Tom Swift and His Airship

s Myste

ws?" asked the balloo

never build our airship, Mr. S

ught of one point where we made a mistake. Your father suggested it to me. We ne

ry it." And the pair hurried into the machine shop, eager to

ving amassed a considerable fortune from several of his patents, as he was also an inventor. Tom's mother had been dead since he was a small child, and Mrs. Baggert kept house for the widower and his son. There was also, in their

Tom became possessed of a motor-cycle. It had belonged to a wealthy man, Mr. Wakefield Damon, of Waterford, near Lake Carlopa, which body of water adjoined the town of Shopton; but Mr. Damon had two accidents with the machine, and sold it to Tom cheap. Tom was riding his motorcycle to Albany, to deliver his father's model of the turbine motor to a lawyer, in order to

g, went about the country doing odd jobs, got on the trail of the thieves in a deserted mansion in the woods at the upper en

ing it up, made a speedy craft of it so speedy, in fact that it beat the racing-boat Red Streak-owned by Andy Foger. But Tom did more than race in his boat. He took his father on a tour for his health, and, during Mr. Swift's absence from home, the

e, and you shall hear more of Miss Nestor presently, for she and Tom became quite friendly. Events so shaped themselves that Andy Foger was glad to loan To

with a man clinging to the trapeze. They managed to save the fellow's life, after a stren

," as he expressed it, and could not make the machine work. His falling in with Mr. Swift and his son seemed providential, for Tom and his father were at once inte

he effect of this gas on a small model of the aluminum container that the explosion, told of in the first chapter, occurred. In fact it was only one of several explosions, but, as Tom said, all the while th

llowed Mr. Sharp into the shop. The balloonist, it may be explained, had

e needle valve in?" asked Tom, as he noted with satisfa

ronaut. "Now let's make another mod

at afternoon work on the airship progressed. The joint inventors of it wanted to be sure that the sustaining gas bag, or aluminum container

shed, and the motor, a powerful machine, of new de

arp labored in the shop. As it grew dusk ther

ench. "I wish Mrs. Baggert would wait about an

ntly not going to wait, for h

. Swift; Tom, Mr. Sharp! I can't wait any lo

rked Mr. Sharp, with something of

er, who was also a sort of watchman, was bidden to keep good guard, for the fear of the gang of unscrupu

here the aeroplane is," advised Mr. Sharp.

n to it," promised the engine

which Mr. Swift and the balloonist went over with care. Tom was examining some blue prints, which gave a sectional view of the proposed ship

s wondering what had become of you

dy for the regular visit of the examiner, who usually comes along about this time. Wel

another explosion to-d

I had

dy Foger and his two cronies were on ha

uto just as I was coming in, 'honking-honking' his horn to beat the band!

ship," predicted Tom. "Then

ly think it

tch Anson Morse and his crowd of scou

lied Ned, in some surprise. "Weren't th

naged to get out, and now they're

?" asked Ned, and Tom noted that

se I am. But w

e, and his long years of brain work had made him nervous. He had a great fear of Morse and his gang, for they had made much trouble for

e got something I want to show y

as so engrossed, together with the aeronaut, in making some calculations regarding win

n they were safe in his apartment. "Something

h that those men had gotten out of jail, I would have paid more atten

m, and his manner, which had be

n I came out to-night, after working for several hours, I was glad enough to hurry away from the 'slave-den,' as I call

ful in that," commented Tom.

to me, and there we stood, for a moment, right under a gas lamp. I looked down at his hands

ed Tom, now much excited. "That'

d, "but I didn't pay any attention to it at the tim

lse happened?

to the man, and he to me, a

about the ring

king much about it, when, I saw another man step out of the dark shadows of Peterby's grocer

did he

on. It was: 'Is there

d you te

seen his mistake and hurried on. He joined the man I had collided with, and the two skipped off in the darkness

d Tom, as hi

ing suspiciously, and, now that you tell me the Anson Morse gang is not

clared Tom positively. "

on his finger-the same finger where you say Happy Harry had his. But what would the men be doin

any of dad's inventions this time.

ha

. That Morse gang is one of the worst in the country," and Tom, much excited, began to pace t