CHAPTER V
NEWS FROM AFRICA
Blankly, and with fear in his eyes, Ned gazed at Tom. The younginventor was frantically working at the levers, trying to loosen thejammed rudder--the rudder that enabled the sky racer to be tiltedupward.
"Can't you do it?" cried Ned.
Tom shook his head helplessly, but he did not give up. Madly heworked on, and there was need of haste, for every moment theaeroplane was shooting nearer and nearer to the earth.
Ned glanced down. They were headed for the centre of a large grassplot and the bank employee found himself grimly thinking that atleast the turf would be softer to fall on than bare ground.
"I--I can't imagine what's happened!" cried Tom.
He was still yanking on the lever, but it would not move, and unlessthe head of the aeroplane was thrown up quickly, to catch the air,and check its downward flight, they would both be killed.
"Shut off the engine and vol-plane!" cried Ned.
"No use," answered Tom. "I can't vol-plane when I can't throw herhead up to check her."
But he did shut off the banging, throbbing motor, and then insilence they continued to fall. Ned had half a notion to jump, buthe knew that would mean instant death, and there was just a barechance that if he stayed in the machine it would take off some ofthe shock.
They could see Mr. Damon now. The old man had run out of his houseat the sight of the approaching aeroplane. He knew it well, for hehad ridden with Tom many times. He looked up and waved his hand tothe boys, but he had no idea of their danger, and he could not havehelped them had he been aware of it.
He must have soon guessed that something was wrong though, for amoment later, the lads could hear him shout in terror, and could seehim motion to them. Later he said he saw that Tom was coming down attoo great an inclination, and he feared that the machine could notbe thrown up into the wind quickly enough!
"Here goes something--the lever or the rudder!" cried Tom indesperation, as he gave it a mighty yank. Up to now he had notpulled with all his strength as he feared to break some connecting-rod,wire or lever. But now he must take every chance. "If I can getthat rudder up even a little we're safe!" he went on.
Once more he gave a terrific pull on the handle. There was asnapping sound and Tom gave a yell of delight.
"That's the stuff!" he cried. "She's moving! We're all right now!"
And the rudder had moved only just in time, for when the aeroplanewas within a hundred feet of the earth the head was suddenlyelevated and she glided along on a level "keel."
"Look out!" yelled Ned, for a new danger presented. They were sonear the earth that Tom had over-run his original stepping place,and now the sky racer was headed directly for Mr. Damon's house, andmight crash into it.
"All right! I've got her in hand!" said the young inventorreassuringly.
Tom tilted the rudder at a sharp angle to have the air pressure actas a brake. At the same time he swerved the craft to one side sothat there was no longer any danger of crashing into the house.
"Bless my--" began Mr. Damon, but in the excitement he reallydidn't know what to bless, so he stopped short.
A moment later, feeling that the momentum had been checked enough tomake it safe to land, Tom directed the craft downward again and camegracefully to earth, a short distance away from his eccentricfriend.
"Whew!" gasped the young inventor, as he leaped from his seat. "Thatwas a scary time while it lasted."
"I should say so!" agreed Ned.
"Bless my straw hat!" cried Mr. Damon. "What happened? Did you losecontrol of her, Tom?"
"No, the deflecting rudder got jammed, and I couldn't move it. Imust look and see what's the matter."
"I thought it was all up with you," commented Mr. Damon, as hefollowed Tom and Ned to the front end of the craft, where thedeflecting mechanism was located.
Tom glanced quickly over it. His quick eye caught something, and heuttered an exclamation.
"Look!" the young inventor cried. "No wonder it jammed!" and from acopper sleeve, through which ran the wire that worked the rudder, hepulled a small iron bolt. "That got between the sleeve and the wire,and I couldn't move it," he explained. "But when I pulled hard Iloosened it."
"How did it fall in there?" asked Ned.
"It didn't FALL there." spoke Tom quietly. "It was PUT there."
"Put there! Bless my insurance policy! Who did such a dastardlytrick?" cried Mr. Damon.
