TOM SWIFT AND HIS
GREAT OIL GUSHER
OR
The Treasure of Goby Farm
BY
VICTOR APPLETON
Author of “Tom Swift and His Motor Cycle,”
“Tom Swift Among the Diamond Makers,”
”Tom Swift and His Flying Boat,”
“The Moving Picture Boys Series,” etc.
ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK
GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS
‾Made in the United States of America‾
BOOKS FOR BOYS
By VICTOR APPLETON
_12mo._ _Cloth._ _Illustrated._
=THE TOM SWIFT SERIES=
TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR CYCLE
TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR BOAT
TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRSHIP
TOM SWIFT AND HIS SUBMARINE BOAT
TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RUNABOUT
TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIRELESS MESSAGE
TOM SWIFT AMONG THE DIAMOND MAKERS
TOM SWIFT IN THE CAVES OF ICE
TOM SWIFT AND HIS SKY RACER
TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RIFLE
TOM SWIFT IN THE CITY OF GOLD
TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDER
TOM SWIFT IN CAPTIVITY
TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIZARD CAMERA
TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT SEARCHLIGHT
TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT CANNON
TOM SWIFT AND HIS PHOTO TELEPHONE
TOM SWIFT AND HIS AERIAL WARSHIP
TOM SWIFT AND HIS BIG TUNNEL
TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS
TOM SWIFT AND HIS WAR TANK
TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR SCOUT
TOM SWIFT AND HIS UNDERSEA SEARCH
TOM SWIFT AMONG THE FIRE FIGHTERS
TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE
TOM SWIFT AND HIS FLYING BOAT
TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT OIL GUSHER
=THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS SERIES=
THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS
THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS IN THE WEST
THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS ON THE COAST
THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS IN THE JUNGLE
THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS IN EARTHQUAKE LAND
THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS AND THE FLOOD
THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS AT PANAMA
THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS UNDER THE SEA
THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS ON THE WAR FRONT
THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS ON FRENCH BATTLEFIELDS
THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS’ FIRST SHOW HOUSE
THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS AT SEASIDE PARK
THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS ON BROADWAY
GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, New York
COPYRIGHT, 1924, BY
GROSSET & DUNLAP
_Tom Swift and His Great Oil Gusher._
[Illustration: THE OIL SHOT A HUNDRED FEET INTO THE AIR IN A HUGE BLACK
GEYSER.]
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I THE FALLING AIRPLANE.................... 1
II ALMOST A TRAGEDY........................ 11
III AN ATTRACTIVE OFFER..................... 21
IV RECKLESS DRIVING........................ 30
V A CLOSE SHAVE........................... 39
VI SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES................ 49
VII TROUBLE BREWING......................... 60
VIII THROUGH THE WINDOW...................... 71
IX THE MIDNIGHT PROWLER.................... 80
X CAUGHT IN THE ACT....................... 88
XI A RASCAL FOILED......................... 95
XII THE NEW DRILL........................... 102
XIII A NIGHT OF TRIUMPH...................... 108
XIV KICKED FOR A GOAL....................... 114
XV OFF FOR THE OIL FIELDS.................. 121
XVI ON THE TRAIL OF FORTUNE................. 129
XVII CLOSING THE DEAL........................ 136
XVIII A TEST OF COURAGE....................... 146
XIX ON THE VERGE............................ 153
XX CAPPING THE GUSHER...................... 164
XXI THE INQUISITIVE STRANGER................ 171
XXII RAD TURNS UP............................ 177
XXIII A DASTARDLY PLOT........................ 184
XXIV FIGHTING THE FIRE....................... 193
XXV VICTORY................................. 201
TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT
OIL GUSHER
CHAPTER I
THE FALLING AIRPLANE
“A GRAND day for a spin in the air, Ned,” remarked Tom Swift, as he
stretched his arms and looked through the window of his office. “What do
you say? Come along and let the wind blow some of the cobwebs out of
your brain.”
“Get thee behind me, Satan,” replied Ned Newton, the young financial
manager of the Swift Construction Company. “I’ve got a heap of work yet
to do in checking up this last monthly statement.”
“That’ll keep,” said Tom. “You’ll find the figures waiting patiently for
you when you get back. I know you’re well ahead of your work, anyway,
and a whirl in the circumambient will do you good. You see, I’m only
thinking of you.”
