Chapter 9 Tom Swift and His Airline Express by Victor Appleton
KOKU’S ALARM
Footsteps could be heard coming along the hall that led to the private office where Ned, Mr. Damon, and Mr. Swift were conferring over the mysterious disappearance of Tom Swift.
“That isn’t Eradicate or Koku,” observed Ned, for well he knew the curious, shuffling gait of the colored man and the heavy tread of the giant.
“Sounds like a lady,” announced Mr. Damon.
“Probably Mrs. Baggert,” said Mr. Swift. “She will be terribly anxious about Tom—she’s like a mother to him.”
But it was not the kind, elderly housekeeper. A moment later Mary Nestor hurried into the room, her face and manner showing that she was worried and excited.
“Have you found Tom?” was her first inquiry, even before she nodded in greeting.
“No, Tom hasn’t showed up yet,” Ned answered with as much cheerfulness as he could put into his voice. “But he’ll be along soon—we hope.” He felt forced to add that last, for as the hours passed and no word came from Tom, even the optimistic Ned began to lose heart.
Then it was that Mary Nestor showed her true grit and spirit. Instead of sitting down and sighing or crying, she assumed a firm air and said:
“When he didn’t come over last night I had a feeling that something had happened to him. I can’t explain it, but I had that feeling. Now what have you done to find him, and what else remains to be done?”
“There’s system for you!” exclaimed Ned admiringly. “Well, here’s the situation.” Then he related to Mary what they knew of the case, stating that he had met Tom the evening before just outside the big fence.
“Then that was the last any one has seen of him?” said the girl.
“Yes, the last, as far as we can find out,” Ned answered. “When all the men report for work we will have each one questioned. It is possible some of them may have seen Tom after I did.”
But this hope soon faded. A check-up of the entire factory force resulted in nothing.
“The next thing to do,” decided Mary, “is to begin at the point where you saw him, Ned, and make a careful examination of the ground, to see if there is any evidence of a struggle. It is possible that Tom was overpowered and carried off soon after you left him.”
“I don’t see how that could happen without his giving an alarm,” answered the young financial manager of the Swift plant. “But we’ll go over that place with a fine tooth comb.”
With the help of Mr. Damon and Mr. Nestor, who had followed his daughter, this was done. Of course Koku and Eradicate insisted on joining in the search, and had it not been that the matter was now getting serious it would have been laughable to watch the giant and the colored man. Each was jealous of the other, each was fearful that the other would be the first to discover Tom.
But nothing was found that would indicate in any way what had happened to the youthful inventor. The men who had used the secret flight of steps and the tunnel to carry Tom away had returned soon after overpowering him and had covered the opening to the underground stairs, scattering earth and débris over the planks so that a casual examination would disclose nothing wrong.
A closer inspection might have disclosed signs of fresh earth scattered about, but this kind of examination was not made.
By this time every one connected with the Swift factory knew of the young inventor’s disappearance, and work was ordered stopped for a time while a minute search was begun. Tom was looked for in all possible and in some impossible places, but all to no effect.
The day passed. Mary remained at the Swift house in order to be close at hand if Tom should return unexpectedly.
Ned began to look and feel blue and depressed when night came again and there was no sign of Tom. But, in contrast to this, Mary was outwardly more cheerful.
“Somehow,” she said, “I feel that we shall have news of Tom before morning.”
“What makes you think so?” asked Ned.
“I don’t know—but I have that feeling,” answered the girl. “You know if Tom has been caught and taken away, night would be the best time for him to escape, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes, it would,” admitted Ned. “But I can’t believe that he has been captured.”
“I can,” Mary asserted. “I have had a feeling for some time that Tom would be in danger as soon as he tried to go ahead with that new invention of his—the airline express. It always has happened so from the time he made his first speedy motor boat until he put his valuable papers in the Chest of Secrets. Always some enemies have been on his trail. And you don’t imagine they’re going to stop and let him alone, do you, when he’s got something as big as this airline express almost perfected?”
“Well, of course there are always scoundrels ready to take advantage of what an inventor does,” admitted Ned. “But this airline express has been kept so secret I thought only a few of us knew of it.”
“That’s what Tom hoped,” Mary said. “But only a few days ago he told me he had had to discharge two men because he suspected them. I forget their names—something like Renny and Hemp.”
