Chapter VI
The Contract Signed
Tom Swift went to bed that night without the least fear that the manwho had twice attacked him in the streets of Shopton would be able totrouble him unless he went abroad again. Koku was on guard.
The giant whom Tom had brought home from one of his distant wanderingswas wholly devoted to his master. Koku never had, and he never would,become entirely civilized.
He was naturally a born tracker of men. For generations his people hadlived amid the alarms of threat and attack. He could not be made tounderstand how so many "tribes," as he called them, of civilized mencould live in anything like harmony.
That somebody should prowl about the Swift house at night with a desireto rob his young master or injure him, did not surprise Koku in theleast. He accepted the fact of the marauder's presence as quite theexpected thing.
But the man who had robbed Tom and later tried to repay him for playingwhat appeared to be a practical joke on the robber, did not trouble theSwift premises with his presence before morning. Koku, thrustingEradicate Sampson aside and striding to his bedroom to report thisfact, was what awoke Tom at eight o'clock.
"Hey! What you want, tromping in here for, man?" demanded old Radangrily. "An' totin' that spear, too. Where you t'ink yo' is? In dejungle again? Go 'way, chile!"
Both Rad and Koku were rapidly outliving the sudden friendship of Rad'ssick days, when it was thought he might be blind for life, and weredropping back into their old ways of bickering and rivalry for Tom'sattention.
"I report to the Master," declared the giant, in his deep voice.
"You tell me, I tell him," Rad said pompously. "No need yo' 'sturbingMassa Tom at dis hour."
"Koku go in!" declared the giant sternly.
"Jes' stay out dere on de stair an' res' yo'self," said Rad.
Koku lost his temper with old Rad. There was a feud between them,although deep in their hearts they really were fond of each other. Butthe two were jealous of each other's services to young Tom Swift.
Suddenly Tom heard the old negro utter a frightened squeal. The doorwhich had been only ajar, burst inward and banged against the door-stopwith a mighty smash.
Rad went through the big bedroom like a chocolate-colored streak,entered Tom's bathroom, and the next moment there was the sound ofcrashing glass as Eradicate Sampson went through the lower sash of thewindow, headfirst, out upon the roof of the porch!
"What do you mean by this?" shouted Tom, sitting up in bed.
Koku paused in the doorway, bulking almost to the top of the door. Hisright arm was drawn back, displaying his mighty biceps, and he poised aten foot spear with a copper head that he had seized from a nest ofsuch implements which was a decoration of the lower hall.
Had the giant ever flung that spear at poor Rad's back, half the lengthof the staff might have passed through his body. Little wonder thatthe colored man, having roused the giant's rage to such a pitch, hadgiven small consideration to the order of his going, but had gone atonce!
"You want to scare Rad out of half a year's growth?" Tom pursuedsternly, slipping out of bed and reaching for his robe and slippers."And he's broken that window to smithereens."
"Koku come make report, Master," said the giant.
"You go put that spear back where you found it and come up properly,"commanded the young fellow, with difficulty hiding his amusement. "Goon now!"
He shuffled into the bathroom while the giant disappeared. He peeredout of the broken window. It was a wonder Rad had not carried the sashwith him! The broken glass was scattered all about the roof of theporch and the old colored man lay groaning there.
"What did you do this for, Eradicate?" demanded Tom. "You act worsethan a ten-year-old boy."
"I's done killed, Massa Tom!" groaned Rad with confidence. "I's bloodfrom haid to foot!"
There was a scratch on his bald crown from which a few drops of bloodflowed. But with all his terror, Eradicate had put both arms over hishead when he made his dive through the window, and he really was verylittle injured.
"Come in here," repeated Tom. "Fix something over this broken window sothat I can take my bath. And then go and put something on that scratch.Don't you know better yet, than to cross Koku when he is excited?"
"Dat crazy ol' cannibal!" spat out Rad viciously. "I'll fix him yet.I'll pizen his rations, dat's what I'll do."
"You wouldn't be so bad as that, Rad!"
"Well, mebbe not," said the colored man, crawling in through thebathroom window. "It would take too much pizen, anyway, to kill thatgiant. Take as much as dey has to give an el'phant to kill it. Anyways,I's bound to fix him proper some time, yet."
These quarrels between Eradicate and Koku were intermittent. Theyalmost always arose, too, because of the desire of the two servants towait upon Tom or his father. They were very jealous of each other, andtheir clashes afforded Tom and his friends a good deal of amusement.
While the young inventor was in his bath the giant strode back into thebedroom, out of which Rad had scurried by another door, and proceededto report the result of his night watch about the premises.
He had not much to tell. In fact, after Tom had gone into the houseKoku had seen nobody lurking about at all. The fact remained that,earlier in the evening, somebody had made a close surveillance of theSwift house, but the mysterious marauder had not come back.
"All right, Koku. Keep your eyes open. I expect that enemy may returnsometime. Too bad," he added to himself, "that I didn't get a betterlook at him."
"Koku know him next time," declared the giant.
"Why! you didn't even see him this time," cried Tom.
"See him boots. See marks him boots make. Know him boots. Waugh!"
"'Waugh!' yourself," returned Tom, shaking his head. "You arealtogether too sure, Koku. You couldn't tell a man from his bootprintsin the mud."
