Tom Swift and His Electronic Retroscope by Victor Appleton II Read Free Book Online Page B

Tom’s silent thoughts continued further: As an archaeologist, he sure was in a good position to come up with that sort of old-style Mayan arrowhead!
    The rip was easily repaired to Tom’s satisfaction, and he tested the seal with a small hand-held instrument.
    "Looks okay," pronounced the youth. "Let’s take ’er up—I told Slim I’d make a run over the Sky Queen and dip my wings. I’ll land the plane as close to the village as possible." The three climbed aboard.
    Tom took his place at the controls, gave them a cursory check, and opened the release valve for the reserve helium tank. Tom waited for the liftbag to expand and become rigid as the transifoil strips responded automatically to the rising pressure of the helium gas within. But nothing happened! The liftbag remained limp and folded.
    "What’s wrong?" Bud asked.
    "Don’t know," Tom replied in a puzzled voice. "Maybe a loose connection in the transifoil power feed." When the instruments had eliminated this possibility, Tom said: "I’d better check the tank."
    A moment later, after inspecting the secondary pressure gauge built into the reserve tank itself, he turned a grave face to his companions.
    "The tank’s empty!" Tom reported.

CHAPTER 6
THE GIANT FIGURE
    BUD sprang out of his seat and scrambled aft to join the young inventor. "You mean the liquid helium leaked out?" he asked in alarm.
    "It leaked out all right," Tom replied grimly. "Look here, flyboy. The loading cock is wide open."
    "Good grief! How did that happen?"
    Tom gave a worried shrug. "Maybe I got careless and popped it accidentally from the control board—maybe. But frankly, I don’t remember even touching the lever before we left the ship. How about you two?"
    Both Bud and Chow denied knowing anything about it. Chow, who was dripping with sweat and fanning himself with a sombrero given him by Professor Castillez, added, "Mebbe it’s this broilin’ hot weather. Must’ve made the helium swell up an’ bust out—like th’ vapor-lock on a car."
    Tom shook his head. "The tank insulation protects it from the heat. And besides, the helium wouldn’t expand enough to force the loading cock!" He wondered uneasily if someone might have tampered with the plane during their absence, and said so.
    Bud looked dangerous. "Easy bet as to who we’re all thinking about!"
    "We’d better check out the whole ship to make sure nothing else is wrong," Tom decided.
    With Bud’s help, Tom hastily checked the jet engines, landing gear, instruments, and other parts. But the paraplane showed no other sign of sabotage.
    "Okey-doke then. Now what?" Chow asked.
    Tom shrugged. "Looks as if we’ll have to drive back to the Sky Queen and pick up another full tank."
    Chow looked pained at this announcement. "No offense, boss, but mebbe I’ll jest stay behind this time. Still got those recipes t’ collect."
    "What about the plane?" demanded Bud. "You’re not going to abandon it here, are you?"
    Tom hesitated, turning the matter over rapidly in his mind. "Look," he said to Bud and Chow, "now that I know the way, I’ll drive back to the Queen alone this afternoon, and spend the night. I’ll use the rest of the morning to rig up an alarm system for the paraplane, the same sort of thing we have around the house in Shopton, but with a remote beeper. Would you two mind keeping an ear on it until I get back?"
    Both agreed readily.
    Climbing back aboard the paraplane, Tom made radio contact with the Sky Queen .
    "So how come you’re not upstairs, as you planned?" Slim Davis asked. "Anything wrong?"
    Tom reported the mysterious loss of helium from the plane’s tanks. "We’ll have to leave the paraplane here for the time being," he concluded. "I’ll see you guys by sundown."
    "Fine place you picked to run out of gas!" Slim gibed.
    "Tell me about it! But don’t sell us short—I’ll get ’er fixed. I mean, the future of the airship is at stake!" Tom joked.
    The drive back to the Flying Lab was long, hot, and