“Yes, you are, you old hypocrite!” laughed Ned, who was about the same
age and on the warmest terms of friendship with his talented young
employer. “I’ve known for the last half hour that you weren’t paying any
attention to what I’ve been saying and that your fingers were itching to
get hold of the control lever of the _Hummingbird_. Well, I suppose
you’ve got to get it out of your system, and it might as well be now as
later. You go and tune up the old bus, and I’ll be with you just as soon
as I’ve given some directions to my stenographer.”
Tom went off to the flying field, where several airplanes of his own
construction, from the smallest to the largest sizes, were kept in
readiness for use, and selected one which he had dubbed the
_Hummingbird_ because of its diminutive size. Ned had suggested the
name, _Aerial Mosquito_, but Tom had rejected this as casting a stigma
on his pet which had never “stung” them yet.
It was an attractive little craft, and Tom patted it lovingly as he went
over every strut of the plane to see that it was in perfect condition.
Long experience in flying had taught him to take nothing for granted.
But there was nothing, even to his critical eye, that was lacking, and
the same was true of the engine, which purred smoothly as it broke into
its rhythmical song.
“Listen to that!” Tom cried enthusiastically to Ned, who by this time
had rejoined him. “Isn’t she humming sweetly? Never misses a note. No
grand opera prima donna has anything on her!”
“She sure sounds good,” agreed Ned, as he climbed into his seat and
adjusted his straps.
With one last look that took in everything, Tom followed him and started
the plane. The take-off was perfect. She ran along the ground for a
little distance and then soared into the air like a bird. Tom let her
climb, feeling out the air currents, until they were at a height of
about eight hundred feet. Then he put her on a level keel and settled
back in his seat to enjoy his ride to the full. At that moment he would
not have exchanged places with any one on earth.
It was one of the perfect days that come in the late spring. There was
scarcely a cloud in the sky. The sun was warm but not oppressive, and
was tempered by a light and refreshing breeze. Below stretched a vast
panorama of hill and valley and woodland, the trees and meadows
luxuriant with their new coat of green. At the moment they were above
Lake Carlopa, and they could see its waters gleaming like a mirror of
crystal beneath the rays of the sun.
“Some scenery!” exclaimed Tom jubilantly.
“You said it,” agreed Ned. “It reminds me of that iceberg where we found
the treasure——it’s so different.”
“Where we found the treasure but nearly lost our lives,” replied Tom,
his face growing a little sober with the recollection. “Phew! it makes
me shiver just to think of it. We’ve been in some pretty tight places,
Ned, but that was the closest squeak of all.”
“I wouldn’t care to repeat it, for a fact,” said Ned. “But I’ve no doubt
that you’ll be going into something just as dangerous before long.
You’re a glutton for danger. I’ll bet you’re just pining for some other
adventure.”
“Nothing in sight just now,” disclaimed Tom, with a laugh. “But I’m not
saying that if anything beckoned I’d give it the glassy stare. There are
lots of things we haven’t tried yet.”
“I’d like to know what they are,” returned Ned skeptically. “You’ve been
near death as many times as I have fingers and toes.”
“And yet you’ll notice that I’m far from being a dead one yet,” said Tom
lightly. “Or if I am dead, I’m a pretty lively corpse,” he added. “Don’t
worry about me, old man.”
“The pitcher that goes to the well too often, you know,” warned Ned.
“Yes, I know that old wheeze,” laughed Tom. “But I’m not a pitcher
and——Great Scott! what’s that fellow up to?”
The exclamation was wrenched from him by the peculiar gyrations of an
airplane about two miles distant. They had noted its presence some time
previously, but as they were not far from an aviation field and it was a
common thing to see planes flying about, they had not given it any
special attention.
Now, however, they noted that the plane was behaving much as a ship
might which had lost its rudder. Its motions were confused and erratic.
It would plunge downward nose first and then right itself abruptly and
sail about in circles. There seemed to be no coherent plan on the part
of the aviator, and indeed it acted as it might if the aviator were
missing.
“Some fool aviator trying to do stunts,” was Ned’s comment, after he had
watched it for a moment. “Those fellows make me tired. There are risks
enough in flying without going out of the way to find them.”
“No, I don’t think it’s that,” said Tom anxiously. “It looks to me as if
the pilot were in some sort of trouble. Lost control, sick, or
something. I’m going over to see.”
He turned the nose of his craft directly toward the strange plane and
made for it at full speed.
The queer contortions of the plane still persisted, and Ned was by this
time convinced that Tom was right. A thrill of horror went through them
as the conviction grew upon them that they might be about to witness a
tragedy. If the plane should dash to the ground from such a height,
there was not one chance in a thousand that the luckless pilot would
survive.
