Read Online Tom Swift and His Repelatron Skyway by Victor Appleton II - Free Book Online
Authors: Victor Appleton II
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handclasp. "I’ll make it unanimous!" he declared.
Next morning at Enterprises Tom checked with Harlan Ames, who reported that the spear and message had yielded no usable fingerprints. "That strip of cloth the message was written on, by the way, is real antelope hide. Within the last month it was still bobbing along on the poor antelope! The writing is interesting too: a kind of ink, a dye, containing real human blood."
Tom gulped. "Gruesome! Somebody’s carrying traditional values a little too far."
The next day, while Tom’s great Flying Lab skyship was being loaded and readied for the flight, he took a few hours to drive to nearby Grandyke University to ask an expert on traditional African cultures, Professor Kasten, to look over a few of the foil effigies.
"I see no special significance in their shapes or manner of construction," he stated. "It’s true, of course, that certain birds, as well as animals, have a totemic importance to many of the traditional cultures. But not in that part of upper East Africa, and not among the Ulsusus or the Ghidduas."
Tom nodded, and then tentatively advanced another question that had been on his mind. "I have the impression those two tribes don’t care very much for one another, despite all the talk of ‘brotherhood’."
The academic gave an academic chuckle. "To put it mildly! There is a thousand years of enmity between them. Each regards the other as an ‘inferior race’, and so teaches their children. I have little hope for the longterm unity of this put-together nation of Ngombia."
"Perhaps the transportation project will help."
"Perhaps. Or it may simply make it easier for them to get to each other to fight. We’ll see, eh?" The professor paused thoughtfully. "By the way, there’s a mystery you might help to solve while you’re over there."
Tom grinned. "We can always use another mystery or two."
"This one involves a fellow scientist, someone I knew in school and kept in touch with over the years, intermittently," Kasten explained. "A brilliant man and a talented researcher in several fields. Yet toward the end, he became increasingly obsessed with theories that many of his colleagues regarded as fantastic."
"You said—toward the end?"
"Oh yes," confirmed the professor. "You see, he went off to Ngombia—to the great jungle, to be precise—more than twenty years ago. He hasn’t been seen or heard from since!"
CHAPTER 9
SURPRISE PASSENGER
"THAT ‘missing scientist in the jungle’ scenario sounds like something from old-style adventure novels," Tom commented with a smile.
Professor Kasten nodded with a smile of his own. "I suppose it does. In this case, though, it’s quite real. Welkin Eldreth was last seen in Princetown—they call it Huttangdala now—attempting to put together a Ghiddua team to travel into the jungle. Nothing since."
"Did he travel to Ngombia alone?"
"As I recall he had two assistants, graduate students who had studied under him—true believers, I’d imagine." Kasten went over to his bookshelf and pulled out a bound journal. "Take this with you, Tom, if you like. It talks about the case, and about Eldreth’s theories."
The young inventor took the journal and thanked his host. "I’ll keep my eyes open," Tom promised, "and see if I can pick up any clues."
Tom had intended to read the article that evening at home, but a discussion with his father intervened, as well as a late telephone call. " Hi there, T-man! " came a familiar voice.
"Ted!" Tom exclaimed delightedly. "Don’t tell me you’re calling from Loonaui!" This Pacific island, half a world away, was the site of the special launch facility that served the Swift Enterprises outpost in space. Ted Spring, a brilliant astronautical engineer and longtime close friend of the Swift family, had been appointed chief of the operation.
"No, Tom, it’s vacation time for me," explained the young African-American. "I’m here in Shopton, at home with my Mom and my little
Next morning at Enterprises Tom checked with Harlan Ames, who reported that the spear and message had yielded no usable fingerprints. "That strip of cloth the message was written on, by the way, is real antelope hide. Within the last month it was still bobbing along on the poor antelope! The writing is interesting too: a kind of ink, a dye, containing real human blood."
Tom gulped. "Gruesome! Somebody’s carrying traditional values a little too far."
The next day, while Tom’s great Flying Lab skyship was being loaded and readied for the flight, he took a few hours to drive to nearby Grandyke University to ask an expert on traditional African cultures, Professor Kasten, to look over a few of the foil effigies.
"I see no special significance in their shapes or manner of construction," he stated. "It’s true, of course, that certain birds, as well as animals, have a totemic importance to many of the traditional cultures. But not in that part of upper East Africa, and not among the Ulsusus or the Ghidduas."
Tom nodded, and then tentatively advanced another question that had been on his mind. "I have the impression those two tribes don’t care very much for one another, despite all the talk of ‘brotherhood’."
The academic gave an academic chuckle. "To put it mildly! There is a thousand years of enmity between them. Each regards the other as an ‘inferior race’, and so teaches their children. I have little hope for the longterm unity of this put-together nation of Ngombia."
"Perhaps the transportation project will help."
"Perhaps. Or it may simply make it easier for them to get to each other to fight. We’ll see, eh?" The professor paused thoughtfully. "By the way, there’s a mystery you might help to solve while you’re over there."
Tom grinned. "We can always use another mystery or two."
"This one involves a fellow scientist, someone I knew in school and kept in touch with over the years, intermittently," Kasten explained. "A brilliant man and a talented researcher in several fields. Yet toward the end, he became increasingly obsessed with theories that many of his colleagues regarded as fantastic."
"You said—toward the end?"
"Oh yes," confirmed the professor. "You see, he went off to Ngombia—to the great jungle, to be precise—more than twenty years ago. He hasn’t been seen or heard from since!"
CHAPTER 9
SURPRISE PASSENGER
"THAT ‘missing scientist in the jungle’ scenario sounds like something from old-style adventure novels," Tom commented with a smile.
Professor Kasten nodded with a smile of his own. "I suppose it does. In this case, though, it’s quite real. Welkin Eldreth was last seen in Princetown—they call it Huttangdala now—attempting to put together a Ghiddua team to travel into the jungle. Nothing since."
"Did he travel to Ngombia alone?"
"As I recall he had two assistants, graduate students who had studied under him—true believers, I’d imagine." Kasten went over to his bookshelf and pulled out a bound journal. "Take this with you, Tom, if you like. It talks about the case, and about Eldreth’s theories."
The young inventor took the journal and thanked his host. "I’ll keep my eyes open," Tom promised, "and see if I can pick up any clues."
Tom had intended to read the article that evening at home, but a discussion with his father intervened, as well as a late telephone call. " Hi there, T-man! " came a familiar voice.
"Ted!" Tom exclaimed delightedly. "Don’t tell me you’re calling from Loonaui!" This Pacific island, half a world away, was the site of the special launch facility that served the Swift Enterprises outpost in space. Ted Spring, a brilliant astronautical engineer and longtime close friend of the Swift family, had been appointed chief of the operation.
"No, Tom, it’s vacation time for me," explained the young African-American. "I’m here in Shopton, at home with my Mom and my little
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