Appleton, Victor – Tom Swift Jr 03 – And His Rocket Ship

Tom, after swooping under Rotzog’s rocket, had swerved in a parallel line to his orbital flight. Sure that Rotzog could not overtake him now, he rose in a diagonal course until he met the orbit, then turned off his fuel. Tom knew he had used more than was advisable.

Bud had not taken his eyes from the radarscopes, but no further pips had appeared. This time, Tom had outmaneuvered his enemy!

“Where are we?” Bud asked.

“Over the Isthmus of Panama.” For a minute

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202 TOM SWIFT AND HIS ROCKET SHIP

Tom forgot the gravity of the situation and smiled. “First stop San Francisco!”

“I hope my mother and dad will be there to meet us,” Bud wished aloud. “It sure will be good to see them.”

“My folks and the Newtons will barely have time to make it in the Sky Queen,” Tom commented.

“Say, I hadn’t thought of that,” Bud reflected. “Imagine! We will have gone all around the world in the same time it takes them to get from Fearing Island to San Francisco.”

Tom smiled. “It sort of proves the truth of the old saying about the longest way round being the shortest way home. What time is it, anyway?”

“One forty-five.”

There was a sudden crackling on the radio. It had been silent for so long that the boys were startled to hear it.

“International Code,” Tom said. “An SOS, Bud, from Rotzog! His motors won’t fire and he’s almost out of fuel!”

There was a silence of several seconds, then a request for an answer.

“Don’t give him one. It’s a trap!” Bud declared.

Tom was in a quandary. As Bud had suggested, an answer to Rotzog might give him a fix on their position and permit one last attack. On the other hand, he could not ignore a genuine plea for help.