"Koku know," said the giant, just as confidently. "Wait. Himcatch--see--show Master."
"Don't you go to grabbing every stranger who comes around the house orthe works for a spy, and make me trouble. Remember now."
Koku nodded gravely and went away. When he met Rad suddenly in the hallwith Mr. Swift's breakfast tray, the giant said "boo!" and almost costthe old colored man the loss of the tray.
"Dat big el'phant ought to be livin' in a barn," declared Rad. "Lookat dat spear he come near runnin' me t'rough wid! If he had, yo' couldha' driv a tipcart full o' rubbish in after it. Lawsy me!"
But an hour later when Tom and his father started for the offices ofthe Swift Construction Company down the street, Rad and Koku weresitting before an enormous breakfast in the back kitchen and chattingtogether as companionably as ever.
The old inventor and his son arrived at the offices of the SwiftConstruction Company not long ahead of Mr. Richard Bartholomew. Tom hadmerely found time to read over the contract that had been jointlyprepared by Ned Newton and the firm's legal advisers, before therailroad man came.
"No getting out of the provisions of that paper, Tom," Ned hadwhispered, when he saw Mr. Bartholomew coming into the outer office."Is this your man?"
"Yes."
"A sharp looking little fellow," commented Ned. "But even if he werebent on tricking us, this contract would hold him. He is solvent and sois his road--as yet. If it has a bad name in the market that is morebecause of slander by the Montagne Lewis crowd than from any realcause. I've found that out this morning."
"Faithful Nero!" chuckled Tom. "Aren't going to let the Swifts getdone, are you?"
"Not if I can help it," declared Ned Newton emphatically.
A clerk brought Mr. Bartholomew into the private office and he wasintroduced to Newton. If he considered the financial manager of theSwift Construction Company very young for his responsible position,after he had read the contract he felt considerable respect for NedNewton.
"You've got me here, young man, hard and fast," Mr. Bartholomew said."If I was inclined to want to wriggle out, I see no chance of it. But Idon't. You ha
ve set forth here exactly my meaning and intent. I wantyour best efforts in this matter, Mr. Swift, and if you give them to meI'll foot the bill as agreed."
"You've got me interested, I confess," said Tom. "By the way, were yourfriends following you when you came here this morning?"
"My friends?" repeated Mr. Bartholomew, for a moment puzzled.
"The spy that you mentioned," said Tom, smiling.
"That Andy O'Malley?" exclaimed Bartholomew. "Haven't spotted himtoday."
"He spotted me last night," said Tom grimly, and proceeded to relatewhat had happened.
"You fooled 'em that time, young man!" exclaimed the railroadpresident, with satisfaction. "I am convinced that Montagne Lewis isbehind it. Look out for these fellows when you get to work, Mr. Swift.They will stop at nothing. I tell you that the fight is on between theHendrickton & Pas Alos and the Hendrickton & Western. I have either gotto break them or they will break me."
"You seem very sure that there is a conspiracy against you, Mr.Bartholomew," said the senior Swift reflectively.
"I am sure," was the reply. "And I am likewise sure that this scheme ofelectrification of my road through the Pas Alos Range is the onlysalvation for my railroad."
"I should call it a big contract," Ned Newton said, thoughtfully.
"You have said it! But it is not a visionary scheme I have in mind. Youmust know--you Swifts--how successful such an electrification throughthe Rockies has been made by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway."
"I've looked that up," confessed Tom, with enthusiasm. "That was agreat piece of work."
"It is. It is. But I hope for even a greater outcome of yourexperiments, Mr. Swift. Of course, I do not expect to compete with thatgreat road. They had millions to spend, and they spent them. ThoseBaldwin-Westinghouse locomotives the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paulbuilt in nineteen hundred and nineteen are wonderful machines. Theyhave got forty-two freight locomotives, fifteen passenger locomotivesand four switchers of that new type.
"The Jandel patent that my road uses is, in some degree, the equal ofthose Baldwin-Westinghouse locomotives. At least, our machines equalthe C., M. & St. P. on our level road. They can reach a mile-a-minutegait. But when it comes to speed and pull on steep grades--Ah! that iswhere they fail."
"You will have to get power in the hills for your stations," suggestedTom, thoughtfully.
"I know that. I know where the power is coming from. I gathered thosewaterfalls in years ago. Lewis and his crowd can't shut me off fromthem. But I have got to have a speedier and more powerful type ofelectric locomotive than has ever yet been built to protect theHendrickton & Pas Alos Railroad from any rivalry.
"I am looking to you Swifts to give me that. I am risking thistwenty-five thousand dollars upon your succeeding. And I am offeringyou the hundred thousand dollars bonus for the right to purchase thefirst successful locomotives that can be built covered by your patents.Is it plain?"
"It is eminently satisfactory," said Mr. Swift, quietly.
"I will do my very best," agreed Tom, warmly. "There isn't a thing thematter with the agreement," declared Ned Newton, with confidence."Gentlemen, sign on the dotted line."
Five minutes later the twin contracts were in force. One went into thesafe of the Swift Construction Company. The other, Mr. RichardBartholomew bore away with him.