TOM SWIFT AMONG THE DIAMOND MAKERS

or

The Secret of Phantom Mountain

 

By

VICTOR APPLETON

 

 

 

 

 

CONTENTS

 

 

CHAPTER

 

I      A SUSPICIOUS JEWELER

II     A MIDNIGHT VISIT

III    A STRANGE STORY

IV     ANDY FOGER GETS A FRIGHT

V      A MYSTERIOUS MAN

VI     MR. DAMON IS ON HAND

VII    MR. PARKER PREDICTS

VIII   OFF FOR THE WEST

IX     A WARNING BY WIRELESS

X      DROPPING THE STOWAWAY

XI     A WEARY SEARCH

XII    THE GREAT STONE HEAD

XIII   ON PHANTOM MOUNTAIN

XIV    WARNED BACK

XV     THE LANDSLIDE

XVI    THE VAST CAVERN

XVII   THE PHANTOM CAPTURED

XVIII  BILL RENSHAW WILL HELP

XIX    IN THE SECRET CAVE

XX     MAKING THE DIAMONDS

XXI    FLASHING GEMS

XXII   PRISONERS

XXIII  BROKEN BONDS

XXIV   IN GREAT PERIL

XXV    THE MOUNTAIN SHATTERED--CONCLUSION

 

 

 

 

TOM SWIFT AMONG THE DIAMOND MAKERS

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER I  -  A SUSPICIOUS JEWELER

 

 

"Well, Tom Swift, I don't believe you will make any mistake if

you buy that diamond," said the jeweler to a young man who was

inspecting a tray of pins, set with the sparkling stones. "It is

of the first water, and without a flaw."

 

"It certainly seems so, Mr. Track. I don't know much about

diamonds, and I'm depending on you. But this one looks to be all

right."

 

"Is it for yourself, Tom?"

 

"Er--no--that is, not exactly," and Tom Swift, the young

inventor of airships and submarines, blushed slightly.

 

"Ah, I see. It's for your housekeeper, Mrs. Baggert. Well, I

think she would like a pin of this sort. True, it's rather

expensive, but--"

 

"No, it isn't for Mrs. Baggert, Mr. Track," and Tom seemed a

bit embarrassed.

 

"No? Well, then, Tom--of course it's none of my affair, except

to sell you a good stone, But if this brooch is for a young lady,

I can't recommend anything nicer. Do you think you will take

this; or do you prefer to look at some others?"

 

"Oh, I think this will do, Mr. Track. I guess I'll take--"

 

Tom's Words were interrupted by a sudden action on the part of

the jeweler. Mr. Track ran from behind the showcase and hastened

toward the front door.

 

"Did you see him, Tom?" he cried. "I wonder which way he went?"

 

"Who?" asked the lad, following the shopkeeper.

 

"That man. He's been walking up and down in front of my place

for the last ten minutes--ever since you've been in here, in

fact, and I don't like his looks."

 

"What did he do?"

 

"Nothing much, except to stare in here as if he was sizing my

place up."

 

"Sizing it up?"

 

"Yes. Getting the lay of the land, so he or some confederate

could commit a robbery, maybe."

 

"A robbery? Do you think that man was a thief?"

 

"I don't know that he was, Tom, and yet a jeweler has to be

always on the watch, and that isn't a joke, either, Tom Swift.

Swindlers and thieves are always on the alert for a chance to rob

a jewelry store, and they work many games."

 

"I didn't notice any particular man looking in here," said Tom,

who still held the diamond brooch in his hand.

 

"Well I did," went on the jeweler. "I happened to glance out of

the window when you were looking at the pins, and I saw his eyes

staring in here in a suspicious manner. He may have a confederate

with him, and, when you're gone, one may come in, and pretend to

want to look at some diamonds. Then, when I'm showing him some,

the other man will enter, engage my attention, and the first man

will slip out with a diamond ring or pin. It's often done."

 

"You seem to have it all worked out, Mr. Track," observed the

lad, with a smile. "How do you know but what I'm in with a gang

of thieves, and that I'm only pretending to want to buy a diamond

pin?"

 

"Oh, I guess I haven't known you, Tom Swift, ever since you

were big enough to toddle, not to be sure about what you're up

to. But I certainly didn't like the looks of that man. However,

let's forget about him. He seems to have gone down the street,

and, after all, perhaps I was mistaken. Just wait until I show

you a few more styles before you decide. The young lady may like

one of these," and the jeweler went to another showcase and took

out some more trays of brooches.

 

"What makes you think she's a young lady, Mr. Track?" asked the

lad.

 

"Oh, it's easy guessing, Tom. We jewelers are good readers of

character. I can size up a young fellow coming in here to buy an

engagement or a wedding ring, as soon as he enters the door. I

suppose you'll soon be in the market for one of those, Tom, if

all the reports I hear about you are true--you and a certain Mary

Nestor."

 

"I--er--I think I don't care for any of these pins," spoke Tom,

quickly, with a blush. "I like the first lot best. I think I'll

take the one I had in my hand when that man alarmed you. Ha!

That's odd! What did I do with it?"

 

Tom looked about on the showcase, and glanced down on the

floor. He had mislaid the brooch, but the jeweler, with a laugh,

lifted it out of a tray a moment later.

 

"I saw you lay it down," he said. "We jewelers have to be on

the watch. Here it is. I'll just put it in a box, and--"

 

With an exclamation, Mr. Track gave a hasty glance toward his

big show window. Tom looked up, and saw a man's face peering in.

At the sight of it, he, too, uttered a cry of surprise.

 

The next instant the man outside knocked on the glass,

apparently with a piece of metal, making a sharp sound. As soon

as he heard it, the jeweler once more sprang from behind the

showcase, and leaped for the door crying:

 

"There's the thief! He's trying to cut a hole through my show

window and reach in and get something! It's an old trick. I'll

get the police! Tom, you stay here on guard!" and before the lad

could utter a protest, the jeweler had opened the door, and was

speeding down the street in the gathering darkness.

 

Tom stared about him in some bewilderment. He was left alone in

charge of a very valuable stock of jewelry, the owner of which

was racing after a supposed thief, crying:

 

"Police! Help! Thieves! Stop him, somebody!"

 

"This is a queer go," mused Tom. "I wonder who that man was? He

looked like somebody I know, and yet I can't seem to place his

face. I wonder if he was trying to rob the placer Maybe there's

another one--a confederate--around here."

 

This thought rather alarmed Tom, so he went to the door, and

looked up and down the street. He could see no suspicious

characters, but in the direction in which the jeweler was running

there was a little throng of people, following Mr. Track after

the man who had knocked on the window.

 

"I wish I was there, instead of here," mused the lad. "Still I

can't leave, or a thief might come in. Perhaps that was the game,

and one of the gang is hanging around, hoping the store will be

deserted, so he can enter and take what he likes."

 

Tom had read of such cases, and he at once resolved that he

would not only remain in the jewelry shop, but that he would lock

the door, which he at once proceeded to do. Then he breathed

easier.

 

The town of Shopton, in the outskirts of which Tom lived with

his father, and where the scene above narrated took place, was

none too well lighted at night, and the lad had his doubts about

the jeweler catching the oddly-acting man, especially as the

latter had a good start.

 

"But some one may head him off," reasoned Tom. "Though if they

do catch him, I don't see what they can prove against him. Hello,

here I am carrying this diamond pin around. I might lose it.

Guess I'll put it back on the tray."

 

He replaced in the proper receptacle one of the pins he bad

been examining when the excitement occurred.

 

"I wonder if Mary will like that?" he said, softly. "I hope she

does. Perhaps it would be better if she could come here herself

and pick out one--"

 

Tom's musing was suddenly interrupted by a sharp tattoo on the

glass door of the jewelry shop. With a start, he looked up, to

see staring in on him the face of the man who had been there

before--the man of whom the jeweler was even then in chase.

 

"WhyÄwhyÄÄ" stammered Tom.

 

The man knocked again.

 

"Tom--Tom Swift!" he called. "Don't you know me?"

 

"Know you--you?" repeated the lad.

 

"Yes Ä don't you remember Earthquake Island--how we were nearly

killed there--don't you remember Mr. Jenks?"

 

"Mr. Jenks?"

 

Tom was so startled that he could only repeat words after the

strange man, who was talking to him from outside the glass door.

 

"Yes, Mr. Jenks," was the reply. "Mr. Barcoe Jenks, who makes

diamonds. I saw you in the store about to buy a diamond--I wanted

to tell you not to--I'll give you a better diamond than you can

buy--I just arrived in this place--I must have a private talk

with you--Come out--I'll share a wonderful secret with you."

 

A flood of memory came to Tom. He did recall the very strange

man who walked around Earthquake Island--where Tom and some

friends had been marooned recently--walked about with a pocketful

of what he said were diamonds. Now Barcoe Jenks was here.

 

"I must see you privately, Tom Swift," went on Mr. Jenks, as he

once more tapped on the glass. "Don't waste money buying

diamonds, when you and I can make better ones. Where can I have a

talk with you? I--" Mr. Jenks suddenly looked down the dimly-

lighted street. "They're coming back!" he cried. "I don't want to

be seen. I'll call at your house later to-night--be on the watch

for me--until then--good-by!"

 

He waved his hand, and was gone in an instant. Tom stood

staring at the glass door. He hardly knew whether to believe it

or not--perhaps it was all a dream.

 

He pinched himself to make sure that he was awake. Very

substantial flesh met his thumb and finger, and he felt the pain.

