“Where’s Tom?” shouted Arvid Hanson anxiously.
When Bud told them the bad news, the men became fighting mad.
“Them sneakin’ double-dyed polecats!” stormed Chow Winkler. “We oughta rope an’ hog-tie every last one of ‘em an’ feed ‘em to the whales!”
“They’ll get what’s coming to them!” vowed Hank Sterling. “Right now, it’s Tom we must worry about!”
“We’d better move fast,” Bud said. “Let’s all go in the Sky Queen. We can force them to release Tom
186
SHOWDOWN BATTLE 187
by threatening to wipe out their base if they refuse!”
By common consent, Bud took charge of the preparations, with Hank Sterling as second in command. A supply of tear-gas guns and tear-gas bombs-the only weapons ever carried by a Swift expedition-were lugged out of one of the ice caves and loaded on board the plane.
Just as the men were being mustered and organized, the radioman came running up. “There’s a call coming through from Shopton!” he reported. “I think it’s Mr. Swift Sr.”
“I’ll take it,” said Bud. But he dreaded the thought of breaking the news about Tom’s capture.
In the communications cave he waited as the radioman fed the signal into the unscrambling device. Soon the voice of Tom’s father came over the speaker: “Good news, son! I’ve contacted the foreign government which claims the part of the Antarctic where Bronich has set up his base. They’ve given him no permission to tap the mineral resources of their territory! They’re now sending planes and men to take the necessary police action. But, in the meantime, they request that you folks do all you can to stop him! … Over.”