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The Floating Press - Victor Appleton

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126 pages

English

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Tom Swift and His Submarine Boat is the fourth book in the original Tom Swift series. "Every boy possesses some form of inventive genius. Tom Swift is a bright, ingenious boy and his inventions and adventures make the most interesting kind of reading." "These spirited tales convey in a realistic way, the wonderful advances in land and sea locomotion and other successful inventions. Stories like these are impressed upon the memory and their reading is productive only of good." This series of adventure novels starring the genius boy inventor Tom Swift falls into the genre of "invention fiction" or "Edisonade".

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Children's

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Publié par	The Floating Press
Date de parution	01 janvier 2009
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781775412908
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0164€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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TOM SWIFT AND HIS SUBMARINE BOAT
OR, UNDER THE OCEAN FOR SUNKEN TREASURE
* * *
VICTOR APPLETON

*

Tom Swift and His Submarine Boat Or, Under the Ocean for Sunken Treasure First published in 1910.
ISBN 978-1-775412-90-8
© 2008 THE FLOATING PRESS.
While every effort has been used to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information contained in The Floating Press edition of this book, The Floating Press does not assume liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in this book. The Floating Press does not accept responsibility for loss suffered as a result of reliance upon the accuracy or currency of information contained in this book. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Many suitcases look alike.
Visit www.thefloatingpress.com
Contents
*
Chapter One - News of a Treasure Wreck Chapter Two - Finishing the Submarine Chapter Three - Mr. Berg is Astonished Chapter Four - Tom is Imprisoned Chapter Five - Mr. Berg is Suspicious Chapter Six - Turning the Tables Chapter Seven - Mr. Damon Will Go Chapter Eight - Another Treasure Expedition Chapter Nine - Captain Weston's Advent Chapter Ten - Trial of the Submarine Chapter Eleven - On the Ocean Bed Chapter Twelve - For a Breath of Air Chapter Thirteen - Off for the Treasure Chapter Fourteen - In the Diving Suits Chapter Fifteen - At the Tropical Island Chapter Sixteen - "We'll Race You For It" Chapter Seventeen - The Race Chapter Eighteen - The Electric Gun Chapter Nineteen - Captured Chapter Twenty - Doomed to Death Chapter Twenty-One - The Escape Chapter Twenty-Two - At the Wreck Chapter Twenty-Three - Attacked by Sharks Chapter Twenty-Four - Ramming the Wreck Chapter Twenty-Five - Home With the Gold
Chapter One - News of a Treasure Wreck
*
There was a rushing, whizzing, throbbing noise in the air.A great body, like that of some immense bird, sailed along,casting a grotesque shadow on the ground below. An elderlyman, who Was seated on the porch of a large house, startedto his feet in alarm.
"Gracious goodness! What was that, Mrs. Baggert?" hecalled to a motherly-looking woman who stood in the doorway."What happened?"
"Nothing much, Mr. Swift," was the calm reply "I thinkthat was Tom and Mr. Sharp in their airship, that's all. Ididn't see it, but the noise sounded like that of the Red Cloud."
"Of course! To be sure!" exclaimed Mr. Barton Swift, thewell-known inventor, as he started down the path in order toget a good view of the air, unobstructed by the trees. "Yes,there they are," he added. "That's the airship, but I didn'texpect them back so soon. They must have made good time fromShopton. I wonder if anything can be the matter that theyhurried so?"
He gazed aloft toward where a queerly-shaped machine wascircling about nearly five hundred feet in the air, for thecraft, after Swooping down close to the house, had ascendedand was now hovering just above the line of breakers thatmarked the New Jersey seacoast, where Mr. Swift had taken upa temporary residence.
"Don't begin worrying, Mr. Swift," advised Mrs. Baggert,the housekeeper. "You've got too much to do, if you get thatnew boat done, to worry."
"That's so. I must not worry. But I wish Tom and Mr. Sharpwould land, for I want to talk to them."
As if the occupants of the airship had heard the words ofthe aged inventor, they headed their craft toward earth. Thecombined aeroplane and dirigible balloon, a most wonderfultraveler of the air, swung around, and then, with thedeflection rudders slanted downward, came on with a rush.When near the landing place, just at the side of the house,the motor was stopped, and the gas, with a hissing noise,rushed into the red aluminum container. This immediatelymade the ship more buoyant and it landed almost as gently asa feather.
No sooner had the wheels which formed the lower part ofthe craft touched the ground than there leaped from thecabin of the Red Cloud a young man.
"Well, dad!" he exclaimed. "Here we are again, safe andsound. Made a record, too. Touched ninety miles an hour attimes—didn't we, Mr. Sharp?"
"That's what," agreed a tall, thin, dark-complexioned man,who followed Tom Swift more leisurely in his exit from thecabin. Mr. Sharp, a veteran aeronaut, stopped to fasten guyropes from the airship to strong stakes driven into theground.
