THE GIANTS CLASH 199
“There’s the old ‘crows’ nest,’ ” Bud called.
Tom reached for binoculars and scanned the face of the mesa closely. “You may have something there,” he said.
The young inventor switched on the jet lifters and slowly guided the Sky Queen alongside Purple Mesa, approaching it from an unfamiliar angle.
“Well, will you look at that!” Bud yelled incredulously.
Directly before them was the entrance to an immense natural cavern, protected by overhanging boulders. The cave seemed to tunnel back from a large outcropping stone lip on which a midget black helicopter rested. Before Tom and his group had time to decide on a course of action, a flock of mechanical crows swarmed out of the cave and swung into formation over the Flying Lab.
One crow broke from the echelon and bore down in a screaming dive toward the mid-section of the huge plane. Its tremendous impact shook the fuselage, and the crow shattered in all directions against the Queen’s Tomasite covering.
The rest of the flock attacked simultaneously, crashing into the wings and cabin.
The great ship shivered but held steady. A second flock of mechanical missiles zoomed out of the cave at high speed. In rapid succession they slammed into the ship, battering themselves to pieces. The attack ended as abruptly as it had begun.
“Either they’ve run out of crows or they decided not to waste any more on us,” Tom remarked.
200 TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT ROBOT
“I bet they’ve thrown everything they had at us,” Bud said. “Now let’s get them!”
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