Chapter 14 Tom Swift and His Sky Train by Victor Appleton
RUSHING WORK
“What is it?” cried Tom Swift.
“I don’t know yet—I’m going out to look!” answered Ned. “Come on! It’s some big air machine.”
“No, I wasn’t speaking to you, Ned,” Tom went on, covering the mouthpiece of the telephone with one hand. “I meant Mr. Damon. He’s on the wire—says he has bad news for us. Yes, what is it, Mr. Damon?” he went on, speaking into the instrument. As Ned watched he saw a startled look come over the face of Tom Swift who was listening to what the eccentric man on the other end of the wire was saying. But this time Mr. Damon was not eccentric—he was in deadly earnest.
“I just read in the paper, Tom,” said Mr. Damon, “that the Acton Aviation Works, in Pleasantville, have made a sky train like yours.”
“That isn’t such bad news, Mr. Damon,” said Tom, laughing at first. “I’ve known, for some time, that they contemplated such a stunt. But their sky train if they’re going to call it that, isn’t like mine.”
“I don’t know about that, Tom. The paper says they are going to start trips from coast to coast, directly, in what amounts to a railroad train in the air. I don’t think you’ve seen that in the paper, for it just came out. But that isn’t all. What I wanted to tell you was that the Acton train, airship or whatever it is, just passed over Waterfield and it’s headed your way. It sort of looks, Tom, as if they had stolen a march on you. I thought I’d tell you, but bless my——”
Tom Swift did not wait to hear more. Dropping the telephone he cried to Ned:
“That’s what we hear—the Acton Works jigger in the air passing over our shops. Maybe they’re doing it to show that they think they have beaten me at my own game. Come on, Ned, we’ll take a look!”
The throbbing and humming in the air had increased. It was as if a big dirigible was passing over. When Tom and Ned got outside and looked up they saw that it was different from any dirigible they had ever seen. At the first glance Tom Swift knew he had to deal with a dangerous rival.
“Gosh, Tom!” Ned exclaimed. “Looks as if he’d gotten ahead of us.”
“No, not quite,” Tom answered as he hastily took in all the details of the strange air craft. “I don’t believe those fellows up there can drop any of their units or pick one up in flight. In fact I’m pretty sure they can’t. I have some inside information on what is going on at the Acton plant, and I know they haven’t touched my coupler idea. But this is near enough like my idea to make it a dangerous competitor if it gets out to the Exposition ahead of me. Ned, we’ve got to work double time from now on!”
“I’m with you, Tom! Say, that’s a queer looking arrangement, isn’t it?” and he pointed to the thing of the air passing overhead. Many of the shopmen were out looking up and all about the plant could be observed people gazing skyward.
“I see what they’ve done,” Tom remarked when the Acton train was directly over Tom’s private office. “They’ve taken a dirigible and made a plane of it. Thus they get safety but at the expense of speed. To the tail of the plane-dirigible they have hitched small individual cabin dirigibles like a string of cars behind a locomotive. In that they have copied my idea. I never claimed to have any exclusive right to such an arrangement. Anybody can hitch several planes or several dirigibles together. My plan, though, of dropping off an individual glider and hitching another one on in full flight I do claim is original and one they can’t duplicate.”
“You can’t tell what they will do, though, Tom,” Ned warned as the sky fleet of small cabin dirigibles, hauled by the big combination craft, passed slowly toward the horizon. “They may steal all your thunder.”
“Yes, that’s right. They may take a notion to make some of their cars detachable. As I said, we’ve got to get busy right away. If they make a successful flight across the continent, even if they don’t drop off and pick up individual units, they’ll be the centre of attraction at the World Exposition, and I can’t afford to have that happen.”
“Not after the big sum we had to borrow from the bank,” agreed Ned. “It would injure our credit.”
“Sure!” Tom assented. “The first exhibitor out there with a sky train, or for what passes for one, is going to get the cream of the business. And I’m going to be that exhibitor, Ned!”
“I hope so, Tom!”
