Tom Swift and His War Tank; Or, Doing His Bit for Uncle Sam by Victor Appleton
Chapter XXV
Foiled
"Is it really Tank A, Tom?" cried Ned, through the tube, as soon as hebecame aware of his companion's intention. "Are you sure?"
"That's the girl, and just where you spotted her with the glasses--inthat clump of bushes. But they've daubed her with green and brownpaint--camouflaged her, so to speak--until she looks like part of thelandscape. What made you suspicious of that particular place?"
"The green was such a bright one in contrast to the rest of the foliagearound it.'
"That's what struck me," Tom answered, as he continued to drive theHawk earthward. "They thought they were doing a smart trick--imitatingthe tactics of the Allies with their tanks--but they must be colorblind."
Ned took another observation through the glasses. He could see the tankmore easily now. There she was, fairly well hidden in a clump of bushesand small trees on the banks of a river, about a hundred miles awayfrom Shopton. It was in a wild and desolate country, and only with theairship could the trail have thus been followed.
Ned saw that the tank had been daubed with green, yellow, and brownpaint, in fantastic blotches, to make the big machine blend with thefoliage; and, to a certain extent, this had been accomplished.
But, as Ned had remarked, the green used was of too vivid a hue. Nonatural tree put forth leaves like that, and the glass had furtherrevealed the error.
"Look, Tom!" suddenly cried Ned. "She's moving!"
"You're right!" answered the young inventor. "They've seen us and aretrying to get away."
"But they can't beat your airship, Tom."
"I know that. But their game--Oh, Ned, they're going to wreck her!"cried Tom, and there was anguish in his voice.
As the two looked down from their seats In the Hawk they saw the tank,in its fantastic dress of splotchy paint, leave her lair amid thebushes and trees, and head toward the river. Like some ponderousprehistoric monster about to take a drink, she careened her way towardthe stream, which, at this point, ran between high banks.
"What's the game?" cried Ned.
"They're going to send her to smash!" cried Tom. "She's pretty tough,Tom, but she'll never stand a tumble down into the river withoutbreaking a lot of machinery inside her."
"But if they demolish the tank they'll kill themselves, won't they?And Koku and your men, too, who must be prisoners in her!"
"They won't risk their own worthless hides, you may be sure of that!"exclaimed Tom.
"There they go, but they must have left Koku and the others to theirfate!"
"Oh, if they could only get loose and take control now, Tom, they'dsave your tank for you!" shouted Ned.
"Yes; but they can't, I'm afraid. They may be killed, or so securelybound that they can't get loose!"
"Can't you get the Hawk there in time to stop her?"
"I'm afraid not. By that time she'll have attained top speed and itwould be taking our lives in our hands to try to make a flying jump,get inside, and shut off the motors."
"Then the tank's got to smash!" said Ned gloomily.
Tom did not answer for a moment. He and his chum watched the fleeingfigures running away from the war engine. What the plotters had done,as soon as they saw the aircraft and realized that Tom had discoveredthem, was to start the motors and leap from the tank, closing the doorsafter them. Whether or not they had left Koku and the others prisonersinside remained to be seen.
But the tank was plunging her way toward the steep bank of the river,doomed, it seemed, to great damage, if not to destruction.
"Oh, if we could only halt her!" murmured Ned.
Tom Swift was busy with some apparatus on the Hawk. Ned heard the humof an electric motor which was connected with the engine, and theresoon sounded the crackle of the wireless.
"What are you doing? Signaling for help from those inside the tank?"asked Ned, for the big machine was fitted to receive and send messagesof this sort.
"I'm trying something more desperate than that," Tom answered.
Again the wireless crackled, Tom working it with one hand while, withthe other, he guided the aircraft. Ned looked downward with wonderingeyes.
The tank was still plunging her way toward the steep bank of the river.If she tumbled down this, there would be little left of the expensiveand complicated machinery inside.
"The rascals did their work well," mused Ned. "They've probably gottenall the secrets they want and now they're going to spoil all Tom's hardwork. It's a shame! If only--"
Ned ceased his musing. Something was taking place down below that hecould not explain. The tank seemed to be slackening her progress. Moreand more slowly she approached the edge of the cliff.
"Tom! Tom!" yelled Ned. "You must have waked some of them up inside andthey've thrown the motors out of gear! Hurrah! She's stopping!"
"I believe she is!" yelled Tom. "Oh, if it only works!"
The tank was still moving, though more slowly. Still the crackle of thewireless was heard.
And then, just as Tom shut off his own motor and let the Hawk glide onher downward way in a volplane to earth, the great, ponderous tank cameto a stop, on the very edge of the precipice at the foot of whichrolled the river.
