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

“Sounds like that guy Picken to me,” commented Bud.

“Could be,” Tom said. “We’ll have him investigated just to play safe. But I think this job was planned by Bronich. By making the blaster look worthless, he may hope to have the government call off our South Pole expedition.”

Anton Faber nodded thoughtfully. The gray-haired scientist and his two associates had already been told about Bronich’s activities.

102 TOM SWIFT AND HIS ATOMIC BLASTER

“This certainly bears all the earmarks of sabotage,” he agreed. “Your blaster is badly crushed.”

A few minutes later Harlan Ames roared up to the scene in a car with four plant guards. After listening to a hasty account of the accident, he ordered his men to fan out over the area and search for clues. Then he and Tom forced their way into the mouth of the tunnel.

With the light of a powerful electric lantern, they examined the forward wall where the blaster had stopped digging. There were unmistakable signs of an explosion.

As the young inventor and his security chief emerged from the tunnel mouth, one of the plant guards came up to show them several bomb fragments.

“Found ‘em scattered among the debris,” he explained.

That afternoon, when the Shopton Evening Bulletin hit the streets with an extra, it carried a full account of the bomb fragments. By releasing the details, Tom hoped to relieve people’s minds.

But his troubles were not yet over. Far from soothing public worry, the bomb story seemed to awaken even greater fears.

All through the rest of the afternoon, Swift Enterprises, the Swift Construction Company, and the newspaper itself were swamped with phone calls and telegrams from indignant citizens.