 

"I'm awake all right," he murmured. "But Barcoe Jenks here--and

still talking that nonsense about his manufactured diamonds. I

think he must be crazy. I wonder--"

 

Once more the lad's musing was interrupted. He heard a murmur

of excited voices outside the store, on the street. Then the door

of the jewelry shop was tried. Mr. Track's face was pressed

against the glass.

 

"Open the door! Let me in, Tom!" he called. "I've caught the

thief," and as the lad unlocked the portal he saw that the

jeweler held by the arm a ragged lad. "Ah; you scoundrel! I've

caught you!" cried the diamond merchant, shaking the small chap,

while Tom looked on, more mystified than ever.

 

 

 

CHAPTER II  -  A MIDNIGHT VISIT

 

 

While Mr. Track, the jeweler, and several citizens, attracted

by the chase after the supposed thief, are crowded into the

store, anxious to hear explanations of the strange affair, I will

take the opportunity to tell you something of Tom Swift, the lad

who is to figure in this story.

 

Many of you have already made his acquaintance, when he has

been speeding about in his airship or fast electric runabout, and

to others we will state that our hero first made his bow to the

public in the book called "Tom Swift and His Motor-Cycle," the

initial volume of this series.

 

In that story there was related how Tom made the acquaintance

of an odd individual, named Mr. Wakefield Damon, who was

continually blessing himself, some part of his anatomy, or his

possessions. Mr. Damon was riding a motor-cycle, and it started

to climb a tree, to his pain and fright. Afterward Tom purchased

the machine, and had many adventures on it, including a chase

after a gang of men who had stolen a valuable patent model

belonging to Mr. Swift.

 

Mr. Swift, and his son were both inventors. They lived together

in a fine house in the suburbs of Shopton, New York, and with

them dwelt Mrs. Baggert, the housekeeper (for Tom's mother was

dead), and also Garret Jackson, an expert engineer, who aided the

young inventor and his father in perfecting many machines.

 

There was also another semi-member of the household, to wit,

Eradicate Sampson, an eccentric colored man, who owned a mule

called Boomerang. Eradicate did odd jobs around the place, and

the mule assisted his owner--that is when the mule felt like it.

 

In the second volume of the series, entitled "Tom Swift and His

Motor-Boat," there was related the incidents following a pursuit

after a gang of unprincipled men, who sought to get Possession of

some of Mr. Swift's patents, and it was while in this boat that

Tom, his father, and a friend, Ned Newton, rescued from Lake

Carlopa a Mr. John Sharp, who fell from his burning balloon. Mr.

Sharp was a skilled aeronaut, and after his recovery he joined

Tom in building a big airship, called the Red Cloud. Tom's

adventures in this craft are set down in detail in the third

volume of the series, called "Tom Swift and His Airship." Not

only did he and Mr. Sharp and Mr. Damon make a great trip, but

they captured some bank robbers, and incidentally cleared

themselves from the imputation of having looted the vault of

seventy-five thousand dollars, which charge was fostered by a

certain Mr. Foger, and his son Andy, who was Tom's enemy.

 

Not satisfied with having conquered the air, Tom and his father

set to work to gain a victory over the ocean. They built a boat

that could navigate under water, and, in the fourth book of the

series, called "Tom Swift and His Submarine Boat," you will find

an account of how they went under the ocean to secure a sunken

treasure, and the fight they had with their enemies who sought to

get it away from them. They went through many perils, not the

least of which was capture by a foreign warship.

 

In the fifth book, entitled "Tom Swift and His Electric

Runabout," there was told the story of a wonderfully speedy

electric automobile the young inventor constructed, and how he

made a great race in it, and saved from ruin a bank, in which his

father and Mr. Damon were interested.

 

Tom's ability as an inventor had, by this time, become well

known. One day, as related in a volume called "Tom Swift and His

Wireless Message," he received a letter from a Mr. Hosmer

Fenwick, of Philadelphia, asking his aid in perfecting an airship

which the resident of the Quaker City had built, but which would

not work. In his small monoplane, the Butterfly, Tom and Mr.

Damon went to Philadelphia, as Mr. Damon was acquainted with Mr.

Fenwick.

 

Tom carefully inspected the Whizzer which was the name of Mr.

Fenwick's airship, and, after some difficulties, succeeded in

getting the electric craft in shape to make a flight.

 

Tom, Mr. Damon and Mr. Fenwick started to make a trip to Cape

May in the Whizzer, but were caught in a terrific storm, and

blown out to sea. The wind became a hurricane, the airship was

disabled, and wrecked in mid-air. When it fell to earth it landed

on one of the small West Indian islands, but what was the terror

of the three castaways to find that the island was subject to

earthquake shocks.

 

But the earth-tremors were not the only surprise in store for

Tom and his two friends, On the island they found five men and

two ladies, who, by strange chance, had been stranded there when

the yacht Resolute, owned by Mr. George Hosbrook, was wrecked in

the same storm that disabled the airship. Mr. Hosbrook, a

millionaire, was taking a party of friends to the West Indies.

 

When the castaways (among whom were Mr. and Mrs. Amos Nestor,

parents of Mary Nestor, a girl of whom Tom was very fond) found

that there was danger of the island being destroyed in an

earthquake, they were in despair. There seemed no way of being

rescued, as the island was out of the line of regular ship

travel.

 

Tom, however, was resourceful. With the electrical apparatus

from the wrecked airship, he built a wireless plant, and sent

messages for help, broadcast over the ocean.

 

They were finally heard, and answered, by an operator on board

the steamer Camberanian, which came on under forced draught, and

rescued Tom and his friends. It was only just in time, for, no

sooner had they gotten aboard the steamer in lifeboats, than the

whole island was destroyed by an earthquake shock.

 

But Tom, the parents of Mary Nestor, Mr. Damon, Mr. Fenwick,

and all the others, got safely home. Among the survivors from the

yacht Resolute was a Mr. Barcoe Jenks, who now, most

unexpectedly, had confronted Tom through the glass window of the

jewelry store. Mr. Jenks was a peculiar man. Tom discovered this

on Earthquake Island. Mr. Jenks carried with him some stones

which he said were diamonds. He asserted that he had made them,

but Tom did not know whether or not to believe this.

 

When it seemed that the castaways would not be saved Mr. Jenks

offered Tom a large sum in these same diamonds for some plan

whereby he might escape the earthquakes. Mr. Jenks said there was

a certain secret in connection with the manufactured diamonds

that he had to solve--that he had been defrauded of his rights--

and that a certain Phantom Mountain figured in it. But Tom, at

that time, paid little attention to Mr. Jenks' talk. The time was

to come, however, when he would attach much importance to it.

 

When this story opens, Tom was more interested in Mr. Barcoe

Jenks than in any one else, and was wondering what he wanted to

see him about. The young inventor could not quite understand how

Mr. Track, the jeweler, could come back with a lad he suspected

of being a thief, when the person who had acted so suspiciously,

and who had knocked on the glass, was the queer man, Mr. Jenks.

 

"Yes, Tom I caught him," the jeweler went on. "I chased after

him, and nabbed him. It was hard work, too, for I'm not a good

runner. Now, you little rascal, tell me why you tried to rob my

store?" and the diamond merchant shook the lad roughly.

 

"I--I didn't try to rob your store," was the timid answer.

 

"Well, perhaps you didn't, exactly, but your confederates did.

Why did you rap on the glass, and why were you staring in so

intently?"

 

"I wasn't lookin' in."

 

"Well, if it wasn't you, it was some one just like you. But why

did you run when I raced down the street?"

 

"I--I don't know," and the lad began to snivel. "I--I jest ran-

-that's all--'cause I see everybody else runnin', an' I thought

there was a fire."

 

"Ha! That's a likely story! You ran because you are guilty! I'm

going to hand you over to the police."

 

"Did he get anything, Mr. Track?" asked one of the men who had

joined the jeweler in the chase.

 

"No, I can't say that he did. He didn't get a chance. Tom Swift

was in here at the time. But this fellow was only waiting for a

chance to steal, or else to aid his confederates."

 

"But, if he didn't take anything, I don't see how you can have

him arrested," went on the man.

 

"On suspicion; that's how!" asserted Mr. Track. "Will some one

get me a constable?"

 

"I wouldn't call a constable," said Tom, quietly.

 

"Why not?"

 

"Because that isn't the person who looked in your window."

 

"How do you know, Tom?"

 

"Because that person came back while you were out. I saw him."

 

"You saw him? Did he try to steal any of my diamonds, Tom?"

 

"No, I guess he doesn't need any."

 

"Why not?" There was wonder in the jeweler's tone.

 

"Why, he claims he can make all he wants."

 

"Make diamonds?"

 

"So he says."

 

"Why, he must be crazy!" and Mr. Track laughed.

 

"Perhaps he is," admitted Tom, "I'm only telling you what he

says. He's the person who acted so suspiciously. He came back

here, I'm telling you, while you were running down the street,

and spoke to me."

 

"Oh, then you know him?" The jeweler's voice was suspicious.

 

"I didn't at first," admitted Tom. "But when he said he was Mr.

Barcoe Jenks, I remembered that I had met him when I was cast

away on Earthquake Island."

 

"And he says he can make diamonds?" asked Mr. Track.

 

"What did he want of you?" and the jeweler looked at Tom,

quizzically.

 

"He wanted to have a talk with me," replied the lad, "and when

he saw me in your store, he tried to attract my attention by

knocking on the glass."

