Tom Swift and His Giant Telescope

Swift and His Giant Telescope,
by Victor Appleton

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Title: Tom Swift and His Giant Telescope
Author: Victor Appleton
Illustrator: James Gary
Release Date: April 19, 2007 [EBook #21188]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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SWIFT AND HIS GIANT TELESCOPE ***

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[Transcriber's note: Extensive research did not uncover any evidence
that the copyright on this publication was renewed.]

TOM SWIFT
and
His Giant Telescope
By VICTOR APPLETON
Illustrations by JAMES GARY
WHITMAN PUBLISHING COMPANY Racine, Wisconsin
Copyright, 1939, by WHITMAN PUBLISHING COMPANY Racine,
Wisconsin
All Rights Reserved
Printed in U.S.A.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I The New Project 9
II Suspicions 42
III An Accident 90
IV A Murderous Attempt 124
V In Peril 168
VI Tom Drugged! 216
VII Deep Sea Diving 264

VIII Trapped By a Sea Monster 296
IX A Robber 346
X Success! 380
[Illustration: Tom Swift Appeared Calm]

TOM SWIFT and His Giant Telescope
CHAPTER I
THE NEW PROJECT
Tom Swift appeared to be calm, although in reality he was about as
excited over his latest invention as he ever had been about anything in
his life.
"I'm sure it's going to work, Ned!" he said eagerly to his chum as they
neared Tom's private laboratory. "With my new device I hope to learn
more about the planets. I want to start soon--"
"Listen here!" broke in Ned Newton. "If you're thinking of going to
Mars or the moon, just count me out! I've gone with you to many
strange places and have never kicked. But this--"
"Hold on, young fellow!" interrupted the youthful inventor with an
amused chuckle. "I've nothing like that in mind YET! All I want to do
is show you my new 'space eye.'"
[Illustration: Ned Newton, Tom's Chum]
"Can't say as I like that word 'yet,'" Ned muttered darkly. "But I'll take
a look at your new jigger if you'll promise not to shoot me through
space in a rocket or cannon-ball!"
"Word of honor I won't," promised Tom, crossing his heart with mock

solemnity. "Well, here we are."
The two boys had reached the laboratory, a small building at the rear of
the spacious lawn surrounding Tom's father's home and close to the
extensive work of the Swift Manufacturing Company at Shopton.
[Illustration: Tom Crossed His Heart]
"I'll bet these shelves have more scientific apparatus on 'em than any
other shelves in the world," remarked Ned, as his chum opened the
door.
Various cabinets containing hundreds of chemicals stood about.
Against one wall was a huge transformer, from which the youthful
scientist, Tom Swift, could draw almost any kind of electric current he
might desire.
[Illustration: They Entered the Laboratory]
"Here goes!" said the young inventor.
He rolled back a small rug in the middle of the floor to expose a
massive steel trap door. This he unlocked by twirling the dial of a
complicated mechanism. Some years before Tom had constructed
beneath his laboratory an impregnable chamber to safeguard his secret
plans. He called it his Chest of Secrets, and guarded it well.
[Illustration: Tom Rolled Back a Small Rug]
Even Ned Newton, Tom's closest friend and business associate, did not
know the entire contents of the massive vault. Only Tom and his father
were aware of all the inventions concealed there.
"Some of these inventions must not be known to the world in its
present state," the elder man had said.
One of them was the terrible electric death-ray, capable of destroying
anything in its path. Only if the United States should be invaded by an
enemy power, would this be revealed.

[Illustration: There Was a Death Ray]
"Here it is," said Tom, joining his chum after a few minutes spent in the
vault.
He was carrying a small wooden box which he placed on the desk and
opened. If Ned, as he leaned over eagerly, expected to see anything
astonishing he was disappointed. Resting on the velvet lining was
simply a round disk of a greenish substance perhaps six inches in
diameter. This was mounted in a gleaming metal ring from the edges of
which there projected five electric binding posts.
[Illustration: He Was Carrying a Wooden Box]
"Funny kind of an eye," observed Ned. "You can't even see through it."
"You'll soon see through it, all right," retorted Tom, laying the disk on
his desk and connecting four dry