Chapter 25 Tom Swift and His Talking Pictures by Victor Appleton
A BRIGHT FUTURE
There was a hissing, buzzing sound in the studio where, on an improvised stage, Ned, Mr. Damon, Mary Nestor and Helen Morton were going through a hastily sketched act.
Tom Swift had so improved his lighting arrangements, by using screen filters, that there was no restriction as to the color of the garments worn by the performers. The girls’ dresses were particularly gay and of many hues, for Tom wanted a bright picture on the screen. Mr. Damon had attired himself as a clown while Ned was a pirate with a red handkerchief on his head.
“Oh, a pirate’s life for me!” sang Ned, and so on with the rest of the song while the girls and Mr. Damon joined in.
On his part, in the laboratory room, Tom had adjusted the switches and stood near his machine. Ranged in a semicircle in front of him was the audience.
“Everything is ready, gentlemen,” said the young inventor in a low voice. “You will now see and hear what I have to offer.”
Suddenly, through the loud speaker, came the voices of the performers, as clear and distinct as though they were in the same room. There was no blasting effect, no tinny, horn-like element in the music.
A moment later the metallic glass screen attached to the apparatus glowed with a white light and before the eyes of the astonished gathering there appeared, in reduced form, but plainly and clearly, the images of the performers in a room several hundred feet away. Just as on a moving picture screen, only not as large, but beautifully colored and clearer than ever moving pictures had been, the images of Mary, Helen, Mr. Damon and Ned were observed. They smiled, gestured and went through various motions, not one of which was obscured and not one but synchronized exactly with the words they used.
“That’s my invention,” said Tom Swift simply. “If you think it is a success we can complete the deal.”
“I guess there’s no question of it,” said Mr. X. “I, for one, am satisfied and as soon as——”
He ceased speaking, for suddenly, in the midst of a song by the performers in the studio, the voices died away and the images faded from the screen.
“Don’t cut it off!” begged Mr. B. “I was just beginning to enjoy it.”
“I didn’t cut it off!” Tom answered quickly. “There’s something wrong!”
Then, from the corridor without, the voice of Koku was heard crying:
“I cotch him! I got him! Now I make him like jelly!”
Like an echo came a frightened voice begging:
“Let me go! Oh, let me go!”
“Greenbaum!” shouted Tom, springing to the door in time to see the giant holding the plotting man in a grasp that made him helpless.
“I cotch him!” cried Koku. “I be on watch out here like Mr. Tom always tell me. I see him sneak along and cut wire. He have big ball in his hand, too, but I knock it down. Over there in corner!”
Garret Jackson made a jump for the corner indicated and picked up something which made him utter an exclamation of dismay.
“It’s a bomb!” the superintendent shouted.
There was a pail of water near by and into that the infernal machine was dropped just in time, for the fuse was spluttering and burning down.
Greenbaum, choked into senselessness by Koku’s powerful grip, sank to the floor. Tom turned to the assembled moving picture and theater men. There was an implied accusation in his glance.
“I hope you will believe us when I say we had absolutely nothing to do with this,” said Mr. X. “We have not seen Greenbaum since his former unauthorized attack on you. This is a terrible surprise to us.”
“And to me, also,” said Tom. “I don’t know what damage he has done, but——”
“He not do much!” chuckled Koku. “Me cotch him in time.”
And so it proved. Greenbaum had managed to sneak into the laboratory because vigilance was somewhat relaxed, now that all danger seemed over. He had cut one of the electrical wires that carried power to Tom’s machine, hoping, in the confusion he knew would follow, to be able to plant his infernal machine and get away. But the giant was too quick for him.
“Is the machine ruined?” asked Ned, coming from the broadcasting studio, followed by the other performers.
“Bless my apple pie! And just when I was going to sing my song!” complained Mr. Damon.