 

"That's a queer way to do," declared Mr. Track. "What did he

want?"

 

"I don't know exactly," answered Tom, not caring to go into

details just then. "But I'm sure, Mr. Track, that you've got the

wrong person there. That lad never looked in the window, nor

knocked on the glass."

 

"That's right--I didn't," asserted the captive.

 

The jeweler looked doubtful.

 

"Why did you run?" he asked.

 

"I told you, I thought there was a fire."

 

"That's right, I don't believe he's the fellow you want," put

in another man. "I was standing on the corner, near White's

grocery store, and I noticed this lad. That was before I heard

you yelling, and saw you coming, and then I joined in the chase.

I guess the man you were after got away, Track."

 

"He did," asserted Tom. "He came back here, a little while ago,

and he ran away just now, as he heard you coming."

 

"Where did he go?" asked the jeweler, eagerly.

 

"I don't know," answered Tom. "Only you've got the wrong lad

here."

 

"Well, perhaps I have," admitted the diamond merchant. "You can

go, youngster, but next time, don't run if you're not guilty."

 

"I thought there was a fire," repeated the lad, as he hurriedly

slipped through the crowd in the store, and disappeared down the

dark street.

 

"Well, I guess the excitement's all over, and, anyhow, you

weren't robbed, Track," said a stout man, as he left the store.

The others soon followed, and Tom and the jeweler were once more

alone in the shop.

 

"Can you tell me something about this man, Tom?" asked Mr.

Track, eagerly. "So he really makes diamonds. Who is he?"

 

"I'd rather not tell--just now," replied the young inventor. "I

don't take much stock in him, myself. I think he's visionary. He

may think he has made diamonds, and he may have made some stones

that look like them. I'm very skeptical."

 

"If you could bring me some, Tom, I could soon tell whether

they were real or not. Can you?"

 

The lad shook his head.

 

"I don't expect to see Mr. Jenks again," he said. "He talked

rather wildly about waiting to meet me, but that man is odd--

crazy, perhaps--and I don't imagine I'll see him. He's harmless,

but he's eccentric. Well, there was quite some excitement for a

time."

 

"I should say there was. I thought it was a plan to rob me,"

and the jeweler began putting away the diamond pins. In fact, the

excitement so filled the minds of himself and Tom that neither of

them thought any more of the object of the lad's visit, and the

young inventor departed without purchasing the pin he had come

after.

 

It was not until he was out on the street, walking toward his

home, that the matter came back to his mind.

 

"I declare!" he exclaimed. "I didn't get that pin for Mary,

after all! Well, never mind, I have a week until her birthday,

and I can get it toÄmorrow."

 

He walked rapidly toward home, for the weather looked

threatening, and Tom had no umbrella. He was musing on the

happenings of the evening when he reached his house. His father

was out, as was Garret Jackson, the engineer; and Mrs. Baggert,

the housekeeper, was entertaining a lady in the sitting-room, so,

as Tom was rather tired, he went directly to his own room, and, a

little later got into bed.

 

It was shortly after midnight when he was awakened by hearing a

rattling on the window of his room. The reason he was able to fix

the time so accurately was because as soon as he awakened he

pressed a little electric button, and it illuminated the face of

a small clock on his bureau. The hands pointed to five minutes

past twelve.

 

"Humph! That sounds like hail!" exclaimed Tom, as he arose, and

looked out of the casement. "I wonder if any of the skylights of

the airship shed are open? There might be some damage. Guess I'd

better go out and take a look."

 

He had mentally reasoned this far before he had looked out, and

when he saw that the moon was brightly shining in a clear sky, he

was a bit surprised.

 

"Why-Äthat wasn't hail," he murmured. "It isn't even raining. I

wonder what it was?"

 

He was answered a moment later, for a shower of fine gravel

from the walk flew up and clattered against the glass. With a

start, Tom looked down, and saw a dark figure standing under an

apple tree.

 

"Hello! Who's there?" called the lad, after he had raised the

sash.

 

"It's I--Mr. Jenks," was the surprising answer.

 

"Mr. Jenks?" repeated Tom.

 

"Yes--Barcoe Jenks, of Earthquake Island."

 

"You here? What do you want?"

 

"Can you come down?"

 

"What for?"

 

"Tom Swift, I've something very important to tell you," was the

answer in a low voice, yet which carried to Tom's ears perfectly.

"Do you want to make a fortune for yourself--and for me?"

 

"How?" Tom was beginning to think more and more that Mr. Jenks

was crazy.

 

"How? By helping me to discover the secret of Phantom Mountain,

where the diamonds are made! Will you?"

 

"Wait a minute--I'll come down," answered Tom, and he began to

grope for his clothes in the dim light of the little electric

lamp.

 

What was the secret of Phantom Mountain? What did Mr. Jenks

really want? Could he make diamonds? Tom asked himself these

questions as he hastily dressed to go down to his midnight

visitor.

 

 

 

CHAPTER III  -  A STRANGE STORY

 

 

"Well, Mr. Jenks," began Tom, when he had descended to the

garden, and greeted the man who had acted so strangely on

Earthquake Island, "this is rather an odd time for a visit."

 

"I realize that, Tom Swift," was the answer, and the lad

noticed that the man spoke much more calmly than he had that

evening at the jewelry shop. "I realize that, but I have to be

cautious in my movements."

 

"Why?"

 

"Because there are enemies on my track. If they thought I was

seeking aid to discover the secret of Phantom Mountain, my life

might pay the forfeit."

 

"Are you in earnest, Mr. Jenks?"

 

"I certainly am, and, while I must apologize for awakening you

at this unseemly hour, and for the mysterious nature of my visit,

if you will let me tell my story, you will see the need of

secrecy."

 

"Oh, I don't mind being awakened," answered Tom, good-

naturedly, "but I will be frank with you, Mr. Jenks. I hardly can

believe what you have stated to me several times--that you know

how diamonds can be made."

 

"I can prove it to you," was the quiet answer.

 

"Yes, I know. For centuries men have tried to discover the

secret of transmuting base metals into gold, and how to make

diamonds by chemical means. But they have all been failures."

 

"All except this process--the process used at Phantom

Mountain," insisted the queer man. "Do you want to hear my

story?"

 

"I have no objections."

 

"Then let me warn you," went on Mr. Jenks, "that if you do hear

it, you will be so fascinated by it that I am sure you will want

to cast your lot in with mine, and aid me to get my rights, and

solve the mystery. And I also want to warn you that if you do,

there is a certain amount of danger connected with it."

 

"I'm used to danger," answered Tom, quietly. "Let me hear your

story. But first explain how you came to come here, and why you

acted so strangely at the jewelry store."

 

"Willingly. I tried to attract your attention at the store,

because I saw that you were going to buy a diamond, and I didn't

want you to."

 

"Why not?"

 

"Because I want to present you with a beautiful stone, that

will answer your purpose as well or better, than any one you

could buy. That will prove my story better than any amount of

words or argument. But I could not attract your attention without

also attracting that of the jeweler. He became suspicious, gave

chase, and I thought it best to vanish. I hope no one was made to

suffer for what may have been my imprudence."

 

"No, the lad whom Mr. Track caught was let go. But how did you

happen to come to Shopton?"

 

"To see you. I got your address from the owner of the yacht

Resolute. I knew that if there was one person who could aid me to

recover my rights, it would be you, Tom Swift. Will you help me?

Will you come with me to discover the secret of Phantom Mountain?

If we go, it will have to be in an airship, for in no other way,

I think, can we come upon the place, as it is closely guarded.

Will you come? I will pay you well."

 

"Perhaps I had better hear your story," said the young

inventor. "But first let me suggest that we move farther away

from the house. My father, or Mr. Jackson, or the housekeeper,

may hear us talking, and it may disturb them. Come with me to my

private shop," and Tom led the way to a small building where he

did experimental work. He unlocked the door with a key he

carried, turned on the lights, which were run by a storage

battery, and motioned Mr. Jenks to a seat.

 

"Now I'll hear your story," said Tom.

 

"I'll make it as short as possible," went on the queer man. "To

begin with, it is now several years ago since a poorly dressed

stranger applied to me one night for money enough to get a meal

and a bed to sleep in. I was living in New York City at the time,

and this was midnight, as I was returning home from my club.

 

"I was touched by the man's appearance, and gave him some

money. He asked for my card, saying he would repay me some day. I

gave it to him, little thinking I would hear from the man again.

But I did. He called at my apartments about a week later, saying

he had secured work as an expert setter of diamonds, and wanted

to repay me. I did not want to take his money, but the fact that

such a sorry looking specimen of manhood as he had been when I

aided him, was an expert handler of gems interested me. I talked

with the man, and he made a curious statement.

 

"This man, who gave his name as Enos Folwell, said he knew a

place where diamonds could be made, partly in a scientific

manner, and partly by the forces of nature. I laughed at him, but

he told me so many details that I began to believe him. He said

he and some other friends of his, who were diamond cutters, had a

plant in the midst of the Rocky Mountains, where they had

succeeded in making several small, but very perfect diamonds.

They had come to the end of their rope, though, so to speak,

because they could not afford to buy the materials needed.

Folwell said that he and his companions had temporarily

separated, had left the mountain where they made diamonds, and

agreed to meet there later when they had more money with which to

purchase materials. They had all agreed to go out into

civilization, and work for enough funds to enable them to go on

with their diamond making.

