A STRANGE MESSAGE
THOUGH he had no more than very slight clews on which to pursue the
robbers, Tom Swift was not without a definite plan on which he proposed
to operate.
As he had mentioned to Ned, he had obtained information which indicated
that the big blue aeroplane, after the robbers had put the chest on
board and had left Koku tied to the tree, had departed toward the west.
Of course there was no guarantee that it would keep on this course, and
absolutely no way of telling how long it would hold it.
“But we can stop from time to time,” said Tom to Ned, “and make
inquiries about the plane. A big blue aeroplane isn’t easily hidden from
sight.”
“It sounds like good dope,” agreed Ned.
Koku was no stranger to aeroplane rides, and he felt perfectly at home
in the _Blackbird_. Indeed, as those of you remember who have read the
earlier books of this series, Koku was brought from his home in a
strange land by an airship. He rather liked to ride in them.
So Tom, Ned and Koku flew off on their strange quest.
Up into the air soared the _Blackbird_. She was a powerful machine, and,
as has been said, was roomy. Really, she was built to carry four, but on
account of the size of Koku a partition between two cockpits had been
taken out, making a large space where he could dispose of his enormous
legs and big body.
Before starting on the search for his chest of secrets, Tom had caused
inquiries to be made about the missing Barsky. But the man seemed to
have disappeared completely after leaving Tom in the cistern.
“Though of course he might have been, and probably was, one of the gang
that took the chest and bound Koku,” suggested Ned.
For several hours the trio of adventurers soared along, not going so
high but what they could from time to time make observations of the
earth below them through field glasses. For of course it was possible
that the blue aeroplane might be on the ground.
She also might be soaring along in the air, and Tom and Ned did not
neglect to scan the heavens for signs. Once they saw a plane coasting
along, and gave chase. But when within good viewing distance they made
out that it was one of the government mail-carriers, and they turned
back on their original course.
It was near noon when Ned heard Tom give a sudden exclamation.
“See anything?” asked the young manager.
“Nothing that gives me any pleasure,” replied Tom grimly. “I see a leak
in one of the oil pipes and that means we’ve got to go down and mend it.
Lucky I discovered it in time!”
An aeroplane engine, or for that matter an auto motor, that does not
receive copious and continuous lubrication is going to overheat, bind
and stop in a surprisingly short time.
A look over the side showed Tom that they were flying across fairly open
country, and, picking out a broad meadow as a suitable landing place,
he, having shut off his motor, headed for it. Koku, half asleep in his
enlarged cockpit, sensed that they were going down and asked:
“We catch ’um robbers?”
“Not yet, Koku,” replied Tom, with a grim laugh. “So far they are a
couple of tricks ahead of us, but the game has only started.”
The _Blackbird_ made a perfect landing under Tom’s skillful guidance,
and when it had come to a stop after a run over the somewhat uneven
field, Tom and Ned got out to begin work on repairing the oil pipe. Ned
had some knowledge of mechanics, and could at least help his chum.
“It isn’t as bad as I thought,” Tom said, after a careful inspection.
“It’s just a loose union connection, and not a break. I won’t have to
solder anything, and I think I have a spare union in the tool box.”
It was while he was looking for this and while Koku was strolling about,
heaving big stones for his own amusement (and possibly with the
sensation that he was thus treating his enemies) that Ned called:
“Some one’s coming, Tom!”
The young inventor, who had found the union connection he was looking
for, looked up and saw a farmer approaching across the field.
“Maybe he’s going to order us off,” suggested Ned. “We’re trespassers
all right. Didn’t even ask his leave to drop in on him.”
“No, we didn’t have time,” grimly chuckled Tom. “But if he makes a fuss
I guess a few dollars will make him see the light of reason. I’ve dealt
with that kind before.”
However, the farmer, for such he proved to be, was a friendly person. He
smiled at the chums, looked with amazement at Koku, who was lifting a
rock that three ordinary men could not have handled, and then asked:
“Are you having trouble? Can I help you?”
“Thank you, very much,” responded Tom. “It’s only a slight defect, and
I’ll have it mended in a minute or two.”
“We thought possibly you were coming to order us off,” said Ned, as he
got ready to help his chum replace the broken union on the oil feed
pipe.
“Oh, no,” laughed the farmer, who gave his name as Mr. Kimball. “We’re
getting used to aeroplanes landing here.”
