A SEARCHLIGHT IS NEEDED
For a few moments after the custom officer had made his appeal, Tom
Swift did not reply. His thoughts were busy with many things.
Somehow, it seemed of late, there had been many demands on him,
demands that had been hard and trying.
In the past he had not hesitated, but in those cases friendship, as
well as a desire for adventures, had urged him. Now he thought he
had had his fill of adventures.
"Well?" asked Mr. Whitford, gently. "What's your answer, Tom? Don't
you think this is a sort of duty-call to you?"
"A duty-call?" repeated the young inventor.
"Yes. Of course I realize that it isn't like a soldier's call to
battle, but Uncle Sam needs you just the same. When there is a war
the soldiers are called on to repel an enemy. Now the smugglers are
just as much an enemy of the United States, in a certain way, as an
armed invader would be."
"One strikes at the life and liberty of the people, while the
smugglers try to cheat Uncle Sam out of money that is due him. I'm
not going to enter into a discussion as to the right of the
government to impose duties. People have their own opinion as to
that. But, as long as the law says certain duties are to be
collected, it is the duty of every citizen, not only to pay those
dues, but to help collect them. That's what I'm asking you to do,
Tom."
"I don't want to get prosy, or deliver a lecture on the work of the
custom house, Tom, but, honestly, I think it is a duty you owe to
your country to help catch these smugglers. I admit I'm at the end
of my rope. This last clew has failed. The Fogers seem to be
innocent of wrong doing. We need your help, Tom."
"But I don't see how I can help you."
"Of course you can! You're an expert with airships. The smugglers
are using airships, of that I'm sure. You tell me you have just
perfected a noiseless aircraft. That will be just the thing. You can
hover on the border, near the line dividing New York State from
Canada, or near the St. Lawrence, which is the natural division for
a certain distance, and when you see an airship coming along you can
slip up in your noiseless one, overhaul it, and make them submit to
a search."
"But I won't have any authority to do that," objected Tom, who
really did not care for the commission.
"Oh, I'll see that you get the proper authority all right," said Mr.
Whitford significantly. "I made you a temporary deputy to-night, but
if you'll undertake this work, to catch the smugglers in their
airships, you will be made a regular custom official."
"Yes, but supposing I can't catch them?" interposed our hero. "They
may have very fast airships, and--"
"I guess you'll catch 'em all right!" put in Ned, who was at his
chum's side as they walked along a quiet Shopton street in the
darkness. "There's not an aeroplane going that can beat yours, Tom."
"Well, perhaps I COULD get them," admitted the young inventor. "But--"
"Then you'll undertake this work for Uncle Sam?" interrupted Mr.
Whitford eagerly. "Come, Tom, I know you will."
"I'm not so sure of that," spoke Tom. "It isn't going to be as easy
as you think. There are many difficulties in the way. In the first
place the smuggling may be done over such a wide area that it would
need a whole fleet of airships to capture even one of the others,
for they might choose a most unfrequented place to cross the
border."
"Oh, we would be in communication with you," said the agent. "We can
come pretty near telling where the contraband goods will be shipped
from, but the trouble is, after we get our tips, we can't get to the
place before they have flown away. But with your airship, you could
catch them, after we sent you, say a wireless message, about where
to look for them. So that's no objection. You have a wireless outfit
on your airships, haven't you, Tom?"
"Yes, that part is all right."
"Then you can't have any more objections, Tom."
"Well, there are some. For instance you say most of this smuggling
is done at night."
"Practically all of it, yes."
"Well, it isn't going to be easy to pick out a contraband airship in
the dark, and chase it. But I'll tell you what I'll do, Mr.
Whitford, I feel as if I had sort of 'fallen down' on this clew
business, as the newspaper men say, and I owe it to you to make good
in some way."
"That's what I want--not that I think you haven't done all you
could," interposed the agent.
"Well, if I can figure out some way, by which I think I can come
anywhere near catching these smugglers, I'll undertake the work!"
exclaimed Tom. "I'll do it as a duty to Uncle Sam, and I don't want
any reward except my expenses. It's going to cost considerable, but--"
"Don't mind the expense!" interrupted Mr. Whitford. "Uncle Sam will
stand that. Why, the government is losing thousands of dollars every
week. It's a big leak, and must be stopped, and you're the one to
stop it, Tom."
"Well, I'll try. I'll see you in a couple of days, and let you know
if I have formed any plan. Now come on, Ned. I'm tired and want to
get to bed."
"So do I," added the agent. "I'll call on you day after to-morrow,
Tom, and I expect you to get right on the job," he added with a
laugh.
"Have you any idea what you are going to do, Tom?" asked his chum,
as they turned toward their houses.
"Not exactly. If I go I'll use my noiseless airship. That will come
in handy. But this night business rather stumps me. I don't quite
see my way to get around that. Of course I could use an ordinary
searchlight, but that doesn't give a bright enough beam, or carry
far enough. It's going to be quite a problem and I've got to think
it over."