 

"I hardly knew whether to believe the man or not, but he

offered proof. He had several small, but very perfect diamonds

with him, and he gave them to me, to have tested in any way I

desired.

 

"I promised to look into the matter, and, as I was quite

wealthy, as, in fact I am now, and if I found that the stones he

gave me were real, I said I might invest some money in the

plant."

 

"Were the diamonds good?" asked Tom, who was beginning to be

interested.

 

"They were--stones of the first water, though small. An expert

gem merchant, to whom I took them, said he had never seen any

diamonds like them, and he wanted to know where I got them. Of

course I did not tell him.

 

"To make a long story short, I saw Folwell again, told him to

communicate with his companions, and to tell them that I would

agree to supply the cash needed, if I could share in the diamond

making. To this they agreed, and, after some weeks spent in

preparation, a party of us set out for Phantom Mountain."

 

"Phantom Mountain?" interrupted Tom. "Where is it?"

 

"I don't know, exactly--it's somewhere in the Rockies, but the

exact location is a mystery. That is why I need your help. You

will soon understand the reason. Well, as I said, myself, Folwell

and the others, who were not exactly prepossessing sort of men,

started west. When we got to a small town, called Indian Ridge,

near Leadville, Colorado, the men insisted that I must now

proceed in secret, and consent to be blindfolded, as they were

not yet ready to reveal the secret of the place where they made

the diamonds.

 

"I did not want to agree to this, but they insisted, and I gave

in, foolishly perhaps. At any rate I was blindfolded one night,

placed in a wagon, and we drove off into the mountains. After

traveling for some distance I was led, still blindfolded, up a

steep trail.

 

"When the bandage was taken off my eyes I saw that I was in a

large cave. The men were with me, and they apologized for the

necessity that caused them to blindfold me. They said they were

ready to proceed with the making of diamonds, but I must promise

not to seek to discover the secret until they gave me permission,

nor was I to attempt to leave the cave. I had to agree.

 

"Next they demanded that I give them a large sum, which I had

promised when they showed me, conclusively, that they could make

diamonds. I refused to do this until I had seen some of the

precious stones, and they agreed that this was fair, but said I

would have to wait a few days.

 

"Well, I waited, and, all that while, I was virtually a

prisoner in the cave. All I could learn was that it was in the

midst of a great range, near the top, and that one of the peaks

was called Phantom Mountain. Why, I did not learn until later.

 

"At last one night, during a terrific thunder storm, the

leader of the diamond makers--Folwell--announced that I could now

see the stones made. The men had been preparing their chemicals

for some days previous. I was taken into a small chamber of the

cave, and there saw quite a complicated apparatus. Part of it was

a great steel box, with a lever on it.

 

"We will let you make some diamonds for yourself," Folwell said

to me, and he directed me to pull the lever of the box, at a

certain signal. The signal came, just as a terrific crash of

thunder shook the very mountain inside of which we were. The box

of steel got red-hot, and when it cooled off it was opened, and

was given a handful of white stones."

 

"Were they diamonds?" asked Tom, eagerly.

 

Mr. Jenks held out one hand. In the palm glittered a large

stone--ostensibly a diamond. In the rays of the moon it showed

all the colors of the rainbow--a beautiful gem. "That is one of

the stones I made--or rather that I supposed I had made," went on

Mr. Jenks. "It is one of several I have, but they have not all

been cut and polished as has this one.

 

"Naturally I was much impressed by what I saw, and, after I had

made certain tests which convinced me that the stones in the

steel box were diamonds, I paid over the money as I had promised.

That was my undoing."

 

"How?"

 

"As soon as the men got the cash, they had no further use for

me. The next I remember is eating a rude meal, while we discussed

the future of making diamonds. I knew nothing more until I found

myself back in the small hotel at Indian Ridge, whence I had gone

some time previous, with the men, to the cave in the mountain."

 

"What happened?" asked Tom, much surprised by the unexpected

outcome of the affair. "I had been tricked, that was all! As soon

as the men had my money they had no further use for me. They did

not want me to learn the secret of their diamond making, and they

drugged me, carried me away from the cave, and left me in the

hotel."

 

"Didn't you try to find the cave again?"

 

"I did, but without avail. I spent some time in the Rockies,

but no one could tell where Phantom Mountain was; in fact, few

had heard of it, and I was nearly lost searching for it.

 

"I came back East, determined to get even. I had given the men

a very large sum of money, and, in exchange, they had given me

several diamonds. Probably the stones are worth nearly as much as

the money I invested, but I was cheated, for I was promised an

equal share in the profits. These were denied me, and I was

tricked. I determined to be revenged, or at least to discover the

secret of making diamonds. It is my right."

 

"I agree with you," spoke Tom.

 

"But, up to the time I met you on Earthquake Island, I could

form no plan for discovering Phantom Mountain, and learning the

secret of the diamond makers," went on Mr. Jenks. "I carried the

gems about with me, as you doubtless saw when we were on the

island. But I knew I needed an airship in which to fly over the

mountains, and pick out the location of the cave where the

diamonds are made."

 

"But how can you locate it, if you were blindfolded when you

were taken there, Mr. Jenks?"

 

"I forgot to tell you that, on our journey into the mountains,

and just before I was carried into the cave, I managed to raise

one corner of the bandage. I caught a glimpse of a very

peculiarly shaped cliff--it is like a great head, standing out in

bold relief against the moonlight, when I saw it. That head of

rock is near the cave. It may be the landmark by which we can

locate Phantom Mountain."

 

"Perhaps," admitted the young inventor.

 

"What I want to know is this," went on Mr. Jenks. "Will you go

with me on this quest--go in your airship to discover the secret

of the diamond makers? If you will, I will share with you

whatever diamonds we can discover, or make; besides paying all

expenses. Will you go, Tom Swift?"

 

The young inventor did not know what to answer. How far was Mr.

Jenks to be trusted? Were the stones he had real diamonds? Was

his story, fantastical as it sounded--true? Would it be safe for

Tom to go?

 

The lad asked himself these questions. Mr. Jenks saw his

hesitation.

 

"Here," said the strange man, "I will prove what I say. Take

this diamond. I intended it for you, anyhow, for what you did for

me on Earthquake Island. Take it, and--and give it to the person

for whom you were about to purchase a diamond to-night. But,

first of all, take it to a gem expert, and get his opinion. That

will prove the truth of what I say, Tom Swift, and I feel sure

that you will cast your lot in with mine, and help me to discover

the secret of Phantom Mountain, and aid me to get my rights from

the diamond makers!"

 

 

 

CHAPTER IV  -  ANDY FOGER GETS A FRIGHT

 

 

Tom Swift considered a few minutes. On the face of it, the

proposition appealed to him. He had been home some time now after

his adventures on Earthquake Island, and he was beginning to long

for more excitement. The search for the mysterious mountain, and

the cave of the diamond makers, might offer a new field for him.

But there came to him a certain distrust of Mr. Jenks.

 

"I don't like to doubt your word," began Tom, slowly, "but you

know, Mr. Jenks, that some of the greatest chemists have tried in

vain to make diamonds; or, at best, they have made only tiny

ones. To think that any man, or set of men, made real diamonds as

large as the ones you have, doesn't seem--well--" and Tom

hesitated.

 

"You mean you can hardly believe me?" asked Mr. Jenks.

 

"I guess that's it," assented Tom.

 

"I don't blame you a bit!" exclaimed the odd man. "In fact, I

didn't believe it when they told me they could make diamonds. But

they proved it to me. I'm ready now to prove it to you."

 

"I'll tell you what I'll do. Here's this one stone, cut ready

for setting. Here's another, uncut," and Mr. Jenks drew from his

pocket what looked like a piece of crystal. "Take them to any

jeweler," he resumed--"to the one in whose place I saw you to-

night. I'll abide by the verdict you get, and I'll come here to-

morrow night, and hear what you have to say."

 

"Why do you come at night?" asked Tom, thinking there was

something suspicious in that.

 

"Because my life might be in danger if I was seen talking to

you, and showing you diamonds in the daytime--especially just

now.

 

"Why at this particular time?"

 

"For the reason that the diamond makers are on my trail. As

long as I remained quiet, after their shabby treatment of me, and

did not try to discover their secret, they were all right. But,

after I realized that I had been cheated out of my rights, and

when I began to make an investigation, with a view to discovering

their secret whereabouts, I received mysterious and anonymous

warnings to stop."

 

"But I did not. I came East, and tried to get help to discover

the cave of the diamond makers, but I was unsuccessful. I needed

an airship, as I--said, and no person who could operate one,

would agree to go with me on the quest. Again I received a

warning to drop all search for the diamond makers, but I

persisted, and about a week ago I found I was being shadowed."

 

"Shadowed; by whom?" asked Tom.

 

"By a man I never remember seeing, but who, I have no doubt, is

one of the diamond-making gang."

 

"Do you think he means you harm?"

 

"I'm sure of it. That is the reason I have to act so in secret,

and come to see you at night. I don't want those scoundrels to

find out what I am about to do. On my return from Earthquake

Island, I again endeavored to interest an airship man in my plan,

but he evidently thought me insane. Then I thought of you, as I

had done before, but I was afraid you, too, would laugh at my

proposition. However, I decided to come here, and I did. It

seemed almost providential that my first view of you was in a

jewelry shop, looking at diamonds. I took it as a good omen. Now

it remains with you. May I call here to-morrow night, and get

your answer?"

