“Hm,” Tom said to himself, studying it several seconds, “these wires run to the gyrostabilizer. But they shouldn’t cross the beam. At this stage they could cause a fire.”
The young inventor pulled out his pocket flashlight and made a further examination. Though he felt he was right, Tom decided, before speaking to the workmen, to check the blueprint. He hurried down to the office and studied the detailed sheet a few moments. The wiring would have to be changed.
As Tom came from the office, he stopped short. Looking up, he was horrified to see wisps of smoke curling from the air vents of the Flying Lab! Visions of disaster flashed through his mind.
“But it’s coming from the third deck,” he observed. “It can’t be that wiring.”
Grabbing a fire extinguisher, Tom leaped up the interior stairway of the plane.
He ran head on into a figure racing downward.
“Chow! What’s on fire?”
The chef was coughing and choking as he tried to 30 TOM SWIFT AND HIS FLYING LAB
find his way down the steps, his eyes streaming with tears from the smoke.
“Lemme out.”
“Is it in the galley?”
“Galley? No, no. The galley’s not on fire. It’s my invention burned up.”
“Your invention?” Tom cried.
Chow held out his hand in which lay a black pellet. “This lil ole pill is all that’s left,” he said sadly. “Tom, this here is concentrated, dehydrated spinacha kettleful.”
Tom collapsed on the steps, roaring with laughter. “Sabotage of the Flying Labby spinach pills!” he howled.
Chow gave the inventor an indignant look, still coughing because of the smoke in his lungs.
“I’ll make ‘em work yet,” he declared. “I was goin’ to surprise you with spinach for lunch, but I’ll fix somethin’ else.”
“A he-man steak, please,” Tom begged.
When the electricians returned from lunch, Tom told them about the wiring, then he walked over to the office which he and Mr. Swift shared in the main building. His father was there and said:
“Roberts just had a cablegram from his son’s wife. Young Roberts has gone into the mountains on an expedition with a group of scientists. I hope nothing happens to him.”
Mr. Swift had barely conveyed this news when the intercom phone buzzed.
“There is someone at the gate to see you and your son,” said Miss Trent.
A CALL TO DANGER 31
“We’re very busy,” answered Tom’s father. “You know when I’m”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Swift. But I believe you’ll want to see this man right away. He says he’s from the Hemispak Scientific Society!”
Across the office, Tom and his father looked at each other in amazement.
From Hemispak! Could this be the same man who had attacked Roberts and Tom? Would he dare take a chance to come here again?
“Bring him in!” Mr. Swift told the secretary.
Before they arrived, Tom pushed a button and the workbench, covered with plans and gadgets, slid silently into the wall out of sight.
“We’d better watch him, Dad! Even if he isn’t the same man, he may be a pal of his. I think we’d better keep him between us while he’s in here.”
“Good idea, Tom.”
“Senor Carlos Ricardo,” Miss Trent announced presently, and ushered the caller in.
Tom knew at once that he was not the man who had knocked him unconscious. The caller was older and less agile-looking.
“May I present my credentials, gentlemen?” the stranger said after the Swifts had introduced themselves. “I am the newly chosen president of the Hemispak Scientific Society.”
He pulled out a membership card and letters from a pocket to support his claim. The Swifts examined them and felt satisfied.
“We have heard a great deal about Swift Enterprises,” Senor Ricardo began.
“Hemispak hopes to
32 TOM SWIFT AND HIS FLYING LAB
have the pleasure of working side by side with the two famous Swifts.”
“If Hemispak is all we’ve heard it is,” Mr. Swift replied, “that would be a distinct privilege for us.”
His suspicions, as well as Tom’s, had been completely dispelled by the stranger’s straightforward manner.
“We have a great deal of work to do,” went on Sefior Ricardo, “but if we can maintain our ideals of co-operative scientific work in behalf of the northern and southern continents of America, the Western Hemisphere should benefit greatly.”
The trio now relaxed in friendly, companionable conversation.
