CHAPTER II
SUSPICIONS
"Yes," said Ned dubiously, "if you can do it. Oh, I'll admit that yourinvention improves a telescope marvelously. But to see life on anotherworld, millions of miles away--well, that sounds like a pretty tallorder even for you, Tom Swift!"
"That Sounds Like a Tall Order!"]
"Let's go back in the lab and I'll tell you more about the project."
Tom directed Koku to carry the telescope inside. As the three walkedback, the giant suddenly gave a yell.
"Quick, Master!"
With that the servant let go the big instrument, placing it with a thudnone too gently on the hard ground. In a bound he was off. Tom and Nedcaught a glimpse of someone just disappearing around the edge of thebuilding. Had the stranger sneaked into the laboratory while Koku'sback was turned?
Koku Bounded Off]
"I hope the space eye isn't smashed!" exclaimed Tom, examining theinstrument. "Or the telescope lens."
Anxiously Ned waited as his chum detached the green disk and held it up.
"I--I guess it's O.K.," said Tom at length. "I'll test it in the lab andsee."
"I Hope the Space Eye Isn't Smashed!"]
At this moment Koku reappeared, saying the intruder had vanished.Moreover, he was very contrite about having handled the telescoperoughly. In a few seconds the fears of the three vanished. Put to theelectric test, the disk was found to be all right.
"Who do you suppose was sneaking around here?" asked Ned.
"No telling," replied Tom. "But nothing seems to be missing," he added,glancing around.
"Nothing Seems to Be Missing."]
"I hope you're right," said Ned. "Now tell me more about this greendisk. How did you happen to discover the stuff?"
"As to just what it is," replied the other slowly, "I'm not sure yet.When I analyzed it, I found a substance absolutely new to chemistry."
"Where did you get it?" asked Ned.
"I scraped it from that meteorite down in Koku's country in SouthAmerica."
Ned whistled. "Ever since we found that thing which we called a planetstone, you've been discovering all sorts of things about it."
"I Scraped It From a Meteorite."]
"Right now I hope to revolutionize the field of astronomy with it," saidTom.
"Tell me more about this wonderful green substance."
"It may be a new compound or it may be an unknown element. Anyway, inexperimenting with it I found that heat and electricity both change thestuff. The former has an apparently permanent effect, while an electriccurrent, as you saw, alters it only temporarily."
"Heat and Electricity Change It."]
"Why didn't you make a big disk? Then you could have tested your theoryright away," stated Ned Newton.
"For two good reasons," replied Tom, opening a drawer and taking out asmall vial filled with yellow powder. "I wasn't sure it would improve atelescope for one thing, and this is the other." He handed the bottle toNed. "This is all I have on hand of the new stuff."
"This Is All I Have."]
"'X,'" murmured Ned, reading the label. "But this powder isn't green.And why the X?"
"When the stuff is melted and then cooled it changes color," explainedTom. "As for the X, if you remember your algebra you know that letterstands for the unknown quantity."
"Too bad you can't make a huge green disk."
"This Powder Isn't Green!"]
"Don't worry about that," smiled his friend. "I'll soon have plenty ofthe powder. You haven't forgotten how the natives of Giant Land fearedthe meteorite and insisted that we take it away. It seems, however, thatwe got but a small piece of it. Evidently when it struck the ground thething split, the heavier portion burying itself deep in the earth whilethe part we found remained near the surface."
"An Earthquake Caused the Upheaval."]
"About six weeks ago Koku got a letter from his brother, King Amo ofGiant Land, telling of an earthquake which caused the upheaval of thehuge stone. His people think we are great magicians or else witchdoctors, and Amo wrote begging us to take the meteorite from his land.Of course, I was only too glad to oblige 'em."
"Then you plan going to South America--"
"Bless my passport, but I'm glad to hear that!" exclaimed a voice fromthe open doorway. "It seems as if I'm just in time!"
"Mr. Damon!" cried both boys together.
"Mr. Damon!" Cried Both Boys]
A jolly-looking, rather portly gentleman entered, swinging his caneexcitedly. Tom and Ned gave him a warm welcome, for he was a friend oflong standing and had accompanied them on many an expedition to remotequarters of the globe.
"Come in," invited Tom. "Sit down, Mr. Damon, and tell us the news."
"And what was it you were so tickled to hear just now?" added Ned.
"Come in and Tell us the News!"]
"I'll tell you," said the rather eccentric man, for once forgetting tobless something. "I'm in trouble, boys, and I need your help."
"You know we'll do anything we can, Mr. Damon," Tom assured him. "Justwhat is the difficulty?"
"My wife," said the caller glumly. "She's the trouble."
"I'm in Trouble, Boys."]
