Tom Swift and His Electric Runabout; Or The Speediest Car on the Road Read online

  CHAPTER IV

  TALK OF A NEW BANK

  The three cronies were in a sorrowful plight. The black fluid drippedfrom them, and formed little puddles in the car. Andy had used hishandkerchief to wipe some of the stuff from his face, but the linen wassoon useless, for it quickly absorbed the blacking.

  "There's a little brook over here," volunteered Tom. "You might wash inthat. The stuff comes off easily. It isn't like ink," and he had tolaugh, as he thought of the happening.

  "Here! You quit that!" ordered Andy. "You've gone too far, Tom Swift!"

  "Didn't I tell you it was an accident?" inquired the young inventor.

  "It wasn't!" cried Sam. "You threw the bottle at us! I saw you!"

  "It slipped from my pocket," declared the youth, and he described howthe accident occurred. "I'll help you clean your car, Andy," he added.

  "I don't want your help! If you come near me I'll--I'll punch yournose!" cried Andy, now almost beside himself with rage.

  "All right, if you don't want my help I don't care," answered Tom, gladenough not to have to soil his hands and clothes. He felt that it waspartly his fault, and he would have done all he could to remedymatters, but his good offers being declined, he felt that it wasuseless to insist further.

  He remounted his motor-cycle, and rode off, the last view he had of thetrio being one where they were at the edge of the brook, trying toremove the worst traces of the black fluid. As Tom turned around for afinal glimpse, Andy shook his fist at him, and called out something.

  "I guess Andy'll have it in for me," mused Tom. "Well, I can't help it.I owed him something on account, but I didn't figure on paying it injust this way," and he thought of the time the bully had locked him inthe ballast tanks of the submarine, thereby nearly smothering him todeath.

  That night Andy Foger told his father what had happened, for Mr. Fogerinquired the reason for the black stains on his son's face and hands.But Andy did not give the true version. He said Tom had purposelythrown the bottle of blacking at him.

  "So that's the kind of a lad Tom Swift is, eh?" remarked Andy's father."Well, Andy, I think you will soon have a chance to get even with him."

  "How, pop?"

  "I can't tell you now, but I have a plan for making Tom sorry he everdid anything to you, and I will also pay back some old scores to Mr.Swift and Mr. Damon. I'll ruin their bank for them, that's what I'lldo."

  "Ruin their bank, pop? How?"

  "You wait and see. The Swift crowd will get off their high horse soon,or I'm mistaken. My plans are nearly completed, but I can't tell youabout them. I'll ruin Mr. Swift, though, that's what I'll do," and Mr.Foger shook his head determinedly.

  Tom was soon at his home, and Mrs. Baggert, hearing the noise of hismachine, as it entered the front yard, came to the side door.

  "Where's my blacking?" she asked, as our hero dismounted and untied thebundle of steel tubes he had purchased.

  "I--I used it," he answered, laughing.

  "Tom Swift! You don't mean to say you took my stove polish to use inyour battery, do you?"

  "No, I used it to polish off Andy Foger and some of his cronies," andthe young inventor told, with much gusto, what had happened. Mrs.Baggert could not help joining in the laugh, and when Tom offered toride back and purchase some more of the polish for her, she said it didnot matter, as she could wait until the next day.

  The lad was soon busy in his machine shop, making several larger cellsfor the new storage battery. He wanted to give it a more severe test.He worked for several days on this, and when he had one unit of cellscomplete, he attached the motor for an efficiency trial.

  "We'll see how many miles that will make," he remarked to his father.

  "Have you thought anything of the type of car you are going to build?"asked the aged inventor of his son.

  "Yes, somewhat. It will be almost of the regulation style, but with tworemovable seats at the rear, with curtains for protection, and a placein front for two persons. This can also be protected with curtains whendesired."

  "But what about the motors and the battery?"

  "They will be located under the middle of the car. There will be oneset of batteries there, together with the motor, and another set ofbatteries will be placed under the removable seats in what I call thetonneau, though, of course, it isn't really that. A smaller set willalso be placed forward, and there will be ample room for carrying toolsand such things."

  "About how far do you expect your car will go with one charging of thebattery?"

  "Well, if I can make it do three hundred miles I'll be satisfied, butI'm going to try for four hundred."

  "What will you do when your battery runs out?"

  "Recharge it."

  "Suppose you're not near a charging station?"

  "Well, Dad, of course those are some of the details I've got to workout. I'm planning a register gauge now, that will give warning aboutfifty miles before the battery is run down. That will leave me a marginto work on. And I'm going to have it fixed so I can take current fromany trolley line, as well as from a regular charging station. My batterywill be capable of being recharged very quickly, or, in case of need, Ican take out the old cells and put in new ones.

  "That's a very good idea. Well, I hope you succeed."