But a quick examination showed nothing more wrong than a severed wire, which was soon spliced, so that the machine could work again, and after Greenbaum had been handed over to the police, first needing the attention of a doctor, however, the interrupted performance went on to a successful conclusion.
When the little playlet was ended, and the men engaged by Mr. X and his colleagues had made their report, the leader of the theatrical interests announced:
“We are satisfied, Mr. Swift. The deal can go through. You will be paid the three million to-morrow and we will at once form a company for manufacturing these machines and put them on the market. But I am afraid you still feel that we sent Greenbaum here.”
“No,” Tom answered, “I have good reasons for knowing you did not.”
“What reasons?” asked Mr. X in surprise.
“Because the man is insane. The doctor told me so just before he was taken away. You told me his losses in a moving picture deal had so turned his brain that he did more than you wanted him to when you first set him to spy on me. Well, his insanity is of a progressive form, and he is much worse now. He probably imagined that I was the cause of all his troubles, and so came to be revenged on me. I know you had nothing to do with it.”
“I am glad you are convinced of that,” said Mr. X. “And we have to thank you for treating us even better than, perhaps, we deserved. But from now on we will work in harmony.”
This promise was faithfully kept. Much to Ned Newton’s relief the sum of three millions was placed to the credit of the Swift concern the next day, and certain maturing notes were taken up. There was a goodly capital left, however, to start the manufacture of the talking-picture machines and they were soon put on the market, meeting with a big success. The radio and moving picture people, as well as several big theatrical interests, bought stock in the new company that was formed, and because of Tom’s invention, by means of which only authorized purchasers of his machine could view the broadcast scenes and listen to the music, there was no “bootlegging,” which meant that all the revenues would come to those entitled to them.
Tom was glad to learn, later, that Greenbaum’s insanity was not permanent, and that after the man was assured of a chance to make another fortune in the new business, his mind became calm and he was himself again. He was totally unaware of the outrages he had committed, though when told of them asked Tom’s forgiveness.
Snogg, Janner and Torpy were not heard of again, and the house on Rattlesnake Island, which was the property of the moving picture men, was made over to Tom as a sort of bonus. He and Ned spent many hours there, relaxing from their hard work.
It was after Greenbaum’s recovery, when certain things were recalled to him, that he explained what for a time had puzzled Ned and Tom. The man, who was an expert electrician, had found a means of neutralizing certain parts of the electrified fence. Hence he was able to get over, after the discovery of the planted bombs, to commit petty depredations that so annoyed Tom.
It was Greenbaum, also, who provided the fash melon that had thrown Koku off his guard. As Tom had guessed, the fruit was discovered in South America by a party of travelogue movie men who brought some back with them. Greenbaum, learning of Koku’s fondness for fash, used it to play what was nearly a fatal trick on the giant. Greenbaum had also been responsible for the “warning” Eradicate brought to Tom. That was just a bluff—intended to scare Tom, but it worked the other way.
The secret passage in the house on Rattlesnake Island was easily accounted for. The place had been built some years before to be used in making a certain moving picture, where a secret staircase played a part. Later the house was acquired by Mr. X and his colleagues to use as a prison and also as a meeting place for Tom.
Tom suitably rewarded Bill Tagg, the tramp, and that individual had his long ardent wish fulfilled. He rode in one of Tom’s aeroplanes and received the thrill of his life.
“Well, everything came out all right, didn’t it?” asked Ned of his chum as they sat in the house on Rattlesnake Island one evening after a successful day’s fishing. “Your talking pictures are making a hit.”
“They seem to be,” admitted Tom modestly. “Though when Greenbaum cut the wire that night of the final test I thought everything had gone bad. But, as you say, everything came out all right, and the future looks rosy to me. I’ve got another scheme in my mind.”
“Aren’t you ever going to stop?” chuckled Ned as he leaned lazily back in his chair.
“Not as long as I feel as well as I do now,” replied Tom Swift.
Whether he carried out his new idea or not remains to be seen.
THE END