Appleton, Victor – Tom Swift Jr 16 – And the Cosmic Astronauts

“Shrewd thinking, son.” Mr. Swift smiled appreciatively. “I quite agree.”

A Swift cargo jet stood by, hovering on its jet lifters, to take the rescued crewmen aboard. Meanwhile, Mr. Swift relieved Bud in the heliplane and said he would fly it back to Shopton.

As soon as Bud boarded the seacopter, Tom radioed orders to the other aircraft and the hunt for the Sea Charger got under way. Hours went by as the searchers combed the waters north and east of the Caribbean. Occasionally a glimpse of a passing ship would bring one of the aircraft swooping down for a closer look. But in the main their search pattern lay over an empty expanse of ocean, since Tom felt the pirates would steer clear of the regular sea lanes.

Guided mostly by instinct, Tom slowly herded

8 COSMIC ASTRONAUTS

the search planes back toward the north. From time to time, a jet would drop out and return to base for refueling. The seacopters, being atomic-powered, were able to fly for unlimited periods.

By evening the whole search group was back in home latitudes, having thoroughly covered the waters all the way north from the Caribbean. The planes turned toward Fearing Island rocket base.

“Hey, skipper 1 I think I see her!” Bud yelled suddenly. His eyes were glued to powerful binoculars, trained to the northwest.

Tom gunned the steering jets and sent the Sea Hound arrowing in the direction Bud had pointed out. But when they reached the area, nothing could be seen except a patch of lowlying cumulus clouds.

The search continued throughout the night and into the next day. But by late afternoon Tom was ready to give up. Discouraged, he radioed orders to abandon the search and flew to Fearing Island, which lay some miles off the Atlantic coast.