Tom Swift and His Giant Cannon | Page 8

to interest your father in it, but he doesn't seem to care to take a
chance. It's a lost opal mine on a little- known island in the Caribbean
Sea not far from the city of Colon. I say not far--by that I mean about
twenty miles. But your father doesn't want to invest, say, ten thousand
dollars in it, though I can almost guarantee that he'll get five times that
sum back. So, as long as he doesn't feel that he can help me out, I guess
I'd better be traveling on."
"Hold on! Wait a minute. Don't be in a hurry," said Mr. Swift.
Mr. Peterson was an old friend, and when he and Mr. Swift were young
men they had prospected and grub-staked together. But Mr. Swift soon
gave that up to devote his time to his inventions, while Mr. Peterson
became a sort of rolling stone.
He was a good man, but somewhat visionary, and a bit inclined to "take
chances"--such as looking for lost treasure--rather than to devote
himself to some steady employment. The result was that he led rather a
precarious life, though never being actually in want.
"No, pardner," he said to Mr. Swift. "It's kind of you to ask me to stay;
but this mine business has got a grip on me. I want to try it out. If you
won't finance the project someone else may. I'll say good-bye, and--"
"Now just a minute," said Mr. Swift. "It's true, Alec, I had about made
up my mind not to go into this thing, when this accident happened to
Tom. Now you practically saved his life. You--"

"Oh, pshaw! I only acted on the spur of the moment. Anyone could
have done what I did," protested the fortune-hunter.
"Oh, but you did it!" insisted Mr. Swift, "and you did it in the nick of
time. Now I wouldn't for a moment think of offering you a reward for
saving my son's life. But I do feel mighty friendly toward you--not that
I didn't before--but I do want to help you. Alec, I will go into this
business with you. We'll take a chance! I'll invest ten thousand dollars,
and I'm not so awful worried about getting it back, either--though I
don't believe in throwing money away."
"You won't throw it away in this case!" declared Mr. Peterson, eagerly.
"I'm sure to find that mine; but it will take a little capital to work it.
That's what I need--capital!"
"Well, I'll supply it to the extent of ten thousand dollars," said Mr.
Swift. "Tom, what do you think of it? Am I foolish or not?"
"Not a bit of it, Dad!" cried the young man, who was now himself
again. "I'm glad you took that chance, for, if you hadn't--well, I would
have supplied the money myself--that's all," and he smiled at the
fortune-hunter.


CHAPTER III
PLANNING A BIG GUN
"BUT, Tom, I don't see how in the world you can ever hope to make a
bigger gun than that."
"I think it can be done, Ned," was the quiet answer of the young
inventor. He looked up from some drawings on the table in the office of
one of his shops. "Now I'll just show you--"
"Hold on, Tom. You know I have a very poor head for figures, even if I

do help you out once in a while on some of your work. Skip the
technical details, and give me the main facts."
The two young men--Ned Newton being Tom's special chum--were
talking together over Tom's latest scheme.
It was several days after Tom's accident in the airship, when he had
been saved by the prompt action of Mr. Peterson. That fortune-hunter,
once he had the promise of Mr. Swift to invest in his somewhat
visionary plan of locating a lost opal mine near the Panama Canal, had
left the Swift homestead to arrange for fitting out the expedition of
discovery. He had tried to prevail on Tom to accompany him, and,
failing in that, tried to work on Mr. Damon.
"Bless my watch chain!" exclaimed that odd gentleman. "I would like
to go with you first rate. But I'm so busy--so very busy-- that I can't
think of it. I have simply neglected all my affairs, chasing around the
country with Tom Swift. But if Tom goes I-- ahem! I think perhaps I
could manage it--ahem!"
"I thought you were busy," laughed Tom.
"Oh, well, perhaps I could get a few weeks off. But I'm not going--no,
bless my check book, I must get back to business!"
But as Mr. Damon was a retired gentleman of wealth, his "business"
was more or less of a joke among his friends.
So then, a few days after the departure of Mr.