 

Tom Swift made up his mind quickly. After all it would be easy

enough to find out if the diamonds were real. If they were, he

could then decide whether or not to go with Mr. Jenks on the

mysterious quest. So he answered:

 

"I'll consider the matter, Mr. Jenks. I'll meet you here to-

morrow night. In the meanwhile, for my own satisfaction, I'll let

an expert look at these stones."

 

"Get the greatest diamond expert in the world, and he'll

pronounce them perfect!" predicted the odd man. "Now I'll bid you

goodnight, and be going. I'll be here at this time toÄmorrow."

 

As Mr. Jenks turned aside there was a movement among the trees

in the orchard, and a shadowy figure was seen hurrying away.

 

"Who's that?" asked the diamond man, in a hoarse whisper. "Did

you see that, Tom Swift? Some one was here--listening to what I

said! Perhaps it was the man who has been shadowing me!"

 

"I think not. I guess it was Eradicate Sampson, a colored man

who does work for us," said Tom. "Is that you, Rad?" he called.

 

"Yais, sah, Massa Tom, heah I is!" answered the voice of the

negro, but it came from an entirely different direction than that

in which the shadowy figure had been seen.

 

"Where are you, Rad?" called the young inventor.

 

"Right heah," was the reply, and the colored man came from the

direction of the stable. "I were jest out seein' if mah mule

Boomerang were all right. Sometimes he's restless, an' don't

sleep laik he oughter."

 

"Then that wasn't you over in the orchard?" asked Tom, in some

uneasiness.

 

"No, sah, I ain't been in de orchard. I were sleepin' in mah

shack, till jest a few minutes ago, when I got up, an' went in t'

see Boomerang. I had a dream dat some coon were tryin t' steal

him, an' it sort ob 'sturbed me, laik."

 

"If it wasn't your man, it was some one else," said Mr. Jenks,

decidedly.

 

"We'll have a look!" exclaimed Tom. "Here, Rad, come over and

scurry among those trees. We just saw some one sneaking around."

 

"I'll sure do dat!" cried the colored man. "Mebby it were

somebody arter Boomerang! I'll find 'em."

 

"I don't believe it was any one after the mule," murmured Mr.

Jenks, "but it certainly was some one--more likely some one after

me."

 

The three made a hasty search among the trees, but the intruder

had vanished, leaving no trace. They went out into the road,

which the moon threw into bold relief along its white stretch,

but there was no figure scurrying away.

 

"Whoever it was, is gone," spoke Tom. "You can go back to bed,

Rad," for the colored man, of late, had been sleeping in a shack

on the Swift premises.

 

"And I guess it's time for me to go, too," added Mr. Jenks.

"I'll be here to-morrow night, Tom, and I hope your answer will

be favorable."

 

Tom did not sleep well the remainder of the night, for his

fitful slumbers were disturbed by dreams of enormous caves,

filled with diamonds, with dark, shadowy figures trying to put

him into a red-hot steel box. Once he awakened with a start, and

put his hand under his pillow to feel if the two stones Mr. Jenks

had given him, were still there. They had not been disturbed.

 

Tom made up his mind to find out if the stones were really

diamonds, before saying anything to his father about the chance

of going to seek Phantom Mountain. And the young inventor wished

to get the opinion of some other jeweler than Mr. Track--at

least, at first.

 

"Though if this one proves to be a good gem, I'll have Mr.

Track set it in a brooch, and give it to Mary for her birthday,"

decided the young inventor. "Guess I'll take a run over to

Chester in the Butterfly, and see what one of the jewelers there

has to say."

 

In addition to his big airship, Red Cloud, Tom owned a small,

swift monoplane, which he called Butterfly. This had been damaged

by Andy Foger just before Tom left on the trip that ended at

Earthquake Island, but the monoplane had been repaired, and Andy

had left town, not having returned since.

 

Telling his father that he was going off on a little business

trip, which he often did in his aeroplane, Tom, with the aid of

Mr. Jackson, the engineer, wheeled the Butterfly out of its shed.

 

Adjusting the mechanism, and seeing that it was in good shape,

Tom took his place in one of the two seats, for the monoplane

would carry two. Mr. Jackson then spun the propellers, and, with

a crackle and roar the motor started. Over the ground ran the

dainty, little aeroplane, until, having momentum enough, Tom

tilted the wing planes and the machine sailed up into the air.

 

Rising about a thousand feet, and circling about several times

to test the wind currents, Tom headed his craft toward Chester,

a city about fifty miles from Shopton. In his pocket, snugly

tucked away, were the two stones Mr. Jenks had given him.

 

It was not long before Tom saw, looming up in the distance the

church spires and towering factory chimneys of Chester, for his

machine was a speedy one, and could make ninety miles an hour

when driven. But now a slower speed satisfied our hero.

 

"I'll just drop down outside of the city," he reasoned, "for

too much of a crowd gathers when I land in the street. Besides I

might frighten horses, and then, too, it's hard to get a good

start from the street. I'll leave it in some barn until I want to

go back."

 

Tom sent his craft down, in order to pick out a safe place for

a landing. He was then over the suburbs of the city, and was

following the line of a straight country road.

 

"Looks like a good place there," he murmured. "I'll shut off

the motor, and vol-plane down."

 

Suiting the action to the word, Tom shut off his power. The

little craft dipped toward the ground, but the lad threw up the

forward planes, and caught a current of air that sent him

skimming along horizontally.

 

As he got nearer to the ground, he saw the figure of a lad

riding a bicycle along the country highway. Something about the

figure struck Tom as being familiar, and he recognized the

cyclist a moment later.

 

"It's Andy Foger!" said Tom, in a whisper. "I wondered where he

had been keeping himself since he damaged the Butterfly.

Evidently he doesn't dare venture back to Shopton. Well, here's

where I give him a scare."

 

Tom's monoplane was making no more noise, now, than a soaring

bird. He was gliding swiftly toward the earth, and, with the plan

in his mind of administering some sort of punishment to the

bully, he aimed the machine directly at him.

 

Nearer and nearer shot the monoplane, as quietly as a sheet of

paper might fall. Andy pedaled on, never looking up nor behind

him, A moment later, as Tom threw up his headplanes, to make his

landing more easy, and just as he swooped down at one side of the

cyclist, our hero let out a most alarming yell, right into Andy's

ear.

 

"Now I've got you!" he shouted. "I'll teach you to slash my

aeroplane! Come with me!"

 

Andy gave one look at the white bird-like apparatus that had

flown up beside him so noiselessly, and, being too frightened to

recognize Tom's voice, must have thought that he had been

overtaken by some supernatural visitor.

 

Andy gave a yell like an Indian, about to do a stage scalping

act, and fairly dived over the handlebars of his bicycle,

sprawling in a heap on the dusty road.

 

"I guess that will hold you for a while," observed Tom, grimly,

as he put on the ground-brake and brought his monoplane to a stop

not far from the fallen rider.

 

 

 

CHAPTER V  -  A MYSTERIOUS MAN

 

 

For several minutes Andy Foger did not arise. He remained

prostrate in the dust, and Tom, observing him, thought perhaps

the bully might have been seriously injured. But, a little later,

Andy cautiously raised his head, and inquired in a frightened

voice:

 

"Is it--is it gone?"

 

"Is what gone?" asked Tom, grimly.

 

At the sound of his voice, Andy looked up. "Was that you, Tom

Swift?" he demanded. "Did you knock me off my wheel?"

 

"My monoplane and I together did," was the reply; "or, rather,

we didn't. It was the nervous reaction caused by your fright, and

the knowledge that you had done wrong, that made you jump over

the handlebars. That's the scientific explanation."

 

"You--you did it!" stammered Andy, getting to his feet. He

wasn't hurt much, Tom thought.

 

"Have it your own way," resumed our hero. "Did you think it was

a hob-goblin in a chariot of fire after you, Andy?"

 

"Huh! Never mind what I thought! I'll have you arrested for

this!"

 

"Will you? Delighted, as the boys say. Hop in my airship and

I'll take you right into town. And when I get you there I'll make

a charge of malicious mischief against you, for breaking the

propeller of the Butterfly and slashing her wings. I've mended

her up, however, so she goes better than ever, and I can take you

to the police station in jig time. Want to come, Andy?"

 

This was too much for the bully. He knew that Tom would have a

clear case against him, and he did not dare answer. Instead he

shuffled over to where his wheel lay, picked it up, and rode

slowly off.

 

"Good riddance," murmured Tom. He looked about, and saw that he

was near a house, in the rear of which was a good-sized barn.

"Guess I'll ask if I can leave the Butterfly there," he murmured,

and, ringing the doorbell, he was greeted by a man.

 

"I'll pay you if you'll let me store my machine in the barn a

little while, until I go into the city, and return," spoke the

lad.

 

"Indeed, you're welcome to leave it there without pay," was the

answer. "I'm interested in airships, and, I'll consider it a

favor if you'll let me look yours over while it's here."

 

Tom readily agreed, and a few minutes later he had caught a

trolley going into the city. He was soon in one of the largest

jewelry stores of Chester.

 

"I'd like to get an expert opinion as to whether or not those

stones are diamonds," spoke Tom, to the polite clerk who came up

to wait on him, and our hero handed over the two gems which Mr.

Jenks had given him. "I'm willing to pay for the appraisement, of

course," the young inventor added, as he saw the clerk looking

rather doubtfully at him, for Tom had on a rough suit, which he

always donned when he flew in his monoplane.

 

"I'll turn them over to our Mr. Porter, a gem expert," said the

clerk. "Please be seated."