“You mean the government machines?” asked Tom. “I know this is their
route.”
“Well, a mail plane was forced down in this field last year,” said Mr.
Kimball. “But I didn’t mean that. Only yesterday a big blue machine had
to come down about where you are.”
“A blue machine?” repeated Tom, concealing his excitement.
“Regular landing or a crash dive?” asked Ned.
“I guess they came down on purpose,” said Mr. Kimball. “They landed
gently enough—no crash. It seems they ran out of water in their
radiator. That’s happened to me many a time in my little Ford, so I knew
just how they felt about it. I came over and showed them a spring where
they could get water. Then they went on again.”
Ned and Tom looked at each other. They did not want to tell too much of
their plans, yet they must make inquiries and get information. Koku was
still doing his “daily dozen” with the big rocks.
“How many men were in this blue machine?” asked Tom.
“Oh, four or five, I should say. Maybe half a dozen. It was the biggest
aeroplane I’ve ever seen. But then they look a lot bigger on the ground
than when they’re up in the air.”
“It must have been a pretty good-sized plane to carry four or five men,”
observed Ned. “Did you notice any of the passengers? Did one of them
walk with a limp?”
“Why, yes, come to think of it, one of them did seem a bit lame,”
replied Mr. Kimball. “And he had a queer habit of jerking his elbow out
like this,” and the farmer illustrated.
“Was it his _right_ elbow?” asked Tom, emphasizing the word that
indicated the dexter hand.
“No—let me see now—no, it was his left. Why? Do you know him?”
“Yes,” answered Ned, with a queer look at Tom. “We know him.”
“I suppose they’re friends of yours, both of you being in the airship
business, so to speak,” went on Mr. Kimball.
Neither of the young men answered that, but Tom, after he had taken off
the damaged union coupling, asked:
“Did you happen to notice if one of the men had red hair?”
The farmer considered for a moment, and then replied:
“No, I didn’t see any one like that.”
This was not surprising, considering that Barsky’s hair was so short
that its redness could not be noticed until he took off his hat. And
very likely he would be wearing a leather helmet in the aeroplane.
But Tom and Ned had established the fact that the blue aeroplane
containing the robbers had passed this way recently. Tom made a cautious
inquiry about the chest, but Mr. Kimball had not noticed that. And, very
likely, it was stowed away in the fuselage of the craft, out of sight.
“How long did they stay?” asked Ned.
“Oh, only long enough to buy some food off me and take on water, then
they soared away again.”
“Headed west?” asked Tom.
“Headed west,” answered Mr. Kimball.
The farmer remained, an interested observer, while Tom and Ned made the
slight repairs needed. When they had finished and were about to go on,
Mr. Kimball, with a glance toward the giant, asked:
“Is he yours?”
“Yes, in a way,” replied Tom. “Why?”
“Um! I only want to say if you ever want to get rid of him I’d like to
hire him. What a hired man he’d make! My, the chores he could do without
getting tired! He’d be worth three ordinary hired men—and they’re so
hard to get now. But I don’t suppose you want to let him go?”
“No,” answered Tom, with a laugh and a glance at Koku, who, to amuse
himself, was tossing up great rocks and catching them in his bare hands.
“Well, I don’t know as I blame you,” said Mr. Kimball.
Having made repairs and gotten some unexpected and valuable information,
Tom and Ned called to the giant, took their places in the machine again,
and, after Koku had spun the propeller, once more were off.
All that day they traveled, Tom and his chum keeping a lookout for the
blue machine, but not seeing it. The young inventor had so laid his
plans that before it got too dark he descended in a broad field on the
outskirts of a big city. As the aeroplane was large enough to permit of
sleeping in it and as Tom had brought along blankets, they decided to
spend the night in the _Blackbird_.
It was the next morning about nine o’clock, and just about the time Tom
and Ned were taking off again on the second day of their trip, that Mr.
Swift was summoned to the telephone in his office.
“Dey’s somebody dat wants to talk to you ’ticklar like,” reported
Eradicate.
“Perhaps it’s a message from Tom!” exclaimed Mr. Swift. “He may have
caught the robbers and gotten back his chest.”
“No, sah, it don’t sound like Massa Tom,” said the colored man.
The voice to which the aged inventor listened was not that of his son.
Instead, over the wire came strange tones asking:
“How much will you pay us for the return of your chest of secrets?”
Mr. Swift was so surprised that he almost dropped the receiver.