Tom Swift and His Wizard Camera | Page 6

use won't do the trick.
"Now do you get me? I'm going to give you ten thousand dollars, above
all your expenses, for some films such as I've been speaking of. I want
novelty. Got to have it in my business! You can do it. Now will you?"
"I hardly think--" began Tom.
"Don't answer me now," broke in Mr. Period. "Take four minutes to
think it over. Or even five. I guess I can wait that long. Take five
minutes. I'll wait while you make up your mind, but I know you'll do it.
Five minutes--no more,' and hastily getting up off the box Mr. Period

began impatiently pacing up and down the shop.
CHAPTER II
- A MAN IN THE SNOW BANK
Tom Swift looked somewhat in surprise at his strange visitor. It had all
happened so suddenly, the offer had been such a strange one, the man
himself--Mr. Period--was so odd, that our hero hardly knew what to
think. The moving picture agent continued pacing up and down the
room now and then looking at his watch as if to note when the five
minutes had passed.
"No," said Tom to himself. "I'm not going to take this offer. There's too
much work and risk attached to it. I want to stay at home and work on
my noiseless motor for the airship. After that-- well--I don't know what
I'll do. I'll tell Mr. Period that he needn't wait the five minutes. My
mind is made up now!"
But as Tom was about to make this announcement, and dismiss his
caller, he looked again at the visitor. There was something attractive
about him--about his hasty way of talking, about his manner of
interrupting, about the way he proposed matters. Tom was interested in
spite of himself.
"Well," he reflected, "I may as well wait until the five minutes are up,
anyhow."
Koku, the giant servant, glanced at his young master, as if to ask if
there was anything that he could do. Tom shook his head, and then the
big man strolled over to the other side of the machine shop, at the same
time keeping a careful eye on Mr. Period.
While Tom is waiting for the time to expire, I will take a few minutes
to tell you something more about him. Those of my friends who have
read the previous books in this series need no introduction to my hero,
but those who may chance upon this as their first book in the Tom
Swift series, will like to be more formally introduced.

Tom, whose mother had been dead some years, lived with his father,
Barton Swift, in the town of Shopton. Mr. Swift was an inventor of
prominence, and his son was fast following in his footsteps. A Mrs.
Baggert kept house for the Swifts, and another member of the
household was Eradicate Sampson, an aged colored man, who said he
used to "eradicate" the dirt. He had been with Tom on many trips, but
of late was getting old and feeble. Then there was Garret Jackson, an
engineer employed by the Swifts. These were all the immediate
members of the household.
Tom had a chum, Ned Newton, who used to work in a bank, and there
was a girl, Mary Nestor, a daughter of Amos Nestor, in which young
lady Tom was much interested.
Eradicate Sampson had a mule, Boomerang, of whom he thought
almost as much as he did of Tom. Eradicate was a faithful friend and
servant, but, of late, Koku, or August, the giant, had rather supplanted
him. I must not forget Mr. Wakefield Damon, of Waterfield, a village
near Shopton. Mr. Damon was an odd man, always blessing everything.
He and Tom were good friends, and had been on many trips together.
The first book of the series was called "Tom Swift and His
Motor-Cycle," and related how Tom bought the cycle from Mr. Damon,
after the latter had met with an accident on it, and it was in this way
that our hero became acquainted with the odd man.
Tom had many adventures on his motor-cycle, and, later on he secured
a motor-boat, in which he beat his enemy, Andy Foger, in a race. Next
Tom built an airship, and in this he went on a wonderful trip. Returning
from this he and his father heard about a treasure sunken under the
ocean. In his submarine boat Tom secured the valuables, and made a
large sum for himself.
In his electric runabout, which was the swiftest car on the road, Tom
was able to save from ruin a bank in which his father was interested,
and, a short time after that, he went on a trip in an airship, with a man
who had invented a new kind. The