CHAPTER II
TRYING THE NEW GUN
While Tom Swift is thus absorbed in thinking about a chance to huntelephants, we will take the opportunity to tell you a little moreabout him, and then go on with the story.
Many of you already know the young inventor, but those who do notmay be interested in hearing that he is a young American lad, fullof grit and ginger, who lives with his aged father in the town ofShopton, in New York State. Our hero was first introduced to thepublic in the book, "Tom Swift and His Motorcycle."
In that volume it was related how Tom bought a motor-cycle from aMr. Wakefield Damon, of Waterford. Mr. Damon was an eccentricindividual, who was continually blessing himself, some one else, orsomething belonging to him. His motor-cycle tried to climb a treewith him, and that was why he sold it to Tom. The two thus becameacquainted, and their friendship grew from year to year.
After many adventures on his motor-cycle Tom got a motor-boat, andhad some exciting times in that. One of the things he and his fatherand his chum, Ned Newton, did, was to rescue, from a burning balloonthat had fallen into Lake Carlopa, an aeronaut named John Sharp.Later Tom and Mr. Sharp built an airship called the Red Cloud, andwith Mr. Damon and some others had a series of remarkable fights.
In the Red Cloud they got on the track of some bank robbers, andcaptured them, thus foiling the plans of Andy Foger, a town bully,and one of Tom's enemies, and putting to confusion the plot of Mr.Foger, Andy's father.
After many adventures in the air Tom and his friends, in a submarineboat, invented by Mr. Swift, went under the ocean for sunkentreasure and secured a large part of it.
It was not long after this that Tom conceived the idea of a powerfulelectric car, which proved, to be the speediest of the road, and init he won a great race, and saved from ruin a bank in which hisfather and Mr. Damon were interested.
The sixth book of the series, entitled "Tom Swift and His WirelessMessage," tells how, in testing a new electric airship, which afriend of Mr. Damon's had invented, Tom, the inventor and Mr. Damonwere lost on an island in the middle of the ocean. There they foundsome castaways, among whom were Mr. and Mrs. Nestor, parents of MaryNestor of Shopton, a girl of whom Tom was quite fond.
Tom Swift, after his arrival home, went on an expedition among agang of men known as the "Diamond Makers" who were hidden in theRocky Mountains. He was accompanied by Mr. Barcoe Jenks, one of thecastaways of Earthquake Island. They found the diamond makers, andhad some surprising adventures, barely escaping with their lives.
This did not daunt Tom, however, and he once more started off on anexpedition in his airship the Red Cloud to Alaska, amid the caves ofice. He was searching for a valley of gold, and though he and hisfriends found it, they came to grief. The Fogers, father and son,tried to steal the gold from them, and, failing in that, incited theEskimos against our friends. There was a battle, but the forces ofnature were even more to be dreaded than the terrible savages.
The ice cave, in which the Red Cloud was stored, collapsed, crushingthe gallant craft, and burying it out of sight forever underthousand of tons of the frozen bergs.
After a desperate journey Tom and his friends reached civilization,with a large supply of gold. Tom regretted very much the destructionof the airship, but he at once set to work on another--a monoplanethis time, instead of a combined aeroplane and dirigible balloon.This new craft he called the Humming-Bird and it was a "sky racer"of terrific speed. In it, as we have said, Tom brought a specialistto operate on his father, when, because of a broken railroad bridge,the physician could not otherwise have gotten to Shopton. He and Tomtraveled through the air at the rate of over one hundred miles anhour. Later, Tom took part in a big race for a ten-thousand-dollarprize, and won, defeating Andy Foger, and a number of well-known"bird-men" who used biplanes and monoplanes of a more or lessfamiliar type.
The government became interested in Tom's craft, the Humming-Bird,and, as told in the ninth book of this series, Tom Swift and His SkyRacer, they secured some rights in the invention.