  A few evenings after this, when Tom was busy in his machine shop, heheard some one enter. He looked up from the gauge of the motor, whichhe was studying, and, for a moment, he could make out nothing in thedark interior of the shop, for he was working in a brilliant light.

  "Who's there?" he called sharply, for, more than once unscrupulous menhad endeavored to sneak into the Swift shops to steal ideas ofinventions; if not the actual apparatus itself.

  "It's me--Ned Newton," was the cheerful reply.

  "Oh, hello, Ned! I was wondering what had become of you," respondedTom. "Where have you been lately?"

  "Oh, working overtime."

  "What's the occasion?"

  "We're trying out a new system to increase the bank business."

  "What's the matter? Aren't you folks getting business enough, after thebig deposits we made of the bullion from the wreck?"

  "Oh, it's not that. But haven't you heard the news? There is talk ofstarting a rival bank in Shopton, and that may make us hustle to holdwhat business we have, to say nothing of getting new customers."

  "A new bank, eh? Who's going to start it?"

  "Andy Foger's father, I hear. You know he was a director in our bank,but he got out last week."

  "What for?"

  "Well, he had some difficulty with Mr. Pendergast, the president. Ifancy you had something to do with it, too."

  "I?" Tom was plainly surprised.

  "Yes, you know you and Mr. Damon and Mr. Sharp captured the bankrobbers, and got back most of the money."

  "I guess I do remember it! I wish you could have seen the gang when weraided them from the clouds, in our airship!"

  "Well, you know Andy Foger hoped to collect the five thousand dollarsreward for telling the police that you were the thief, and of course hegot fooled, for you got the reward. Mr. Foger expected his son wouldcollect the money, and when Andy got left, it made him sore. He's had agrudge against Mr. Pendergast, and all the other bank officials eversince, and now he's going to start a rival bank. So that's why I saidit was partly due to you."

  "Oh, I see. I thought at first you meant that it was on account ofsomething that happened the other day."

  "What was that?"

  "Andy, Sam and Pete got the contents of a bottle of stove blacking,"and Tom related the occurrence, at which Ned laughed heartily.

  "I wouldn't be surprised though," added Ned, "to learn that Mr. Fogerstarted the new bank more for revenge than anything else."

  "So that's the reason you've been working late, eh?" went on Tom."Getting ready for competition. Do you think a new bank will hurt theone you're with?"

  "Well, it might," admitted Ned. "It's bound to make a change, anyhow,and now that I have a good position I don't want to lose it. I takemore of an interest in the institution now that I'm assistant cashier,than I did when I was a clerk. So, naturally, I'm a little worried."

  "Say, don't let it worry you," begged Tom, earnestly.

  "Why not?"

  "Because I know my father and Mr. Damon will stick to the old bank.They won't have anything to do with the one Andy Foger's father starts.Don't you worry."

  "Well, that will help some," declared Ned. "They are both heavydepositors, and if they stick to the old bank we can stand it even ifsome of our smaller customers desert us."

  "That's the way to talk," went on the young inventor. "Let Foger starthis bank. It won't hurt yours."

  "What are you making now?" asked Ned, a little later, looking withinterest at the machinery over which Tom was bending, and to which hewas making adjustments.

  "New electric automobile. I want to beat Andy Foger's car worse than Idid on my motor-cycle, and I also want to win a prize," and the ladproceeded to relate the incidents leading up to his construction of thestorage battery.

  Tom and Ned were in the shop until long past midnight, and then thebank employee, with a look at his watch, exclaimed:

  "Great Scott! I ought to be home."

  "I'll run you over in Mr. Damon's car," proposed Tom. "He left it herethe other day, while he and his wife went off on a trip, and he said Icould use it whenever I wanted to."

  "Good!" cried Ned.

  The two lads came from Tom's particular workshop. As the young inventorclosed the door he started suddenly, as he snapped shut the lock.

  "What's the matter?" asked Ned quickly.

  "I thought I heard a noise," replied Tom.

  They both listened. There was a slight rustling in some bushes near theshop.

 
"It's a dog or a cat," declared Ned.

  Tom took several cautious steps forward. Then he gave a spring, andmade a grab for some one or something.

  "Here! You let me be!" yelled a protesting voice.

  "I will when I find out what you mean by sneaking around here,"retorted Tom, as he came back toward Ned, dragging with him a lad. "Itwasn't a dog or a cat, Ned," spoke the young inventor. "It's SamSnedecker," and so it proved.

  "You let me alone!" demanded Andy Foger's crony. "I ain't done nothin'to you," he whined.

  "Here, Ned, you hold him a minute, while I make an investigation,"called Tom, handing his prisoner over to his chum. "Maybe Pete or Andyare around."

  "No, they ain't. I came alone," said Sam quickly, but Tom, not heeding,opened the shop, and, after turning on the electric lights, procured alantern. He began a search of the shrubbery around the shop, while Nedheld to the struggling Sam.