CHAPTER II
AN UNSUSPECTED LISTENER
For a few moments after Tom Swift had announced his decision tostart for the city of gold, and Mr. Damon had said he wouldaccompany the young inventor, there was a silence in the workshop.Then Mr. Swift laid aside the delicate mechanism of the new modelgyroscope on which he had been working, came over to his son, andsaid:
"Well, Tom, if you're going, that means you're going--I know enoughto predict that. I rather wish you weren't, for I'm afraid no goodwill come of this."
"Now, dad, don't be talking that way!" cried Tom gaily. "Pack up andcome along with us." Lovingly he placed his arm around the bentshoulders of his father.
"No, Tom, I'm too old. Home is the place for me."
"Bless my arithmetic tables!" exclaimed Mr. Damon, "you're not somuch older than I am, and I'm going with Tom. Come on, Mr. Swift."
"No, I can't put up with dangers, hardship and excitement as I usedto. I'd better stay home. Besides, I want to perfect my newgyroscope. I'll work on that while you and Tom are searching for thecity of gold. But, Tom, if you're going you'd better have somethingmore definite to look for than an unknown city, located on a mapdrawn by some African bushman."
"I intend to, dad. I guess when Mr. Illingway wrote his letter hedidn't really think I'd take him up, and make the search. I'm goingto write and ask him if he can't get me a better map, and also learnmore about the location of the city. Mexico isn't such a very largeplace, but it would be if you had to hunt all over it for a buriedcity, and this map isn't a lot of help," and Tom who had shown it tohis father and Mr. Damon looked at it closely.
"If we're going, we want all the information we can get," declaredthe odd man. "Bless my gizzard, Tom, but this may mean a lot to us!"
"I think it will," agreed the young inventor. "I'm going to write toMr. Illingway at once, and ask for all the information he can get."
"And I'll help you with suggestions," spoke Mr. Damon. "Come on inthe house, Tom. Bless my ink bottle, but we're going to have someadventures again!"
"It seems to me that is about all Tom does--have adventures--thatand invent flying machines," said Mr. Swift with a smile, as his sonand their visitor left the shop. Then he once more bent over hisgyroscope model, while Tom and Mr. Damon hurried in to write theletter to the African missionary.
And while this is being done I am going to ask your patience for alittle while--my old readers, I mean--while I tell my new friends,who have never yet met Tom Swift, something about him.
Mr. Swift spoke truly when he said his son seemed to do nothing butseek adventures and invent flying machines. Of the latter the ladhad a goodly number, some of which involved new and startling ideas.For Tom was a lad who "did things."
In the first volume of this series, entitled "Tom Swift and HisMotor Cycle," I told you how he became acquainted with Mr. Damon.That eccentric individual was riding a motor cycle, when it startedto climb a tree. Mr. Damon was thrown off in front of Tom's house,somewhat hurt, and the young inventor took him in. Tom and hisfather lived in the village of Shopton, New York, and Mr. Swift wasan inventor of note. His son followed in his footsteps. Mrs. Swifthad been dead some years, and they had a good housekeeper, Mrs.Baggert.
Another "member" of the family was Eradicate Sampson, a colored manof all work, who said he was named "Eradicate" because he"eradicated" the dirt. He used to do odd jobs of whitewashing beforehe was regularly employed by Mr. Swift as a sort of gardener andwatchman.
In the first book I told how Tom bought the motor cycle from Mr.Damon, fixed it up, and had many adventures on it, not the least ofwhich was saving some valuable patent models of his father's whichsome thieves had taken.
Then Tom Swift got a motor boat, as related in the second volume ofthe series, and he had many exciting trips in that craft. Followingthat he made his first airship with the help of a veteran balloonistand then, not satisfied with adventures in the air, he and hisfather perfected a wonderful submarine boat in which they went underthe ocean for sunken treasure.
The automobile industry was fast forging to the front when Tom cameback from his trip under water, and naturally he turned hisattention to that. But he made an electric car instead of one thatwas operated by gasolene, and it proved to be the speediest car onthe road.
The details of Tom Swift and his wireless message will be found inthe book of that title. It tells how he saved the castaways ofEarthquake Island, and among them was Mr. Nestor, the father ofMary, a girl whom Tom thought--but there, I'm not going to be mean,and tell on a good fellow. You can guess what I'm hinting at, Ithink.
It was when Tom went to get Mary Nestor a diamond ring that he fellin with Mr. Barcoe Jenks, who eventually took Tom off on a searchfor the diamond makers, and he and Tom, with some friends,discovered the secret of Phantom Mountain.
One would have thought that these adventures would have been enoughfor Tom Swift, but, like Alexander, he sighed for new worlds toconquer. How he went to the caves of ice in search of treasure, andhow his airship was wrecked is told in the eighth volume of theseries, and in the next is related the details of his swift sky-racer,in which he and Mr. Damon made a wonderfully fast trip, andbrought a doctor to Mr. Swift in time to save the life of the agedinventor.
It was when Tom invented a wonderful electric rifle, and went toAfrica with a Mr. Durban, a great hunter, to get elephants' tusks,that he rescued Mr. and Mrs. Illingway, the missionaries, who wereheld captive by red pygmies.