And now Tom, who had done nothing for several months following thegreat race--that is, nothing save to work on his new rifle--Tom, wesay, sighed for new adventures.
"Well, Tom, what is on your mind?" asked his father at the suppertable that evening. "What is worrying you?"
"Nothing is worrying me, Dad."
"You are thinking of something. I can see that. Are you afraid yourelectric rifle won't work as well as you hope, when Ned comes overto try it?"
"No, it isn't that, Dad. But I may as well tell you, I guess. I'vebeen reading in the paper about a big elephant hunt in Africa, andI--"
"That's enough, Tom! You needn't say any more," interrupted Mr.Swift. "I can see which way the wind is blowing. You want to go toAfrica with your new rifle."
"Well, Dad, not exactly--that is--"
"Now, Tom, you needn't deny it," and Mr. Swift laughed. "Well, Idon't blame you a bit. You have been rather idle of late."
"I would like to go, Dad," admitted the young inventor, "only I'dnever think of it while you weren't well."
"Don't worry about me, Tom. Of course I will be lonesome while youare gone, but don't let that stand in the way. If you want to go toAfrica, you may start to-morrow, and take your new rifle with you."
"The rifle part would be all right, Dad, but if I went I'd want totake an airship along, and it will take me some little time tofinish the Black Hawk, as I have named my new craft."
"Well, there's no special hurry, is there?" asked Mr. Swift. "Theelephants in Africa are likely to stay there for some time. If youwant to go, why don't you get right to work on the Black Hawk andmake the trip? I'd like to go myself."
"I wish you would, Dad," exclaimed Tom eagerly.
"No, son, I couldn't think of it. I want to stay here and get well.Then I am going to resume work on my wireless motor. Perhaps I'llhave it finished when you come back from Africa with an airship loadof elephants' tusks."
"Perhaps," admitted the young inventor. "Well, Dad, I'll think ofit. But now I'm going after my rifle, and--"
Tom was interrupted by a ring of the front-door bell, and Mrs.Baggert, the housekeeper, who was almost like a mother to the youth,went to answer it.
"It's Ned Newton, I guess," murmured Tom, and, a little later, hischum entered the room.
"Oh, I guess I'm early," said Ned. "Haven't you had supper yet,Tom?"
"Yes, we're just finished. Come on out and we'll try the gun."
"And practice shooting elephants," added Mr. Swift with a laugh, ashe mentioned to Ned the latest idea of Tom.
"Say! That would be great!" cried the bank clerk. "I wish I couldgo!"
"Come along!" invited Tom cordially. "We'll have more fun than wedid in the caves of ice," for Ned had gone on the voyage to Alaska.
The two youths went out to the shed where the rifle gallery had beenbuilt. The new electric weapon was out there, and Eradicate Sampson,the colored man, who was a sort of servant and man-of-all-work aboutthe Swift household, had set up the scarecrow figure at the end ofthe gallery.
"Now we'll try some shots," said Tom, as he took the gun out of thecase. "Just turn on a few more lights, will you, Mr. Jackson," andthe engineer, who was employed by Tom and his father to aid them intheir inventive work, did as requested.
The gallery was now brilliantly illuminated, with the reflectorsthrowing the beams on the big stuffed figure, which, save for aface, looked very much like a human being, standing at the end ofthe gallery.
"I don't suppose you want to go down there and hold it, while Ishoot at it; do you, Rad?" asked Tom jokingly, as he prepared theelectric rifle for use.
"No indeedy, I don't!" cried Eradicate. "Yo'-all will hab t' scuseme, Massa Tom. I think I'll be goin' now."
"What's your hurry?" asked Ned, as he saw the colored man hastilypreparing to leave the improvised gallery.
"I spects I'd better fro' down some mo' straw fo' a bed fo' my muleBoomerang!" exclaimed Eradicate, as he hastily slid out of
the door,and shut it after him.
"Rad is nervous," remarked Tom. "He doesn't like this gun. Well, itcertainly does great execution."
