“Nearly time for the jetmarine to make her maiden voyage,” Tom thought excitedly. “And the first trip is a pirate hunt!”
CHAPTER 12
A SUB IN THE SKY
IN THE DARK HOURS before dawn there was feverish activity at the Swift plant. The jetmarine, covered with a brown tarpaulin, was mounted onto a large twelve-wheel trailer and driven toward the underground hangar of Tom Swift’s Sky Queen.
At the same time, Tom was holding a conference in his private office. The young inventor sat at his desk, with his chief engineers, several trusted workmen, and Bud Barclay gathered around him.
“This is a dangerous mission,” Tom began. “Dansitt and his spies might try to wreck our plans to launch the jetmarine. I have no doubt they know in general what we are doing.”
“Do you really think there’s that much danger?” Bud asked skeptically.
“More than you think.”
Arvid Hanson nodded in agreement.
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A SUB IN THE SKY 99
“They know we’re ready to move our atomic sub,” Tom went on, “but there’s one little item they don’t know.”
“What’s that?” Bud asked eagerly.
Tom smiled. “How we’re going to move it,” he said. “That’s where I hope to fool them.”
Bud Barclay scratched his head and frowned. “You’re going to truck it to Stillman’s Wharf, aren’t you?”
“That’s what everybody thinks,” Tom said. “And I hope our enemies think so too. I brought that special trailer in here in broad daylight.”
“You mean you’re not going to ship it by truck?” Bud looked incredulous, then he added, “I suppose you’re going to put wings on it and fly it down to the ocean.”
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