Tom Swift and His Submarine Boat | Page 7

and Tom secured it for a low price. He had many
adventures on it, chief among which was being knocked senseless and
robbed of a valuable patent model belonging to his father, which he
was taking to Albany. The attack was committed by a gang known as
the Happy Harry gang, who were acting at the instigation of a syndicate
of rich men, who wanted to secure control of a certain patent turbine
engine which Mr. Swift had invented.
Tom set out in pursuit of the thieves, after recovering from their attack,
and had a strenuous time before he located them.
In the second volume, entitled "Tom Swift and His Motor- Boat," there
was related our hero's adventures in a fine craft which was recovered
from the thieves and sold at auction. There was a mystery connected
with the boat, and for a long time Tom could not solve it. He was aided,
however, by his chum, Ned Newton, who worked in the Shopton Bank,
and also by Mr. Damon and Eradicate Sampson, an aged colored
whitewasher, who formed quite an attachment for Tom.
In his motor-boat Tom had more than one race with Andy Foger, a rich
lad of Shopton, who was a sort of bully. He had red hair and squinty
eyes, and was as mean in character as he was in looks. He and his
cronies, Sam Snedecker and Pete Bailey, made trouble for Tom, chiefly
because Tom managed to beat Andy twice in boat races.
It was while in his motor-boat, Arrow, that Tom formed the
acquaintance of John Sharp, a veteran balloonist. While coming down
Lake Carlopa on the way to the Swift home, which had been entered by
thieves, Tom, his father and Ned Newton, saw a balloon on fire over
the lake. Hanging from a trapeze on it was Mr. Sharp, who had made an
ascension from a fair ground. By hard work on the part of Tom and his
friends the aeronaut was saved, and took up his residence with the
Swifts.

His advent was most auspicious, for Tom and his father were then
engaged in perfecting an airship, and Mr. Sharp was able to lend them
his skill, so that the craft was soon constructed.
In the third volume, called "Tom Swift and His Airship," there was set
down the doings of the young inventor, Mr. Sharp and Mr. Damon on a
trip above the clouds. They undertook it merely for pleasure, but they
encountered considerable danger, before they completed it, for they
nearly fell into a blazing forest once, and were later fired at by a crowd
of excited people. This last act was to effect their capture, for they were
taken for a gang of bank robbers, and this was due directly to Andy
Foger.
The morning after Tom and his friends started on their trip in the air,
the Shopton Bank was found to have been looted of seventy-five
thousand dollars. Andy Foger at once told the police that Tom Swift
had taken the money, and when asked how he knew this, he said he had
seen Tom hanging around the bank the night before the vault was burst
open, and that the young inventor had some burglar tools in his
possession. Warrants were at once sworn out for Tom and Mr. Damon,
who was also accused of being one of the robbers, and a reward of five
thousand dollars was offered.
Tom, Mr. Damon and Mr. Sharp sailed on, all unaware of this, and
unable to account for being fired upon, until they accidentally read in
the paper an account of their supposed misdeeds. They lost no time in
starting back home, and on, the way got on the track of the real bank
robbers, who were members of the Happy Harry gang.
How the robbers were captured in an exciting raid, how Tom recovered
most of the stolen money, and how he gave Andy Foger a deserved
thrashing for giving a false clue was told of, and there was an account
of a race in which the Red Cloud (as the airship was called) took part,
as well as details of how Tom and his friends secured the reward,
which Andy Foger hoped to collect.
Those of you who care to know how the Red Cloud was constructed,
and how she behaved in the air, even during accidents and when struck

by lightning, may learn by reading the third volume, for the airship was
one of the most successful ever constructed.
When the craft was finished, and the navigators were ready to start on
their first long trip, Mr. Swift was asked to go with them. He declined,
but would not tell why, until Tom, pressing him for an answer, learned
that his father was planning a submarine