“what’s the matter?” asked ned newton, who was very much interested in tom’s new
machine. ned had gone on air trips with his chum before and, having heard of the wager and
now seeing the air monarch, it is not at all unlikely that ned had visions of another
strange journey. “anything wrong?” went on ned, as tom did not answer, but continued to
stare at the door.
“there may be—i’m not sure,” was the answer in a low voice. “wait a minute.”
tom tiptoed softly to the door, opened it suddenly, and then uttered an exclamation of
disappointment.
“what’s the matter?” asked ned again.
“he skipped,” answered tom.
“who?”
“the fellow who was outside that door trying to overhear some of my secrets and find out
about the air monarch,” was tom’s answer.
“spies?” exclaimed ned.
“that’s about it. ever since i first started on this new idea and began work on the model
and the craft itself, i’ve had a sneaking idea that i’m being spied upon. i am sure of it
now. somebody was listening at the keyhole, but they heard me coming and skipped.”
“who is it?” asked ned.
“that’s what i’ve got to find out. keep quiet about this, and i’ll set a trap.” then
the two friends went to a far corner of the room, out of all possible range of the door,
and talked for a long time.
the next few days were busy ones in the shop of tom swift. now that his father, by his
rashness, had committed his son to the attempt to circle the earth in twenty days, the
older inventor was as enthusiastic over the matter as was tom himself.
“i’ll help you get the air monarch finished, tom,” said the old man, “and then you can
start. i’m not going to have burch and trace crowing over me!”
“they won’t crow, dad,” said tom, with a smile. “i’ll win that money for you!”
in order to hasten the completion of the air monarch, men who were in other shops
controlled by tom and his father were taken off their work and put to finishing the triple
traveler. all who were admitted into the shop where the big new machine was housed were
sworn to secrecy.
the new machine was like a large aeroplane, but with an enclosed cabin something like the
european air line de luxe expresses. built like a pullman car, only lighter, the cabin of
the air monarch afforded sleeping berths for five. when not in use the bunks folded up
against the wall, thus making an observation room. there was a combined dining room and
kitchen where meals could be served.
the motor of the craft was abaft the living quarters, thus keeping the sleeping compartment
free of gasoline fumes. the air monarch was of the pusher and not the tractor type of
plane. extending over the cabin, and out on either side was the big top plane. there was
another plane below this, and from the lower one extended the long tail which carried the
rudders, one for directing the craft up or down and the other to impart a lateral motion.
the body of the craft was something like a seaplane, staunchly built to enable it to travel
the surface of the ocean if need be. and, as already explained, there were four sturdy
wheels on which the air monarch could roll along the ground. these wheels could be geared
directly to the motor, as are the wheels of an automobile, or by using the air propeller
the craft could be sent along as an aeroplane taxies across its starting field. the housed
propeller for use in water has already been mentioned.
to such good advantage did tom swift set his men to work that four weeks after the laying
of the wager the air monarch was completed except for the fitting up of her cabin and the
taking aboard of supplies.
“the motor’s the main thing, and that’s completed and installed,” said tom to ned one
evening.
“does it work?” asked the financial representative of the firm.
“it sure does!” was the enthusiastic answer. “tried it on a brake test this afternoon
and she did a little better than two thousand seven hundred r.p.m.”
“hope that doesn’t mean ‘rest in peace',” chuckled ned, who was not versed in
mechanics.
“r.p.m. stands for revolutions per minute,” tom explained. “and when i tell you my new
motor did more than twenty-seven hundred it’s going some. that motor will rate better than
six hundred and ninety horse power.”
“yes?” asked ned, politely enough.
“yes, you big boob!” cried tom with good-natured raillery. “why, don’t you understand
that the best performance a naval seaplane ever did was only twenty-seven hundred r.p.m.,
and they couldn’t get more than six hundred and eighty-five rated horse power out of their
v-type motor? but at that they made two hundred and fifty-six miles an hour,” said tom
with respect.
“who did?” asked ned.
“the united states naval flyers,” tom replied. “i’m ashamed of your ignorance,” he
chuckled. “think of it—two hundred and fifty-six miles an hour! if i can equal that
record, and i think i can, i’ll win the twenty thousand dollars for dad with my hands
down.”
“let’s see,” said ned musingly, and he began doing some mental arithmetic. he was good
at this. “the distance around the earth, say at the fortieth parallel of latitude, is,
roughly, twenty-five thousand miles. at the rate of two hundred and fifty-six miles an
hour, or say two hundred and fifty to make it round numbers, it would take about a hundred
hours, tom. a hundred hours is, roughly, four days, and you’ve got twenty! why, say——”
“look here, you enthusiastic indian!” yelled tom, playfully mauling his chum’s hair.
“you can’t fly one of these high-powered machines for a hundred hours straight! they’d
burn up. you have to stop now and then to cool off, take on gas and oil, make adjustments,
and so on.”
“i thought you were going to do continuous flying,” objected ned.
“i’m going to do it as continuously as possible,” was tom’s reply. “but i’ll need all
of twenty days to circle the globe. there will be accidents. storms may force us down, and
you may want to stop and inquire into the financial system of the malays.”
“me?” queried ned. “am i going?”
