Appleton, Victor – Tom Swift Jr 05 – And His Atomic Earth Blaster

The repair crewman pulled out a jackknife and handed it to Bud. “Here, use this,” he said. “I’ll go tell the others we’ve found him.”

As Bud cut the ropes, he said, “You really had us worried, genius boy! At first I figured you were just trekking all over the map, looking for the truck. But after we waited half an hour, and you still didn’t show up, we decided to organize a search party.”

“It’s a good thing you did. I was nearly choked.”

By the time Bud finished unwinding the rope from Tom’s legs and arms, the other searchers came up in the jeep. Among them were Hank Sterling and Harlan Ames, chief security officer at Swift Enterprises.

Tom quickly told them everything that had happened.

“That foreigner you saw taking notes in the truck-” questioned Ames, “what did he look like?”

“He was very tall,” Tom said. “Must have been over six feet. And he was gaunt and lanky. But the queerest thing about him was his eyes.”

“Queer in what way?”

“They were light green and sinister-looking.” Tom looked grim as he recalled the attack. “Boy, I’ll never forget the look he gave me when I grabbed him by the collar!”

16 TOM SWIFT AND HIS ATOMIC BLASTER

Tom then described the two other assailants, remembering that one man had a slight scar over his left eyebrow and that the other wore a fancy stone-studded belt buckle.

Harlan Ames reached inside his coat and pulled out a small photo. “See if you recognize this picture,” he said, handing it to Tom.

“Why, that’s the fellow I grabbed!” Tom exclaimed. He glanced at Ames with a puzzled expression. “Who is he? And why are you carrying his picture?”