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TOM SWIFT
and
His Giant Telescope
_By_
VICTOR APPLETON
_Illustrations by_
JAMES GARY
WHITMAN PUBLISHING COMPANY
Racine, Wisconsin
Copyright, 1939, by
WHITMAN PUBLISHING COMPANY
Racine, Wisconsin
All Rights Reserved
Printed in U.S.A.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I The New Project 9
II Suspicions 42
III An Accident 90
IV A Murderous Attempt 124
V In Peril 168
VI Tom Drugged! 216
VII Deep Sea Diving 264
VIII Trapped By a Sea Monster 296
IX A Robber 346
X Success! 380
[Illustration: Tom Swift Appeared Calm]
TOM SWIFT and His Giant Telescope
CHAPTER I
THE NEW PROJECT
Tom Swift appeared to be calm, although in reality he was about as
excited over his latest invention as he ever had been about anything in
his life.
"I'm sure it's going to work, Ned!" he said eagerly to his chum as they
neared Tom's private laboratory. "With my new device I hope to learn
more about the planets. I want to start soon--"
"Listen here!" broke in Ned Newton. "If you're thinking of going to Mars
or the moon, just count me out! I've gone with you to many strange
places and have never kicked. But this--"
"Hold on, young fellow!" interrupted the youthful inventor with an
amused chuckle. "I've nothing like that in mind YET! All I want to do
is show you my new 'space eye.'"
[Illustration: Ned Newton, Tom's Chum]
"Can't say as I like that word 'yet,'" Ned muttered darkly. "But I'll
take a look at your new jigger if you'll promise not to shoot me through
space in a rocket or cannon-ball!"
"Word of honor I won't," promised Tom, crossing his heart with mock
solemnity. "Well, here we are."
The two boys had reached the laboratory, a small building at the rear
of the spacious lawn surrounding Tom's father's home and close to the
extensive work of the Swift Manufacturing Company at Shopton.
[Illustration: Tom Crossed His Heart]
"I'll bet these shelves have more scientific apparatus on 'em than any
other shelves in the world," remarked Ned, as his chum opened the door.
Various cabinets containing hundreds of chemicals stood about. Against
one wall was a huge transformer, from which the youthful scientist,
Tom Swift, could draw almost any kind of electric current he might
desire.
[Illustration: They Entered the Laboratory]
"Here goes!" said the young inventor.
He rolled back a small rug in the middle of the floor to expose a
massive steel trap door. This he unlocked by twirling the dial of a
complicated mechanism. Some years before Tom had constructed beneath his
laboratory an impregnable chamber to safeguard his secret plans. He
called it his Chest of Secrets, and guarded it well.
[Illustration: Tom Rolled Back a Small Rug]
Even Ned Newton, Tom's closest friend and business associate, did not
know the entire contents of the massive vault. Only Tom and his father
were aware of all the inventions concealed there.
"Some of these inventions must not be known to the world in its present
state," the elder man had said.
One of them was the terrible electric death-ray, capable of destroying
anything in its path. Only if the United States should be invaded by
an enemy power, would this be revealed.
[Illustration: There Was a Death Ray]
"Here it is," said Tom, joining his chum after a few minutes spent in
the vault.
He was carrying a small wooden box which he placed on the desk and
opened. If Ned, as he leaned over eagerly, expected to see anything
astonishing he was disappointed. Resting on the velvet lining was simply
a round disk of a greenish substance perhaps six inches in diameter.
This was mounted in a gleaming metal ring from the edges of which there
projected five electric binding posts.
[Illustration: He Was Carrying a Wooden Box]
"Funny kind of an eye," observed Ned. "You can't even see through it."
"You'll soon see through it, all right," retorted Tom, laying the disk
on his desk and connecting four dry cells to the binding posts. He
placed a small rheostat in the circuit so that the strength of the
current might be regulated.
