SEARCHING FOR SMUGGLERS.
"Well, of all things!"
"Who in the world would think such a thing?"
"Andy going to start out with his airship again!"
"And going to sail it off the roof of his house!"
These were the alternate expressions that came from Tom and Ned, as
they stood gazing at each other after the startling information
given them by Mr. Dillon, the carpenter.
"Do you really think he means it?" asked Tom, after a pause, during
which they watched the retreating figure of the carpenter. "Maybe he
was fooling us."
"No, Mr. Dillon seldom jokes," replied Ned, "and when he does, you
can always tell. He goes to our church, and I know he wouldn't
deliberately tell an untruth. Oh. Andy's up to some game all right."
"I thought he must be hanging around here the way he has been,
instead of being home. But I admit I may have been wrong about the
police being after him. If he'd done something wrong, he would
hardly hire a man to work on the house while he was hiding in it. I
guess he just wants to keep out of the way of everybody but his own
particular cronies. But I wonder what he is up to, anyhow; getting
his airship in shape again?"
"Give it up, unless there's an aero meet on somewhere soon," replied
Ned. "Maybe he's going to try a race again."
Tom shook his head.
"I'd have heard about any aviation meets, if there were any
scheduled," he replied. "I belong to the national association, and
they send out circulars whenever there are to be races. None are on
for this season. No, Andy has some other game."
"Well, I don't know that it concerns us," spoke Ned.
"Not as long as he doesn't bother me," answered the young inventor.
"Well, Ned, I suppose you'll be over in the morning and help me try
out the noiseless airship?"
"Sure thing. Say, it was queer, about that government agent, wasn't
it? suspecting you of supplying airships to the smugglers?"
"Rather odd," agreed Tom. "He might much better suspect Andy Foger."
"That's so, and now that we know Andy is rebuilding his old airship,
maybe we'd better tell him."
"Tell who?"
"That government agent. Tell him he's wrong in thinking that Andy is
out of the game. We might send him word that we just learned that
Andy is getting active again. He has as much right to suspect and
question him, as he had you."
"Oh, I don't know," began Tom slowly. He was not a vindicative
youth, nor, for that matter, was Ned. And Tom would not go out of
his way to give information about an enemy, when it was not certain
that the said enemy meant anything wrong. "I don't believe there's
anything in it," finished our hero. "Andy may have a lot of time on
his hands, and, for want of something better to do, he's fixing up
his aeroplane."
"Look!" suddenly exclaimed Ned. "There's that agent now! He's going
to the depot to get a train, I guess," and he pointed to the
government man, who had so lately interviewed Tom. "I'm going to
speak to him!" impulsively declared Ned.
"I wouldn't," objected Tom, but his chum had already hastened on
ahead, and soon was seen talking excitedly to Mr. Whitford. Tom
sauntered up in time to hear the close of the conversation.
"I'm much obliged to you for your information," said the custom
officer, "but I'm afraid, just as you say your chum felt about it,
that there's nothing in it. This Foger chap may have been bad in the
past, but I hardly think he's in with the smugglers. What I'm
looking for is not a lad who has one airship, but someone who is
making a lot of them, and supplying the men who are running goods
over the border. That's the sort of game I'm after, and if this Andy
Foger only has one aeroplane I hardly think he can be very
dangerous."
"Well, perhaps not," admitted Ned. "But I thought I'd tell you."
"And I'm glad you did. If you hear anything more, I'll be glad to
have you let me know. Here's my card," and thanking the boys for
their interest Mr. Whitford passed on.
Tom and Ned gave the noiseless airship a test the next day. The
craft, which was the stanch Falcon, remodeled, was run out of the
shed, Koku the giant helping, while Mr. Swift stood looking on, an
interested spectator of what his son was about to do. Eradicate, the
old colored man, who was driving his mule Boomerang, hitched to a
wagon in which he was carting away some refuse that had been raked
up in the garden, halted his outfit nearby.
"I say, Massa Tom!" he called, as the young inventor passed near
him, in making a tour of the ship.
"Well, Rad, what is it?"
"Doan't yo'-all want fo' ma an' Boomerang t' gib yo'-all a tow?
Mebby dat new-fangled contraption yo'-all has done put on yo' ship
won't wuk, an' mebby I'd better stick around t' pull yo'-all home."
"No, Rad, I guess it will work all right. If it doesn't, and we get
stuck out a mile or two, I'll send you a wireless message."
"Doan't do dat!" begged the colored man. "I neber could read dem
wireless letters anyhow. Jest gib a shout, an' me an' Boomerang will
come a-runnin'."
"All right, Rad, I will. Now, Ned, is everything in shape?"
"I think so, Tom."
"Koku, just put a little more wind in those tires. But don't pump as
hard as you did the other day," Tom cautioned.
"What happened then?" asked Ned.
