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TOM SWIFT AND HIS AERIAL WARSHIP
or
The Naval Terror of the Seas
BY
VICTOR APPLETON
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I TOM IS PUZZLED
II A FIRE ALARM
III A DESPERATE BATTLE
IV SUSPICIONS
V A QUEER STRANGER
VI THE AERIAL WARSHIP
VII WARNINGS
VIII A SUSPECTED PLOT
IX THE RECOIL CHECK
X THE NEW MEN
XI A DAY OFF
XII A NIGHT ALARM
XIII THE CAPTURE
XIV THE FIRST FLIGHT
XV IN DANGER
XVI TOM IS WORRIED
XVII AN OCEAN FLIGHT
XVIII IN A STORM
XIX QUEER HAPPENINGS
XX THE STOWAWAYS
XXI PRISONERS
XXII APPREHENSIONS
XXIII ACROSS THE SEA
XXIV THE LIGHTNING BOLT
XXV FREEDOM
TOM SWIFT AND HIS AERIAL WARSHIP
CHAPTER I
TOM IS PUZZLED
"What's the matter, Tom? You look rather blue!"
"Blue! Say, Ned, I'd turn red, green, yellow, or any other
color of the rainbow, if I thought it would help matters any."
"Whew!"
Ned Newton, the chum and companion of Tom Swift, gave vent to a
whistle of surprise, as he gazed at the young fellow sitting
opposite him, near a bench covered with strange-looking tools and
machinery, while blueprints and drawings were scattered about.
Ranged on the sides of the room were models of many queer
craft, most of them flying machines of one sort or another, while
through the open door that led into a large shed could be seen
the outlines of a speedy monoplane.
"As bad as that, eh, Tom?" went on Ned. "I thought something
was up when I first came in, but, if you'll excuse a second
mention of the color scheme, I should say it was blue--decidedly
blue. You look as though you had lost your last friend, and I
want to assure you that if you do feel that way, it's dead wrong.
There's myself, for one, and I'm sure Mr. Damon--"
"Bless my gasoline tank!" exclaimed Tom, with a laugh, in
imitation of the gentleman Ned Newton had mentioned, "I know
that! I'm not worrying over the loss of any friends."
"And there are Eradicate, and Koku, the giant, just to mention
a couple of others," went on Ned, with a smile.
"That's enough!" exclaimed Tom. "It isn't that, I tell you."
"Well, what is it then? Here I go and get a half-holiday off
from the bank, and just at the busiest time, too, to come and see
you, and I find you in a brown study, looking as blue as indigo,
and maybe you're all yellow inside from a bilious attack, for all
I know."
"Quite a combination of colors," admitted Tom. "But it isn't
what you think. It's just that I'm puzzled, Ned."
"Puzzled?" and Ned raised his eyebrows to indicate how
surprised he was that anything should puzzle his friend.
"Yes, genuinely puzzled."
"Has anything gone wrong?" Ned asked. "No one is trying to take
any of your pet inventions away from you, is there?"
"No, not exactly that, though it is about one of my inventions
I am puzzled. I guess I haven't shown you my very latest; have I, Ned?"
"Well, I don't know, Tom. Time was when I could keep track of
you and your inventions, but that was in your early days, when
you started with a motorcycle and were glad enough to have a
motorboat. But, since you've taken to aerial navigation and
submarine work, not to mention one or two other lines of activity,
I give up. I don't know where to look next, Tom, for something new."
"Well, this isn't so very new," went on the young inventor, for
Tom Swift had designed and patented many new machines of the air,
earth and water. "I'm just trying to work out some new problems
in aerial navigation, Ned," he went on.
"I thought there weren't any more," spoke Ned, soberly enough.
"Come, now, none of that!" exclaimed Tom, with a laugh. "Why,
the surface of aerial navigation has only been scratched. The
science is far from being understood, or even made safe, not to
say perfected, as water and land travel have been. There's lots
of chance yet."
"And you're working on something new?" asked Ned, as he looked
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