On hearing this both boys experienced no little difficulty in keepingtheir faces straight. Although Mrs. Damon was a fine woman in many ways,she was inclined to be very domineering where her husband wasconcerned. Ever since Tom Swift had rescued the man from a band ofkidnapers, Mrs. Damon had had a great liking for the youthful scientist.Yet she felt that her husband should remain quietly at home with her andnot go off on any wild trips, as the good lady called them.
"But I don't see--well, suppose you explain," suggested Tom.
"Bless My Headache Pills!"]
"My wife wants me to go on a week-end house party with her next Fridayand I detest 'em. Bless my headache pills, but it's enough to drive aman distracted. Now, I heard you boys talking about South America as Icame in and I want to go along!"
"Well, Mr. Damon, if we were going South you know I'd be only toopleased to have you a member of the party. But Ned and I were merelytalking about a shipment of freight I'm expecting from Giant Land."
"Koku's country?" asked Mr. Damon, somewhat astonished. "I thoughtAmbolata was still unknown to commerce. Bless my bill-of-lading, if theworld isn't moving faster than I thought!"
Some Freight From Giant Land]
Tom smiled. "I had to arrange for an expedition through the consularoffice at Buenos Aires to get what I want. It seems we didn't receiveall of that strange meteorite even with the help of your magic wig."
Tom Smiled and Explained]
Even Mr. Damon had to laugh when he recalled the ludicrous situationin which he had been placed in the jungles of South America. Surroundedby savages, he had absent-mindedly taken off his wig, therebyfrightening the simple natives half out of their wits. They had thoughthe could scalp himself at will. Nevertheless, this action had saved thelives of Tom Swift and his party, ultimately enabling them to escapewhen the giants turned against them.
They Thought He Could Scalp Himself]
"Ah, those were the days, Tom," sighed the eccentric man, "those werethe days! Even if you're not going off to the wilds, maybe you mightgive me some kind of a job here so that my wife can't drag me off tothat house party. I feel it in my very bones that old Hiram Leatherbywill be there and he ALWAYS singles me out to talk about his fossilcollection!"
"I can sympathize with you," muttered Ned. "Mr. Leatherby used to be adirector in the bank where I worked before Tom made me his businessmanager, and I've often thought he was a bit fossilized himself!"
"I'll See What Can Be Done."]
"Well, Mr. Damon, I'll see what can be done," promised Tom.
"Good!" came an enthusiastic exclamation. "Bless my cup of tea, I'mcounting on you!"
"In the meantime, why don't you go up to the house and have ourhousekeeper, Mrs. Baggert, make you a cup of tea? Stop in the libraryand see Dad. He's been working too hard
lately on his electrical bookand he needs company."
"Stop in and See Dad."]
"I will, Tom. Your father is a mighty fine man. Oh, my goodness! Blessmy poor memory, Tom, but I had some news for you. Good or bad I don'tknow, but I feel uneasy about it."
"Tell us what it is," suggested the young inventor.
"Two Men Called on Me."]
"It's a rather odd thing. You see, last evening I was reading my paperon the porch when two men called on me. Said they were long-lostrelatives--cousins, or something of the sort--just back from a stay inSouth Africa. They seemed nice enough fellows, but bless my family tree,I had never heard of 'em! At any rate, they seemed to know a good dealabout the Damon family and so I asked them to dinner. What got methinking something might not be right was the way those chaps tried topump me about you, Tom."
"Pump you?" asked young Swift, a puzzled look on his face. "About what?"
"Glass," said the eccentric character promptly. "Some kind of glass.Bless my windshield-wiper, what was it? Oh, yes! Flexible glass, thatwas it."
"They Tried to Pump Me."]
Tom and Ned exchanged startled glances. For many months experimentsdirected toward the production of a glass as bendable as rubber had beengoing forward in the Swift plant. Every possible precaution had beentaken to cloak the work in deepest secrecy, yet somewhere evidently aleak had developed among Tom's employees.
Tom and Ned Exchanged Glances]
"Are these men still at your home, Mr. Damon?" asked Ned, a worried lookon his face.
"No, they left after dinner. Mr. Brown said they had some importantbusiness up state. Is this glass business some new invention, Tom?"
"I hope it will be. So far my experiments haven't turned outsuccessfully. But I can't understand how anyone outside our plant couldhave known about them."
"They Left After Dinner."]
Mr. Damon could tell little more about his self-styled relatives.After giving a description of the two men he took his leave. The boyswere rather worried about the information he had brought along.
"It's not so much the glass," said Tom, "for we don't know if it will bea success. What bothers me is the idea of there being a traitor in theshops. I thought we had weeded out all unscrupulous employees."
He Described the Two Men]
"The Apex Glass Works are located in Portville," said Ned, struck withan idea, "fifty miles north of here. Mr. Damon's visitors claimed tohave business up state. To my mind that's more than a coincidence,especially since the Apex people would give their back teeth to get holdof your formula, Tom!"
"That's More Than Coincidence."]