Chapter XXIV
Camouflaged
Two utterances Tom Swift made when the fact of the disappearance of thetank became known to him were characteristic of the young inventor. Thefirst was:
"How did they get it away?"
And the second was:
"Come on, let's get after 'em!"
Then, for a few moments, no one said anything. Tom, Ned, and Mr. Damon,with Mrs. Baggert in the background, stood looking at the great emptymachine shop.
"Well, they got her," went on Tom, with a sigh. "I was afraid of thisas soon as they left me alone at the factory."
"Is anything wrong?" faltered the housekeeper. "Didn't you send for thetank, Tom?"
"No, Mrs. Baggert, I didn't," Tom answered.
"But I don't understand," the housekeeper said. "A man came with a notefrom you, Tom, and in it you said to have him take the tank, with Kokuand the men who know how to run it. We were so glad to hear from you,and know that you were all right, that we didn't think of anythingelse, your father and I. So he went out and saw that the tank got offall right. Koku was glad, for it's the first chance he'd had to ride init."
"Who was the man who brought the note?" asked Tom, and he was strivingto be calm. "To think of poor old dad playing right into the hands ofthe plotters!" he added, in an aside to Ned.
"Well, I don't know who the man was," said Mrs. Baggert. "He seemedall right, and of course having a note from you--"
"Who has that note now?" asked Tom quickly.
"Your father."
"Come on," and Tom led the way back to the house. "I'll have a look atthat document, which of course I never wrote, and then we'll get afterthe plotters and the tank."
"She ought to be easy to trace," observed Mr. Damon. "Bless myfountain pen, but she ought to be easy to trace! She will leave atrack like a giant boa constrictor crawling along."
"Yes, I guess we can trace her, all right," assented Tom Swift; "butthe point is, will there be anything left of her? That's what I'mafraid of now."
Mr. Swift was still excited, but his worry had subsided as soon as heknew Tom was safe.
"The whole thing is a forgery, but fairly well done," Tom said, as helooked at the paper his father gave him--a brief note stating that Tomwas well, but detained on business, and that the tank was to be broughtto him, just where the bearer of the note would indicate. Koku, thegiant, and several of the machinists, who knew how to operate the bigmachine, were to go with it, the note said.
"That made me sure everything was all right," said Mr. Swift. "I knew,of course, Tom, that plotters might try to get hold of your war secret,but I didn't see how they could if Koku and some of your own men werein possession."
"They couldn't--as long as they remained in possession," Tom said. "Butthat's the trouble. I'm afraid they haven't. What has probablyhappened is that under the direction of this man, who brought theforged note from me, Koku and the others took the tank where hedirected them, thinking to meet me. Then, reaching the place where therest of the plotters were concealed, they overpowered Koku and theothers and took possession of the machine."
"They'd have trouble with Koku," suggested Ned.
"Yes, but even a giant can't fight too big a crowd, especially if he istaken by surprise, and that's probably what happened," remarked Tom."Now the question is where is the tank, and how can we get her back?Every minute counts. If those German spies and their helpers remain inpossession long, they'll find out enough of my secrets to enable themto duplicate the machine, and especially some of the most exclusivefeatures. We've got to get after 'em!"
"They imitated your writing pretty well, Tom," Observed Ned, as helooked at the forged note.
"Yes; that's why they took all my papers away from me--to get specimensof my handwriting. I half suspected that, but I didn't quite figure outwhat their game was. Well, we know the worst now, and that's betterthan working in the dark. Now I'm going to have a bath and get intosome decent clothes, and we'll see what we can do."
"Count on me, Tom!" exclaimed Ned. "I'll go the limit with you!"
"I knew you would, old man!"
"And me, too!" cried Mr. Damon. "Bless my open fireplace, but I'll sendword to my wife that I'm not coming home to-night, and we can start thefirst thing in the morning, Tom."
"Yes; there isn't much use in going now, as it will soon be dark."
"How are you going to trace the tank, Tom?" asked Ned, when his chumhad bathed and gotten into fresh clothes.
"I'm going to tour the country around here in an auto. The tank canmake ten miles an hour, but that's nothing to what an auto can do. Andwe oughtn't to have much trouble in tracing her. No one whose house shepassed would forget her in a hurry."
"That's so," agreed Ned. "But if they took her across country--"
"A different story," agreed Tom. "Come to think of it, maybe we'dbetter start to-night, Ned. We can make inquiries after dark as well asby daylight and get ready for an early morning hunt."
"Let's do it, then!" suggested his chum. "I'm ready. I'll send wordthat I'll not be home to-night."
"Good!" cried the young inventor. "We'll have an old-fashioned huntafter our enemies, Ned!"
"And don't leave me out!" begged Mr. Damon. Hurried preparations weremade for the night trip. Tom ordered out one of his speediest, thoughnot largest, automobiles, and told his helper to get the Hawk ready, tohave her so she could start at a moment's notice if needed.
"You're not going in her, are you, Tom?" asked Ned.
"I may need her to-morrow for daylight hunting. If the tank's hiddensomewhere, I can spot her from above more easily than from the ground.So if we get any trace of my machine, I can phone in and have theaeroplane brought to me."
"That's a good idea!"
