Tom Swift and His Sky Racer or The Quickest Flight on ... - Fourmilab

86 CHAPTER 19. A NERVY SPECIALIST“Two thous<strong>and</strong> pounds thrust!” called the engineer, as he looked at thescale.“Let her go!” cried <strong>Tom</strong>, whose voice was hardly heard above the roar. <strong>The</strong>trim little aeroplane scudded over the ground, gathering speed at every revolutionof the wheels. <strong>The</strong>n with a spring like that of some great bird launchingitself in flight, she left the earth, <strong>and</strong> took to the air. <strong>Tom</strong> was off on his trip.Those left behind sent up a cautious cheer, f<strong>or</strong> they did not want to disturbMr. <strong>Swift</strong>. <strong>The</strong>y waved their h<strong>and</strong>s to the young invent<strong>or</strong>, <strong>and</strong> he wavedhis in reply. <strong>The</strong>n he settled down f<strong>or</strong> one of the swiftest flights he had everundertaken.<strong>Tom</strong> ascended until he struck a fav<strong>or</strong>able current of air. <strong>The</strong>re was a littlewind blowing in the direction he wished to take, <strong>and</strong> that aided him. But evenagainst a powerful head-wind the Humming-Bird could make progress.<strong>The</strong> young invent<strong>or</strong> saw the ground slipping backward beneath him. Carefullyhe watched the various indicat<strong>or</strong>s, <strong>and</strong> listened intently to the sound of thecylinders’ explosions. <strong>The</strong>y came rapidly <strong>and</strong> regularly. <strong>The</strong> mot<strong>or</strong> was w<strong>or</strong>kingwell.<strong>Tom</strong> glanced at the barograph. It registered two thous<strong>and</strong> feet, <strong>and</strong> hedecided to keep at about that height, as it gave him a good view, <strong>and</strong> he couldsee to steer, f<strong>or</strong> a route had been hastily mapped out f<strong>or</strong> him by his friends.Over cities, towns, villages, scattered farmhouses; across stretches of f<strong>or</strong>est;over rivers, above big stretches of open country he flew. Often he could seeeager crowds below, gazing up at him. But he paid no heed. He was lookingf<strong>or</strong> a sight of a certain broad river, which was near Kirkville. <strong>The</strong>n he knew hewould be close to his goal.He had speeded up the mot<strong>or</strong> to the limit, <strong>and</strong> there was nothing to do now,save to manage the planes, wing tips <strong>and</strong> rudders, <strong>and</strong> to see that the gasoline<strong>and</strong> oil were properly fed to the machine.Faster <strong>and</strong> faster went the Humming-Bird, but <strong>Tom</strong>’s thoughts were evenfaster. He was thinking of many things—of his father—of what he would do ifMr. <strong>Swift</strong> died—of the mysterious airship—of the stolen plans—of the fire inthe shed—of the great race—<strong>and</strong> of Andy Foger.He took little note of time, <strong>and</strong> when, in less than an hour he sighted theriver that told him he was near to Kirkville, he was rather startled.“You certainly did come right along, Humming-Bird!” he murmured proudly.He descended several hundred feet, <strong>and</strong>, as he passed over the town, thepeople of which grew wildly excited, he looked about f<strong>or</strong> the house of the notedspecialist. He knew how to pick it out, f<strong>or</strong> Dr. Gladby had described it to him,<strong>and</strong> <strong>Tom</strong> was glad to see, as he came within view of the residence, that it wassurrounded by a large yard.“I can l<strong>and</strong> almost at his do<strong>or</strong>,” he said, <strong>and</strong> he did, volplaning to earthwith an ease b<strong>or</strong>n of long practice.To say that Dr. Hendrix was astonished when <strong>Tom</strong> dropped in on him inthis manner, would not be exactly true. <strong>The</strong> specialist was not in the habit ofreceiving calls from youths in aeroplanes, but the fact was, that Dr. Hendrix