Victor Appleton

“ Whitford, gently. "What's your answer, Tom? Don't you think this is a sort of duty-call to you?"
"A duty-call?" repeated the young inventor.
"Yes. Of course I realize that it isn't like a soldier's call to battle, but Uncle Sam needs you just the same. When there is a war the soldiers are called on to repel an enemy. Now the smugglers are just as much an enemy of the United States, in a certain way, as an armed invader would be."
"One strikes at the life and liberty of the people, while the smugglers try to cheat Uncle Sam out of money that is due him. ”

“ It was a large white envelope, addressed to Tom Swift, and the name was in printed characters.
"Somebody who wants to disguise their writing," remarked Tom, as he tore it open. A look of surprise came over his face.
"Look here! Mr. Whitford," he cried. "This is the work of the smugglers all right!"
For, staring at Tom, in big printed letters, on a white sheet of paper, was this message:
"If you know what is good for you, Tom Swift, you had better clear out. If you don't your airship will burned, and you may get hurt. We'll burn you in mid-air. Beware and quit. You can't catch us." ”

“ What's up? What's the matter? Where are you all? Hey, Tom Swift!"
"It's Mr. Whitford!" cried Tom. "He's just in time." Then he called in louder tones:
"Here we are! In the woods by the trout brook! Come on over! Ned is gone!"
There was a commotion in the bushes, the trampling of a horse, and a moment later the government agent had joined the others.
"What's this?" he cried. "Ned gone? What do you mean?"
"He's missing. The smugglers have him, I'm afraid," explained Tom, and then he gave the details. ”

“ He'll soon come out," and Tom flashed the big light on the fleeing giant to whom fear seemed to lend more than wings.
But even a giant, long legged though he be, and powerful, cannot compete with a modern airship--certainly not such a one as Tom Swift had.
"We're almost up to him, Tom!" cried Ned a little later.
"Yes! I'm keeping track of him. Oh, why doesn't he know enough to stop? Koku! Koku!" called Tom. "It's all right! I'm in the airship! This is a searchlight, not a comet. Wait for us!" ”

“ For, search as Tom and his friends did for a trace of the smugglers, they could see nothing. They put on full speed, and even went as far as the limits of the Indian reservation, but to no purpose. They heard no throbbing motor, no whizz of great propellers, and saw no white, canvas wings against the dark background of the sky, as Tom's craft made her way noiselessly along.
"I guess we've frightened them away," said Mr. Whitford dubiously, as it came near morning, and nothing suspicious had been seen or heard. "They're holding back their goods, Tom until they think they can take us unawares. ”

“ The two boys worked that afternoon on the new airship, and in the evening, when Ned came over, Tom proposed that they make another attempt to see Mr. Whitford.
"I want to get this thing off my mind," spoke the young inventor, and he and his chum started for the hotel. Once more they passed the Foger house. It was in darkness, but, as the two lads stood watching, they saw a flash of a light, as if it came through a crack in a shutter or a shade.
"Some one is in there," declared Tom.
"Yes, probably Andy is getting his own supper. It's queer he wants to lead that sort of a life. ”

“ Chapter XVI Koku's Prisoner
"Bless my knitting needles!" cried Mr. Damon, as he looked down, and saw, in the glare of the great light, the figure of the woman clinging to the swaying rope. "Help her, someone! Tom! Ned! She'll fall!"
The eccentric man started to rush from the motor room, where he had been helping Ned. But the latter cried:
"Stay where you are, Mr. Damon. No one can reach her now without danger to himself and her. She can climb up, I think." ”

“ Damon, who pulled over the accelerating lever and instantly the Falcon responded. Now indeed the race was on in earnest. The smugglers must have understood this, for they tried all their tactics to throw the pursuing airship off the track. They dodged and twisted, now going up, and now going down, and even trying to turn back, but Tom headed them off. Ever the great beam of light shone relentlessly on them, like some avenging eye. They could not escape.
"Are we gaining?" cried Mr. Whitford. ”