They could see by this time that there was only one man in the plane,
which was a much larger craft than their own. They could see him working
desperately to get his craft under control. Where the trouble lay,
whether with the plane or the engine, they had no means of telling. But
that the man was in deadly danger and knew it, there was no longer any
room for doubt.
They had come within half a mile of the strange airship when the
disaster they had been dreading happened. The plane suddenly turned its
nose to the earth until it pointed directly downward. Then it fell like
a plummet, down, down, into the midst of a forest, where it landed with
a terrific crash and was lost to sight.
A cry of horror burst from Tom and Ned.
“Quick, Tom!” cried the latter. “Can’t you make a landing somewhere?”
“That’s what I’m looking for,” replied Tom, as his eyes swept the
surrounding country in search of some open spot.
But he looked in vain. The woods extended for several miles in every
direction. Here and there were small open places, but as Tom circled
about, flying as low as he could without striking the tops of the trees,
he saw that none of them was large enough to permit the landing of the
plane.
“There’s but one thing to do,” he said in a tense tone, when this
conviction had become certainty. “We’ve got to mark the location of this
place so that we can find it when we come to it again. I’ll leave you to
fix that in your mind. Now we’ll make straight for home, get out my
roadster and try to get to the place as soon as possible. The chances
are that the poor fellow is dead, but we’ll do all we can. You get busy
on the radio, so that the car will be all ready for us to jump into the
minute we get back to the works.”
Ned turned his attention to the radio set with which the plane was
equipped and called up Garret Jackson, the shop manager for the Swift
Construction Company. He told of the accident and directed Jackson to
have Tom’s roadster ready and the engine going.
Tom in the meantime had been making the _Hummingbird_ travel at her
fastest speed, and only a few minutes elapsed before they reached the
yards. He made a perfect landing, and before the plane had fairly
stopped he and Ned had leaped from it and were running toward the smart
roadster, alongside of which Jackson was standing.
“I’ve put the first-aid kit under the seat in case you should need it,”
said Jackson.
“Good work, Jackson,” commented the young inventor, as he jumped in and
took the wheel. “Perhaps you’d better come along with us. There may be
work for all of us. All set? Let’s go.”
He threw in the clutch and the speedy machine started and was soon
racing along at a record-breaking speed in the direction of the woods.
Although they were fairly flying, it seemed to Tom and Ned in their
anxiety that they were crawling.
“Give her the gas, Tom,” urged Ned.
“She’s making sixty now,” replied Tom, with a glance at the speedometer.
“Got the exact location, Ned?”
“Pretty nearly,” replied Ned. “Turn to the right at the first road after
we pass the church at the forks. That’ll bring us to the Thaxton woods
in which the plane fell. There’s an old woods road that runs through the
center of the forest, and if we keep our eyes open on either side we’ll
probably find it.”
Soon they had passed the church and turned into the road that Ned had
indicated. At that point the going was good, but as they advanced it
gradually grew more rutted and rocky. Tom kept up a high speed, however,
though they had to hold on and the car bounded up and down in a manner
that threatened wreck if the pace were maintained.
But a human life was in the balance, and if that could be saved nothing
else mattered.
At last, deep in the woods, Tom slackened speed, for the road had
“petered out.” But he could see that where it ceased to be a road it had
become a trail that wound its uneven way among the trees. It was barely
wide enough for the car to pass along, and here and there in the road
were fragments of stumps that made traveling precarious.
“Gee, Tom, you’ll have to go slow here,” declared Ned.
“We don’t want to break our necks,” added Jackson.
“We’ll do the best we can,” answered the young inventor. “But if either
of you wants to get out and walk——”
“Nothing doing, Tom!” cried his financial manager quickly. “If you
stick, so do I.”
“Same here,” added the shop foreman.
On and on they rushed. Once they hit a big rock and for the moment it
looked as if the machine would surely go over. Ned and Jackson held
their breath. Maybe one or the other thought the next minute would be
his last.
But Tom was a skilled driver, and with almost miraculous deftness he
piloted the car at as fast a rate as he dared. He could not take his
eyes from the road, but Ned scanned the woods on one side and Jackson on
the other for any sign of the hapless airman.
They had gone perhaps half a mile when a shout came from the lips of
Jackson.
“The woods are afire!” he cried, as he pointed ahead of them.
They looked in the direction indicated and saw a column of flames
mounting above the tree tops.