 

The young man disappeared into a private office with the

stones, and Tom waited. He wondered if he was going to have his

trouble for his pains. Presently two elderly gentlemen came from

the little room, on the glass door of which appeared the word

"Diamonds."

 

"Who brought these stones in?" asked one of the men, evidently

the proprietor, from the deference paid him by the clerk. The

latter motioned to Tom.

 

"Will you kindly step inside here?" requested the elderly man.

When the door was closed, Tom found himself in a room which was

mostly taken up with a bench for the display of precious stones,

a few chairs, and some lights arranged peculiarly; while various

scales and instruments stood on a table.

 

"You wished an opinion on--on these?" queried the proprietor of

the place. Tom noticed at once that the word "diamonds" was not

used.

 

"I wanted to find out if they were of any value," he said. "Are

they diamonds?"

 

"Would you mind stating where you got them?" asked the other of

the two men.

 

"Is that necessary?" inquired the lad. "I came by them in a

legitimate manner, if that's what you mean, and I can satisfy you

on that point. I am willing to pay for any information you may

give me as to their value."

 

"Oh, it isn't that," the proprietor hastened to assure him.

"But these are diamonds of such a peculiar kind, so perfect and

without a flaw, that I wondered from what part of the world they

came."

 

"Then they are diamonds?" asked Tom, eagerly.

 

"The finest I have ever tested!" declared the other man,

evidently Mr. Porter, the gem expert. "They are a joy to look at,

Mr. Roberts," he went on, turning to the proprietor. "If it is

possible to get a supply of them you would be justified in asking

half as much again as we charge for African or Indian diamonds.

The Kimberly products are not to be compared to these," and he

looked at the two stones in his hand--the one cut, and sparkling

brilliantly, the other in a rough state.

 

"Do you care to state where these diamonds came from?" asked

Mr. Roberts, looking critically at Tom.

 

"I had rather not," answered the lad. "It is enough for me to

know that they are diamonds. How much is your charge?"

 

"Nothing," was the unexpected answer. "We are very glad to have

had the opportunity of seeing such stones. Is there any chance of

getting any more?"

 

"Perhaps," answered Tom, as he accepted the gems which the

expert held out to him.

 

"Then might we speak for a supply?" went on Mr. Roberts,

eagerly. "We will pay you the full market price."

 

"What is the value of these stones?" asked Tom.

 

Mr. Roberts looked at his gem expert.

 

"It is difficult to say," was the answer of the man who had

handed Tom the gems. "They are so far superior to the usual run

of diamonds, that I feel justified in saying that the cut one

would bring fifteen hundred dollars, anywhere. In fact, I would

offer that for it. The other is larger, though what it would lose

in cutting would be hard to say. I should say it was worth two

thousand dollars as it is now."

 

"Thirty-five hundred dollars for these two stones!" exclaimed

Tom.

 

"They are worth every cent of it," declared Mr. Roberts. "Do

you want to sell?"

 

Tom shook his head. He could scarcely believe the good news.

Mr. Jenks had told the truth. Now the young inventor could go

with him to seek the diamond makers.

 

"Can you get any more of these?" went on Mr. Roberts.

 

"I think so--that is I don't know--I am going to try," answered

the lad.

 

"Then if you succeed I wish you would sell us some," fairly

begged the proprietor of the store.

 

"I will," promised Tom, but he little knew what lay before him,

or perhaps he would not have made that promise. He thanked the

diamond merchant for his kindness, and arranged to have the cut

stone set in a pin for Miss Nestor. The uncut gem Tom took away

with him.

 

Thinking of many things, and wondering how best to start in his

airship Red Cloud for the mysterious Phantom Mountain, Tom

hurried back to where he had left the monoplane, wheeled it out,

and was soon soaring through the air toward Shopton.

 

"I think I'll go with Mr. Jenks," he decided, as he prepared

for a landing in the open space near his aeroplane shed. "It will

be a risky trip, perhaps, but I've taken risks before. When Mr.

Jenks comes to-night I'll tell him I'll help him to get his

rights, and discover the secret of the diamond makers."

 

As Tom was wheeling the Butterfly into the shed, Eradicate came

out to help him.

 

"Dere's a gen'man here to see yo', Massa Tom," said the colored

man.

 

"Who is it?"

 

"I dunno. He keep askin' ef yo' de lad what done bust up

Earthquake Island, an' send lightnin' flashes up to de sky, an'

all sech questions laik dat."

 

"It isn't Mr. Damon; is it, Rad? He hasn't been around in some

time."

 

"No, Massa Tom, it ain't him. I knows dat blessin' man good an'

proper. I jest wish he'd bless mah mule Boomerang some day, an'

take some oh de temper out ob him. No, sah, it ain't Massa Damon.

De gen'man's in de airship shed waitin' fo' you."

 

"In the airship shed! No strangers are allowed in there, Rad."

 

"I knows it, Massa Tom, but he done persisted his se'f inter

it, an' he wouldn't come out when I told him; an' your pa an' Mr.

Jackson ain't home."

 

"I'll see about this," exclaimed Tom, striding to the large

shed, where the Red Cloud was kept. As he entered it he saw a man

looking over the wonderful craft.

 

"Did you want to see me?" asked Tom, sharply, for he did not

like strangers prowling around.

 

"I did, and I apologize for entering here, but I am interested

in airships, and I thought you might want to hire a pilot. I am

in need of employment, and I have had considerable to do with

balloons and aeroplanes, but never with an airship like this,

which combines the two features. Do you wish to hire any one."

 

"No, I don't!" replied Tom, sharply, for he did not like the

looks of the man.

 

"I was told that you did," was the rather surprising answer.

 

"Who told you?"

 

The man looked all around the shed, before replying, as if

fearful of being overheard. Then, stepping close to Tom, he

whispered:

 

"Mr. Jenks told me!"

 

"Mr. Jenks?" Tom could not conceal his astonishment.

 

"Yes. Mr. Barcoe Jenks. But I did not come here to merely ask

you for employment. I would like to hire out to you, but the real

object of my visit was to say this to you."

 

The man approached still closer to Tom, and, in a lower voice,

and one that could scarcely be heard, he fairly hissed:

 

"Don't go with Barcoe Jenks to seek the diamond makers!"

 

Then, before Tom could put out a hand to detain him, had the

lad so wished, the man turned suddenly, and fairly ran from the

shed.

 

 

 

CHAPTER VI  -  MR. DAMON IS ON HAND

 

 

The young inventor stood almost spellbound for a few moments.

Then recovering himself he made a dash for the door through which

the mysterious man had disappeared. Tom saw him sprinting down

the road, and was half-minded to take after him, but a cooler

thought warned him that he had better not.

 

"He may be one of those men who are on Mr. Jenks' trail,"

reasoned Tom, in which case it might not be altogether safe to

attempt to stop him, and make him explain. Or he may be a

lunatic, and in that case it wouldn't be altogether healthy to

interfere with him.

 

"I'll just let him go, and tell Mr. Jenks about him when he

comes to-night. But I must warn Rad never to let him in here

again. He might damage the airship."

 

Calling to the colored man, Tom pointed to the stranger, who

was almost out of sight down the road, and said earnestly:

 

"Rad, do you see that fellow?"

 

"I sho do, Massa Tom, but I sorter has t' strain my eyes t' do

it. He's goin' laik my mule Boomerang does when he's comm' home

t' dinnah."

 

"That's right, Rad. Well, never let that man set foot inside

our fence again! If he comes, and I'm home, call me. If I'm away,

call dad or Mr. Jackson, and if you're here alone, drive him

away, somehow."

 

"I will, Massa Tom!" exclaimed the colored man, earnestly, "an'

if I can't do it alone, I'll get Boomerang t' help. Once let dat

ar' mule git his heels on a pusson, an' dat pusson ain't goin' t'

come bodderin' around any mo'--that is, not right away."

 

"I believe you, Rad. Well, keep a lookout for him, and don't

let him in," and with that Tom entered the house to think over

matters. They were beginning to assume an aspect he did not

altogether like. Not that Tom was afraid of danger, but he

preferred to meet it in the open, and the warning, or threat, of

the mysterious man disquieted him.

 

When Mr. Swift came home, a little later, his son told him of

the midnight interview with Mr. Jenks, for, up to this time, the

aged inventor was unaware of it, and Tom also gave an account of

the diamonds, speaking of their value.

 

"And do you propose to go to Phantom Mountain, in search of the

makers of these gems, Tom?" asked Mr. Swift.

 

"I had about decided to do so, dad."

 

"And you're going in the Red Cloud?'

 

"Yes."

 

"Who are going with you?"

 

"Well, Mr. Jenks will go, of course, and I've no doubt but that

if I mention the prospective trip to Mr. Damon, that he'll bless

his skating cap, or something like that, and come along."

 

"I suppose so, Tom, and I'd like to have you take him. But I

think you'll need some one else."

 

"Because, from what you have told me, you are going out to a

dangerous part of the country, and you may have to deal with

unscrupulous men. Three of you are hardly enough to cope with

them. You ought to have at least another member of your party. If

I was not busy on my invention of a new wireless motor I would go

along, but I can't leave. You might take Mr. Jackson."

 

"No, you need him here to help you, dad."

 

"How about Eradicate?"

 

Tom smiled.