[Illustration: The Disk Was Mounted in a Metal Ring]
Slowly he moved the little handle over the graduated dial. A minute
passed during which, so far as Ned could see, nothing happened. Without
warning the green crystal suddenly glowed brightly for a fraction of a
second, then could not be seen at all. The polished ring of metal in
which it had been mounted alone remained.
"It's gone!" cried Ned in bewilderment. "I can see your desk top right
through where it was!"
"No," smiled the inventor, "it's still there as you'll find if you try
to poke your finger through the metal ring."
[Illustration: "It's Gone!" Cried Ned]
A trifle gingerly his chum extended his hand toward the circle of metal.
Though Tom had assured him that the little disk was still in place, Ned
was unable to repress a start when his finger touched a cool, polished
surface which his eyes told him could not be there.
"Say, that's wonderful!" he exclaimed, staring at the invisible
substance with awe. "That stuff must be a hundred times more transparent
than the finest plate glass!"
[Illustration: His Finger Touched the Cool Surface]
"Yes, and more," said Tom. "But that's not the most wonderful feature of
the new substance."
"What, then?"
"Well, it's difficult to explain. Even now I know very little about it.
I can tell you WHAT it can do, but the WHY is still as much of a mystery
as ever. Briefly, this new element, or maybe it's a compound, I'm not
sure which, reacts in a very strange manner to light. Let me show you.
That'll beat any long-winded theory I could spout."
[Illustration: "That's Wonderful!" He Exclaimed]
Going to the door, Tom called in his giant servant Koku, who once had
been a prince in his own far-off savage land, before Tom Swift had
brought him to Shopton.
"What want, Master?" came a deep-toned reply, as the huge dark-skinned
man, who stood a trifle over eight feet in height, entered.
"Just carry outside that telescope there in the corner," requested
Tom, pointing to the instrument. "Better be careful; it's a bit heavy."
[Illustration: Tom's Giant Servant Koku]
"Not heavy for Koku," boomed the giant. "Liftum in one hand!"
Though it was not a large instrument as telescopes go, this one, with
the massive iron pier upon which it was mounted, weighed not far from
four hundred pounds. When Koku clamped his mighty hand about the stand
he seemed to lift it as easily as a boy might raise a baseball bat or
a golf club.
[Illustration: Koku Lifted It Easily]
"I'll never get used to his strength," murmured Ned as the boys followed
the giant through the laboratory door, Tom carrying his marvelous green
disk.
"He is a big boy, for fair," laughed Tom. "Lucky for our prize-fighters
he hasn't gone into the ring."
After carefully placing the telescope where the inventor directed, Koku
returned to the bench under a near-by apple tree where it was his wont
to rest when he was not needed.
[Illustration: Tom Carried the Green Disk]
"Now what, Tom?" questioned Ned. "Surely you're not expecting to see
stars in broad daylight?"
"Oh, no, though it could be done," returned Tom, pointing the instrument
toward the crest of a wooded hill several miles distant from Shopton.
"Now we're ready. Take a peek."
"Well," said Ned, peering into the eyepiece, "all I see are a few
trees."
[Illustration: "Take a Peek," Invited Tom]
"Just stand by," directed his friend, clamping his green disk over the
front lens, or objective, of the telescope and turning on the current.
As before, the green stuff seemed to vanish. "Now, look again," he said.
No sooner had Ned put his eye to the instrument than he gave a start.
"It's magic!" he exclaimed. "Why, that hill seems as if it were right
here and the view is much brighter. I can see every leaf on the trees
and--yes! even a bird's nest and the little birds in it!"
[Illustration: "It's Magic!" He Exclaimed]
"Now maybe you have an idea as to how I propose to discover the secret
of life on the planets," responded Tom calmly.
"The secret? What do you mean? Surely you don't expect to see men on
Mars!"
"I mean to build a telescope with a space eye big enough and powerful
enough to do it!" The young inventor's face lit up with a strange light.
"It's the greatest thing yet, Ned!"
[Illustration: "What Do You Mean?" Asked Ned]