CHAPTER IX
TOM IS RESCUED
The Deep Forest Throng needed no urging to flee from the place of themysterious explosion. Their prisoner, helpless as he had seemed, hadproved too much for them. Slipping and stumbling along in the darkness,the masked lads had but one thought--to get away before they saw moreof that blue fire, and the force of the concussion.
"Gee! My eyebrows are all singed off!" cried Sam Snedecker, as he toreloose his mask which had been rent in the explosion, and felt of hisface.
"And my hands are burned," added Pete Bailey. "I stood closer to thefire than any of you."
"You did not! I got the worst of it!" cried Andy. "I was knocked downby the explosion, and I'll bet I'm hurt somewhere. I guess--Oh! Help!I'm falling in a mud hole!"
There was a splash, and the bully disappeared from the sight of hiscompanions who, now that the moon had risen, could better see to fleefrom their prisoner.
"Help me out, somebody!" pleaded Andy. "I'm in a mud hole!"
They pulled him out, a sorry looking sight, and the red-haired lad,whose locks were now black with muck, began to lament his lot.
"Dry up!" commanded Sid Holton. "It's all your fault, for proposingsuch a fool trick as capturing Tom Swift. We might have known he wouldget the best of us."
"What was that stuff he used, anyhow?" asked Cecil Hedden, the ladresponsible for the organization of the Deep Forest Throng. "He mustbe a wonder. Does he do sleight-of-hand tricks?"
"He does all sorts of tricks," replied Pete Bailey, feeling of a biglump on his head, caused by falling on a stone in the mad rush. "Iguess we were chumps to tackle him. He must have put some kind ofchemical in the fire, to make it blow up."
"Or else he summoned his airship by wireless, and had that balloonist,Mr. Sharp, drop a bomb in the blaze," suggested another lad.
"But how could he do anything? Wasn't he tied fast to that tree?" askedCecil, the leader.
"You never know when you've got Tom Swift tied," declared JackReynolds. "You think you've got him, and you haven't. He's too slickfor us. It's Andy's fault, for proposing to capture him."
"That's right! Blame it all on me," whined the squint-eyed bully. "Youwas just as anxious as I was to tar and feather him."
"Well, we didn't do it," commented Pete Bailey, dryly. "I s'pose he'sloose now, laughin' at us. Gee, but that was an explosion though! It'sa wonder some of us weren't killed! I guess I've had enough of thisDeep Forest Throng business. No more for mine."
"Aw, don't be afraid," urged Cecil. "The next time we get him we'll beon our guard."
"You'll never catch Tom Swift again," predicted Pete.
"I'll go back now to where he is, if you will," agreed Cecil, who wasolder than the others.
"Not much!" cried Pete. "I've had enough."
This seemed to be the sentiment of all. Away they stumbled through thewoods, and, emerging on the road, scattered to their several homes, notone but who suffered from slight burns, contusions, torn and muddyclothes or injured feelings as the outcome of the "joke" on the younginventor.
But our hero was not yet free from the bonds of his enemies. When theyscattered and ran, after the vivid blue light, and the dull explosion,which, being unconfined, did no real damage, Tom was still fast to thetree. As his eyes became accustomed to the semi-darkness that followedthe glare, he remarked:
"Well, I don't know that I'm much better off. I gave those fellows agood scare, but I'm not loose. But I can work to better advantage now."
Once more he resumed the effort to free himself, but in spite of thecrude manner in which the knots had been made, the lad could not getloose. The more he pulled and tugged the tighter they seemed to become.
"This is getting serious," Tom mused. "If I could only reach my knife Icould cut them, but it's in my pocket on the other side, and thatbond's fast. Guess I'll have to stay here all night. Maybe I'd bettercall for help, but--"
His words, spoken half aloud, were suddenly interrupted by a crash inthe underbrush. Somebody was approaching. At first Tom thought it wasAndy and his cronies coming back, but a voice that called a momentlater proved that this was not so.
"Is any one here?" shouted a man. "Any one hurt? What was that fire andexplosion?"
"I'm here," replied Tom. "I'm not hurt exactly, but I'm tied to a tree.I'll be much obliged if you'll loosen me."
"Who are you?"
"Tom Swift. Is that you, Mr. Mason?"
"Yes. By jinks! I never expected to find you here, Tom. Over this way,men," he added calling aloud. "I've found him; it's Tom Swift."
There was the flicker of several lanterns amid the trees, and soon anumber of men had joined Mr. Mason, and surrounded Tom. They werefarmers living in the neighborhood.
"What in the name o' Tunket happened?" asked one. "Did you get hit by ameteor or a comet? Who tied you up; highwaymen?"
"Cut him loose first, and ask questions afterward," suggested Mr. Mason.
"Yes," added Tom, with a laugh, "I wish you would. I'm beginning tofeel cramped."
With their knives, the farmers quickly cut the ropes, and some of themrubbed the arms of the lad to restore the circulation.
"What was it--highwaymen?" asked a man, unable to longer restrain hiscuriosity. "Did they rob you?"
"No, it wasn't highwaymen," replied the youth. "It was a trick of someboys I know," and to Tom's credit be it said that he did not mentiontheir names. "They did it for a joke," he added.
"Boys' trick? Joke?" queried Mr. Mason. "Pretty queer sort of a joke, Ithink. They ought to be arrested."
"Oh, I fancy I gave them what was coming to them," went on the younginventor.
"Did they try to blow ye up, too?" asked Mr. Hertford. "What in th'name of Tunket was that blue light, and that explosion? I heard it an'saw it way over to my house."
"So did I," remarked Mr. Mason, and several others said the same thing."We thought a meteor had fallen," he continued, "and we got together tomake an investigation."
"It's a good thing for me you did," admitted Tom, "or I might have hadto stay here all night."
"But was it a meteor?" insisted Mr. Hertford.
"No," replied the lad, "I did it."
"You?"
"Yes. You see after they tied me I found I could get one hand free. Ireached in my pocket for my knife, but instead of it I managed to gethold of a package of powder I had."
"Gunpowder?" asked Mr. Mason.
"No, a chemical powder I use in an electrical battery. The powderexplodes in fire, and makes quite a blue flash, and a lot of smoke, butit isn't very dangerous, otherwise I wouldn't have used it. When theboys were some distance away from the fire, I threw the powder in theblaze. It went off in a moment, and--"
"I guess they run some; didn't they?" asked Mr. Mason with a laugh.
"They certainly did," agreed Tom.