Tom Swift and His Giant Telescope

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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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[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 cells to the binding posts. He placed a small rheostat in the circuit so that the strength of the current might be regulated.
[Illustration: The Disk Was Mounted in a Metal Ring]
Slowly he moved the little handle over the graduated dial. A minute passed during which, so far as Ned could see, nothing happened. Without warning the green crystal suddenly glowed