“No wonder-she just saw a ghost,” Bud replied with a chuckle.
A TRANSATLANTIC CALL 63
People were crowding around the doorway. Tom, greatly embarrassed, explained about the wax figure. A woman soon revived the chambermaid.
“Cool Gave me the worst fright o’ me life, it did,” the maid gasped. “I thought that wax dummy was your corpse, Mr. Swift, an’ you was your own ghost!”
The boys taxied to the wax museum with Sandy and Phyl. Here Tom and Bud had molds of their features made in the museum workshop.
When it was over, Sandy giggled at their red faces. “You look like boiled lobsters!”
“I feel like one!” Bud retorted.
“All in the interests of posterity, gentlemen,” the proprietor said.
Remembering the time difference between England and the United States, Tom wondered if he might get an early-morning call from Enterprises. He decided to check before starting off on a sightseeing trip with Bud and the girls.
After asking permission to use the workshop telephone, Tom called the hotel and inquired if there were any messages for him.
“Yes, sir,” the clerk replied. “You just missed a transatlantic call from Admiral Hopkins of the United States Navy in Washington. He said he’d phone back at one p.m. our time.”
Tom hung up thoughtfully and explained to the others. “Bud, suppose you take the girls to that restaurant Sandy and Phyl were talking about 64 AQUATOMIC TRACKER
-Simpson’s in the Strand. After I talk to the admiral, I’ll grab a bite at the hotel, and you can all meet me there later.”
“A girl on each arm!” Bud grinned. “It will be a pleasure, pal!”