Victor Appleton

“ It was evening when the great craft, going fast, passed the Golden Gate amid a salvo of whistles from all sorts of craft in the harbor, for scouting aeroplanes had discovered Tom’s approach and heralded it. Out to the landing field without mishap the Air Monarch soared, and there willing hands assisted in making a few slight repairs and in filling the gas and oil tanks. ”

“ There was a yell of surprise from the pirates as they saw the object, with its faint trail of smoke, coming toward them. A moment later there was a little explosion, hardly louder than that of a fire-cracker, and a great cloud of smoke floated over the scene, hiding the pirates from view.
“I get you now!” yelled Ned. “A smoke bomb such as they use in the movies! We’ll escape while they are blinded by the smoke.”
“No, not exactly,” Tom said. “The smoke will hamper us as much as I hope it scares these pirates. I only want to impress them and lay pipes for another demonstration later. ”

“ THE AIR MONARCH Rapidly the small plane settled in the mud and water. It was down almost to the edge of the cockpit, and Tom was about to advise Mary to climb out and up on the upper surface of the wings, which he, likewise was going to do, when shouts over to the left attracted the attention of the two.
A couple of men—automobile mechanics to judge by their grease-soiled garments—stood on the edge of the bog, waving their hands.
“Hold fast!” the taller one urged. “We’ll get you in a minute!”
“You can’t come out here!” Tom shouted back. “It’s a regular quicksand. You’ll get in yourselves!” ”

“ At this Tom Swift’s face brightened and he exclaimed:
“We have a chance. Any tribe, no matter how savage, that can see the funny side of life is open to reason.”
“Do you mean you’re going to reason with these fellows?” asked Ned. “What’s the idea? We can’t hang around here making those fellows laugh and getting them into good humor so they’ll let us go. If you’re going to win this race, Tom——”
“I’m going to do my best to win it,” was the answer. “But harsh measures may be the very worst sort we could adopt. I have an idea we can escape from these pirates by a little strategy.” ”

“ Might be a good place to land, Tom, since you say we’ve about crossed the Atlantic. What place do you think that is?”
“Lisbon, Portugal!” exclaimed Peltok. “I know it. I have been there many times. It is a good place to land!”
“Then we’ll go down!” decided Tom. “We’ll get oil and gas. We’ve done pretty well to cross the Atlantic in about twenty-four hours. But that doesn’t mean we can always make as good time as that.”
Amid screams from the whistles of steamers in the Lisbon harbor, the big craft slowly settled down, Tom, who was steering, picking out a clear space in which to anchor. ”

“ Luckily, just as they began to make the test a violent storm, with heavy thunder, came up, and the sound of the motors’ exhausts were drowned in the furious rumbles from the sky. The bandits heard nothing of the trial of the airship’s machinery and, to the delight of Tom and his friends, the carburetor functioned perfectly.
“We’re ready to go up now!” announced Peltok, as the first rosy tints in the sky denoted the coming of dawn. “Everything is all right. We’re going up!”
“And here come the bandits!” cried Ned as, through the windows of the pilot house, he saw a crowd of Chinese advancing. ”

“ Though the wind howled about them and heavy rain now dashed against the thick plate glass of the windows, and though the typhoon was increasing in power, it was soon evident that the machine was doing better. With the increase in speed and power of the motors, because of Tom’s newly invented gas, the Air Monarch began to recover lost ground, and soon she began progressing straight into the teeth of the hurricane. To have turned and sailed before it would have meant that she would be turned over and over, her wings shorn off and that she would be dropped into the raging sea, a helpless wreck. ”

“ AMONG THE HEAD-HUNTERS “What shall we do, Tom?” exclaimed Ned, as he stood beside his chum, regarding the pirate flotilla. “Going to fight? Better turn on the ammonia tubes! Let’s get out the machine gun!” One of these weapons had been brought along. “We can stand them off!” and Ned started back to the rear of the cabin where the weapons were kept.
“Wait a minute!” ordered Tom Swift. “I don’t believe we’d better shoot, Ned!”
“But, man alive, why not? They’ll kill us if we don’t. Look at their savage faces!”
“They’re regular fiends!” said Peltok. ”