Inquiry at the shop where the tank had been built and kept disclosedthe fact that, in addition to Koku, three of Tom's men had gone in herto help manage the machine under the direction of the man who bore theforged note. That he was one of the plotters not hitherto observed byeither Ned or Tom seemed certain.
"And they took Koku and some of the men merely to make it look naturaland as if it were all right," Tom said. "Naturally that deceived myfather, who thought, of course, that I was waiting for the machine.Well, it was a slick trick, Ned, but we may fool them yet."
"I hope so, Tom."
Night had fully fallen when Tom, Ned, and Mr. Damon started away in thetouring car.
Out onto the road rolled the automobile. During the little daylightthat had remained after his arrival at home and following the discoveryof the loss of the tank Tom and Ned had traced it, by the marks of thebig steel caterpillar belts, to the main road. It had gone along thatsome distance, just how far could not be said.
"But by using the searchlight of the auto we can trace her as long asthey keep her on the road," said Tom. "After that we'll have to trustto luck, and to what inquiries we can make."
The touring car carried a powerful lamp, and by its gleams it was easyto trace for a time the progress of the ponderous tank. There was noneed to make inquiries of persons living along the way, though once ortwice Tom did get out to ask, confirming the fact that the big machinehad rumbled past in a direction away from the Swift home.
"I had an idea they might have doubled on their tracks for a time, andbacked her up just to fool us," Tom said. "They might do that, keepingher in the same tracks."
But this, evidently, had not been done, and the tank was making goodspeed away from the Swift house. They kept up the search until aboutmidnight, and then a heavy rain began just before they reached a pointwhere several roads branched.
"Luck's with them!" exclaimed Tom. "This will wash away the marks, andwe'll have to go it blind. Might as well put up here for the night," headded, as they came to a village hotel.
It was evident that little more could be done in the rain and darkness,and there was danger of over-running the trail of the tank if they kepton. So they turned in at the hotel and got what little rest they coul
din their anxious state of minds.
Tom tried to be cheerful and to look for the best, but it was hardwork. The tank was his pet invention, and, moreover, that her secretsshould fall into the hands of the enemy and be used for Germany andagainst the United States eventually, made the young inventor feel thateverything was going wrong.
The rain kept up all night, and this would make it correspondingly hardfor them to pick up the trail in the morning.
"The only thing we can do is to make inquiries," decided Tom."Fortunately, the tank can't easily be hidden."
They started off after an early breakfast. The roads were so muddy andwet that traveling was difficult and dangerous for the automobile, andthey were disappointed in finding no one who had seen or heard the tankpass up to a point not far from the hotel where they had stayedovernight. From then on the big machine seemed to have disappeared.
"I know what they've done," Tom said, when noon came and they had foundno trace of the ponderous war machine. "They've left the road andtaken her cross country, and we can't find the spot where they did thisbecause the rain has washed out the marks. Well, there's only one thingleft to do."
"What's that?" asked Ned.
"Get the Hawk! In that we can look down and over a big extent ofcountry. That's what I'll do--I'll phone for the airship. The rain isstopping, I think."
The rain did cease by the time one of Tom's men brought the speedyaircraft to the place named by the young inventor in his telephonemessage. There were still several hours of daylight left, and Tomcounted on them to allow him to rise in the air and look down on thetanks possible hiding place.
"One thing's sure," he told Ned: "I know the limit of her speed, andshe can't be farther off than at some place within a circle of aboutone hundred and twenty-five miles from my house. And it's in thedirection we're in. So if I circle around up above, I may spot her."
"I hope so," murmured Ned.
It was arranged that Mr. Damon should take the automobile back, withTom's mechanician in it, and Tom and Ned would scout around in theaircraft, which carried only two.
"You ought to have a machine gun with you, Tom, if you plan to attackthose fellows to get back the tank," Ned said.
"Oh, I don't imagine I'll need it," he said. "Anyhow, a machine gunwouldn't be of much effect against the tank. And they can't fire on us,for there wasn't any ammunition for the guns in Tank A, unless they gotsome of their own, and I hardly believe they'd do that. I'll take achance, anyhow."
And so the search from the air began. It was disappointing at first.Around and around circled Tom and Ned, their eyes peering eagerly downfrom the heights for a sight of the tank, possibly hidden in somelittle-known ravine or gully.
Back and forth, like a speck in the sky, Tom guided the Hawk, while Nedtook observation after observation with the binoculars.
At last, when the low-sinking sun gave warning that night would soon beupon them, Ned's glasses picked up something on the ground far belowthat made him sit suddenly straighter in his seat.
"What is it?" asked Tom through the speaking apparatus, feeling themovement on the part of his chum.
"I see something down there, Tom," was the answer. "It doesn't looklike the tank, and yet it doesn't look as a clump of trees and bushesought to look. Have a peep yourself. It's just beyond that river,against the side of the hill--a lonesome place, too."
Tom took the glasses while Ned assumed control of the Hawk, there beinga dual system for operating and steering her.
No sooner had the young inventor got the focus on what Ned hadindicated than he gave a cry.
"What is it?" asked the young bank clerk.
"Camouflaged!" cried Tom, and without stopping to explain what hemeant, he handed the binoculars back to Ned and began to guide the Hawkdown toward the earth at high speed.