Appleton, Victor – Tom Swift Jr 22 – And His Repelatron Skyway

Tom laughed. “Bud’s not here, Sis, but I’ll answer for both of us-it’s a date.”

As Tom hung up, Chow wheeled a food cart into the office and began serving lunch for the trio. In place of his chef’s hat, the Texan was sporting a white ten-gallon hat.

“Say! That’s a whole new outfit you have on, isn’t it, Chow?” Mr. Swift asked admiringly.

“Sure is, boss-hat, shirt, britches-even spang-new hand-tooled boots. Some o’ my ole range buddies sent ‘em to me to wear on the big African job.” Chow strutted about proudly to display his gaudy, new Western apparel. “I been walkin’ on air ever since I tried ‘em on!”

The cook stopped suddenly and stared at Tom, whose eyes glinted with excitement.

“Somethin* wrong, son?”

“Wrong?” Tom slapped the roly-poly chef on

94 REPELATRON SKYWAY

the back so hard Chow’s knees almost buckled. “Far from it, old-timer! When you said you were walking on air, you gave me a red-hot idea! … Dad, I’ve just figured how to lick our whole problem. Instead of running a road through the jungle, we’ll build an aerial highway above the treetop level!”

Both Mr. Swift and Mr. Newton were astonished.

“I’m afraid I don’t follow you, son.”

Tom went on enthusiastically, “By running the highway above the trees, we can sidestep the mess of hacking a route through the jungle!”

“Great, but how do you intend to support this aerial highway?” put in Uncle Ned. “It certainly can’t float in the air!”

“That’s just exactly what it will do,” Tom explained. “The roadway will be made of strong but featherweight material, supported in mid-air by repelatron beams-the same kind of repulsion rays used in my moon ship and atomicars!”