"I don't know," answered Tom still quietly, "but I suspect it wasAndy Foger, and he was never any nearer to putting us out ofbusiness than a little while ago, Ned."
"Do you mean to say that he deliberately tried to injure you?" askedMr. Damon.
"Well, he may not have intended to hurt us, but that's what wouldhave happened if I hadn't been able to throw her up into the windwhen I did," replied Tom. Then he told of Mr. Swift having seen thered-haired bully near the aeroplane. "Andy may have only intended toput my machine out of working order," went on the young inventor,"but it might have been worse than that," and he could not repress ashudder.
"Are you going to say anything to him?" asked Ned.
"I certainly am!" replied Torn quickly. "He doesn't realize that hemight have crippled us both for life. I sure am going to saysomething to him when I get back."
But Tom did not get the chance, for when he and Ned returned toShopton,--the sky racer behaving beautifully on the homeward trip,--itwas learned that Mr. Foger had suddenly left town, taking Andywith him.
"Maybe he knew I'd be after him," said Tom grimly, and so thatincident was closed for the time being, but it was a long timebefore Tom and Ned got over their fright.
They had a nice visit with Mr. Damon, and talked of the city of goldto their heart's content, looking at several large maps of Mexicothat the eccentric man had procured, and locating, as well as theycould from the meager map and description they had, where theunderground treasures might be.
"I suppose you are getting ready to go, Mr. Damon?" remarked Ned.
"Hush!" cautioned the odd man, looking quickly around the room. "Ihaven't said anything to my wife about it yet. You know she doesn'tlike me to go off on these 'wild goose chases' as she calls them,with you, Tom Swift. But bless my railroad ticket! It's half the funof my life."
"Then don't you think you can go?" asked the young inventor eagerly,for he had formed a strong like for Mr. Damon, and would very muchregret to go without him.
"Oh, bless my necktie! I think I'll be able to manage it," was theanswer. "I'm not going to tell her anything about it until the lastminute, and then I'll promise to bring her back one of the goldenimages. She won't object then."
"Good!" exclaimed Tom. "I hope we can all bring back some of theimages."
"Yes, I know who you'll bring one for," said Ned with a laugh, andhe took care to get beyond the reach of Tom's fist. "Her first nameis Mary," he added.
"You get out!" laughed Tom, blushing at the same time.
"Ah! What a thing it is to be young!" exclaimed Mr. Damon with amock sigh. The boys laughed, for the old man, though well along inyears, was a boy at heart.
They talked at some length, speculating when they might hear fromMr. Illingway, and discussing the sort of an outfit that would bebest to take with them.
Then, as the afternoon was drawing to a close, Tom and Ned went backin the aeroplane, hearing the news about the Fogers as I havepreviously mentioned.
"Well, I'll have to wait until I do see Andy to take it out of hishide," remarked Tom grimly. "I'm glad he's out of the way, though.There won't be any more danger of his overhearing our plans, and Ican work in peace on the dirigible balloon."
Though Tom had many air crafts, the one he thought best suited totake with them on their search for the city of gold would have to beconstructed from parts of several machines, and it would take sometime.
Tom began work on it the next day, his father helping him, as didMr. Damon and Ned occasionally. Several weeks were spent in thisway, meanwhile the mails
being anxiously watched for news fromAfrica.
"Here you are, Tom!" called the postman one morning, as he walkedout to the shop where the young inventor was busy over the balloon."Here's another letter from that Buggy-wuggy place."
"Oh, you mean Gumba Twamba, in Africa!" laughed the lad. "Good!That's what I've been waiting for. Now to see what the missionarysays."
"I hope you're not going to go as a missionary to Africa, Tom," saidthe postman.
"No danger. This is just a letter from a friend there. He sent mesome facts so I can go off on another expedition."
"Oh, you're always going off on wild adventures," commented UncleSam's messenger with a shake of his head as he hurried away, whileTom tore open the letter from Africa and eagerly read it.