"Whew!" whistled Ned, as the aircraft rolled along the ground near thewar machine. "That was touch and go, Tom! They stopped her just intime."
"You mean the wireless stopped her," said Tom quietly. "I'm very muchafraid that if Koku and the others are alive they're still prisoners inthe craft."
"The wireless!" gasped Ned, as he and his chum got out of the Hawk. "Doyou mean that you stopped her by wireless, Tom?"
"That's what I did. It was a desperate chance, but I took it. I hadjust installed in the tank a system of wireless control, so she couldbe guided as some torpedos and submarines are, by wireless impulsesfrom the shore.
"Only I'd never given the tank system a tryout. It was all installed,and had worked perfectly on the small model I constructed. And when Isaw her running away, out of control as she was, I realized thewireless was the only thing that would stop her, if that would. Itmight operate just opposite to what I wanted, though, and increase herspeed."
"But I took the chance. I set the airship wireless current to working,and tuned it in to coincide with the control of the tank. Then, bymeans of the wireless impulse I shut off the motors, which can bestopped or started by hand or by electricity. I shut 'em off."
"And only just in time!" cried Ned. "Whew, Tom Swift, but that was aclose call!"
"I realize that myself!" said the young inventor. "This is a new ideaand has to be worked out further for our newer tanks."
"Gee!" ejaculated Ned. "Out of date before got into use! Now let's seeabout our friends!"
It was the work of but a moment to enter the tank, and, after makingsure that the machinery was all right, Tom and Ned made their way tothe interior. In one of the smallest rooms they found Koku and theothers bound with ropes, and in a bad way. Koku was so tied with cordsand hemp as to resemble a bale of Manilla cable.
"Cut 'em loose, Ned!" cried Tom, and the bonds were soon severed. Thencame explanations.
As has been told, one of the plotters, whose identity was not learneduntil later, came with the forged note. The giant and Tom's men set outin the tank, and the machine was stopped at a certain place where theplotter, who gave the name of Crossleigh, told them Tom was to meet hismen.
Out of ambush leaped Simpson and others, who overpowered the mechanics,even subduing Koku after a fierce fight, and then they took possessionof the tank, making the others prisoners.
What happened after that could only be conjectured by Tom's men, forthey were shut up in an inner room. It seemed certain, though, that thetank was taken to some secret place and there painted to resemble theverdure. Then she went on again, coming to rest where Tom and Ned sawher.
Meanwhile the plotters were gradually getting at the secrets ofconstruction, and they were in the midst of this work when one of themsaw the aeroplane. Rightly guessing what it
"But you saved her, Tom!" cried Ned. "You saved her with the wireless."
And word was sent back to Shopton by the same means to tell Mr. Swift,Mr. Damon, and the others that Tom and his tank were safe. And then, alittle later, when the bound men had recovered the use of their crampedlimbs, the tank was backed away from the ledge and started on herhomeward way, Tom and Ned preceding her in the Hawk.
Without further incident, save a slight break which was soon repaired,Tank A soon reached her harbor again, and a double guard was postedabout the shop.
"And they won't get much more chance to steal her secrets," said Tomthat night, when the stories had been told.
"Why?" asked Ned.
"We start to dismantle her at once," Tom answered, "and she goes toEngland to be reproduced for France."
"If only those plotters haven't stolen the secrets," mused Ned.
But if they had they got little good of them. For shortly afterwardgovernment secret service agents rounded up the chief members of thegang, including Simpson and Blakeson. They, with Schwen, were sent toan internment camp for the period of the war, and enough informationwas obtained from them to disclose all the workings of the plot.
"It was just like lots of other stunts the German spies tried to putover on the good old U.S.A.," said Tom to Ned, the day after thedismantled tank was shipped to Great Britain. "In some way the spiesfound out what I was making, and then they got hold of Blakeson andGrinder. Those fellows, who so nearly queered me in the big tunnel gamepromised to make a tank that would beat those the British at first putout, and they took some German money in advance for doing it.
"When they found they couldn't make good, the German spies agreed tohelp them get possession of my secrets. They worked hard enough at it,too, but, thanks to you, Ned, and to Eradicate, who gave us the tip onSchwen, we beat 'em out."
"And so it's all over, Tom?"
"Yes, practically all over. I've given all my interests in the tank toUncle Sam. It was the only way I could do my bit, at this time. ButI've something else up my sleeve."
And those of you who care to learn what the young inventor next did maydo so by reading the next volume of this series.
It was about a week after Tank A, as she was still officially called,had been shipped in sections that Ned Newton called at Tom's home. Hefound his chum, with a flower in his buttonhole, about to leave in hissmall runabout.
"Oh, excuse me!" exclaimed Ned. "This is Wednesday night. I might haveknown. Give Mary my regards."
"I will," promised Tom, with a smile.