“ Tom said with a determined air. “We’ll be on easy street if I can flash home a winner. And she’s running mighty sweet now,” he added, as he listened to the purr and hum of the motors and the throb of the propellers.
A look around them showed no other contesting aircraft in sight. But that did not mean none were racing them for the prize. The Red Arrow might be close by, hidden from them in the mist. Below them were several motor boats and a steamer or two, and whether or not any of these were the craft trying for the prize Tom Swift did not know. ”

“ In due time Tom was in the Illustrated Star office. There he met a number of the other contestants. The young inventor knew some of them as men who had made reputations piloting fast automobiles, aeroplanes, or speed boats.
“Well, Kimball, what’s your game?” asked Tom of a man with whom he had several times raced at county fairs in autos.
“Tom, I’ve got ’em all beat, including you!” declared Jed Kimball, with a good-natured smile. “I’ve got an air hydroplane that’s a wonder. If I don’t circle the globe in fifteen days I won’t take a cent of the hundred thousand dollars.” ”

“ But when I say I’ll wager ten thousand dollars that Tom can circle the globe in twenty days, I don’t want to tie him down to this one machine. Something might happen to it. If you gentlemen take my bet, it is with the understanding that any machine or machines may be used. The one condition is that Tom, himself, personally, shall complete the girdle of the earth in twice ten days. ”

“ Below them was a squad of Turks riding along and seemingly much excited by the airship over them. The motors, though muffled, were making too much noise for Tom and Ned to hear what the horsemen were shouting, but their actions were plainly discernible.
Suddenly some of them brought their guns around and aimed up at the airship.
“Look out!” cried Ned. “They’re going to shoot!”
“Let them!” chuckled Tom. “They must be uncivilized fellows who have never seen or heard of an aeroplane before. They can’t hit us up here!” ”

“ Ned did not finish, but Tom knew what his chum meant. If it was bad in the air it was worse on the water.
A typhoon is a hurricane of the worst sort, this particular name for violent wind and sea disturbances being common to China and Japan where these storms rage from May to November, being at their worst in the summer months. Tom and his party had arrived just at the very height of the stormy season, and were now in the grip of a typhoon of the most dangerous character.
“Our only chance is to fight it!” cried Tom, while he aided Peltok in handling the wheel. ”

“ Tom and Ned were sleeping in adjoining rooms, and it must have been some time after midnight that they were awakened by hearing a commotion in the hangar where the Air Monarch was kept. Several shots were fired, and Koku’s booming voice could be heard saying:
“Master! Master! Come! Bad man try to break in!”
“They’re after my machine!” yelled Tom, leaping from his bed and taking an automatic pistol that lay ready to his hand. Ned, too, leaped after his friend to do battle with the midnight prowlers. ”

“ Ned wanted to know.
“Well, I thought of starting from around here, or, possibly, from the vicinity of New York,” Tom answered. “You see, there’s a possibility of a race.”
“A race to circle the earth?”
“Yes. The papers have got hold of this wager of dad’s—I think Mr. Damon, in his enthusiasm, spilled the beans—and there is some talk of a national aero club taking the matter up. A paper or two has mentioned that such a trip will greatly advance the science of flying, and there may be a big prize offered for the winner of the race—the one who makes the best actual time around the world.” ”

“ From then on it became increasingly difficult for strangers to get near the Swift plant. Eradicate and Koku were kept on guard in the shop where the Air Monarch was housed and Mr. Swift, with a smile, said they at times even looked on him with suspicion.
But the days passed and the big machine was practically completed, and then came a trial flight which was successful. The giant craft took the air like a bird, and though its speed was not quite up to Tom’s expectations, he said that with some adjustments he thought it would beat any aircraft he had ever made. ”

