“Bronich!” exclaimed Bud.
“Could be.” Tom put his tools back in the kit.
32
A PERILOUS EXPERIMENT 33
“Judging by the job he did on the earth blaster, he must be a trained engineer. All we have to do now is find him!”
“Which may not be so easy,” Uncle Ned observed in a worried voice. “At least not tonight. We’ve already been over the house and grounds.”
“We’d better make the rounds again-just to play safe,” Mr. Swift said. “And we’ll use the bloodhounds.”
This time, they split up into two teams. Tom and Bud covered half the grounds with Caesar, while Mr. Swift and Uncle Ned searched the other half with Brutus.
But again they found no intruder. A short time later Uncle Ned and Bud said good-night and left. After they had gone, Mr. Swift turned to his son.
“Perhaps it might be wise to repair the alarm system before we turn in. We could have a guard sent over from the plant, but I’d feel safer with our own system in operation.”
“Good idea,” Tom agreed. “It’s going to take some time, though. When that solenoid was shorted, it blew the whole main circuit.”
“This time we’ll put in a stand-by circuit to take over in case the main system fails.”
It took Tom and his father most of the night to design and install the new system. But finally they were able to snatch a few hours’ sleep.
34 TOM SWIFT AND HIS ATOMIC BLASTER
Over a late breakfast the next morning, they talked again about the possibility of a South Pole expedition in search of iron.
“I have to fly to Washington today, anyhow,” Mr. Swift announced. “While I’m there, I’ll sound out the authorities about government backing.”