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14 TOM SWIFT AND HIS JETMARINE
I never saw or heard of him. But I mean to find out what’s going on!”
“Let’s go back to the control tower and make him fly in,” Bud urged.
The boys had walked only a dozen yards when Tom suddenly stopped and bent down. He picked up a small gleaming object from the runway.
“What did you find?” Bud asked.
“A coin. Republica Cuba,” Tom read slowly. “Why, it’s a Cuban peso.” He turned it over. “But look at this!” he exclaimed. “The head of a dog has been embossed over the original design!”
“That’s strange,” Bud remarked. “Why would anyone want to do that?”
“Beats me,” Tom replied, slipping it into his pocket. “I wonder i� Sidney Dansitt or his passenger could have dropped it.”
Tom threw himself to the ground
A BRAZEN DENIAL
Sandy, meanwhile, had landed the Pigeon Special. The girl’s blue eyes sparkled as she introduced her client, Miss Carl ton, and told the boys how lucky she was to have avoided a crack-up.
“It was more than luck,” said Miss Carlton, ap-~ parently still a bit shaky. “It was quick thinking. If the necessity arises, I hope I can do as well when I fly the Pigeon. I’ve decided to buy one,” she added.
As the group walked toward the parking area,.
16 TOM SWIFT AND HIS JETMARINE
Tom suggested that Bud drive Sandy and Miss Carlton back to Shopton in his car.
“I want to stay here and have a talk with that wild man Dansitt if he comes back,” Tom said.
“Okay. And bring me his head on a platter,” Bud said, grinning.
When the others had left, Tom returned to the glass-enclosed room of the dispatcher. He heard him say: