Tom Swift and His Electric Locomotive | Page 4

He was a bright looking
young fellow with an alert air and a rather humorous smile. His father
was a semi-invalid; but Tom possessed all the mental vigor and
muscular energy that a young man should have. He had not neglected

his Athletic development while he made the best use of his mental
powers.
"Believe me," said the visitor, quite as harshly as before, "I begin to
doubt the solidity of all walls. I know that I have been watched, and
spied upon, and that eavesdroppers have played hob with our affairs.
"Of late, there has been little planned in the directors' room of the H. &
P. A. that has not seeped out and aided the enemy in foreseeing our
moves."
"The enemy?" repeated Mr. Swift, with mild surprise.
"That's it exactly! The enemy!" replied Mr. Bartholomew shortly. "The
H. & P. A. has got the fight of its life on its hands. We had a hard
enough time fighting nature and the elements when we laid the first
iron for the road a score of years ago. Now I am facing a fight that must
grow fiercer and fiercer as time goes on until either the H. & P. A.
smashes the opposition, or the enemy smashes it."
"What enemy is this you speak of?" asked Tom, much interested.
"The proposed Hendrickton & Western. A new road, backed by new
capital, and to be officered and built by new men in the construction
and railroad game.
"Montagne Lewis--you've heard of him, I presume--is at the head of the
crowd that have bought the little old Hendrickton & Western, lock,
stock and barrel.
"They have franchises for extending the road. In the old days the
legislatures granted blanket franchises that allowed any group of
moneyed men to engage in any kind of business as side issues to
railroading. Montagne Lewis and his crowd have got a 'plenty-big'
franchise.
"They have begun laying iron. It parallels, to a certain extent, our own
line. Their surveyors were smarter than the men who laid out the H. &

P. A. I admit it. Besides, the country out there is developed more than it
was a score of years ago when I took hold.
"All this enters into the fight between Montagne Lewis and me. But
there is something deeper," said the little man, with almost a snarl, as
he thrashed about again in his chair. "I beat Montagne Lewis at one big
game years ago. He is a man who never forgets--and who never
hesitates to play dirty politics if he has to, to bring about his own ends.
"I know that I have been watched. I know that I was followed on this
trip East. He has private detectives on my track continually. And worse.
All the gunmen of the old and wilder West are not dead. There's a
fellow named Andy O'Malley--well, never mind him. The game at
present is to keep anybody in Lewis's employ from getting wise to why
I came to see you."
"What you say is interesting," Mr. Swift here broke in quietly. "But I
have already been puzzled by what you first said. Just why have you
come to us--to Tom and me--in reference to your railroad difficulties?"
"And this suggestion you have made," added Tom, "about a possible
electric locomotive of a faster type than has, ever yet been put on the
rails?"
"That is it, exactly," replied Bartholomew, sitting suddenly upright in
his chair. "We want faster electric motor power than has ever yet been
invented. We have got to have it, or the H. & P. A. might as well be
scrapped and the whole territory out there handed over to Montagne
Lewis and his H. & W. That is the sum total of the matter, gentlemen.
If the Swift Construction Company cannot help us, my railroad is going
to be junk in about three years from this beautiful evening."
His emphasis could not fail to impress both the elder and the younger
Swift. They looked at each other, and the interest displayed upon the
father's countenance was reflected upon the features of the son.
If there was anything Tom Swift liked it was a good fight. The clash of
diverse interests was the breath of life to the young fellow. And for

some years now, always connected in some way with the development
of his inventive genius, he had been entangled in battles both of wits
and physical powers. Here was the suggestion of something that would
entail a struggle of both brain and brawn.
"Sounds good," muttered Tom, gazing at the railroad magnate with
considerable admiration.
"Let us hear all about it," Mr. Swift said to Bartholomew. "Whether we
can help you or not, we're interested."
"All right," replied the visitor again. "Whether