“ And it is practically impossible for an inspector patroling the border to be on the lookout for the craft of the air. Even if they saw them, what could they do? It would be out of the question to stop them. That's why we need some one with a proper machine who can chase after them, who can sail through the air, and give them a fight in the clouds if they have to."
"Our custom houses on the ground, and our inspectors on horse back, traveling along the border, can't meet the issue. We're depending on you, Tom Swift, and I hope you don't disappoint us." ”

“ It's too valuable a property to let stand idle. Did you hear how long Andy was going to stay?"
"A week, I believe."
"A week! Say, one day would be enough I should think."
"You must have some special reason for being afraid Andy will do you some harm," exclaimed Ned. "Out with it, Tom."
"Well, I'll tell you what it is, Ned," and Tom led his chum inside the shop, in front of which the two lads had been talking. It was a shop where the young inventor constructed many of his marvelous machines, aircraft, and instruments of various sorts.
"Do you think some one may hear you?" asked Ned. ”

“ He could manage to live there for a while, with the carpenter bringing him in food. Say, did you notice who that man was, 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 to ask him what Andy is doing in town, and what the repairs are that he's making on the house."
"Well, of course if Andy has been doing anything wrong, he wouldn't admit it," said Tom. "Though Mr. Dillon may tell you about the carpenter work. But I'm sure that man was a detective from the town where Andy moved to. ”

“ It was monotonous work, and unprofitable, for, though Tom sent the airship back and forth for many miles along the wonderful river that formed the path from the Great Lakes to the sea, he had no glimpse of ghostly wings of other aircraft, nor did he hear the beat of propellers, nor the throb of motors, as his own noiseless airship cruised along. ”

“ Foger couldn't get money to pay some of his debts. He has some claim on the house, I believe, but I don't believe he'd come back to live in it."
"Why not?"
"Because it's too expensive a place for a poor man to keep up, and Mr. Foger is now poor."
"Yes, he didn't get any of the gold, as we did when we went to the underground city," remarked Tom. "Well, I don't wish anybody bad luck but I certainly hope the Fogers keep poor enough to stay away from Shopton. They bothered me enough. But where did you see Andy?" ”

“ But there are inspectors stationed at the principal roads leading from the Dominion into Uncle Sam's territory, and they are always on the lookout. They patrol the line, sometimes through a dense wilderness, and again over a desolate plain, always on the watch. If they see persons crossing the line they stop them and examine what they have. If there is nothing dutiable they are allowed to pass. If they have goods on which there is a tax, they either have to pay or surrender the goods."
"But don't the smugglers slip over in spite of all the precautions?" asked Ned. ”

“ Whitford, when some of the Indians had gone back to their shanties, leaving a few staring curiously at the airship, as she rested on the ground, bathed in the glow of her electric lights.
"Well, I think the best thing we can do is just to stay right here, Tom; all night if need be. As Big Foot says, there have been airships passing overhead at frequent intervals. Of course that is not saying that they were the smugglers, but I don't see who else they could be. There's no meet going on, and no continental race. They must be the smugglers." ”

“ Whitford, the hotel clerk said, had gone out of town for the day, and, as Ned and Tom did not feel like telling their suspicions to any of the other agents, they started back home.
"I understand they're going to search every house in Shopton, before they go away," said the clerk to the boys. "They are going to look for smuggled goods."
"They are; eh?" exclaimed Colonel Henry Denterby, who had fought in the Civil War. "Search my house; eh? Well I guess not! A man's house is his castle, sir! ”

“ There were several plate glass windows in the floor of the airship, and through these they all gazed at the youth on the motor-cycle. Only Tom, however, by the aid of the glasses, was able to make out his features.
"Bless my spark plug! Andy Foger!" cried Mr. Damon. "Are you going to try to catch him?"
"Get him and break chug-chug machine!" suggested Koku.
"What do you suppose he's up to, Tom?" asked Ned.
"Andy Foger speeding along at this hour of the morning," remarked Mr. Whitford. "There must be something in the wind." ”

“ But if the populace of Logansville had been in the habit of having Andy Foger sail over their heads, still they were enough interested in a new craft to crowd around when Tom dropped into a field near some outlying houses. In a moment the airship was surrounded by a crowd of women and children, and there would probably been a lot of men, but for the fact that they were away at work. ”

