Chapter VII
Up a Tree
"Want to come and have a look?" asked Harry, as Ned paused in the patchof woods, which were in deeper darkness than the rest of thecountryside, for night was fast falling.
"Have a look at what?" asked Ned, who was thinking many thoughts justthen.
"At the elephant I saw back of the Swift factory. I wouldn't be skeeredif you came along."
"Well, I'm going over to see Tom Swift, anyhow," answered Ned, "so I'llwalk that way. You can come if you like. I don't care about spying onother people's property--"
"I wasn't spyin'!" exclaimed Harry quickly. "I just happened to look.And then I seen something."
"Well, come on," suggested Ned. "If there's anything there, we'll havea peep at it."
His idea was not to try to see what Tom was evidently endeavoring toconceal, but it was to observe whence Harry had made his observation,and be in a position to tell Tom to guard against unexpected lookers-onfrom that direction.
During the walk back along the course over which Harry had run sorapidly a little while before, Ned and the boy talked of what thelatter had seen.
"Do you think it could be some new kind of elephant?" asked Harry. "Youknow Tom Swift brought back a big giant from one of his trips, andmaybe he's got a bigger elephant than any one ever saw before."
"Nonsense!" laughed Ned. "In the first place, Tom hasn't been on anytrip, of late, except to Washington, and the only kind of elephantsthere are white ones."
"Really?" asked Harry.
"No, that was a joke," explained Ned. "Anyhow, Tom hasn't any giantelephants concealed up his sleeve, I'm sure of that."
"But what could this be?" asked Harry. "It moved just like some biganimal."
"Probably some piece of machinery Tom was having carted from one shopto another," went on the young bank clerk. "Most likely he had itcovered with a big piece of canvas to keep off the dew, and it was thatyou saw."
"No, it wasn't!" insisted Harry, but he could not give any furtherdetails of what he had seen so that Ned could recognize it. They kepton until they reached the hill, at the bottom of which was the Swifthome and the grounds on which the various shops were erected.
"Here's the place where you can look down right into the yard with thehigh fence around it," explained Harry, as he indicated the spot.
"I can't see anything."
"You have to climb up the tree," Harry went on. "Here, this is the one,and he indicated a stunted and gnarled pine, the green branches ofwhich would effectually screen any one who once got in it a few feetabove the ground.
"Well, I may as well have a look," decided Ned. "It can't do Tom anyharm, and it may be of some service to him. Here goes!"
Up into the tree he scrambled, not without some difficulty, for thebranches were close together and stiff, and Ned tore his coat in theeffort. But he finally got a position where, to his surprise, he couldlook down into the very enclosure from which Tom was so particular tokeep prying eyes.
"You can see right down in it!" Ned exclaimed.
"I told you so," returned Harry. "But do you see--it?"
Ned looked long and carefully. It was lighter, now that they were outof the clump of woods, and he had the advantage of having the last glowof the sunset at his back. Even with that it was difficult to make outobjects on the surface of the enclosed field some hundred or more feetbelow.
"Do you see anything?" asked Harry again.
"No, I can't say I do," Ned answered. "The place seems to be deserted."
"Well, there was something there," insisted Harry. "Maybe you aren'tlookin' at the right place."
"Have a look yourself, then," suggested Ned, as he got down, a task nomore to his liking than the climb upward had been.
Harry made easier work of it, being smaller and more used to climbingtrees, a luxury Ned had, perforce, denied himself since going to workin the bank.
Harry peered about, and then, with a sigh that had in it somewhat ofdisappointment, said:
"No; there's nothing there now. But I did see something."
"Are you sure?" asked Ned.
"Positive!" asserted the other.
"Well, whatever it was--some bit of machinery he was moving, Ifancy--Tom has taken it in now," remarked Ned. "Better not sayanything about this, Harry. Tom mightn't like it known."
"No, I won't."
"And don't come here again to look. I know you like to see strangethings, but if you'll wait I'll ask Tom, as soon as it's ready, to letyou have a closer view of whatever it was you saw. Better keep awayfrom this tree."
"I will," promised the younger lad. "But I'd like to know what itwas--if it really was a giant elephant Say! if a fellow had a troop ofthem he could have a lot of fun with 'em, couldn't he?"
"How?" asked Ned, hardly conscious of what his companion was saying.
"Why, he could dress 'em up in coats of mail, like the old knights usedto wear, and turn 'em loose against the Germans. Think of a regiment ofelephants, wearin' armor plates like a battleship, carryin' on theirbacks a lot of soldiers with machine guns and chargin' against Fritz!Cracky, that would be a sight!"
"I should say so!" agreed Ned, with a laugh. "There's nothing thematter with your imagination, Harry, my boy!"
"And maybe that's what Tom's doin'!"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean maybe he is trainin' elephants to fight in the war. You know hemade an aerial warship, so why couldn't he have a lot of armor platedelephants?"
"Oh, I suppose he could if he wanted to," admitted Ned. "But I guesshe isn't doing that. Don't get to going too fast in high speed, Harry,or you may have nightmare. Well, I'm going down to see Tom."
"And you won't tell him I was peekin'?"
"Not if you don't do it again. I'll advise him to have that tree cutdown, though. It's too good a vantage spot."
Harry turned and went in the direction of his home, while Ned kept ondown the hill toward the house of his chum. The young bond salesman wasthinking of many things as he tramped, along, and among them was theinformation Harry had just given.
But Ned did not pay a visit to his chum that evening. When he reachedthe house he found that Tom had gone out, leaving no word as to when hewould be back.
"Oh, well, I can tell him to-morrow," thought Ned.
It was not, however, until two days later that Ned found the time tovisit Tom again. On this occasion, as before, he took the road throughthe clump of woods where he had seen Harry running.
"And while I'm about it," mused Ned, "I may as well go on to the placewhere the tree stands and make sure, by daylight, what I only partiallysurmised in the evening--that Tom's place can be looked down on fromthat vantage point."
Sauntering slowly along, for he was in no special hurry, having theremainder of the day to himself, Ned approached the hill where the treestood from which Harry had said he had seen what he took to be a giantelephant, perhaps in armor.
"It's a good clear day," observed Ned, "and fine for seeing. I wonderif I'll be able to see anything."
It was necessary first to ascend the hill to a point where it overhung,in a measure, the Swift property, though the holdings of Tom and hisfather were some distance beyond the eminence. The tree from which Nedand Harry had made their observations was on a knob of the hill, thestunted pine standing out from among others like it.
"Well, here goes for another torn coat," grimly observed Ned, as heprepared to climb. "But I'll be more careful. First, though, let's seeif I can see anything without getting up."
He paused a little way from the pine, and peered down the hill. Nothingcould be seen of the big enclosed field back of the building aboutwhich Tom was so careful.
"You have to be up to see anything," mused Ned. "It's up a tree for me!Well, here goes!"
As Ned started to work his way up among the thick, green branches, hebecame aware, suddenly and somewhat to his surprise, that he was notthe only person who knew about the observation spot. For Ned saw, ayard above his hea
d, as he started to climb, two feet, encased inwell-made boots, standing on a limb near the trunk of the tree.
"Oh, ho!" mused Ned. "Some one here before me! Where there are feetthere must be legs, and where there are legs, most likely a body. Andit isn't Harry, either! The feet are too big for that. I wonder--"
But Ned's musings were suddenly cut short, for the person up the treeahead of him moved quickly and stepped on Ned's fingers, with no lighttread.
"Ouch!" exclaimed the young bank clerk involuntarily, and, letting gohis hold of the limb, he dropped to the ground, while there came astartled exclamation from the screen of pine branches above him.