"How does it work'" asked Ned, as he looked at the curious gun. Theelectric weapon was not unlike an ordinary heavy rifle in appearancesave that the barrel was a little longer, and the stock larger inevery way. There were also a number of wheels, levers, gears andgages on the stock.
"It works by electricity," explained Tom.
"That is, the force comes from a powerful current of storedelectricity."
"Oh, then you have storage batteries in the stock?"
"Not exactly. There are no batteries, but the current is a sort ofwireless kind. It is stored in a cylinder, just as compressed air orgases are stored, and can be released as I need it."
"And when it's all gone, what do you do?"
"Make more power by means of a small dynamo."
"And does it shoot lead bullets?"
"Not at all. There are no bullets used."
"Then how does it kill?"
"By means of a concentrated charge of electricity which is shot fromthe barrel with great force. You can't see it, yet it is there. It'sjust as if you concentrated a charge of electricity of five thousandvolts into a small globule the size of a bullet. That flies throughspace, strikes the object aimed at and--well, we'll see what it doesin a minute. Mr. Jackson, just put that steel plate up in front ofthe scarecrow; will you?"
The engineer proceeded to put into place a section of steel armor-platebefore the stuffed figure.
"You don't mean to say you're going to shoot through that, do you?"asked Ned in surprise.
"Surely. The electric bullets will pierce anything. They'll gothrough a brick wall as easily as the x-rays do. That's one valuablefeature of my rifle. You don't have to see the object you aim at. Infact you can fire through a house, and kill something on the otherside."
"I should think that would be dangerous."
"It would be, only I can calculate exactly, by means of an automaticarrangement, just how far the charge of electricity will go. Itstops short just at the limit of the range, and is not effectivebeyond that. Otherwise, if I did not limit it and if I fired at thescarecrow, through the piece of steel, and the bullet hit thefigure, it would go on, passing through whatever else was in theway, until its power was lost. I use the term 'bullet,' though as Isaid, it isn't properly one."
"By Jove, Tom, it certainly is a dangerous weapon!"
"Yes, the range-limit idea is a new one. That's what I've beenworking on lately. There are other features of the gun which I'llexplain later, particularly the power it has to shoot out luminousbars of light. But now we'll see what it will do to the image."
Tom took his place at the end of the range, and began to adjust somevalves and levers. In spite of the fact that the gun was larger thanan ordinary rifle, it was not as heavy as the United States Armyweapon.
Tom aimed at the armor-plate, and, by means of an arrangement on therifle, he could tell exactly when he was pointing at the scarecrow,even though he could not see it.
"Here she goes!" he suddenly exclaimed.
Ned watched his chum. The young inventor pressed a small button atthe side of the rifle barrel, about where the trigger should havebeen. There was no sound, no smoke, no flame and not the slightestjar.
Yet as Ned watched he saw the steel plate move slightly. The nextinstant the scarecrow figure seemed to fly all to pieces. There wasa shower of straw, rags and old clothes, which fell in a shapelessheap at the end of the range.
"Say. I guess you did for that fellow, all right!" exclaimed Ned.
"It looks so," admitted Tom, with a note of pride in his voice. "Nowwe'll try another test."
As he laid aside his rifle in order to help Mr. Jackson shift thesteel plate there was a series of yells outside the shed.
"What's that?" asked Tom, in some alarm.
"Sounds like some one calling," answered Ned.
"It is," agreed Mr. Jackson. "Perhaps Eradicate's mule has gottenloose. I guess we'd better--"
He did not finish, for the shouts increased in volume, and Tom andNed could hear some one yelling:
"I'll have the law on you for this! I'll have you arrested, TomSwift! What do you mean by trying to kill me? Where are you? Don'ttry to hide away, now. You were trying to shoot me, and I'm notgoing to have it!"
Some one pounded on the door of the shed.
"It's Barney Moker!" exclaimed Tom. "I wonder what can havehappened?"