Читать книгу Tom Swift and his House on Wheels, or, A Trip to the Mountain of Mystery - Howard R Garis - Страница 7

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Some matters of business routine called Ned Newton from the room while Tom was still telephoning, and when the financial manager returned he heard his chum say:

“Well, of course if it’s all arranged there isn’t anything more to be said, I suppose.” A pause. Then: “Of course I’ll come over to see you off. But—it’s pretty sudden. What’s that? Oh, yes, of course.” Then the good-bye.

Tom hung up the receiver with leaden fingers, and there was a listlessness in his walk as he went back to where he had been working. Ned tried to assume an air as if he had heard nothing, but it was impossible to ignore the fact that Tom had received some unpleasant news. If he wanted to speak of it—all right. If he didn’t——

But Tom blurted it out.

“Mary’s going away!”

“Away?”

“Oh, not for good,” and Tom laughed nervously at Ned’s startled implication. “It’s just on a visit to some relatives she had been promising to go and see for a long time. Matters are now arranged and she is going.”

“Rather—er—sudden, isn’t it?” asked Ned. For Tom had spoken of his call on Mary the night before and had then made no mention of an impending visit.

“Yes, very sudden. She didn’t tell me until just now, when I asked her to come over and take a look at the House on Wheels. But she says she will be too busy packing. Very sudden!” and Tom’s voice had a new quality in it.

“Any special reason for her rush?” asked Ned, who felt privileged now that his chum had given him the opening.

“Well, yes, in a way. The relatives to whom Mary is going on a visit are giving a house party for one member of the family who is soon to sail for Europe. Unless Mary starts to-morrow she won’t see this forty-second cousin, or whatever she is, and it seems there are family reasons why she should.”

“Then she’s going soon?”

“Takes the train to-morrow morning.”

“Going to be gone long?”

“She isn’t sure how long. Hang it all! This upsets all my plans!” and Tom moodily paced the floor.

“Oh, well, it isn’t forever! Cheer up!” consoled Ned. “She’ll be coming back. My girl went away once.”

“Yes, I know. But these people—they——”

Tom paused, significantly, it seemed.

“Well, what’s wrong with them?” Ned wanted to know.

“Oh, nothing much, except they’re fairly bursting with money.”

“Well, that’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

“Not considering what money means and does nowadays. Mary’s going out of her depth, so to speak and——”

“Say, look here!” exclaimed Ned. “You needn’t worry about your girl. She’s got a level head.”

“Yes, I know. But when she gets among millionaires she’s likely to lose that level.”

“I don’t believe so. Why, you’re no poverty-stricken chap yourself, Tom, though I admit our bank account isn’t as big as it will be when the dividends from the talking pictures will come in.”

“I’m not one, two, six in money matters compared to the Winthrop family,” complained Tom moodily. “They’re filthy rich, and it isn’t going to do Mary any good mixing up with that bunch.”

“You mean she’ll come back dissatisfied with the simple life of Shopton and vicinity?”

“That’s what I fear.”

“Oh, cheer up, disciple of gloom!” laughed Ned. “You’ll find Mary just the same when she comes back as she is now. Is she eager to go?”

“That’s just it!” complained Tom. “She seems very keen about it.”

“Oh, well, a girl likes a change. And it can’t last forever.”

“No, I suppose not. Oh, well, I’m a grouch not to wish Mary to have a good time. But I did want her to see this House on Wheels,” and Tom acted like a small boy who has been kept home from a party.

“She’ll see it soon enough,” predicted Ned. “And it will look all the better when it’s complete and has had a tryout.”

“Maybe,” was all Tom would say, and then he plunged into work.

Ned expected that his friend would again go over to the Nestor house in the evening, but Tom, with rather a set look on his face, announced that he intended to work until late on his newest invention. However, he did telephone to Mary and arranged to call for her the next morning to take her to the station.

What took place at the train when Mary departed Ned did not know. But Tom came back looking more gloomy than before and plunged into work with a zeal which left his devoted chum far behind.

The Swift plant was a busy place in the days that followed. There was always more or less of routine labor in connection with several machines which Tom and his father had perfected, patented and had put on the market for general sale.

The latest invention of the young man, excepting the House on Wheels, had been a machine for showing moving pictures in the home, in simultaneous connection with vocal and instrumental effects by radio. It was possible to sit in one’s parlor and not only see a distant theatrical performance, but actually hear all that went on. The vision of the actors and actresses was reduced in size, but the pictures were very clear. And the radio, of an improved type, clearly brought every word and every note of music through the air.

This invention, or a share in it, had been sold to a syndicate which, for a time, had fought Tom Swift fiercely. But now matters were straightened out, though there was much detail to finish.

With that, and with overseeing the completion of his House on Wheels, Tom Swift had plenty of work to keep him busy. He was also worrying, as Ned easily guessed.

Though Tom received and wrote letters, the worried air did not depart from him and Ned knew his chum had a sore feeling in his heart. He was disappointed that Mary had not seen the new car before going away.

But if the young inventor was not privileged to listen to Mary’s praise, he had the chance to hear the enthusiastic comments of Mr. Damon who came over a few days after his night breakdown.

“Bless my safe deposit box, Tom!” exclaimed the eccentric man, “but I regard your House on Wheels as one of the most marvelous inventions of all time!”

“Strictly speaking it isn’t an invention,” said Tom. “It is merely an adaptation of several existing ones. I’ve simply taken a small house and put it on an automobile body.”

“But you have done it very cleverly,” said Mr. Damon. “This is an age of travel, Tom, and everybody is doing it. Now the one great drawback of travel is to find a place to stay at night, for no one likes to journey after dark, unless in a sleeping car.

“So it has come about that there are hotels and you know what a bother it is to arrange for a night’s stay. But now you come along with a house in which a person can travel all day, as in an ordinary automobile. Then at night, when getting to a town, instead of having to hunt up a garage and then a hotel, you just pull your bed down from the wall and tumble in. It’s great!”

“Well, I thought of that,” Tom said. “I’m hoping it will be the success I think it may be.”

“Of course it will be!” declared Mr. Damon. “You can book my order for one now, Tom.”

“Consider it booked!” and the young inventor smiled for one of the few times since Mary had gone away.

In spite of the fact that the House on Wheels was, to the unobservant, well nigh complete the day Mary Nestor went away, Tom said considerable yet remained to be done, and for another week he and his men labored hard over the structure.

But finally the last coat of varnish was applied and given time to dry. Not all the fittings were in place, but that was a small matter. The big twelve-cylinder motor was connected and the brake test had been satisfactory.

Then one evening, as Ned was about to leave to go to his home, Tom remarked to him:

“Can you spare the time to make a trip with me, Ned?”

“A trip where and how?”

“I don’t know just where, but as to how—in the House on Wheels.”

“Is she all ready?”

“We’ll give her a tryout to-morrow. Maybe the thing won’t work as well as I planned, but we’ll soon know. If it comes anywhere near the mark I’ve set, will you go with me?”

“On a trip? Sure!”

“All right,” said Tom, pacing the floor of his office. “We’ll have the tryout to-morrow. After that—well, we’ll see!”