A MAN IN THE SNOW BANK
Tom Swift looked somewhat in surprise at his strange visitor. It had
all happened so suddenly, the offer had been such a strange one, the
man himself--Mr. Period--was so odd, that our hero hardly knew what to
think. The moving picture agent continued pacing up and down the room
now and then looking at his watch as if to note when the five minutes
had passed.
"No," said Tom to himself. "I'm not going to take this offer. There's
too much work and risk attached to it. I want to stay at home and work
on my noiseless motor for the airship. After that--well--I don't know
what I'll do. I'll tell Mr. Period that he needn't wait the five
minutes. My mind is made up now!"
But as Tom was about to make this announcement, and dismiss his caller,
he looked again at the visitor. There was something attractive about
him--about his hasty way of talking, about his manner of interrupting,
about the way he proposed matters. Tom was interested in spite of
himself.
"Well," he reflected, "I may as well wait until the five minutes are
up, anyhow."
Koku, the giant servant, glanced at his young master, as if to ask if
there was anything that he could do. Tom shook his head, and then the
big man strolled over to the other side of the machine shop, at the
same time keeping a careful eye on Mr. Period.
While Tom is waiting for the time to expire, I will take a few minutes
to tell you something more about him. Those of my friends who have read
the previous books in this series need no introduction to my hero, but
those who may chance upon this as their first book in the Tom Swift
series, will like to be more formally introduced.
Tom, whose mother had been dead some years, lived with his father,
Barton Swift, in the town of Shopton. Mr. Swift was an inventor of
prominence, and his son was fast following in his footsteps. A Mrs.
Baggert kept house for the Swifts, and another member of the household
was Eradicate Sampson, an aged colored man, who said he used to
"eradicate" the dirt. He had been with Tom on many trips, but of late
was getting old and feeble. Then there was Garret Jackson, an engineer
employed by the Swifts. These were all the immediate members of the
household.
Tom had a chum, Ned Newton, who used to work in a bank, and there was a
girl, Mary Nestor, a daughter of Amos Nestor, in which young lady Tom
was much interested.
Eradicate Sampson had a mule, Boomerang, of whom he thought almost as
much as he did of Tom. Eradicate was a faithful friend and servant,
but, of late, Koku, or August, the giant, had rather supplanted him. I
must not forget Mr. Wakefield Damon, of Waterfield, a village near
Shopton. Mr. Damon was an odd man, always blessing everything. He and
Tom were good friends, and had been on many trips together.
The first book of the series was called "Tom Swift and His
Motor-Cycle," and related how Tom bought the cycle from Mr. Damon,
after the latter had met with an accident on it, and it was in this way
that our hero became acquainted with the odd man.
Tom had many adventures on his motor-cycle, and, later on he secured a
motor-boat, in which he beat his enemy, Andy Foger, in a race. Next Tom
built an airship, and in this he went on a wonderful trip. Returning
from this he and his father heard about a treasure sunken under the
ocean. In his submarine boat Tom secured the valuables, and made a
large sum for himself.
In his electric runabout, which was the swiftest car on the road, Tom
was able to save from ruin a bank in which his father was interested,
and, a short time after that, he went on a trip in an airship, with a
man who had invented a new kind. The airship was smashed, and fell to
Earthquake Island, where there were some refugees from a shipwreck,
among them being the parents of Mary Nestor. In the volume called "Tom
Swift and His Wireless Message," I told how he saved these people.
When Tom went among the diamond makers he had more strange adventures,
on that trip discovering the secret of phantom mountain. He had bad
luck when he went to the caves of ice, for there his airship was
wrecked.
When Tom made the trip in his sky racer he broke all records for an
aerial flight, incidentally saving his father's life. It was some time
after this when he invented an electric rifle, and went to elephant
land, to rescue some missionaries from the red pygmies.
The eleventh volume of the series is called "Tom Swift in the Land of
Gold," and relates his adventures underground, while the next one tells
of a new machine he invented--an air-glider--which he used to save the
exiles of Siberia, incidentally, on that trip, finding a valuable
deposit of platinum.
As I have said, it was on his trip to giant land that Tom got his big
servant. This book, the thirteenth of the series, is called "Tom Swift
in Captivity," for the giants captured him and his friends, and it was
only by means of their airship that they made their daring escape.
