“If they do pick up anything, it’ll sound like chop suey,” Tom ended with a chuckle.
The boys submerged in the test tank and proceeded to give the new underwater communication system a thorough check-out. It worked perfectly.
Ten minutes later Tom and Bud clambered out again, dripping wet but well satisfied.
They had just peeled off their masks when Chow came charging into the lab, with a crowd of workmen and technicians at his heels. The cook was wild-eyed with panic.
“What’s wrong, Chow?” Tom asked in alarm.
CHAPTER IX
A MAGNETIC KIDNAPING
“THE space people or some enemy’s invadin’ us!” Chow shouted. “Take a squint through your telescope, boss! Brand my bazooka, they may be landin’ any second!”
More people came streaming in, attracted by the chef’s cries and gesticulations. Some were bewildered, a few frightened. Others were laughing, thinking the whole thing a joke. The scene was rapidly taking on the proportions of a riot!
“Whoa! Slow down, Chow!” Tom ordered, trying to make himself heard above the din.
“It-it’s the truth, boss!” Chow stammered, mopping his brow with a huge red bandanna. “Why, sufferin’ rattlesnakes, didn’t I hear ‘em spoutin’ their space lingo with my own ears?”
“You heard what?” Bud said.
“Spoutin’ space talk!” the cook repeated. “It
81
82 THE ELECTRONIC HYDROLUNG
come right over the loud-speaker in the galley 1 They was chitter-chatterin’
plottin’ to blow us all to smithereens I”
“That’s a factl We heard it, too!” one of the workmen chimed in.
Tom and Bud looked at each other blankly. Then suddenly Tom’s eyes kindled with a dawning suspicion. Whirling around, he rushed over to inspect the public-address outlet on the wall.
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