"Queer about the Fogers; wasn't it, Tom?"
"Yes, I didn't think they were going to let us in."
"There's something going on there, in spite of the fact that they
were willing for an inspection to be made," went on Ned.
"I agree with you. I thought it was funny the way Mr. Foger acted
about not wanting the men to go down in the cellar."
"So did I, and yet when they got down there they didn't find
anything."
"That's so. Well, maybe we're on the wrong track, after all. But I'm
going to keep my eyes open. I don't see what Andy wants with an
airship platform on the roof of his house. The ground is good enough
to start from and land on."
"I should think so, too. But then Andy always did like to show off,
and do things different from anybody else. Maybe it's that way now."
"Perhaps," agreed Tom. "Well, here's your house, Ned. Come over in
the morning," and, with a good-night, our hero left his chum,
proceeding on toward his own home.
"Why, Koku, haven't you gone to bed yet?" asked the young inventor,
as, mounting the side steps, he saw his giant servant sitting there
on a bench he had made especially for his own use, as ordinary
chairs were not substantial enough. "What is the matter?"
"Nothing happen YET," spoke Koku significantly, "but maybe he come
pretty soon, and then I get him."
"Get who, Koku?" asked Tom, with quick suspicion.
"I do not know, but Eradicate say he hear someone sneaking around
his chicken coop, and I think maybe it be same man who was here once
before."
"Oh, you mean the rivals, who were trying to get my moving picture
camera?"
"That's what!" exclaimed Koku.
"Hum!" mused Tom. "I must be on the look-out. I'll tell you what
I'll do, Koku. I'll set my automatic camera to take the moving
pictures of any one who tries to get in my shop, or in the chicken
coop. I'll also set the burglar alarm. But you may also stay on the
watch, and if anything happens--"
"If anything happens, I will un-happen him!" exclaimed the giant,
brandishing a big club he had beside him.
"All right," laughed Tom. "I'm sleepy, and I'm going to bed, but
I'll set the automatic camera, and fix it with fuse flashlights, so
they will go off if the locks are even touched."
This Tom did, fixing up the wizard camera, which I have told you
about in the book bearing that title. It would take moving pictures
automatically, once Tom had set the mechanism to unreel the films
back of the shutter and lens. The lights would instantly flash, when
the electrical connections on the door locks were tampered with, and
the pictures would be taken.
Then Tom set the burglar alarm, and, before going to bed he focused
a searchlight, from one of his airships, on the shed and chicken
coop, fastening it outside his room window.
"There!" he exclaimed, as he got ready to turn in, not having
awakened the rest of the household, "when the burglar alarm goes
off, if it does, it will also start the searchlight, and I'll get a
view of who the chicken thief is. I'll also get some pictures."
Then, thinking over the events of the evening, and wondering if he
would succeed in his fight with the smugglers, providing he
undertook it, Tom fell asleep.
It must have been some time after midnight that he was awakened by
the violent ringing of a bell at his ear. At first he thought it was
the call to breakfast, and he leaped from bed crying out:
"Yes, Mrs. Baggert, I'm coming!"
A moment later he realized what it was.
"The burglar alarm!" he cried. "Koku, are you there? Someone is
trying to get into the chicken coop!" for a glance at the automatic
indicator, in connection with the alarm, had shown Tom that the
henhouse, and not his shop, had been the object of attack.
"I here!" cried Koku, "I got him!"
A series of startled cries bore eloquent testimony to this.
"I'm coming!" cried Tom. And then he saw a wonderful sight. The
whole garden, his shop, the henhouse and all the surrounding
territory was lighted up with a radiance almost like daylight. The
beams of illumination came from the searchlight Tom had fixed
outside his window, but never before had the lantern given such a
glow.
"That's wonderful!" cried Tom, as he ran to examine it. "What has
happened? I never had such a powerful beam before. There must be
something that I have stumbled on by accident. Say, that is a light
all right! Why it goes for miles and miles, and I never projected a
beam as far as this before."
As Tom looked into a circle of violet-colored glass set in the side
of the small searchlight, to see what had caused the extraordinary
glow, he could observe nothing out of the ordinary. The violet glass
was to protect the eyes from the glare.
"It must be that, by accident, I made some new connection at the
dynamo," murmured Tom.
"Hi! Lemme go! Lemme go, Massa giant! I ain't done nuffin'!" yelled
a voice.
"I got you!" cried Koku.
"It's an ordinary chicken thief this time I guess," said Tom. "But
this light--this great searchlight--"
Then a sudden thought came to him.
"By Jove!" he cried. "If I can find out the secret of how I happened
to project such a beam, it will be the very thing to focus on the
smugglers from my noiseless airship! That's what I need--a
searchlight such as never before has been made--a terrifically
powerful one. And I've got it, if I can only find out just how it
happened. I've got to look before the current dies out."
Leaving the brilliant beams on in full blast, Tom ran down the
stairs to get to his shop, from which the electrical power came.