“ It was shortly after breakfast, when Tom and Ned were taking some very much limited exercise by walking about the cabin, that Peltok, with a worried look on his face, came in to report:
“I’m afraid we’ll have to make another landing, Mr. Swift.”
“Land again? What for?” asked Tom.
“One of the carburetors seems to be choked and the adjustment of it is such a delicate matter that I don’t believe we can do it in the air. We are constantly losing speed, and also getting off our course, as one motor is more powerful than the other.” ”

“ He looked down, picking out the best possible spot for a landing, since he could now steer the plane somewhat. The spot he picked was where the water was deepest over the cranberry bog. The plane was not fitted with pontoons for landing on water, and doubtless the under carriage was going to be greatly damaged in the fall. But, other things being equal, a fall into water in an aeroplane is less harmful to the occupants than a landing on the hard ground.
With steady hands and clear eyes that sought for the most advantageous spot, Tom guided the almost unruly craft. ”

“ Tom Swift well realized that he must make his best speed while in the air. Though his craft could do fairly well on land or in the water, the less actual distance he had to travel on aqua pura or terra firma the better chance he would have of winning the race. His most feared rival—Kilborn in the Red Arrow—could travel only in the air, and would keep to that medium. ”

“ Tom explained.
“Some souvenir!” murmured Ned. But then he did not need to be envious, for he was given a large share of the prize money by Tom, and was able to get a souvenir for Helen.
Peltok, Hartman and Brinkley were also well rewarded for their part in helping win the great race.
“And I won a bit myself,” admitted Mr. Damon, when matters were being talked over. “But bless my phonograph,” he said, “don’t tell my wife. She doesn’t believe in making wagers. Only I’m glad you won, Tom!”
“I’m a bit glad myself,” laughed the young inventor. ”

“ The young inventor and his chum were in the snug cabin of the Air Monarch which was speeding over the last few hundred miles of the Pacific that lay between her and the Golden Gate. Tom was poring over a chart and making some calculations.
“If we reach San Francisco by night, and we ought to do it at the rate we’re traveling, we’ll have used up nearly eighteen days of the twenty.”
“That leaves you one day to cross the continent,” remarked Ned.
“Correct,” agreed Tom. “But we’ll have to stop in Frisco to take on more gas and oil. After that we’ll have a straight-away run to New York.” ”

“ The advent of the soldiers had scattered the savage men from in front of the aeroplane, and she could now speed over the level place and take off into the air.
A moment later, while the “pretty fight” was still going on, Tom pulled back the lever of the elevating plane. Up shot the Air Monarch, and amid yells of surprise from the horsemen, some of whom had evidently not expected the craft to do this, the machine sailed aloft and was soon winging its way toward cloudland, safe from further molestation on the part of the Yellow Gypsies. ”

“ No, if we can average a hundred miles an hour in the air we’ll be doing well. And when we have to land and taxi along, or when we have to go as a boat, we won’t do that, of course.”
“Where do you go from the Azores?” asked Ned.
“We don’t exactly go to the Azores Islands,” corrected Tom. “We’ll fly above them if I hit the right route. From there we head for Spain, move along across the Mediterranean and over the northern part of Turkey and then across China. We may land in the Philippines before we complete the trip across the Pacific.” ”

“ But even at that the Air Monarch did well, and it could do still better, Tom declared.
The machine was taken back to the shop for some final adjustments, and Tom was busy superintending these one day when Ned Newton burst into the building, waving a paper over his head and exclaiming:
“Look at this, Tom! Listen to this! You’ve got a chance to make a fortune!”
“I sure need it,” said the young inventor, with a smile. “This machine is costing a lot more than we’d figured on. But what’s the idea? Has some one left me a million?” ”

“ They are not as intelligent as the Yellow Gypsies. We can run on land with only one motor. It will be better than starting a fight, for it will take only a few bullets to damage the machine beyond repair.”
“That’s right,” agreed Tom. “But do you think we can bluff ’em?”
“It’s worth trying,” Peltok answered. “I’ll give them a word of warning!”
He leaned out of the pilot house window and shouted something which, as Ned said later, sounded like the back fire of an auto. The oncoming Chinese, none of whom were mounted, halted and talked among themselves. ”