Tom Swift and His Submarine Boat | Page 4

"I guess he wasn't
expecting you."
"Oh, well, I shouldn't have been so alarmed, only I was thinking deeply
about a certain change I am going to make in the submarine, Tom. I
was day-dreaming, I think, when your ship whizzed through the air.
But tell me, did you find everything all right at Shopton? No signs of
any of those scoundrels of the Happy Harry gang having been around?"
and Mr. Swift looked anxiously at his son.

"Not a sign, dad," replied Tom quickly. "Everything was all right. We
brought the things you wanted. They're in the airship. Oh, but it was a
fine trip. I'd like to take another right out to sea."
"Not now, Tom," said his father. "I want you to help me. And I need
Mr. Sharp's help, too. Get the things out of the car, and we'll go to the
shop."
"First I think we'd better put the airship away," advised Mr. Sharp. "I
don't just like the looks of the weather, and, besides, if we leave the
ship exposed we'll be sure to have a crowd around sooner or later, and
we don't want that."
"No, indeed," remarked the aged inventor hastily. "I don't want people
prying around the submarine shed. By all means put the airship away,
and then come into the shop."
In spite of its great size the aeroplane was easily wheeled along by Tom
and Mr. Sharp, for the gas in the container made it so buoyant that it
barely touched the earth. A little more of the powerful vapor and the
Red Cloud would have risen by itself. In a few minutes the wonderful
craft, of which my readers have been told in detail in a previous volume,
was safely housed in a large tent, which was securely fastened.
Mr. Sharp and Tom, carrying some bundles which they had taken from
the car, or cabin, of the craft, went toward a large shed, which adjoined
the house that Mr. Swift had hired for the season at the seashore. They
found the lad's father standing before a great shape, which loomed up
dimly in the semi-darkness of the building. It was like an immense
cylinder, pointed at either end, and here and there were openings,
covered with thick glass, like immense, bulging eyes. From the number
of tools and machinery all about the place, and from the appearance of
the great cylinder itself, it was easy to see that it was only partly
completed.
"Well, how goes it, dad?" asked the youth, as he deposited his bundle
on a bench. "Do you think you can make it work?"

"I think so, Tom. The positive and negative plates are giving me
considerable trouble, though. But I guess we can solve the problem.
Did you bring me the galvanometer?"
"Yes, and all the other things," and the young inventor proceeded to
take the articles from the bundles he carried.
Mr. Swift looked them over carefully, while Tom walked about
examining the submarine, for such was the queer craft that was
contained in the shed. He noted that some progress had been made on it
since he had left the seacoast several days before to make a trip to
Shopton, in New York State, where the Swift home was located, after
some tools and apparatus that his father wanted to obtain from his
workshop there.
"You and Mr. Jackson have put on several new plates," observed the
lad after a pause.
"Yes," admitted his father. "Garret and I weren't idle, were we, Garret?"
and he nodded to the aged engineer, who had been in his employ for
many years.
"No; and I guess we'll soon have her in the water, Tom, now that you
and Mr. Sharp are here to help us," replied Garret Jackson.
"We ought to have Mr. Damon here to bless the submarine and his liver
and collar buttons a few times," put in Mr. Sharp, who brought in
another bundle. He referred to an eccentric individual Who had recently
made an airship voyage with himself and Tom, Mr. Damon's
peculiarity being to use continually such expressions as: "Bless my soul!
Bless my liver!"
"Well, I'll be glad when we can make a trial trip," went on Tom. "I've
traveled pretty fast on land with my motor- cycle, and we certainly
have hummed through the air. Now I want to see how it feels to scoot
along under water."
"Well, if everything goes well we'll be in position to make a trial trip

inside of a month," remarked the aged inventor. "look here, Mr. Sharp,
I made a change in the steering gear, which I'd like you and Tom to
consider."
The three walked around to the rear of the odd-looking structure, if an
object shaped like a cigar can be said