"Oh, Koku forgot that he had so much muscle, and he kept on pumping
air into the bicycle wheel tires until he burst one. Go easy this
time, Koku."
"I will, Mr. Tom," and the giant took the air pump.
"Is he going along?" asked Ned, as he looked to see that all the guy
wires and stays were tight.
"I guess so," replied Tom. "He makes good ballast. I wish Mr. Damon
was here. If everything goes right we may take a run over, and
surprise him."
In a little while the noiseless airship was ready for the start.
Tom, Ned and Koku climbed in, and took their positions.
"Good luck!" Mr. Swift called after them. Tom waved his hand to his
father, and the next moment his craft shot into the air. Up and up
it went, the great propeller blades beating the air, but, save for a
soft whirr, such as would be made by the wings of a bird, there was
absolutely no sound.
"Hurrah!" cried Tom. "She works! I've got a noiseless airship at
last!"
"Say, don't yell at a fellow so," begged Ned, for Tom had been close
to his chum when he made his exulting remark.
"Yell! I wasn't yelling," replied Tom. "Oh, I see what happened. I'm
so used to speaking loud on the other airships, that make such a
racket, that I didn't realize how quiet it was aboard the new
Falcon. No wonder I nearly made you deaf, Ned. I'll be careful after
this," and Tom lowered his voice to ordinary tones. In fact it was
as quiet aboard his new craft, as if he and Ned had been walking in
some grass-grown country lane.
"She certainly is a success," agreed Ned. "You could creep up on
some other airship now, and those aboard would never know you were
coming."
"I've been planning this for a long time," went on our hero, as he
shifted the steering gear, and sent the craft around in a long,
sweeping curve. "Now for Waterford and Mr. Damon."
They were soon above the town where the odd man lived, and Tom,
picking out Mr. Damon's house, situated as it was in the midst of
extensive grounds, headed for it.
"There he is, walking through the garden," exclaimed Ned, pointing
to their friend down below. "He hasn't heard us, as he would have
done if we had come in any other machine."
"That's so!" exclaimed Tom. "I'm going to give him a sensation. I'll
fly right over his head, and he won't know it until he sees us. I'll
come up from behind."
A moment later he put this little trick into execution. Along swept
the airship, until, with a rush, it passed right over Mr. Damon's
head. He never heard it, and was not aware of what was happening
until he saw the shadow it cast. Then, jumping aside, as if he
thought something was about to fall on him, he cried:
"Bless my mosquito netting! What in the world--"
Then he saw Tom and Ned in the airship, which came gently to earth a
few yards further on.
"Well of all things!" cried Mr. Damon. "What are you up to now, Tom
Swift?"
"It's my noiseless airship," explained our hero. "She doesn't make a
sound. Get aboard, and have a ride."
Mr. Damon looked toward the house.
"I guess my wife won't see me," he said with a chuckle. "She's more
than ever opposed to airships, Tom, since we went on that trip
taking moving pictures. But I'll take a chance." And in he sprang,
when the two lads started up again. They made quite a flight, and
Tom found that his new motor exceeded his expectations. True, it
needed some adjustments, but these could easily be made.
"Well, what are you going to do with it, now that you have it?"
asked Mr. Damon, as Tom once more brought the machine around to the
odd man's house, and stopped it. "What's it for?"
"Oh, I think I'll find a use for it," replied the young inventor.
"Will you come back to Shopton with us?"
"No, I must stay here. I have some letters to write. But I'll run
over in a few days, and see you. Then I'll go on another trip, if
you've got one planned."
"I may have," answered Tom with a laugh. "Good-bye."
He and Ned made a quick flight home, and Tom at once started on
making some changes in the motor. He was engaged at this work the
next day, when he noticed a shadow pass across an open window. He
looked up to see Ned.
"Hello, Tom!" cried his chum. "Have you heard the news?"
"No, what news? Has Andy Foger fallen out of his airship?"
"No, but there are a whole lot of Custom House detectives in town,
looking for clews to the smugglers."
"Still at it, eh? Shopton can't seem to keep out of the limelight.
Has anything new turned up?"
"Yes. I just met Mr. Whitford. He's back on the case and he has
several men with him. They received word that some smuggled goods
came to Shopton, and were shipped out of here again."
"How, by airship?"
"No, by horse and wagon. A lot of cases of valuable silks imported
from England to Canada, where the duty is light, were slipped over
the border somehow, in airships, it is thought. Then they came here
by freight, labeled as calico, and when they reached this town they
were taken away in a wagon."
"But how did they get here?"
"On the railroad, of course, but the freight people had no reason to
suspect them."
"And where were they taken from the freight station?"
"That's what the customs authorities want to find out. They think
there's some secret place here, where the goods are stored and
reshipped. That's why so many detectives are here. They are after the
smugglers hot-footed."