“you sure are!” was the answer. “you’re going to be official score keeper. dad needs
that twenty thousand dollars. yes, sir, you’re going and it’s about time we began to make
serious preparations to start. you won’t back out, will you?”
“no, i guess not,” ned said. “who else is going? mr. damon?”
“well, he wants to go,” said tom; “but he’s afraid his wife won’t let him. dad is too
old, of course. but i’ll need three good mechanics, besides myself. with you that will
make five—just enough to fill the cabin nicely. come on out and take a look at the boat.”
“going to take along plenty to eat?” asked ned, as he and his chum went across the now
dark shop yard toward the brick building that housed the newest creation of the young
inventor.
“oh, sure!” was the response. “but we won’t have to stock up very heavily. you see we’
ll make several stops on the way.”
“just what are your plans?” ned wanted to know.
“well, i thought of starting from around here, or, possibly, from the vicinity of new
york,” tom answered. “you see, there’s a possibility of a race.”
“a race to circle the earth?”
“yes. the papers have got hold of this wager of dad’s—i think mr. damon, in his
enthusiasm, spilled the beans—and there is some talk of a national aero club taking the
matter up. a paper or two has mentioned that such a trip will greatly advance the science
of flying, and there may be a big prize offered for the winner of the race—the one who
makes the best actual time around the world.”
“then you’re likely to win considerable money,” suggested ned.
“if the plans are carried out, yes. but i’ll be satisfied to win that twenty thousand
dollars for dad. it will just about make me come out with an even break.”
“an even break?”
“yes. this machine will cost me around twenty thousand,” said tom. “of course, i’ll be
out my expenses, but then dad got me into this thing unthinkingly and i’m going to see it
through. but if some one offers a prize and i can win it, i’ll have that much velvet.”
“it’s a bigger thing than i thought,” ned stated. “i hope you won’t be disappointed in
your craft, tom. i mean i hope it will work.”
“it will work—i’m sure of that,” said the young inventor. “of course whether i can eat
up the miles and actually get around the world in twenty days remains to be seen. but i’m
going to try!”
the two were at the workshop now. it was shrouded in darkness, for the day’s labor was
over.
“stand still a minute until i turn on the lights,” tom said, as he opened a little side
door and stepped in, leaving ned to follow. “it’s as dark as a pocket in here.”
ned could hear tom fumbling for the electric switch. then, just as the light was turned on,
there came, from the other side of the big shop and back of the air monarch, a clicking
sound followed by a scream of pain.
“what’s that?” cried ned.
“i think it’s my sneak trap!” answered tom. “i hope i’ve caught him!”
in an instant the shop was flooded with light, and ned followed tom on the run around the
big air monarch, which occupied most of the space. a moment later ned saw tom spring upon a
man who was caught by one leg in a curious wooden trap, the smooth jaws of which had
clamped around the intruder’s ankle.
“help! help!” screamed the man, for such he was—a burly, ugly, lowering chap dressed in
the greasy clothes of a mechanic.
“you aren’t hurt!” said tom, pausing in front of the captive and eyeing him. “i set
that trap there to catch any one who came in here unauthorized. it isn’t meant to hurt—
just to hold you fast. and i’ve got you, cal hussy! got you good!”
“let me out of here!” snarled the man, trying, without success, to free his foot.
“i will in a minute. but first i’ll find out if you have taken anything,” tom said
coolly. “here, ned, search him!” he called to his chum.
then, while tom deftly caught hussy’s hands in a loop of rope drawn tight, ned went
through the intruder’s pockets. aside from some personal effects, the search revealed
nothing.
“you let me go!” snarled the man, with an evil scowl.
“i will if i make sure you haven’t damaged my machine,” went on tom.
a quick inspection showed nothing wrong. the motor compartment of the air monarch was
locked, and tom knew the fellow had not been in it.
“now i’ll let you go,” said the inventor to the fellow. “but i warn you the next time
you step into my trap it will have teeth!”
pulling on a lever, tom opened the jaws of the trap and the man was free to step out. he
limped slightly as he walked toward the window by which he had entered, for the spring of
the trap was strong.
“who is he?” asked ned as the man started to crawl out. he had cut a pane of glass out of
the window, sawed some of the iron protective bars, and gotten in that way. but in walking
across the floor in the dark he had stepped into one of several traps tom had set recently.
“that is cal hussy,” explained tom, watching every movement of the man. “he works for
the red arrow aeroplane company, one of my rivals. evidently they have heard something of
my new invention and are trying to find out its secret. but i’ve fooled them. i caught
hussy the first crack out of the box.”
“yes, you caught me all right, tom swift!” snarled the man, turning when he was half way
through the window. he scowled and shook his fist at the young inventor. “you caught me,
but i’ll catch you next time!”
this threat seemed to enrage tom. he rushed at the fellow just as hussy cried again:
“it will be my turn next time!”
tom raised his foot and planted a well directed and richly deserved kick on hussy where it
would do the most good. like a football dropping over the crossbar, the intruder went
tumbling over the window sill, to fall heavily to the ground below.
he grunted, uttered some strong language, and then, as he ran off down the road in the
darkness, he called back:
“you’ll be sorry, some day, you did that, tom swift! you’ll be sorry!”
“i’m sorry now that i didn’t kick you twice!” cried the angry inventor.
