Next, Tom flicked a switch near the front door and immediately the grounds were flooded by the glare of powerful spotlights, arranged to cover every bit of the property. Tom had installed them after a previous burglary attempt.
“This should flush anybody hiding in the shrubbery,” Tom said, poking around the bushes with his father and Uncle Ned. The young inventor found DANGER SIGNAL
29
several sets of footprints on the grass, but they faded out and led nowhere.
“Let’s use the bloodhounds,” Mr. Swift said.
The two dogs, Caesar and Brutus, were kept in kennels behind the garden.
Straining at the leash, under Tom’s and his father’s control, they made a complete circuit of the house and grounds.
But even the bloodhounds failed to locate the intruder. Puzzled and uneasy, Tom and the two older men returned to the house. Mrs. Swift and Sandra were waiting for them in the den.
“Who was it?” asked Sandra.
“I don’t know. He got away,” Tom replied in a worried tone of voice.
When they resumed their interrupted conversa-
30 TOM SWIFT AND HIS ATOMIC BLASTER
tion, Uncle Ned asked for more details about Tom’s plan.
A few minutes later they heard someone tapping on the study window! Mrs.
Swift gave a startled gasp.
“Take it easy, Mumsy.” Tom laughed, hoping to reassure her. But he himself felt uneasy as he got up to open the Venetian blind and look out.
The window tapper was Bud Barclay!
Tom gave an inward sigh of relief. “Come around back to the terrace!” he shouted. “I’ll let you in through the French doors.”