The record also logged his invention of a midget atomic submarine, the jetmarine, and the exciting times he and Bud had had in their encounter with Caribbean pirates.
Opening a small safe, Tom took out a thick, bound volume and a copy of the code both he and his father used. Since coming to Fearing Island, Tom had seen relatively little of his father. But he had kept especially detailed records about the rocket project, which Mr. Swift read whenever he visited his son.
“I feel confident now,” Tom wrote in code, “that I’ll be ready to launch the passenger rocket ship in ten days. I have made enough catalyst for the kicker, in spite of the rarity and the scarcity of the ingredients. Only the actual testing of the kicker remains to be done. If this test proves successful, I may have a chance to get the passenger rocket off ahead of our rivals.”
Tom put the book and code away. Next, he un—
16 TOM SWIFT AND HIS ROCKET SHIP
locked the fuel-kicker case and carried the instrument to his workbench.
The stillness of the night reminded him that it was late and that he was all alone. Tom suddenly became aware of what an easy target he would be for an unexpected attack. He got up and looked out the window. Seeing the guard walking his post near the main door, the young inventor shook off his uneasy mood.
He hooked in the pump that was designed to carry the liquid oxygen through the kicker. Next, he attached a flowmeter to the pump to register the speed of the liquid.
In rocket flight, oxygen would have to flow through the kicker at a rate of several thousand gallons per minute to satisfy the hungry motors. Should anything interfere with this flow, the rocket would cease to operate and founder in space.