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

“I’ll go back along the treetops,” Tom decided.

hurled himself at Johnson

76 TOM SWIFT AND HIS ROCKET SHIP

Over the radio Hein’s voice commanded, “Land here immediately or you’ll be strafed!”

Disregarding the warning, Tom stayed in the power dive and thundered toward the water. The jet flipped over and tried to catch the seaplane’s underbelly with short bursts of gunfire. The bullets sprayed the cabin, some of them burning small holes into the aluminum wings.

“They really mean business!” Bud groaned.

Approaching the water, Tom pulled out of the dive, cut the power, and leveled off toward the trees. The jet, drawn far out of position by the passes it had made, now came sweeping in again to make another run.

Suddenly the port engine sputtered. Then it coughed and died.

“Get ready for a crash!” Tom cried. “I’ll brake her all I can!” With that, he lowered the flaps.

Looking ahead, he saw the timbered shore line looming at the end of the narrow cove they had just entered. The jet, losing its target behind the high pine trees, peeled off and disappeared.

But the seaplane, still traveling too fast to land on the water, skimmed along the length of the cove and plowed crazily into the rocky shore!

CHAPTER 9

AN INVENTIVE ESCAPE

TOSSED ABOUT violently in the cabin, both boys were stunned by the crash. Tom was the first to recover and crawled to where Bud lay, still dazed.

“Bud!” he cried, gently slapping his friend’s cheek. “Come on, boy! We’ve got to get out of here. They’ll be back to strafe us!”

Bud shook his head slowly in response.