THE SPIES
"We're certainly going up!" yelled Ned, as he sat beside Tom in the
cabin of the air glider.
"That's right!" agreed the young inventor rather proudly, as he grasped
two levers, one of which steered the craft, the other being used to
shift the weights. "We're going up. I was pretty sure of that. The next
thing is to see if it will remain stationary in the air, and answer the
rudder."
"Bless my top knot!" cried Mr. Damon. "You don't mean to tell me you
can stand still in a gale of wind, Tom Swift."
"That's exactly what I do mean. You can't do it in an aeroplane, for
that depends on motion to keep itself up in the air. But the glider is
different. That's one of its specialties, remaining still, and that's
why it will be valuable if we ever get to Siberia. We can hover over a
certain spot in a gale of wind, and search about below with telescopes
for a sign of the lost platinum mine.
"How high are you going up?" demanded Ned, for the air glider was still
mounting upward on a slant. If you ever scaled a flat piece of tin, or
a stone, you'll remember how it seems to slide up a hill of air, when
it was thrown at the right angle. It was just this way with the air
glider--it was mounting upward on a slant.
"I'm going up a couple of hundred feet at least," answered Tom, "and
higher if the gale-strata is there. I want to give it a good test while
I'm at it."
Ned looked down through a heavy plate of glass in the floor of the
cabin, and could see Mr. Petrofsky and Eradicate looking up at them.
"Bless my handkerchief!" cried Mr. Damon, when his attention had been
called to this. "It's just like an airship."
"Except that we haven't a bit of machinery on board," said Tom. "These
weights do everything," and he shifted them forward on the sliding
rods, with the effect that the air glider dipped down with a startling
lurch.
"We're falling!" cried Ned.
"Not a bit of it," answered Tom. "I only showed you how it worked. By
sliding the weights back we go up."
He demonstrated this at once, sending his craft sliding up another hill
of air, until it reached an elevation of four hundred feet, as
evidenced by the barograph.
"I guess this is high enough," remarked Tom after a bit. "Now to see if
she'll stand still."
Slowly he moved the weights along, by means of the compound levers,
until the air glider was on an "even keel" so to speak. It was still
moving forward, with the wind now, for Tom had warped his wing tips.
"The thing to do," said the young inventor, "is to get it exactly
parallel with the wind-strata, so that the gale will blow through the
two sets of planes, just as the wind blows through a box kite. Only we
have no string to hold us from moving. We have to depend on the
equalization of friction on the surfaces of the wings. I wonder if I
can do it."
It was a delicate operation, and Tom had not had much experience in
that sort of thing, for his other airships and aeroplanes worked on an
entirely different principle. But he moved the weights along, inch by
inch, and flexed the tips, planes and rudders until finally Ned, who
was looking down through the floor window, cried out:
"We're stationary!"
"Good!" exclaimed Tom. "Then it's a success."
"And we can go to Siberia?" added Mr. Damon.
"Sure," assented the young inventor. "And if we have luck we'll rescue
Mr. Petrofsky's brother, and get a lot of platinum that will be more
valuable than gold."
It would not be true to say that the air glider was absolutely
stationary. There was a slight forward motion, due to the fact that it
was not yet perfected, and also because Tom was not expert enough in
handling it.
The friction on the plane surfaces was not equalized, and the gale
forced the craft along slightly. But, compared to the terrific power of
the wind, the air glider was practically at a standstill, and this was
remarkable when one considers the force of the hurricane that was
blowing above, below and through it.
For actually that was what the hurricane was doing. It was as if an
immense box kite was suspended in the air, without a string to hold it
from moving, and as though a cabin was placed amidships to hold human
beings.
"This sure is great!" cried Ned. "Have you got her in control, Tom?"
"I think so. I'll try and see how she works."
By shifting the weights, changing the balance, and warping the wings,
the young inventor sent the craft higher up, made it dip down almost to
the earth, and then swoop upward like some great bird. Then he turned
it completely about and though he developed no great speed in this test
made it progress quarteringly against the wind.
"It's almost perfect," declared Tom. "A few touches and she'll be all
right."
"Is it all right?" asked Ivan Petrofsky anxiously, as the three left
the cabin, and Eradicate hitched his mule to the glider to take it back
to the shed.
"I see where it can be improved," he said, as they made ready to
descend. "I'll soon have it in shape."
"Then we can go to Siberia?"
"In less than a month. The big airship needs some repairs, and then
we'll be off."
The Russian said nothing, but he looked his thanks to Tom, and the
manner in which he grasped the hand of our hero showed his deep
feelings.
The glider was given several more trials, and each time it worked
better. Tom decided to change some of the weights, and he devoted all
his time to this alteration, while Ned, Mr. Damon, and the others
labored to get the big airship in shape for the long trip to the land
of the exiles.
So anxious was Tom to get started, that he put in several nights
working on the glider. Ned occasionally came over to help him, while
Mr. Damon was on hand as often as his wife would allow. Mr. Petrofsky
spent his nights writing to friends in Russia, hoping to get some clew
as to the whereabouts of his brother.
It was on one of these nights, when Tom and Ned were laboring hard,
with Eradicate to help them that an incident occurred which worried
them all not a little. Tom was adjusting some of the new weights on the
sliding rods, and called to Ned:
"I say, old man, hand me that big monkey wrench, will you. I can't
loosen this nut with the small one. You'll find it on the bench by that
back window."
As Ned went to get the tool he looked from the casement. He started,
stood staring through the glass for a moment into the outer darkness,
and then cried out:
"Tom, we're being watched! There are some spies outside!"
"What?" exclaimed the young inventor "Where are they? Who are they?"
"I don't know. Those Russian police, maybe out front, and maybe we can
catch them!"
Grabbing up the big monkey wrench, Ned made a dash for the large
sliding doors, followed by Tom who had an iron bar, and Eradicate with
a small pair of pliers.
"By golly!" cried the colored man, "ef I gits 'em I'll pinch dere noses
off!"