That was a startling trip, and full of surprises. Tom took with himto the dark continent a new airship, the Black Hawk, and but forthis he and his friends never would have escaped from the savagesand the wild beasts.
As it was, they had a hazardous time getting the missionary and hiswife away from the jungle. It was this same missionary who, as toldin the first chapter of this book, sent Tom the letter about thecity of gold. Mr. Illingway and his wife wanted to stay in Africa inan endeavor to christianize the natives, even after their terribleexperience. So Tom landed them at a white settlement. It was fromthere that the letter came.
But the missionaries were not the only ones whom Tom saved from thered pygmies. Andy Foger, a Shopton youth, was Tom's enemy, and hehad interfered with our hero's plans in his trips. He even had anairship made, and followed Tom to Africa. There Andy Foger and hiscompanion, a German were captured by the savages. But though Tomsaved his life, Andy did not seem to give over annoying the younginventor. Andy was born mean, and, as Eradicate Sampson used to say,"dat meanness neber will done git whitewashed outer him--dat's afack!"
But if Andy Foger was mean to Tom, there was another Shopton lad whowas just the reverse. This was Ned Newton, who was Tom's particularchum, Ned had gone with our hero on many trips, including the one toAfrica after elephants. Mr. Damon also accompanied Tom many times,and occasionally Eradicate went along on the shorter voyages. ButEradicate was getting old, like Mr. Swift, who, of late years, hadnot traveled much with his son.
When I add that Tom still continued to invent things, that he wasalways looking for new adventures, that he still cared very much forMary Nestor, and thought his father the best in the world, and likedMr. Damon and Ned Newton above all his other acquaintances, exceptperhaps Mrs. Baggert, the housekeeper, I think perhaps I have saidenough about him; and now I will get back to the story.
I might add, however, that Andy Foger, who had been away fromShopton for some time, had now returned to the village, and hadlately been seen by Tom, riding around in a powerful auto. The sightof Andy did not make the young inventor feel any happier.
"Well, Tom, I think that will do," remarked Mr. Damon when, afterabout an hour's work, they had jointly written a letter to theAfrican missionary.
"We've asked him enough questions, anyhow," agreed the lad. "If heanswers all of them we'll know more about the city of gold, andwhere it is, than we do now."
"Exactly," spoke the odd man. "Now to mail the letter, and wait foran answer. It will take several weeks, for they don't have good
mailservice to that part of Africa. I hope Mr. Illingway sends us abetter map."
"So do I," assented Tom. "But even with the one we have I'd take achance and look for the underground city."
"I'll mail the letter," went on Mr. Damon, who was as eager over theprospective adventure as was Tom. "I'm going back home to WaterfieldI think. My wife says I stay here too much."
"Don't be in a hurry," urged Tom. "Can't you stay to supper? I'lltake you home to-night in the sky racer. I want to talk more aboutthe city of gold, and plan what we ought to take with us to Mexico."
"All right," agreed Mr. Damon. "I'll stay, but I suppose Ishouldn't. But let's mail the letter."
It was after supper, when, the letter having been posted, that Tom,his father and Mr. Damon were discussing the city of gold.
"Will you go, even if Mr. Illingway can't send a better map?" askedMr. Damon.
"Sure," exclaimed Tom. "I want to get one of the golden images if Ihave to hunt all over the Aztec country for it."
"Who's talking of golden images?" demanded a new voice, and Tomlooked up quickly, to see Ned Newton, his chum, entering the room.Ned had come in unannounced, as he frequently did.
"Hello, old stock!" cried Tom affectionately. "Sir, there's greatnews. It's you and me for the city of gold now!"
"Get out! What are you talking about?"
Then Tom had to go into details, and explain to Ned all about thegreat quantity of gold that might be found in the underground city.
"You'll come along, won't you, Ned?" finished the young inventor."We can't get along without you. Mr. Damon is going, and Eradicatetoo, I guess. We'll have a great time."
"Well, maybe I can fix it so I can go," agreed Ned, slowly, "I'dlike it, above all things. Where did you say that golden city was?"
"Somewhere about the central part of Mexico, near the city of--"
"Hark!" suddenly exclaimed Ned, holding up a hand to caution Tom tosilence.
"What is it?" asked the young inventor in a whisper.
"Some one is coming along the hall," replied Ned in a low voice.
They all listened intently. There was no doubt but that some one wasapproaching along the corridor leading to the library where theconference was being held.
"Oh, it's only Mrs. Baggert," remarked Tom a moment later, reliefshowing in his voice. "I know her step."
There was a tap on the door, and the housekeeper pushed it open, forit had been left ajar. She thrust her head in and remarked:
"I guess you've forgotten, Mr. Swift, that Andy Foger is waiting foryou in the next room. He has a letter for you."
"Andy Foger!" gasped Tom. "Here."
"That's so, I forgot all about him!" exclaimed Mr. Swift jumping up."It slipped my mind. I let him in a while ago, before we came in thelibrary, and he's probably been sitting in the parlor ever since. Ithought he wanted to see you, Tom, so I told him to wait. And Iforgot all about him. You'd better see what he wants."
"Andy Foger there--in the next room," murmured Tom. "He's been theresome time. I wonder how much he heard about the city of gold?"