Tom Swift and His Great Searchlight; or on the border for Uncle Sam Read online

  CHAPTER II

  A SPY IN TOWN

  Tom Swift, Ned Newton and Koku, the giant, are busy trying to piecetogether the torn parts of the paper, containing an account of theairship smugglers. I will take the opportunity of telling yousomething about the young inventor and his work, for, though many ofmy readers have made Tom's acquaintances in previous books of thisseries, there may be some who pick up this one as their firstvolume.

  Tom lived with his father, also an inventor of note, in the town ofShopton, New York state. His mother was dead, and a Mrs. Baggertkept house. Eradicate was an eccentric, colored helper, but of latehad become too old to do much. Mr. Swift was also quite aged, andhad been obliged to give up most of his inventive work.

  Ned Newton was Tom Swift's particular chum, and our hero had anotherfriend, a Mr. Wakefield Damon, of the neighboring town of Waterford.Mr. Damon had the odd habit of blessing everything he saw or couldthink of. Another of Tom's friends was Miss Mary Nestor, whom I havementioned, while my old readers will readily recognize in Andy Fogera mean bully, who made much trouble for Tom.

  The first book of the series was called "Tom Swift and HisMotor-Cycle," and on that machine Tom had many advances on the road,and not a little fun. After that Tom secured a motor boat, and had arace with Andy Foger. In his airship our hero made a stirring cruise,while in his submarine boat he and his father recovered a sunkentreasure.

  When Tom Swift invented a new electric run-about he did not realizethat it was to be the speediest car on the road, but so it proved,and he was able to save the bank with it. In the book called "TomSwift and His Wireless Message," I told you how he saved thecastaways of Earthquake Island, among whom were Mr. and Mrs. Nestor,the parents of Mary.

  Tom Swift had not been long on the trail of the diamond makersbefore he discovered the secret of Phantom Mountain, and after thatadventure he went to the caves of ice, where his big airship waswrecked. But he got home, and soon made another, which he called asky racer, and in that he made the quickest flight on record.

  With his electric rifle Tom went to elephant land, where hesucceeded in rescuing two missionaries from the red pygmies. Alittle later he set out for the city of gold, and had marvelousadventures underground.

  Hearing of a deposit of valuable platinum in Siberia, Tom startedfor that lonely place, and, to reach a certain part of if, he had toinvent a new machine, called an air glider. It was an aeroplanewithout means of propulsion save the wind.

  In the book, "Tom Swift in Captivity," I related the particulars ofhow he brought away two immense men from giant land. One, Koku, hekept for himself, while the other made a good living by beingexhibited in a circus.

  When the present story opens Tom had not long been home after aseries of strange adventures. A moving picture concern, with whichMr. Nestor was associated, wanted some views of remarkable scenes,such as fights among wild beasts, the capture of herds of elephants,earthquakes, and volcanos in action, and great avalanches in theAlps. Tom invented a wizard camera, and got many good views, thoughat times he was in great danger, even in his airship. Especially wasthis so at the erupting volcano.

  But our hero came swiftly back to Shopton, and there, all Winter andSpring, he busied himself perfecting a new motor for an airship--amotor that would make no noise. He perfected it early that Summer,and now was about to try it, when the incident of the torn newspaperhappened.

  "Have you got all the pieces, Tom?" asked Ned, as he passed his chumseveral scraps, which were gathered up from the floor.

  "I think so. Now we'll paste them together, and see what it says. Wemay be on the trail of a big mystery, Ned."

  "Maybe. Go ahead and see what you can make of it."

  Tom fitted together, as best he could, the ragged pieces, and thenpasted them on a blank sheet of paper.

  "I guess I've got it all here now," he said finally. "I'll skip thefirst part. You read me most of that, Ned. Just as you told me, itrelates how the government agents, having tried in vain to get aclew to the smugglers, came to the conclusion that they must beusing airships to slip contraband goods over the border at night."

  "Now where's that mention of Shopton? Oh, here it is," and he read:

  "'It is suspected that some of the smugglers have been communicatingwith confederates in Shopton, New York. This came to the notice ofthe authorities to-day, when one of the government agents locatedsome of the smuggled goods in a small town in New York on the St.Lawrence. The name of this town is being kept secret for thepresent."

  "'It was learned that the goods were found in a small, desertedhouse, and that among them were letters from someone in Shopton,relating to the disposal of the articles. They refuse to say who theletters were from, but it is believed that some of Uncle Sam's menmay shortly make their appearance in the peaceful burg of Shopton,there to follow up the clew. Many thousands of dollars worth ofgoods have been smuggled, and the United States, as well as theDominion of Canada custom authorities, say they are determined toput a stop to the daring efforts of the smugglers. The airshiptheory is the latest put forth.'"

  "Well, say, that's the limit!" cried Ned, as Tom finished reading."What do you know about that?"

  "It brings it right home to us," agreed the young inventor. "But whois there in Shopton who would be in league with the smugglers?"

  "That's hard to say."

  "Of course we don't know everyone in town," went on Tom, "but I'mpretty well acquainted here, and I don't know of a person who woulddare engage in such work."

  "Maybe it's a stranger who came here, and picked out this placebecause it was so quiet," suggested Ned.

