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"And I think I wrote you that my big aeroplane-dirigible, the Red Cloud, was destroyed in Alaska, during a recent trip we made to the caves of ice there, after gold," replied Tom. "Yes, you did," admitted Mr. Gunmore, "and while our committee was very sorry to hear that, we hoped you might have some other air craft that you could enter at our meet.
"They are much more speedy than the double-deckers, and if I'm going to try for the ten thousand dollars I need the fastest machine I can build." "We have the promise of one or two very fast monoplanes for the meet," went on Mr. Gunmore. "Would yours be of a new type?" "I think it would," was the reply of the young inventor.
Gunmore, shaking hands with the young inventor. "I didn't have my trip for nothing, then. I'll go back in the morning and report to the committee that I've been successful. I am greatly obliged to you." He left the Swift home, after refusing Tom's invitation to remain all night, and went to his hotel. Tom then insisted that his father retire.
Swift, and his voice certainly seemed Stronger. "I can't imagine what happened. I came upstairs, after Tom had received a visit from the minister, and that's all I remember." "The minister, father!" exclaimed Tom, in great amazement. "The minister wasn't here this evening! That was Mr. Gunmore, the aviation secretary. Don't you remember?"
I'm one of the committee of arrangements for the meet to be held at Eagle Park, where I understand you are going to contest. I came to see how near you were ready, and to get you to make a formal entry of your machine. Mr. Gunmore sent me." "Oh, so you're in with them now, eh?" asked Tom. "Well, I'm glad to know I've got a friend on the committee. Yes, my machine is getting along very well.
As he spoke there sounded a rustling in the shrubbery a little distance from the window. "There's something!" exclaimed Mr. Gunmore. "I see!" answered the young inventor. As he did so he was aware of a further movement in the bushes. They were violently agitated, and a second later a dark object sprang from them and sprinted along the path. "Here! Who are you? Hold on!" cried the young inventor.
"I'll make better time than that," said Tom quietly, and with not a trace of boasting in his tones. "Then you'll enter the meet?" asked Mr. Gunmore eagerly. "Well, I'll think about it," promised Tom. "I'll let you know in a few days. Meanwhile, I'll be thinking out the details for my new craft.
He could observe nothing, as the night was dark, and the new moon, which had been shining, was now dimmed by clouds. "See anything?" asked Mr. Gunmore as he advanced to Tom's side. "No," was the low answer. "I can't hear anything now, either." "I'll go speak to Mrs. Baggert, the housekeeper," volunteered Mr. Swift. "Perhaps it was she, or she may know something about it."
Tom had been home all the following winter and spring, and he had done little more than work on some small inventions, when a new turn was given his thoughts and energies by a visit from Mr. Gunmore, as narrated in the first chapter of the present volume. "Well, I guess no one is here," remarked the young inventor as he completed the circuit of the grounds and walked slowly back toward the house.
It is now June, and the meet is scheduled for early in September. Couldn't you build a new and speedy aeroplane in that time?" Eagerly Mr. Gunmore waited for the answer. Tom Swift seemed to be considering it. There was an increased brightness to his eyes, and one could tell that he was thinking deeply. The secretary sought to clinch his argument.
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