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Page 24
"But he done look so funny, Massa Tom!" pleaded the colored
man. "He done squirm laik--"
But Eradicate did not finish what he intended to say. Once free
from the powerful current, the giant looked at his numb hands,
and then, seeming to think that Eradicate was the cause of it
all, he sprang at the colored man with a yell. But Eradicate did
not stay to see what would happen. With a howl of terror, he
raced out of the door, and, old and rheumatic as he was, he
managed to gain the stable of his mule, Boomerang, over which he
had his humble but comfortable quarters.
"Well, I guess he's safe for a while!" laughed Tom, as he saw
the giant turn away, shaking his fist at the closed door, for
Koku, big as he was, stood in mortal terror of the mule's heels.
Tom locked the door of the electrical shop and Went back to his
interrupted problem. From Jackson he learned that Koku and
Eradicate had merely happened to stroll into the forbidden place,
which had been left open by accident. There, it appeared, Koku
had handled some of the machinery, ending by switching on the
current of the machine the handles of which he later
unsuspectingly picked up. Then he received a shock he long
remembered, and for many days he believed Eradicate had been
responsible for it, and there was more than the usual hostile
feeling between the two. But Eradicate was innocent of that
trick, at all events.
"Though," said Tom, telling his father about it later, "Rad
would have turned on the current if he had known he could make
trouble for Koku by it. I never saw their like for having
disagreements!"
"Yes, but they are both devoted to you, Tom," said the aged
inventor. "But what is this you hinted at--a silent motor you
called it, I believe? Are you really serious in trying to invent
one?"
"Yes, Dad, I am. I think there's a big field for an aeroplane
that could travel along over the enemy's lines--particularly at
night--and not be heard from below. Think of the scout work that
could be done.
"Well, yes, it could be done if you could get a silent motor,
or propellers that made no noise, Tom. But I don't believe it can
be done."
"Well, maybe not, Dad. But I'm going to try!" and Tom, after a
further talk with his father, began work in earnest on the big
problem. That it was a big one Tom was not disposed to deny, and
that it would be a valuable invention even his somewhat skeptical
father admitted.
"How are you going to start, Tom?" asked Mr. Swift, several
days after the big idea had come to the young man.
"I'm going to experiment a bit, at first. I've got a lot of old
motors, that weren't speedy enough for any of my flying machines,
and I'm going to make them over. If I spoil them the loss won't
amount to anything, and if I succeed --well, maybe I can help out
Uncle Sam a bit more."
As Tom had said he would do, he began at the very foundation,
and studied the fundamental principles of sound.
"Sound," the young inventor told Ned Newton, in speaking about
the problem, "is a sensation which is peculiar to the ear, though
the vibrations caused by sound waves may be felt in many parts of
the body. But the ear is the great receiver of sound."
"You aren't going to invent a sort of muffler for the ears, are
you, Tom?" asked Ned. "That would be an easy way of solving the
problem, but I doubt if you could get the Germans to wear your
ear-tabs so they wouldn't hear the sound of the Allied
aeroplanes."
"No, I'm not figuring on doing the trick that way," said Tom
with a laugh. "I've really got to cut down the sound of the motor
and the propeller blades, so a person, listening with all his
ears, won't hear any noise, unless he's within a few feet of the
plane."
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