  "That's possible. But where would he operate from?" asked Tom."There are few in Shopton who would want to buy smuggled goods."

  "They may only ship them here, and fix them so they can't berecognized by the custom authorities, and then send them awayagain," went on Ned. "This may be a sort of clearing-house for thesmugglers."

  "That's so. Well, I don't know as we have anything to do with it.Only if those fellows are using an airship I'd like to know whatkind it is. Well, come on out to the shop now, and we'll see how thesilent motor works."

  On the way Tom passed his father, and, telling him not to work toohard in the sun, gave his parent the piece of paper to read, tellingabout the smugglers.

  "Using airships! eh?" exclaimed Mr. Swift. "And they think there's aclew here in Shopton? Well, we'll get celebrated if we keep on,Tom," he added with a smile.

  Tom and Ned spent the rest of the day working over the motor, whichwas set going, and bore out all Tom claimed for it. It was as silentas a watch.

  "Next I want to get it in the airship, and give it a good test," Tomremarked, speeding it up, as it was connected on a heavy base in theshop.

  "I'll help you," promised Ned, and for the next few days the chumswere kept busy fitting the silent motor into one of Tom's severalairships.

  "Well, I think we can make a flight to-morrow," said the younginventor, about a week later. "I need some new bolts though, Ned.Let's take a walk into town and get them. Oh, by the way, have youseen anything more of Andy Foger?"

  "No, and I don't want to. I suppose he's gone back home after hisvisit to Sam. Let's go down the street, where the Foger house is,and see if there's anything going on."

  As the two lads passed the mansion, they saw a man, in the kind ofsuit usually worn by a carpenter, come out of the back door andstand looking across the garden. In his hand he held a saw.

  "Still at the repairs, I guess," remarked Ned. "I wonder what--"

  "Look there! Look! Quick!" suddenly interrupted Tom, and Ned,looking, saw someone standing behind the carpenter in the door. "Ifthat isn't Andy Foger, I'll eat my hat!" cried Tom.

  "It sure is," agreed Ned. "What in the world is he doing there?"

  But his question was not answered, for, a moment later, Andy turned,and went inside, and the carpenter followed, closing the door behindthem.

  "That's queer," spoke Tom.

  "Very," agreed
Ned. "He didn't go back after all. I'd like to knowwhat's going on in there."

  "And there's someone else who would like to know, also, I think,"said Tom in a low voice.

  "Who?" asked Ned.

  "That man hiding behind the big tree across the street. I'm surehe's watching the Foger house, and when Andy came to the door thattime, I happened to look around and saw that man focus a pair ofopera glasses on him and the carpenter."

  "You don't mean it, Tom!" exclaimed Ned.

  "I sure do. I believe that man is some sort of a spy or adetective."

  "Do you think he's after Andy?"

  "I don't know. Let's not get mixed up in the affair, anyhow. I don'twant to be called in as a witness. I haven't the time to spare."

  As if the man behind the tree was aware that he had attracted theattention of our friends, he quickly turned and walked away. Tom andNed glanced up at the Foger house, but saw nothing, and proceeded onto the store.

  "I'll wager anything that Andy has been getting in some sort oftrouble in the town he moved to from here," went on Tom, "and hedaren't go back. So he came here, and he's hiding in his father'sold house. He could manage to live there for a while, with thecarpenter bringing him in food. Say, did you notice who that manwas, with the saw?"

  "Yes, he's James Dillon, a carpenter who lives down on our street,"replied Ned. "A nice man, too. The next time I see him, I'm going toask him what Andy is doing in town, and what the repairs are thathe's making on the house."

  "Well, of course if Andy has been doing anything wrong, he wouldn'tadmit it," said Tom. "Though Mr. Dillon may tell you about thecarpenter work. But I'm sure that man was a detective from the townwhere Andy moved to. You'll see."

  "I don't think so," was Ned's opinion. "If Andy was hiding hewouldn't show himself as plainly as he did."

  The two chums argued on this question, but could come to nodecision. Then, having reached Tom's home with the bolts, they wenthard at work on the airship.

  "Well, now to see what happens!" exclaimed Tom the next day, wheneverything was ready for a trial flight. "I wish Mr. Damon was here.I sent him word, but I didn't hear from him."

  "Oh, he may show up any minute," replied Ned, as he helped Tom andKoku wheel the newly-equipped airship out of the shed. "The firstthing you'll hear will be him blessing something. Is this far enoughout, Tom?"

  "No, a little more, and then head her up into the wind. I say, Ned,if this is a success, and--"

  Tom stopped suddenly and looked out into the road. Then, in a lowvoice, he said, to Ned:

  "Don't move suddenly, or he'll suspect that we're onto his game, butturn around slowly, and look behind that big sycamore tree in frontof our house Ned. Tell me what you see."

  "There's a man hiding there, Tom," reported his chum, a littlelater, after a cautious observation.

  "I thought so. What's he doing?"

  "Why he--by Jove! Tom, he's looking at us through opera glasses,like that other--"

  "It isn't ANOTHER, it's the same fellow!" whispered Tom. "It's thespy who was watching Andy! I'm going to see what's up," and hestrode rapidly toward the street, at the curb of which was the treethat partly screened the man behind it.