“Kenny and Schlump,” corrected Ned. “Yes, he told me about those men. But still, and with all you have said, I can’t believe Tom has been captured.”
The day passed and night came. Mr. Swift remained at the private office in the plant until nearly ten o’clock, hoping that some word would come from Tom; but none did, and an hour later Mr. Damon insisted on taking the old inventor home.
“Koku and I will stay here,” volunteered Ned. “And, after all, Tom is as likely to go home or send some word there as he is to come to the plant. So we can divide our forces.”
This was done, and Ned and the giant settled themselves down for the night’s vigil. Several hours passed, and all was quiet at the plant. Ned was dozing when the big man, who had been sitting at a window from which he had a view of the big fence, suddenly arose and whispered:
“Somebody come!”
“Somebody coming? What do you mean, Koku?” asked Ned.
“Man try climb fence,” went on the giant, pointing out of the window. “Koku see him! Koku get him! Bust him all up in slats!”
“Wait a minute!” cautioned Ned, as he caught hold of the big man who was about to rush from the room. “No one can get over, through, or under that fence without setting off the alarm. It would ring here as well as in other parts of the plant, Koku, and the bell hasn’t tinkled. You must have fallen asleep and dreamed it.”
“Koku saw man on fence!” insisted the giant. “Maybe so him cut alarm wires.”
“Even cutting the wires would ring a bell,” insisted Ned.
“Maybe Master Tom hisself come and try get away from bad mans by climb fence,” went on the giant, whose English left much to be desired. “Master Tom—he know how climb fence and no ring bell.”
“That’s possible,” admitted Ned. “Tom rigged up the burglar alarm on the fence and he might know a way to beat his own game. Maybe you’re right after all, Koku. We’ll go and take a look. Where did you see the man on the fence?”
“There,” said the giant, and he pointed out the place to Ned, who stood beside him in the open window. “Look—there him now!” cried the big man.
Ned had a glimpse of a figure trying to scale the high fence. In the darkness, illuminated only by a little light from the waning moon, the young financial man could not be sure whether it was a man or an animal. Even then he was wondering how it was possible for any creature to get up on the fence without sounding the alarm. And while Ned was thus wondering the alarm went off with a sudden clang that was startling.
“Now we catch ’um!” cried Koku, as he raced from the room, followed by Ned.
The alarm, ringing simultaneously in different parts of the plant, summoned a number of watchmen. As the alarm gave the location on the fence where the attempt had been made to scale it, the forces gathered there, Koku and Ned being the first to arrive.
But when a search was made with oil lanterns and electric torches no trace of an intruder could be found. The ground was hard and dry near the fence and no footprints were observed.
But Ned and the giant were sure an attempt had been made by some man to get into the Swift plant. That this was not Tom went without saying.
“They had Tom a captive somewhere,” said Ned later, when he related the incident to Mr. Damon and Mr. Swift. “And thinking that with Tom out of the way it was safe to try to get in, that’s what they did. But they didn’t count on the electric alarm.”
“I wish we could have caught that fellow!” murmured Mr. Swift.
“I’d ’a’ kotched him ef I’d a bin dar!” declared Eradicate with a scornful glance at the giant. “Dat big man am too stiff to run! Better let ole ’Rad stay on guard de rest ob de night!”
“Hu!” taunted Koku. “Yo’ so small burglar man eat yo’ up!”
The remainder of the night brought nothing further—neither an alarm nor a capture. Morning came, the second day of Tom’s disappearance, a disappearance that was just as strange as at first. Mary and the others were greatly worried now, and Mr. Swift was beginning to think that it would be best to notify the police and broadcast his son’s disappearance.
It was in the afternoon, when Ned, Mr. Damon, Mary, and Mr. Swift were in the private office discussing plans, that the telephone bell rang. Ned made a jump for it, for though the signal had sounded several times during the day, each time only to have some routine work matter discussed over the instrument, still every time he heard the bell Ned felt certain it was a message from Tom. And this time his hopes were rewarded.
“Hello! Hello!” called Ned into the transmitter. Then, as he listened, what he heard made his eyes open wide with wonder. For over the wire came the voice of the young inventor himself, though faint and showing evidences of a great strain.
“Hello, Ned!” came from Tom. “I’ve just escaped! Watch the plant! Get Father to safety. Look out for bombs! I’ll try——”
Then the voice died away to silence.