Tom had been back from the strange land some time now. One giant he had
turned over to the circus representative for whom he had undertaken the
mission, and the other he retained to work around his shop, as
Eradicate was getting too old. It was now winter, and there had been
quite a fall of snow the day before Mr. Period, the odd moving picture
man, called on Tom. There were many big drifts outside the building.
Tom had fitted up a well-equipped shop, where he and his father worked
on their inventions. Occasionally Ned Newton, or Mr. Damon, would come
over to help them, but of late Tom had been so busy on his noiseless
motor that he had not had time to even see his friends.
"Well, I guess the five minutes have passed, and my mind is made up,"
thought Tom, as he looked at his watch. "I might as well tell Mr.
Period that I can't undertake his commission. In the first place it
isn't going to be an easy matter to make an electric moving picture
camera. I'd have to spend a lot of time studying up the subject, and
then I might not be able to get it to work right.
"And, again, I can't spare the time to go to all sorts of wild and
impossible places to get the pictures. It's all well enough to talk
about getting moving pictures of natives in battle, or wild beasts
fighting, or volcanoes in action, but it isn't so easy to do it. Then,
too, I'd have to make some changes in my airship if I went on that
trip. No, I can't go. I'll tell him he'll have to find some one else."
Mr. Period pulled out his watch, opened it quickly, snapped it shut
again, and exclaimed:
"Well, how about it, Tom Swift? When can you start! The sooner the
better for me! You'll want some money for expenses I think. I brought
my check book along, also a fountain pen. I'll give you a thousand
dollars now, for I know making an electric moving picture camera isn't
going to be cheap work. Then, when you get ready to start off in your
airship, you'll need more money. I'll be Johnny-on-the-spot all right,
and have it ready for you. Now when do you think you can start?"
He sat down at a bench, and began filling out a check.
"Hold on!" cried Tom, amused in spite of himself. "Don't sign that
check, Mr. Period. I'm not going."
"Not going?" The man's face showed blank amazement.
"No," went on Tom. "I can't spare the time. I'm sorry, but you'll have
to get some one else."
"Some one else? But who can I get?"
"Why, there are plenty who would be glad of the chance."
"But they can't invent an electric moving picture camera, and, if they
could, they wouldn't know enough to take pictures with it. It's got to
be you or no one, Tom Swift. Look here, I'll make it fifteen thousand
dollars above expenses."
"No, I'm sorry, but I can't go. My work here keeps me too busy.
"Oh, pshaw! Now, look here, Tom Swift! Do you know who sent me to see
you?"
"It was Mr. Nestor, who has a daughter named Mary, I believe. Mr.
Nestor is one of the directors in our company, and one day, when he
told me about you sending a wireless message from Earthquake Island, I
knew you would be the very man for me. So now you see you'll be doing
Mr. Nestor a favor, as well as me, if you go on this trip."
Tom was somewhat surprised, yet he realized that Mr. Period was
speaking the truth. Mr. Nestor was identified with many new
enterprises. Yet the youth was firm.
"I really can't go," said our hero. "I'd like to, but I can't. I'd
like to oblige Mr. Nestor, for--well, for more reasons than one," and
Tom blushed slightly. "But it is out of the question. I really can't
go."
"But you must!" insisted the camera man. "I won't take 'no' for an
answer. You've got to go, Tom Swift, do you hear that? You've go to go?"
Mr. Period was apparently very much excited. He strode over to Tom and
smote his hands together to emphasize what he said. Then he shook his
finger at Tom, to impress the importance of the matter on our hero.
"You've just got to go!" he cried. "You're the only one who can help
me, Tom. Do go! I'll pay you well, and--oh, well, I know you don't need
the money, exactly, but--say, you've got to go!"
In his earnestness Mr. Period laid his hand on Tom's arm. The next
instant something happened.
With a few big strides Koku was beside the picture man. With great
quickness he grasped Mr. Period by the coat collar, lifted him off his
feet with one hand, and walked over to a window with him, easily
lifting him above the floor.
With one fling the giant tossed the short, stout gentleman out into a
snow bank, while Tom looked on, too surprised to do anything, even if
he had had the chance.
"There. You touch Tom Swift again, and I sit on you and keep you under
snow!" cried the giant, while Mr. Period kicked and squirmed about in
the drift, as Tom made a leap forward to help him out.