Chapter 24 Tom Swift and his Chest of Secrets by Victor Appleton
A NIGHT WATCH
Tom Swift made up his mind quickly. He generally did so in an emergency, and this was one of those times. While he still held the powerful glasses focused on that clump of trees amid the green of which he had spotted that glimpse of blue, he called to Ned:
“Put her about five points to the south!”
“The south?” cried Ned. “What’s the idea!”
“I want to throw those fellows—if they’re down there, as I think they are—off the track,” explained Tom. “It’s just a trick which may work and may not. They’ll either see us or hear our motor down where they are. And if they see us sheer off to the south they may take us for a mail plane. At any rate, they may not suspect that we’re after them.”
“I guess that’s good reasoning,” murmured Ned.
Accordingly, he shifted the steering wheel until the Blackbird did as many of her namesakes do when winter approaches—she headed for the south.
“How far on this course?” asked Ned as his chum continued to gaze down through the glasses.
“Just far enough to take us out of their sight. Then we’ll go down.”
“Go down?” cried Ned, in some surprise.
“Yes. We’ll make a landing and then come back by auto. I’ve got it all planned out. If we try to make a landing near those fellows they’ll spot us and light out, taking my chest with them. But if we go down in some spot a few miles off and then come back by auto, we can get pretty close to them before they suspect anything.”
“More good dope,” decided Ned, after thinking it over. “Do you think they’re the fellows you want, Tom?”
“It’s hard to say. That’s a blue aeroplane down there, I’m sure. But whether it’s the same one the robbers used isn’t so sure. However, I’m taking no chances.”
It did not take long for the Blackbird to put enough distance between her and the place where the blue aeroplane had been sighted to make it safe to descend. Now that he could no longer hold the glasses focused on the clump of trees, Tom put them aside and took charge of his craft.
“Do you think you can get back to this same place in an auto?” Ned questioned, as they looked about for a good field in which to land.
“I think so,” was the answer. “I picked out a few prominent objects by which to plot a return course.”
This was all that could be done under the circumstances, and a few minutes later, noting a broad and level field below them, Tom began to guide the Blackbird downward.
“I hope we meet as good a chap as our farmer friend, Kimball, was,” remarked Ned, as they lightly struck the grass-covered earth and taxied across it.
“I hope so,” echoed Tom. “But we’ll buy our way if we have to. It’s important to get back as soon as we can to where those fellows are.”
This landing of the Blackbird attracted more attention than on the occasion when the travelers landed in Mr. Kimball’s field. No sooner was the machine at rest, and while Tom, Ned and Koku were alighting, than a crowd of men, women, boys and girls began to flock toward it.
“Guess they think we’re giving an exhibition,” laughed Ned.
“Shouldn’t wonder,” agreed Tom. “But the first thing we’ve got to do is to make sure our machine will be all right if we leave it here. Then we’ve got to hire a car to get back to the place where those scoundrels are.”
“A lot of work ahead of us,” commented Ned.
There was little time to say more, for by this time the advance crowd of the curious ones was at the Blackbird. The boys, especially, would have overrun the craft and climbed up on her in their eagerness, but Tom told Koku to act as a guard. Even the sight of the giant was enough to drive back the most venturesome of the lads, while Koku’s actions, in parading around the craft with a big stick he picked up served as a further effective deterrent. Curiosity, too, was about equally divided between Koku and the machine.
Among those who came rushing to the field to see why the aeroplane had landed, was the owner of the property. At first he seemed a bit belligerent, and it looked as if he would make trouble. But Tom knew just how to handle his kind.
“We want to rent this field for a while, just to store our machine here,” said the young inventor in a business-like way. “I’m willing to pay well for the accommodation. And I’d like to engage you or some of your men to act as caretakers while we are away. No one must meddle with this machine!”
“I’ll see to that all right,” answered the farmer, who changed his manner when he learned that he was to make money out of the affair. “Now you fellows get away from here!” he cried. “This is private property and you can’t trespass on it or I’ll have the law on you! Move off!”
“You can’t order us off, Jason Stern, unless you’ve got signs up saying ‘no trespass,’ ” declared one man. “I know the law as well as you do!”
“I’ll have the signs up before you can say Jack Robinson!” was the answer. “Tume,” he called to a tall, lanky youth, evidently one of his hired men, “you go back to the barn and get that trespass sign I put up in my orchard when apples are ripe. Then you and Ben and Jake stand guard here. Bring my shotgun and a pitchfork or two. We’ll see who’s boss here!”
The farmer was evidently no favorite with his neighbors, for there were boos and hisses at this. But on the present occasion Tom Swift was just suited with this sort of man. It insured his craft being well looked after. And a little later, the crowd having been driven from the field, the hired men went on guard.
“Now, where can I hire a good automobile?” asked Tom of the farmer, who had been called Jason Stern.