 

"Rad would get homesick for his mule Boomerang, and I'd have to

bring him back just when we'd found the diamonds," replied the

young inventor. "No, we'll have to think of some one else. I'll

ask Mr. Damon, and then I'll consider matters further. I expect

to see Mr. Jenks to-night, and he may have some one in mind."

 

"Perhaps that will be a good plan. Well, Tom, I trust you will

take good care of yourself, and not run into unnecessary danger.

Is the Red Cloud in good shape for the voyage?"

 

"It needs looking over. I'm going to get right at it."

 

"It's a pretty indefinite sort of a quest you're going on, Tom,

my son. How do you expect to find Phantom Mountain?"

 

"Well, it's going to be quite a task. In the first place we'll

head for Leadville, Colorado, and then we'll go to Indian Ridge

and make some inquiries. We may get on the track of the place

that way. If we don't, why I'll take the airship up as high as is

necessary and sort of prospect until we see that big cliff that's

shaped like a head. That will give us something to go by."

 

"Well, do the best you can. If you can discover the secret of

making diamonds it will be a valuable one."

 

"I guess it will, dad; and Mr. Jenks is entitled to know it,

for he paid his good money to that end. He has promised to go

halves with me, as payment for the use of the airship, and I must

say the two diamonds he gave me last night have proved very

valuable."

 

"Two diamonds, Tom? You only showed me one, an uncut gem"; and

Mr. Swift looked at his son.

 

"Oh, the other--er--the other is--I left it with a jeweler,"

and Tom blushed a trifle, as he thought of the present he

contemplated making to Mary Nestor.

 

That afternoon, as Tom was out in the shed of the Red Cloud

looking over the airship, to see what would be necessary to do to

it in order to get it in shape for a long trip, he heard voices

outside.

 

"Yes--yes, I know the way in perfectly well," he caught. "You

needn't bother to come, my good fellow. Just step this way, and

I'll show you something worth seeing."

 

"I wonder if it's that mysterious man coming back?" thought

Tom. He dropped the tool he was using, and hurried to the door.

As he approached it he heard the voice continue.

 

"Why bless my shoe laces, Mr. Parker! You'll see a wonderful

airship, I promise you. Wonderful! Bless my hatband, but I hope

Tom is here!"

 

"Mr. Damon!" exclaimed our hero, as he recognized the tones of

his eccentric friend. "But who is with him?"

 

A moment later he caught sight of the gentleman who was always

blessing himself, or something. Behind him stood another man,

whose features Tom could not see plainly.

 

"Hello, Tom Swift!" called Mr. Damon. "Looking over the Red

Cloud, eh? Does that mean you're off on another trip?"

 

"I guess it does," answered the lad.

 

"Where to this time? if I may ask."

 

"I'm thinking of going off to the mountains to find a band of

men engaged in making diamonds," replied Tom.

 

"Making diamonds! Bless my finger ring! Making diamonds! A trip

to the mountains! Bless my disposition! but do you know I'd like

to go with you!"

 

"I was thinking of asking you, Mr. Damon."

 

"Were you? Bless my heart, I'm glad you thought of me. You

don't by any possible chance want another person; do you?"

 

"We were thinking of having four in the party, Mr. Damon," and

Tom wondered who was with his eccentric friend.

 

"Then bless my election ticket! This is the very chance for

you, Mr. Parker!" cried Mr. Damon. "Will you go with us? It will

be just what you need," and Mr. Damon stepped aside, revealing to

Tom the features of Mr. Ralph Parker, the scientist who had

correctly predicted the destruction of Earthquake Island.

 

 

 

CHAPTER VII  -  MR. PARKER PREDICTS

 

 

Tom Swift was a most generous lad, but when he saw that Mr.

Damon had with him Mr. Parker, the gloomy scientist, who seemed

to take delight in predicting disasters, our hero's spirits were

not exactly of the best. He would have much preferred not to take

Mr. Parker on the quest for the diamond makers, but, since Mr.

Damon had mentioned it, he did not see how he could very well

refuse.

 

"But perhaps he won't care to go," thought Tom.

 

He was undeceived a moment later, however, for the scientist

remarked:

 

I am very glad to meet you once more, Mr. Swift. I have

scarcely thanked you enough for what you did for us in erecting

your wireless station on Earthquake Island, which, as you recall,

I predicted would sink into the sea. It did, I am glad to say,

not because I like to see islands destroyed, but because science

has been vindicated. Now I have just heard you remark that you

are about to set off to the mountains in search of some men who

are making diamonds. I need hardly state that this is utterly

useless, for no diamonds, commercially valuable, can be made by

men. But the trip may be valuable in that it will permit me to

demonstrate some scientific facts.

 

"Therefore, if you will permit me, I will be very glad to

accompany you and Mr. Damon. I shall be delighted, in short, and

I can start as soon as you are ready."

 

"There's no hope for it!" thought Tom, dismally. "I suppose

he'll wake up every morning, and predict that before night the

world will come to an end, or he'll prophesy that the airship

will blow up, and vanish, when about seven miles above the

clouds. Well, there's no way out of it, so here goes."

 

Thereupon Tom welcomed the scientist as cordially as he could,

and invited him to form one of the party that would set off in

the airship to search for Phantom Mountain.

 

"Bless my jewelry box!" exclaimed Mr. Damon. when this

formality was over. "Tell me more about it, Tom."

 

Which our hero did, stating the need of maintaining secrecy on

account of the danger to Mr. Jenks. Mr. Damon and Mr. Parker both

agreed to say nothing about the matter, and then the scientist

became much interested in the Red Cloud, which he closely

examined. He even complimented Tom on the skill shown in making

it, and, contrary to our hero's expectation, did not predict that

it would blow up the next time it was used.

 

"How did you happen to arrive just at this time, Mr. Damon?"

asked Tom.

 

"It was partly due to Mr. Parker," was the answer. "I had not

seen him since we were rescued from the island, until a few days

ago he called on me at my home. I happened to mention that you

lived near here, and suggested that he might like to see some of

your inventions. He agreed, and we came over in my auto. And now,

bless my liver-pin! I find you about to start off on another

trip."

 

"And have you fully decided to go with me?" asked Tom. "There

may be danger, and I don't like the way that mysterious man

behaved."

 

"Oh, bless my revolver!" cried Mr. Damon. "I'm used to danger

by this time. Of course I'm going, and so is Mr. Parker. Do you

know," and the man, who was always blessing something, came

closer to the lad, and whispered: "Do you know, Tom, Mr. Parker

is a very peculiar individual."

 

"I'm sure of it," answered the young inventor, looking at the

gentleman in question, who was then inside the airship cabin.

 

"But he's all right, even if he is predicting unpleasant

things," went on Mr. Damon. "I think we'll get better acquainted

with him after a bit."

 

"I hope so," agreed Tom, but he did not realize then how close

his companionship with Mr. Parker was to be, nor what dangers

they were to share later.

 

The friends talked at considerable length of the prospective

trip, and Tom, by this time, had ascertained what needed to be

done to the airship to get it in shape to travel. It would take

about a week, and, in the meanwhile, Mr. Damon would go home and

get his affairs in order for the voyage. Tom's father was

introduced to Mr. Parker, and, the former, finding that the

scientist held some views in common with him, invited the gloomy

predictor to remain at the Swift home until the Red Cloud was

ready to sail. Tom could not repress a groan at this, but he

decided he would have to make the best of it.

 

Mr. Damon left for home that afternoon, promising to be on hand

at the time set to start for Phantom Mountain.

 

Tom was up waiting for Mr. Jenks at twelve o'clock that night.

Shortly after the hour he saw a dark figure steal into the

orchard. At first he feared lest it might be one of the spies who

were, he was now convinced, on the trail of the man who was

seeking to discover the secret of the diamond makers. But a

whistle, which came to the lad's ear a moment later (that being a

signal Mr. Jenks had agreed to sound), told Tom that it was none

other than the visitor he expected.

 

"All right, Mr. Jenks, I'm here," called Tom, cautiously. "Come

over this way," and he went out from the shadow of the house,

where he had been waiting, and met the men. "We'll go into my

private work-shop," the youth added, leading the way.

 

"Have you decided to go with me?" asked Mr. Jenks, in an

anxious whisper. "Did you find the diamonds to be real ones?"

 

"I did; and I'm going," spoke Tom.

 

"Good! That relieves my mind. But we are still in danger. I was

followed by my shadower to-day, and only succeeded in shaking him

off just before coming here. I don't believe he knows what I am

about to do."

 

"Oh, yes he does," said Tom.

 

"He does? How?"

 

"Because he was here, and warned me against you!"

 

"You don't mean it! Well, they are getting desperate! We must

be on our guard. What sort of a man was he?"

 

Tom described the fellow, and Mr. Jenks stated that this

tallied with the appearance of the person who had been shadowing

him.

 

"But we'll fool them yet!" cried Tom, who had now fully entered

into the spirit of the affair. "If they can follow us in the Red

Cloud they're welcome to. I think we'll get ahead of them."

 

He then told of Mr. Damon and Mr. Parker, and Mr. Jenks agreed

that it would add to the strength of the party to take these two

gentlemen along.

 

"Though I can't say I care so much for Mr. Parker," he added.

"But now as to ways and means. When can we start?"

 

Thereupon he and Tom talked over details in the seclusion of

the little office, and arranged to leave Shopton in about a week.

In the meanwhile the airship would be overhauled, stocked with

supplies and provisions, and be made ready for a swift dash to

the mountains.