"And we'd have done better, only we struck a hard windagainst us about two miles up in the air, which delayed us,"went on Tom. "Did you hear us coming, dad?"
"Yes, and it startled him," put in Mrs. Baggert. "I guesshe wasn't expecting you."
"Oh, well, I shouldn't have been so alarmed, only I wasthinking deeply about a certain change I am going to make inthe submarine, Tom. I was day-dreaming, I think, when yourship whizzed through the air. But tell me, did you findeverything all right at Shopton? No signs of any of thosescoundrels of the Happy Harry gang having been around?" andMr. Swift looked anxiously at his son.
"Not a sign, dad," replied Tom quickly. "Everything wasall right. We brought the things you wanted. They're in theairship. Oh, but it was a fine trip. I'd like to takeanother right out to sea."
"Not now, Tom," said his father. "I want you to help me.And I need Mr. Sharp's help, too. Get the things out of thecar, and we'll go to the shop."
"First I think we'd better put the airship away," advisedMr. Sharp. "I don't just like the looks of the weather, and,besides, if we leave the ship exposed we'll be sure to havea crowd around sooner or later, and we don't want that."
"No, indeed," remarked the aged inventor hastily. "I don'twant people prying around the submarine shed. By all meansput the airship away, and then come into the shop."
In spite of its great size the aeroplane was easilywheeled along by Tom and Mr. Sharp, for the gas in thecontainer made it so buoyant that it barely touched theearth. A little more of the powerful vapor and the RedCloud would have risen by itself. In a few minutes thewonderful craft, of which my readers have been told indetail in a previous volume, was safely housed in a largetent, which was securely fastened.
Mr. Sharp and Tom, carrying some bundles which they hadtaken from the car, or cabin, of the craft, went toward alarge shed, which adjoined the house that Mr. Swift hadhired for the season at the seashore. They found the lad'sfather standing before a great shape, which loomed up dimlyin the semi-darkness of the building. It was like an immensecylinder, pointed at either end, and here and there wereopenings, covered with thick glass, like immense, bulgingeyes. From the number of tools and machinery all about theplace, and from the appearance of the great cylinder itself,it was easy to see that it was only partly completed.
"Well, how goes it, dad?" asked the youth, as he depositedhis bundle on a bench. "Do you think you can make it work?"
"I think so, Tom. The positive and negative plates aregiving me considerable trouble, though. But I guess we cansolve the problem. Did you bring me the galvanometer?"
"Yes, and all the other things," and the young inventorproceeded to take the articles from the bundles he carried.
Mr. Swift looked them over carefully, while Tom walkedabout examining the submarine, for such was the queer craftthat was contained in the shed. He noted that some progresshad been made on it since he had left the seacoast severaldays before to make a trip to Shopton, in New York State,where the Swift home was located, after some tools andapparatus that his father wanted to obtain from his workshopthere.
"You and Mr. Jackson have put on several new plates,"observed the lad after a pause.
"Yes," admitted his father. "Garret and I weren't idle,were we, Garret?" and he nodded to the aged engineer, whohad been in his employ for many years.
"No; and I guess we'll soon have her in the water, Tom,now that you and Mr. Sharp are here to help us," repliedGarret Jackson.
"We ought to have Mr. Damon here to bless the submarineand his liver and collar buttons a few times," put in Mr.Sharp, who brought in another bundle. He referred to aneccentric individual Who had recently made an airship voyagewith himself and Tom, Mr. Damon's peculiarity being to usecontinually such expressions as: "Bless my soul! Bless myliver!"
"Well, I'll be glad when we can make a trial trip," wenton Tom. "I've traveled pretty fast on land with my motor-cycle, and we certainly have hummed through the air. Now Iwant to see how it feels to scoot along under water."
"Well, if everything goes well we'll be in position tomake a trial trip inside of a month," remarked the agedinventor. "Look here, Mr. Sharp, I made a change in thesteering gear, which I'd like you and Tom to consider."
The three walked around to the rear of the odd-lookingstructure, if an object shaped like a cigar can be said tohave a front and rear, and the inventor, his son, and theaeronaut were soon deep in a discussion of thetechnicalities connected with under-water navigation.
A little later they went into the house, in response to asummons from the supper bell, vigorously rung by Mrs.Baggert. She was not fond of waiting with meals, and eventhe most serious problem of mechanics was, in herestimation, as nothing compared with having the soup getcold, or the possibility of not having the meat done to aturn.
The meal was interspersed with remarks about the recentairship flight of Tom and Mr. Sharp, and discussions aboutthe new submarine. This talk went on even after the tablewas cleared off and the three had adjourned to the sitting-room. There Mr. Swift brought out pencil and paper, and soonhe and Mr. Sharp were engrossed in calculating the pressureper square inch of sea water at a depth of three miles.
"Do you intend to go as deep as that?" asked Tom, lookingup from a paper he was reading.
"Possibly," replied his father; and his son resumed hisperusal of the sheet.
"Now," went on the inventor to the aeronaut, "I haveanother plan. In addition to the positive and negativepl