CHAPTER VIII
TOM'S NEWEST INVENTION
"I got him, Mr. Tom!"
"Oh, please, good Massa Swift! Make him leggo me! He suah amsqueezin' de liber outer me!"
"Shall I conflict the club upon him, Mr. Tom?"
It was Koku who asked this last question, as Tom came running towardthe giant. In the strange glare from the searchlight, the younginventor saw his big servant holding tightly to a rather small,colored man, while the camera, which was focused full on them, wasclicking away at a great rate, taking picture after picture on theroll of films.
"No, don't INFLICT nor CONFLICT the club on him, Koku," advised Tom."Who is he?"
"I don't know, Mr. Tom. I was in hiding, in the darkness, waitingfor him to come back. He had been here once before in the evening,Eradicate says. Well, he came while I was waiting and I detainedhim. Then the lights went up. They are very bright lights, Mr. Tom."
"Yes, brighter than I expected they would be. I must look and seewhat causes it. So you detained him, did you, Koku?"
"Yes, and what exposition shall I make of him?"
"What DISPOSITION?" corrected Tom, with a laugh. "Well, did he getany chickens, Koku?"
"Oh, no, I was too tight for him."
"Oh, you mean too fast, or quick. Well, if he didn't get any, Iguess you might let him go. I have too much to attend to, to botherwith him."
"Oh, bress yo' for dat, Massa Tom!" cried the negro, whom Tomrecognized as a worthless character about the town. "I didn't go fo'to do nuffin', Massa Tom. I were jest goin' t' look in de coop, t'count an' see how many fowls mah friend Eradicate had, an' den--"
"Yes, and then I tie you!" broke in Koku.
"You collared him, I guess you mean to say," spoke Tom with a laugh."Well, I guess, Sam," speaking to the negro, "if YOU had countedRad's chickens HE couldn't have counted as many in the morning. Butbe off, and don't come around again, or you might have to count thebars in a jail cell for a change."
"Bress yo' honey. I won't neber come back."
"Shall release him?" asked Koku doubtfully.
"Yes," said Tom.
"And not reflict the club on him?"
The giant raised his club longingly.
"Oh, Massa Tom, protect me!" cried Sam.
"No, don't even REFLECT the club on him," advised the young inventorwith a laugh. "He hasn't done any harm, and he may have been themeans of a great discovery. Remember Sam," Tom went on sternly, "Ihave your picture, as you were trying to break into the coop, and ifyou come around again, I'll use it as evidence against you."
"Oh, I won't come. Not as long as dat giant am heah, anyhow," saidthe negro earnestly. "Besides, I were only goin' t' countEradicate's chickens, t' see ef he had as many as I got."
"All right," responded Tom. "Now, Koku, you may escort him off thepremises, and be on the lookout the rest of the night, off and on.Where's Rad?"
"He has what he says is 'de misery' in his back so that he had to goto bed," explained the giant, to account for the faithful coloredman not having responded to the alarm.
"All right, get rid of Sam, and then come back."
As Tom turned to go in his shop he saw his aged father coming slowlytoward him. Mr. Swift had hastily dressed.
"What is the matter, Tom?" he asked. "Has anything happened? I heardyour alarm go off, and I came as quickly as I could."
"Nothing much has happened, father, excepting a chicken thief. Butsomething great may come of it. Do you notice that searchlight, andhow powerful it is?"
"I do, Tom. I never knew you had one as big as that."
"Neither did I, and I haven't, really. That's one of my smallestones, but something seems to have happened to it to make it throwout a beam like that. I'm just going to look. Come on in the shop."
The two inventors, young and old, entered, and Tom quickly crossedto where the wires from the automatic dynamo, extended to thesearchlight outside the window of his room. He made a quickinspection.
"Look, father!" he cried. "The alternating current from theautomatic dynamo has become crossed with direct current from the bigstorage battery in a funny way. It must have been by accident, fornever in the world would I think of connecting up in that fashion. Iwould have said it would have made a short circuit at once."
"But it hasn't. On the contrary, it has given a current of peculiarstrength and intensity--a current that would seem to be madeespecially for searchlights. Dad, I'm on the edge of a bigdiscovery."
"I believe you, Tom," said his father. "That certainly is a queerway for wires to be connected. How do you account for it?"
"I can't. That is unless some one meddled with the connections afterI made them. That must be it. I'll ask Rad and Koku." Just then thegiant came in. "Koku, did you touch the wires?" asked Tom.
"Well, Mr. Tom, I didn't mean to. I accidentally pulled one out awhile ago, when I was waiting for the thief to come, but I put itright back again. I hope I did no damage."
"No, on the contrary, you did a fine thing, Koku. I never would havedared make such connections myself, but you, not knowing any better,did just the right thing to make an almost perfect searchlightcurrent. It is wonderful! Probably for any other purpose such acurrent would be useless, but it is just the thing for a greatlight."
"And why do you need such a powerful light, Tom?" asked Mr. Swift."Why, it is of extraordinary brilliancy, and it goes for severalmiles. Look how plainly you can pick out the trees on Nob's Hill,"and he pointed to an elevation some distance away from the Swifthomestead, across the woods and meadows.
"I believe I could see a bird perched there, if there was one!"exclaimed Tom enthusiastically. "That certainly is a wonderfullight. With larger carbons, better parobolic mirrors, a differentresistance box, better connections, and a more powerful primarycurrent there is no reason why I could not get a light that wouldmake objects more plainly visible than in the daytime, even in thedarkest night, and at a great distance."
"But what would be the object of such a light, Tom?"
"To play upon the smugglers, dad, and catch them as they come overthe border in the airship."
"Smugglers, Tom! You don't mean to tell me you are going away again,and after smugglers?"
"Well, dad, I've had an offer, and I think I'll take it. There's nomoney in it, but I think it is my duty to do my best for Uncle Sam.The one thing that bothered me was how to get a view of the airshipat night. This searchlight has solved the problem--that is if I canmake a permanent invention of this accident, and I think I can."
"Oh, Tom, I hate to think of you going away from home again," saidhis father a bit sadly.
"Don't worry, father. I'm not going far this time. Only to theCanadian border, and that's only a few hundred miles. But I want tosee if I can cut the current off, and turn it on again. When a thinghappens by accident you never know whether you can get just exactlythe same conditions again."
Tom shut off the current from the dynamo, and the powerful beam oflight died out. Then he turned it on once more, and it glowed asbrightly as before. He did this several times, and each time it wasa success.
"Hurrah!" cried Tom. "To-morrow I'll start on my latest invention, agreat searchlight!"