Tom Swift and His Diving Seacopter by Victor Appleton II Read Free Book Online

good-looking, too, and reputed to be clever conversationalists."
    "You don’t know them?" Tom burst out.
    "Why I believe we have their attentions!" commented Bashalli. The young Pakistani smiled sweetly. "How very flattering it is!"
    "Betty Kenwood introduced them to us at the Thessaly Library Fund dinner, and they asked us to go out with them," Tom’s sister explained.
    "And with very little prompting," added Bash.
    "With no prompting!" Sandy corrected hastily. When both boys flushed, Sandy observed with a sparkle of mischief, "My, my! Is that my jealousy detector I hear buzzing?"
    Tom cleared his throat and asked, "Have you girls made any plans yet about where to spend the evening?"
    "We’ll be meeting at home, and Betty spoke about a dance at the Thessaly Tennis Club," Sandy replied. Her face grew sober. "But seriously, I guess Ferd and Kelt— don’t you say a word, Budworth! —figured having dates with us would be an easy way to pick up some inside information on Swift Enterprises. Anyhow," she added, "I’m certainly going to give a full report!"
    "Won’t they be surprised to learn that Sandy and I know nothing!"
    Sandy gave Bashalli a reproving look. "That’s not the best way to put it, Bashi dear."
    Bud smiled blandly, but the look on Tom’s face bespoke concern. In fact, Sandy wondered later if her big brother had spoken to their mother during the afternoon, for Mrs. Swift asked them to change their plans and spend the entirety of the evening in the Swift home. "You may think I’m a silly old fuss-budget, dear," said Anne Swift, "but I’m terribly worried about that space rocket. If anything should happen, I’d like to know that all of us are near one another in Shopton. Would you mind entertaining your dates here at home just this once?" To spare her any anxiety, the girls readily agreed.
    Soon after eight o’clock, Betty Kenwood and her date arrived at the door to the Swift home just as the two Wickliffe engineers, Ferdinand Acton and Kelton Price, pulled up in Acton’s car. Acton was blond, thin, and anemic-looking. He was dressed in a plaid jacket, wine-red cummerbund, and white flannel trousers, and he wore tinted glasses with thin wire rims. His friend Kelt Price made a somewhat amusing contrast, being short and pudgy with a shock of thick black hair. Both men were in their late twenties.
    Sandy shot Bashalli a secret look that said, They’re not as cute as they seemed the other night!
    The group came into the living room, where the Sandy’s parents were waiting.
    "This is Ferdinand Acton," Betty introduced one, "and this is Kelton Price."
    "But please let’s not be formal!" Acton smiled suavely, making a little bow and offering his hand to Mrs. Swift. "Just make it Ferd and Kelt."
    "We insist!" said Kelton Price.
    "We az- yoomed the girls would feel right at home with a couple of technical chaps like us." Price beamed, staring at Bashalli with undisguised admiration.
    "By the way," said Acton to Mr. Swift, "is your brilliant son going to join us for the evening?"
    Damon Swift coolly answered, "I’m afraid Tom and his friend Bud have other things to attend to. They’re working late at the Swift Enterprises plant." He knew that they were attentively monitoring the space oscilloscope and various tracking instruments for any sign of the anticipated vessel from space.
    Sandy’s parents politely excused themselves and retired upstairs. "It’s a good thing Bud isn’t here to meet those two," said Mrs. Swift softly to her husband. "I can just imagine him saying, what a couple of creeps!"
    Mr. Swift grinned back and whispered, "Maybe Sandy and Bashalli aren’t feeling so happy right now, either. From the looks of their dates, I’d say they really booby-trapped themselves for the evening!"
    Meanwhile, Betty Kenwood and her date had gone off to the Thessaly Tennis Club, leaving Sandy and Phyl alone with Ferd and Kelt. The young men had seemed happy about staying at the house when Sandy had requested