“You’ll see it! Come on, now, I’m going to start things humming!”
The two remained for a few minutes longer, watching the slowly disappearing rival grow smaller and smaller. Tom half feared that he might see one of the trailing “cars”, as they might be called, drop out of the combination, but this did not happen.
“I don’t believe they can duplicate my special feature, Ned,” Tom said. “And that’s my biggest asset—my double dual controlled magnetic coupler.”
“If they do, Tom, we might as well give up business.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that, but it would be a bad blow. Well, now let’s get busy!”
Going back to his desk, Tom Swift issued orders to every part of his works that had anything to do with getting the new sky train ready to put on extra men and work overtime. In shops where there was no special rush for the apparatus being turned out, work was stopped and men were shifted to the sky train division of the plant.
Ned, too, had his force of office helpers send out letters to firms owing the Swift concern money, offering an extra discount for prompt settlement.
“We might need a lot more cash, Tom,” said the financial manager, “and we can’t borrow any more right away. So let’s make those that owe us pay up.”
“Sure, Ned! That’s your end of the game.”
When this much had been done toward rushing the work, Tom called up Mr. Damon, apologizing for having cut him off so suddenly, and explained that he and Ned had hurried out to see the Acton train passing.
“I’m glad you told me about it, Mr. Damon,” Tom said. “But while that concern is a dangerous rival, I don’t believe they can beat my sky train.”
“Bless my phonograph, but that’s the way to talk, Tom!” cried the odd man. “As soon as I read about it in the paper, and saw the jigger going over my house, headed your way, I thought I’d better let you know, though it was bad news.”
“It’s never bad news to know what your rivals are doing,” Tom said. “I’ll soon give you a ride in a real sky train, Mr. Damon.”
“That’s fine, Tom. But when you call up to invite me, be a bit careful, won’t you?”
“Careful? What do you mean?”
“Well, if my wife is home and answers the ’phone, sort of pass it off until I can get there. She doesn’t want me going up in the air.”
“Oh, I see!” and Tom chuckled understandingly as he hung up.
Two main points stood out in Tom Swift’s sudden plan to rush matters. He must get the big gliders to his plant as soon as possible and test them in actual dropping off and picking up while in flight. He must also find out more certainly what his rival, the Acton plant, was doing with his air traveler.
In furtherance of the first, Tom got the manager of the National Aircraft on long distance, and learned, with satisfaction, that work on the gliders was practically completed.
“We’ll ship them by fast freight the end of this week,” came word over the telephone.
“No you won’t!” cried Tom. “I’ll send out and get them.”
“Why, Tom, how can you do that?” asked Ned in surprise as Tom paused a moment in his telephone talk to shuffle some papers on his desk. Ned had his answer a moment later.
“Hold those gliders in your plant, Mr. Blakeley,” Tom ordered. “Have them knocked-down for shipment and I’ll send the Silver Cloud out to pick them up and bring them here. We’ll assemble them in our plant here. In that way we’ll save several days. Do you get me? Right! Good-bye!”
“The Silver Cloud, Tom!” Ned exclaimed, recalling to mind the big dirigible that had figured in the forest fire. “Why, you sold her to the Jardine people.”
“Yes, I know. But I told you they were going to lend her to me to exhibit, with my sky train, at the World Exposition. I’ll simply borrow the Silver Cloud a little ahead of time. Jardine will accommodate me in that, I’m sure. We’ve got to hustle if we want to win this fight.”
“That’s right, Tom. It’s a great idea bringing the gliders here in that way, and it will save a lot of time. I only hope the Silver Cloud stunt comes off.”
“I’ll make it,” said Tom, reaching for the telephone again to get in touch with the Jardine firm. As he picked up the instrument the bell rang. “Hello,” he called and as he listened his expression changed. “Oh, that’s too bad—I’m sorry!” Ned heard Tom say. “Why, yes, I guess so—Oh, sure! I’ll be right over!”
Tom hung up, swung around and faced Ned.
“I hope there’s no more bad news,” murmured the financial manager.