At last Tom shook his head in disgust. “May as well get that haircut I started out for yesterday,” he decided.
Before leaving, Tom phoned Phyl Newton to thank her for the gift of fruit and nuts she had brought over the previous evening after learning of his dangerous experience. They chatted for a while and wound up by making a date for lunch.
Tom drove back to town in the family car and got a haircut. Then he picked up Phyl at her home and took her to the yacht club. Here they lunched on the terrace overlooking the sparkling blue waters of Lake Carlopa.
The young inventor’s spirits were high when
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he finally returned to his laboratory and buckled down to work.
“I’ll lick this problem yet,” he muttered. “Those enemies of ours are clever, but if they can produce an undetectable sub, there’s no reason why I can’t do the same.”
Deep in thought, Tom idly fingered a microphone on his workbench.
“In fact,” the young inventor mused, “why not go them one better? I’ll invent a submarine that’s not only invisible to sonar, but equipped to see them!”
CHAPTER XI
SQUARE-DANCE HOAX
RANDOM hunches and circuit diagrams flashed through Tom’s brain. “The job will boil down to blotting out sonar waves and piercing the enemy’s own ‘wave-trap defense,’ ” the young scientist concluded.
As Tom struggled with the problem, he lost all track of time. A door swung open and high-heeled boots clumped on the floor tiles. Tom looked up and saw the portly, aproned figure of Chow Winkler entering.
“Hi, boss! Can I borrow a radio?” Chow asked. “Kinda like a HI music while I wrassle them pots an’ pans in the galley.”