“Some day I’d like to visit South America again,” Tom remarked. He did not say so, but in his mind he finished “and in the Sky Queen would be the perfect way to do it.”
“That may be sooner than you think,” was the surprising answer. “Your own reputation, for one so young, is widely known among our people through the scientific journals. And that is part of my reason for coming to Swift Enterprises today.”
Tom sat up expectantly.
“If I may acquaint you with certain facts,” Sefior Ricardo remarked, “my country is having trouble with a certain group of its peoplethe Veranos.
Verano is really a splinter state, run by rebels who broke away from the mother country. They carry on continual guerrilla warfare against us.”
Verano, Sefior Ricardo revealed, was a stumbling block in the work of Hemispak.
A CALL TO DANGER 33
“Why is that?” Tom asked.
“Our group is looking for undiscovered sources of uranium,” he replied. “From a clue given by an old explorer, we believe that there is valuable radioactive material on the border of Verano. But it must not get into the hands of these rebels!” Ricardo cried.
“Would they know what to do with it?” Tom questioned.
“Si, si. They would sell it to a power hostile to the Americas. This we must prevent!”
“These rebelsthey must be more than ordinary guerrillas,” Mr. Swift remarked.
“They are cruel, ruthless men.” Sefior Ricardo looked grim. “Hemispak sent an expedition of scientists to the border, but we fear they have met with foul play from the rebels. It has been two weeks since we have heard from them by radio.”
“Dad! That’s probably the same expedition John Roberts is with!”
“What? You are acquainted with John Roberts?” Sefior Ricardo asked in surprise. “He is one of Hemispak’s finest scientists.”
Mr. Swift explained how they knew him. “His father works for us. We’ve known John since his boyhood. This is indeed bad news.”
“But you will not mention my worries to the father?”
“No,” Mr. Swift agreed, but a frown creased his forehead. Roberts probably would learn it soon enough himself.
“They are good men, our scientific party,” Ri—
34 TOM SWIFT AND HIS FLYING LAB
cardo was saying, “and it is very strange that we have had no word from them in so long a time. At this very moment those rebels may be forcing Roberts and the others to locate the uranium for them!”
“But you don’t think the scientists will do it?” Tom said.
Senor Ricardo waved his hands in a gesture of despair. “How long can they hold out?” He leaned forward in his chair. “It all leads up to a very important question which I am about to ask you.
“Will you and your father help us thwart these dangerous rebels?”
CHAPTER V
ESPIONAGE
TOM’S EYES gleamed with eagerness as he waited a moment for his father’s reply to the South American’s question. This could be a high adventure!
“We need the help of you Swifts and your wonderful inventions,” continued Senor Ricardo as he pressed his case, “both to locate our missing scientists and to investigate the presence of uranium deposits.”
“I’d like to do it!” Tom cried. “What do you think, Dad?”
Mr. Swift, more cautious, asked whether Ricardo’s government had tried to find the scientists.
“Yes, but we have not succeeded,” the South American replied. “We believe if someone from a North American country came there the rebels would not
what you saycatch on.”
Tom was more eager than ever to go. He wanted to rescue John Roberts before the man might be tortured into working for the rebels!
35
36 TOM SWIFT AND HIS FLYING LAB
“Our answer depends upon how soon we would have to start,” Mr. Swift said.
“Tom and I have commitments to keep us here a couple of weeks. In that time a lot can happen in Verano.”
“Es verdad! It is true!” their caller agreed. “I will keep you informed, of course.
But I am sure our scientists will not give in to the rebels and help them find the uranium before then. They will hold out as long as they can.”
“You mean, they won’t give in until they’re forced to,” said Tom.
Ricardo nodded. “I shudder to think of those five scientists being tortured into helping the enemy. And now, I beg of you to accept my proposition.”
Mr. Swift, after a few moments of further reflection, finally said, “We’ll do all we can to assist you, though we won’t promise complete success. That’s a big assignment you’ve given us, Seiior Ricardo!”