tell you something about the hero of this story.

Those who have read the previous books of this series need no

introduction to him, but in justice to my new readers I must make a little

explanation.

Tom Swift was an inventor, as was his father before him. But Mr.

Swift was getting too old, now, to do much, though he had a pet invention-

-that of a gyroscope--on which he worked from time to time. Tom lived

with his father in the village of Shopton, in New York state. His mother

was dead, but a housekeeper, named Mrs. Baggert, looked after the wants

of the inventors, young and old.

The first book of the series was called "Tom Swift and His Motor-

Cycle," and in that I related how Tom bought the machine from a Mr.

Wakefield Damon, of Waterford, after the odd gentleman had

unintentionally started to climb a tree with it. That disgusted Mr. Damon

with motor-cycling, and Tom had lots of fun on the machine, and not a few

daring adventures.

He and Mr. Damon became firm friends, and the oddity of the

gentleman--mainly that of blessing everything he could think of--was no

objection in Tom's mind. The young inventor and Ned Newton went on

many trips together, Mr. Damon being one of the party.

In Shopton lived Andy Foger, a bullying sort of a chap, who acted very

meanly toward Tom at times. Another resident of the town was a Mr.

Nestor, but Tom was more interested in his daughter Mary than in the head

of the household. Add Eradicate Sampson, an eccentric colored man who

said he got his name because he "eradicated" dirt, and his mule,

Boomerang, and I think you have met the principal characters of these

stories.

After Tom had much enjoyment out of his motor-cycle, he got a motor

文档加载中……请稍候！
如果长时间未打开，您也可以点击刷新试试。

下载文档到电脑，查找使用更方便

5.9 玖币 0人已下载

立即下载 VIP免费下载

摘要：

TOMSWIFTANDHISAIRGLIDER1TOMSWIFTANDHISAIRGLIDER(orSeekingthePlatinumTreasure)VICTORAPPLETONTOMSWIFTANDHISAIRGLIDER2CHAPTERIABREAKDOWN"Well,Ned,areyouready?""Oh,Isupposeso,Tom.AsreadyasIevershallbe.""Why,NedNewton,you'renotgettingafraid;areyou?Andafteryou'vebeenonsomanytripswithme?""No,itisn'texactly...

展开>> 收起<<

Tom Swift & his Air Glider(汤姆·史威夫特和他的滑翔机).pdf

共127页,预览26页

还剩页未读，继续阅读

声明：本站为文档C2C交易模式，即用户上传的文档直接被用户下载，本站只是中间服务平台，本站所有文档下载所得的收益归上传人(含作者)所有。玖贝云文库仅提供信息存储空间，仅对用户上传内容的表现方式做保护处理，对上载内容本身不做任何修改或编辑。若文档所含内容侵犯了您的版权或隐私，请立即通知玖贝云文库，我们立即给予删除！

Tom Swift & his Air Glider(汤姆·史威夫特和他的滑翔机)

相关推荐

开通VIP享超值会员特权

作者详情

相关内容

热门标签

举报选择: