Appleton, Victor – Tom Swift Jr 19 – And His Triphibian Atomicar

Orton Throme! The boys were amazed.

CHAPTER VIM

A CHALLENGING EXPEDITION

“FANCY meeting you here!” said Bud dryly as he shook hands with the artist-pilot.

Tom merely grinned. “Hi, Ort!”

“I suppose you’re pretty surprised to see me.” The ex-Marine ace looked a bit embarrassed. “Hop in, fellows. I’ll tell you all about it after we take off.”

The two boys climbed aboard and took seats inside the luxuriously fitted cabin. Ort put on a radio headset, revved the engines, and on signal from the tower, taxied along the runway for takeoff.

When they were air-borne, he flashed the boys a grin. “I fly, off and on, for Asa Provard,” Ort explained. “You see, Provard was mighty good to me when I first tried my hand at painting after I got out of service. He paid for two years of study

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in Paris and bought my paintings when no one else would.”

In return, Ort continued, he often served as Provard’s private pilot and carried out various assignments for him around the world.

“I’m beginning to think our meeting in New Mexico was no accident,” Tom remarked.

Ort flushed. “You’re right. I’d been planning a painting trip to the Southwest.

Provard learned from the newspapers you’d be there, so he asked me to-well, sort of size you up. I even provoked Bud into a fight out on the mesa.” The red-haired ace grinned apologetically. “Needless to say, my report was highly favorable.”

“I’m curious,” said Tom, “to know why Mr. Provard sent for me.”

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Ort confessed. “All I can tell you is that he’s the head of one of the biggest banks in New York. He has several other big-shot financiers waiting at his lodge to meet you.”