“ It was Koku who asked this last question, as Tom came running toward the giant. In the strange glare from the searchlight, the young inventor saw his big servant holding tightly to a rather small, colored man, while the camera, which was focused full on them, was clicking away at a great rate, taking picture after picture on the roll of films. ”

“ Can you use any more speed?"
"I don't know. Ned, see if you can get another notch out of her."
With one hand Ned reached for the accelerator lever on the wall near him, and pulled it to the last notch. The Falcon shot ahead with increased speed, but, at the same instant there came a gasp from Koku, and the sound of something breaking.
"There! He's done it!" cried Tom in despair. "I was afraid you'd be too strong for that wrench, Koku. You've broken off the handle. Now we'll never be able to loosen that valve." ”

“ Damon. "Please don't talk about such hair-raising things, Ned! Talk about something pleasant."
"All right," agreed Tom's chum, and then, as the airship sailed along, high above the earth, they talked of many things.
"I think when we sight Logansville." said Tom, after a while, "that I will come down in some quiet spot, before we reach the city."
"Don't you want to get into a crowd?" asked Ned.
"No, it isn't that. But Mr. Foger lives there you know, and, though he may not be at home, there are probably some men who are interested in the thing he is working at."
"You mean smuggling?" ”

“ I believe I'm game. I'll join you later in the day," Mr. Whitford added, as Tom told him where the Falcon was anchored.
The young inventor got back to find a bigger crowd than ever around his airship. But Koku and the others had kept them at a distance.
With the government agent aboard Tom sent his craft into the air at dusk, the crowd cheering lustily. Then, with her nose pointed toward the St. Lawrence, the Falcon was on her way to do a night patrol, and, if possible, detect the smugglers. ”

“ The Fogers seem to be innocent of wrong doing. We need your help, Tom."
"But I don't see how I can help you."
"Of course you can! You're an expert with airships. The smugglers are using airships, of that I'm sure. You tell me you have just perfected a noiseless aircraft. That will be just the thing. You can hover on the border, near the line dividing New York State from Canada, or near the St. Lawrence, which is the natural division for a certain distance, and when you see an airship coming along you can slip up in your noiseless one, overhaul it, and make them submit to a search." ”

“ This Foger chap may have been bad in the past, but I hardly think he's in with the smugglers. What I'm looking for is not a lad who has one airship, but someone who is making a lot of them, and supplying the men who are running goods over the border. That's the sort of game I'm after, and if this Andy Foger only has one aeroplane I hardly think he can be very dangerous. ”

“ They'll hear you," cautioned Ned.
"Nonsense! They're too high up," was Tom's reply. "Mr. Damon, bring me the big binoculars, please!" he called.
"Bless my spectacles, what's up?" asked the odd gentleman as he ran with the glasses toward Tom.
Our hero focused them on the airship that was swiftly sailing across the open space in the wilderness but so high up that there was no danger of our friends being recognized. Then the young inventor uttered a cry of astonishment.
"It's Andy Foger!" he cried. "He's in that airship, and he's got two men with him. Andy Foger, and it's a new biplane. ”

“ Can you manage alone in the pilot house?"
"Yes," came back the answer through the tube.
Koku came back on the run, and was soon tying knots in a strong rope. Meanwhile Ned kept the light on the tossing boat, while Tom, through a megaphone had called to the men to stand by to be rescued. The whistle frantically tooted their thanks.
Koku went out on the after deck, and, having made the knotted rope fast, dropped the end overboard. Then began a difficult feature of airship steering. Tom, looking down through the glass, watched the boat in the glare of the light. ”

“ This conversation took place several days after the raid on the Foger house, and after Tom's accidental discovery of how to make a new kind of searchlight. In the meantime he had not seen Ned, who had been away on a visit.
"Yes, I've made up my mind to help Uncle Sam," spoke Tom, "and this is one of the things I'll need in my work. It's going to be the most powerful searchlight ever made--that is, I never heard of any portable electric lights that will beat it." ”