“Do you mean a tin Lizzie?” asked the man. “We call them pretty good cars around here.”
“They are good,” conceded the young inventor. “But I’m afraid I’ll need a bigger one. I’ve got to take him along,” and he pointed to Koku who was indulging in his favorite pastime of tossing big rocks in the air and catching them to the no small astonishment of the hired men.
“Say, he is a big fellow!” exclaimed Mr. Stern. “Well, the best thing you can do is to go to Nathan’s garage. Tell him I sent you and he won’t gouge you on the price. He’s dealt with me before,” and Jason Stern said this with an air that boded no good for Mr. Nathan should the latter try any unfair tactics.
Arranging to have some one on guard over his Blackbird night and day until he should return, Tom and his friends set off to the village. They found Nathan’s garage and quickly arranged to hire a big touring car, with room in it for Koku.
“We’ll put in something to eat and take some blankets along,” decided Tom. “No telling how long we may be on the road, and I don’t want to have to stop and put up at a hotel. We’ll either camp out in the open or sleep in the car. The nights are warm.”
“Suits me,” agreed Ned.
Of course saying nothing of their object, the travelers started off in the machine, Tom heading it to the north and as near as he could judge in the general direction of the bandits and where the blue machine had last been observed.
Tom Swift’s training had made him a careful observer, and it was not idly that he had told Ned he had marked the place where the trees sheltered the blue aeroplane. After one or two false turns, the young inventor got on the right road, and as evening was falling he guided the machine along a country thoroughfare in a sparsely settled neighborhood.
Coming upon a lonely cabin where an aged man and his wife lived, Tom inquired whether they had heard of an aeroplane landing in that vicinity lately.
“Yep,” replied the old man. “A big blue flyin’ machine come down in a lot over by the river early this morning. I went over to see it. Say, I didn’t ever believe there was such things. I’d never seen one before except in pictures. Hattie here, she won’t believe I saw it.”
“You can’t tell me!” declared the man’s wife. “Nobody can fly in the air! I never believed it and I never will. It’s agin nature!”
Leaving the queer couple, but satisfied that they were on the right track, Tom and his companions rode on until further inquiries gave them the information that they were within half a mile of the place where the aeroplane, for some reason, had come down.
“We’d better not take the auto very close,” said Tom. “They might suspect something, though I suppose they have been as overwhelmed with curious ones as we were back there.”
“It will be better to go up easy, I think,” agreed Ned.
Accordingly, the auto was parked in a secluded place, and, taking Koku with them to identify the robbers should the men prove to be those under suspicion, the chums cautiously approached the clump of trees.
As they drew near they could see that a sort of camp had been established about the aeroplane which was painted blue. It was a large machine, as Koku had said.
Several men were observed moving about a small tent that had been set up, and in the light of lanterns Tom and Ned counted five separate figures. They crept near enough to overhear some of the talk.
“Well, Blodgett, what’s the next move?” some one asked.
Tom nudged Ned.
“That’s the man Mary heard spoken of,” he whispered. “He’s the one who was going to ‘fix things.’ ”
“He seems to have done so,” murmured Ned grimly. “Listen!”
“Well, we might as well divide the stuff and separate,” came the answer to the one who had asked Blodgett the question. And at the sound of this voice Tom whispered:
“That’s Barsky. I’m sure of it!”
“Sounds like him!” agreed Ned. “The plot is thickening!”
They listened further.
“Yes,” went on the man who had suggested dividing the loot, “I tried the old man on the telephone, but he got wise and tried to catch me by sending some one to another telephone to trace the call. I don’t think he succeeded, however. If we could sell him the stuff back we might make more than by separating it. But since he won’t deal with us we’ll have to do something else.”
“We want our shares!” exclaimed another voice, and at the sound of it Ned started.
“What’s the matter?” asked Tom.
“I should know who that is,” was the answer. “The voice is familiar. I’m trying to think where I’ve heard it before.”
There was some further talk among the thieves.
“What are we going to do, Tom?” asked Ned, after a while.
“Stay here on night watch for a while,” was the answer. “If we get a chance we’ll slip in and take away the chest. I want to get it back before they start dividing the papers. If that happens I may lose some of them forever. Those fellows will likely get careless and not keep guard all night. That will give us the chance we want. Koku can pick up the chest and carry it away for us. We’ll stay here and watch for a while.”
It was about an hour later, while still keeping watch, that Ned caught a glimpse of a figure moving about the bandit camp. The man limped slightly, and as he was carrying a lantern Ned saw his elbow thrown out in a peculiar way.
“Renwick Fawn!” he exclaimed. “Now I know whose voice that was! It was that of the man who unjustly accused my father of taking the Liberty Bonds! Renwick Fawn is among those who robbed you, Tom!”
“Whew!” whistled the young inventor. “I should say the plot is thickening!”