CHAPTER XIX
ANOTHER FLIGHT
For perhaps a quarter of a minute Tom Swift and the president of theUniversal Flying Machine Company of New York sat staring at oneanother. Mr. Gale's face wore a puzzled expression, and so did Tom's.And, after the last remark of the young inventor, the man who hadcalled to see him said:
"Well, perhaps we are talking at cross purposes. I don't blame you fornot feeling very friendly toward us, and if I had had my way that lastcorrespondence with you would never have left our office."
"It wasn't very business-like," said Tom dryly, referring to the veiledthreats when he had refused to sell his services to the rival company.
"I realize that," said Mr. Gale. "But we have some peculiar men workingfor us, and sometimes there is so much to do, so many possibilities ofwhich to take advantage, that we may get a little off our balance. Butwhat I called for was not to renew our offer to you. I understand thatis definitely settled."
"As far as I am concerned, it is," said Tom, as his caller seemed towant an answer.
"Yes. Well, then, what I called to say was that if you are thinking oftaking any legal action against us because of the action of that manLydane, I wish to state that he had absolutely no authority to--"
"Excuse me!" broke in Tom, "but by Lydane do you mean the man who alsoposed as Bower, the spy?"
"No, I do not. Though I regret to say that Bower once worked for us.He, too, had no authority to come here and get a position. He was stillin our service when he did that."
"So I have suspected," said Tom. "I realize now that he was a spy, whocame here to try to find out for you some of my secrets."
"Not with my permission!" exclaimed Mr. Gale. "I was against that fromthe first and I came to tell you so. But Bower really did you no harm."
"No, he didn't get the chance!" chuckled Tom. "Nor did that otherspy--the one with the gold tooth. I wonder how he liked our mud hole?"
"He was Lydane," said Mr. Gale. "It is about him I came."
"You might have saved yourself the trouble," returned Tom. "I don'twish to discuss him."
"But I wish to make sure," said Mr. Gale, "that what he has done willnot come back on us. We repudiate him entirely. His methods we can notcountenance. He is too daring--"
"Oh, don't worry!" interrupted Tom. "He hasn't done anything to me--hedidn't get the chance, as I guess he's told you. You needn't apologizeon his account. He did me no harm, and--"
"But I understood from him that--"
"Now I don't want to seem impolite!" broke in Tom, "nor do I want totake pattern after some of your company's acts, if not your own. But Iam very busy. I have an important test to make for the government, andmy time is fully occupied. I am afraid I shall have to bid yougood-morning and--"
"But won't you give me a chance to--" began the president.
"Now, the less we discuss this matter the better!" interrupted Tom."Lydane, as you call the man with the gold tooth didn't really doanything to me nor any great harm to any of my possessions, as far as Ican learn. His career is a closed book--a book with muddy covers!" andthe young inventor laughed.
"Oh, well, if you look at it that way, there is nothing further for meto say," said Mr. Gale stiffly. "I understood-- But hasn't my partner,Mr. Ware, seen you?" he asked Tom quickly.
"No. And I don't care to see him."
"Oh, then that accounts for it," was the quick answer. "Well, if youregard the matter as closed I suppose we should also. We are not toblame for what Lydane does when he is no longer in our employ, and werepudiate anything he may do, or may have done."
This struck Tom, afterward, as being rather a queer remark, but he didnot think so at the time.
The truth was that the young inventor wished very much to try out a newdevice on his noiseless aeroplane and wanted to get rid of Mr. Galebefore doing so. So he did not pay as much attention to the remarks ofthe president as, otherwise, he might have done.
It was not until after Mr. Gale had taken his leave and Tom hadfinished the particular work on which he was engaged when the presidentof the rival company came in, that the young man did some hardthinking. And this thinking was done after he had received a telephonecall from Mary Nestor, asking, if by any chance, he had heard anythinglike a clew as to the whereabouts of her father.
Tom had been obliged to tell her that he had not. Everything possiblewas being done to find the missing man but he had disappeared ascompletely as though he had ridden on his bicycle into the crater ofsome extinct volcano on the meadow, and had fallen to the bottom.
An effort was made to trace him through an automobile association whichhad a large membership. That is, the members were asked to makeinquiries to ascertain, if possible, whether any one had heard of anunreported accident--one in which Mr. Nestor might have been carriedaway by persons who accidently ran him down.
But this came to naught, and the police and other authorities were at aloss how farther to proceed. It was a theory in some quarters that Mr.Nestor was perfectly safe, but that he was out of his mind, and waseither wandering around, not knowing who he was, or was, in thiscondition, detained somewhere, the persons having him in charge notrealizing that he was the missing man so widely sought.
This belief was a relief to Mrs. Nestor and Mary in many ways for itprevented them from giving way to the fear that Mr. Nestor was dead.That he was alive was Tom Swift's firm opinion, and he was doing all hecould to prove it.
It was not until the day after the visit of Mr. Gale that Tom, havingconcluded some intricate calculations about the strength of cylindervalves, uttered an exclamation.
"I wonder if he could have meant that?" cried the young inventor. "Iwonder if he could have meant that? I must find out at once! Queer Ididn't think of that before!"
He put in a long distance call to New York, asking to speak to Mr.Gale. But when, eventually, he was connected with the office of theUniversal Flying Machine Company he was told that Mr. Gale and Mr. Warehad sailed for France that day, going over as governmentrepresentatives to investigate aeroplane motors. Gale's visit to Tomhad been just previous to taking the boat, it was said.
"This is tough luck!" mused Tom, his suspicions doubly aroused now. "Ican't let this rest here! I've got to get after it! As soon as I makethis final test, and invite Uncle Sam's experts out to see how mynoiseless motor works, I'll get after Gale and Ware if I have to followthem to the battlefields of France! I wonder if it was that he washinting at all the while! I begin to believe it was!"
Tom Swift had decided on another flight for his new craft before hewould let the government experts see it.
"Silent Sam must do his very best work for Uncle Sam before I turn himover," said the young inventor.
"And after this flight I'll offer the machine to the government, andthen devote all my time to finding Mr. Nestor," said Tom. "I'd do itnow, but private matters, however deeply they affect us, must be putaside to help win the war. But this will end my inventive work untilafter Mr. Nestor is found--if he's alive."
Preparations for the test flight went on apace, and one afternoon Tomand Jackson took their places in the big, new aeroplane. He no longerfeared daylight crowds in case of an accident. They made a good start,and the motor was so quiet that as Tom passed over his own plant themen working in the yard, who did not know of the flight, did not lookup to see what was going on. They could not hear the engine.
"I think we've got everything just as we want it, Jackson," said Tom,much pleased.
"I believe you," answered the mechanician. "It couldn't be better. Nowif--"
And at that moment there came a loud explosion, and Silent Sam begandrifting rapidly toward the earth, as falls a bird with a broken wing.