 

"And now I must be going," said Mr. Jenks. "I have a great deal

to do before I can start on this trip, and I hope I am not

prevented by any of those men who seem to be trailing me."

 

"How could they prevent you?" Tom wanted to know.

 

"Oh, there are any number of ways," was the answer. "But I'm

glad you found that my diamonds were real. We'll soon have

plenty, if all goes well."

 

As Mr. Jenks left the shop, he started back, in some alarm.

 

"What's the matter?" asked Tom.

 

"Over there--I thought I saw a figure sneaking along under the

trees--that man--perhaps--"

 

"That's Eradicate, our colored helper," replied Tom, with a

laugh. "I posted him there to see that no strangers came into the

orchard. Everything all right, Rad?" he asked, raising his voice.

 

"Yais, sah, Massa Tom. Nobody been around yeah this night."

 

"That's good. You can go to bed now," and Eradicate, yawning

loudly, went to his shack. A little later Tom sought his own

room, Mr. Jenks having hurried off to town, where he was

boarding.

 

The next few days saw Tom busily engaged on the airship, making

some changes and a few repairs that were needed. His father,

Eradicate and Mr. Jackson helped him. As for Mr. Parker, the

scientist, he went about the place, being much interested in the

various machines which Tom or Mr. Swift had patented.

 

At other times the scientist would stroll about the extensive

grounds, making what he said were "observations." One afternoon

Tom saw him, apparently much excited, kneeling down back of a

shed, with his ear to the ground.

 

"What is the matter?" asked the lad, thinking perhaps Mr.

Parker might be ill.

 

"Have you ever had any earthquakes here, Tom Swift?" asked the

scientist, quietly.

 

"Earthquakes? No. We had enough of them on the island."

 

"And you are going to have one here, in about two minutes!"

cried Mr. Parker. "I predict that this place will be shaken by a

tremendous shock very soon. We had all better get away from the

vicinity of buildings."

 

"What makes you think there will be an earthquake?" asked Tom.

 

"Because I can hear the rumbling beneath the ground at this

very minute. It is increasing in volume, showing that the tremors

are working this way. There will soon be a great subterranean

upheaval! Listen for yourself."

 

Tom cast himself down on the grass. Placing his ear close to

the ground he did hear a series of dull thuds. He arose, not a

little alarmed. There had never been any earthquakes in Shopton,

yet he had great respect for Mr. Parker's scientific attainments.

 

Just then Eradicate Sampson came along. He saw Tom and Mr.

Parker lying flat on the ground, and surprise showed on his

honest, black face.

 

"Fo' de land sakes!" cried Eradicate. "What am de mattah now,

Massa Tom?"

 

"Earthquake coming," answered Tom, briefly. "Better get away

from the buildings, Rad. They might fall!" Tom's face showed the

alarm he felt. What would happen to all of his valuable

machinesÄto the Red Cloud?

 

"Earthquake?" murmured Eradicate, and he, too, cast himself

down to listen. A moment later he arose with a laugh.

 

"What's the matter?" cried Tom.

 

"Why, dat ain't no earthquake!" declared the colored man.

 

"No. Then perhaps you know what it is," said Mr. Parker,

somewhat sharply.

 

"Course I knows what it am," answered Eradicate, with dignity.

"Dat noise am my mule Boomerang, kickin' in his stable, on

account oh me not feedin' him yet. Dat's what it am. I'se gwine

right now t' gib him his oats, and den yo' see dat de noise stop.

Boomerang allers kick dat way when he's hungry. I show yo'!"

 

And, sure enough, when Eradicate had gone to the mule's stable,

which was near where Mr. Parker had heard the mysterious sounds,

they immediately ceased.

 

"Dat mule was all de earthquake dere was around here," said the

colored man as he came out.

 

Mr. Parker walked away, saying nothing, and Tom did not make

any comments--just then.

 

 

 

CHAPTER VIII  -  OFF FOR THE WEST

 

 

It was a great relief to Tom, to find that there was no danger

from an earth tremor. Now that he had made up his mind to go in

search of the diamond makers, he wanted nothing to interfere with

it. Lest the feelings of Mr. Parker might be hurt by the mistake

he had made, the young inventor cautioned Eradicate not to say

anything more about the matter.

 

"'Deed an' I won't," the colored man promised. "I'se only too

glad dere wa'n't no earthquake, dat's what I is."

 

As for Mr. Parker, he did not appear much put out by his error

in predicting.

 

"I am sure that what I heard was a tremor, due to some distant

earthquake shock," he said. "The mule's kicking was only a

coincidence."

 

And Tom let him have his way about it. The week was drawing to

a close, and the Red Cloud was nearly in shape for the voyage. At

almost the last minute Tom found that he needed some electrical

apparatus for the airship, and as he had to go to Chester for it,

he decided he would make the trip in his monoplane, and, while in

the city, would also get the diamond pin he was having made for

Mary Nestor.

 

He started off early one morning, in the swift little craft

Butterfly, and soon had reached Chester. The diamond brooch was

ready for him.

 

"It is one of the most beautiful stones we have ever set," the

diamond merchant told him. "Don't forget, if you find any more,

Mr. Swift, to let us have a chance to bid on them."

 

"I may," Tom promised, rather indefinitely. Then, having

purchased his electrical supplies, he made a quick trip to

Shopton, stopping on the way to call on Miss Nestor.

 

"Why Tom, I'm delighted to see you!" cried the girl, blushing

prettily. "Did you come for some apple turnovers?" and she

laughed, as she referred to a call Tom had once paid, when a new

cook had been engaged, and when the pastry formed a feature of

the meal.

 

"No turnovers this time," said the young inventor. "I came to

wish you many happy returns of the day."

 

"Oh, you remembered my birthday! How nice of you!"

 

"And here is something else," added our hero, rather awkwardly,

as he handed her the diamond pin.

 

"Oh, Tom! This for me! Oh, it's too lovely--it's far too much!"

 

"It isn't half enough!" he declared, warmly. "Oh, what a large

diamond!" Mary cried as she saw the sparkling stone. "I never saw

one so large and beautiful!"

 

"It's just as easy to make them large as small," explained Tom.

 

"Make them?" she looked the surprise she felt.

 

"Yes, I'm about to start for the place where diamonds are

made."

 

"Oh, Tom! But isn't it dangerous? I mean won't you have to go

to some far country--like Africa--to get to where diamonds are

made?"

 

"Well, we are going on quite a trip, but not as far as that.

And as for the danger--well, we'll have to take what comes," and

he told her something of the proposed quest.

 

"Oh, it sounds--sounds scary!" Mary exclaimed, when she had

heard of Mr. Jenks' experience. Do be careful, Tom!"

 

"I will," he promised, and, somehow he was glad that she had

cautioned him thus--and in such tones as she had used. For Mary

Nestor was a girl that any young chap would have been glad to

have manifest an interest in him.

 

"Well, I guess I'll have to say good-by," spoke Tom, at length.

"We expect to start in a couple of days, and I may not get

another chance to see you."

 

"Oh, I--I hope you come back safely," faltered Mary, and then

she held out her hand, and Tom--well, it's none of our affair

what Tom did after that, except to say that he hurried out,

fairly jumped into his monoplane, and completed the trip home.

 

As the Red Cloud has been fully described in the volume

entitled "Tom Swift and His Airship," we will not go into details

about it now. Sufficient to say that it was a combination of a

biplane and dirigible balloon. It could be used either as one or

the other, and the gas-bag feature was of value when the wind was

too great to allow the use of the planes, or when the motive

power, for some reason stopped. In that event the airship could

remain suspended far above the clouds if necessary. There was

provision for manufacturing the gas on board.

 

The Red Cloud was fitted up to accommodate about ten persons,

though it was seldom that this number was carried. Two persons

could successfully operate the machinery. There were sleeping

berths, and in the main cabin a sitting-room, a dining-room, and

a kitchen. There was also the motor compartment, and a steering

tower, from which the engines could be controlled.

 

It was in this craft that the seekers after the diamond makers

proposed undertaking the trip. Mr. Damon came on from his home in

Waterfield about two days before the date set to leave, and Mr.

Jenks, had, three days before this, taken up his abode at the

Swift home. Mr. Parker, as has been stated, was already there,

and he had put in his time making a number of scientific

observations, though he had made no more predictions.

 

Nothing more had been seen of the mysterious man who had warned

Tom, and the young inventor and Mr. Jenks began to hope that they

had thrown their enemies off the track.

 

"Though I don't imagine they'll give up altogether," said Mr.

Jenks. "They're too desperate for that. We'll have trouble with

them yet."

 

"Well, it can't be helped," decided Tom. "We'll try and be

ready for it, when it comes," and then, dismissing the matter

from his mind, he busied himself about the airship.

 

The food and supplies had all been put aboard, and they

expected to start the next morning. In order to make sure that

any stones which they might succeed in getting from the diamond

makers were real gems, a set of testing apparatus was taken

along. Mr. Parker had had some experience in this line, and, in

spite of the fact that he might make direful predictions, Tom was

rather glad, after all, that the scientist was going to accompany

them.

 

"But what is worrying me," said Mr. Damon, "is what we are

going to do after we get to Phantom Mountain. What are your

plans, Mr. Jenks? Will you go in, and demand your share of the

diamond-making business?"

 

"I have a right to it, as I invested a large sum in it, and I

am entitled to more than a half-share. But, of course, I can't

say what I'll do until I get there. We may have to act very

secretly."

 

"I'm inclined to think we will," said Tom. "My plan would be to

gain access to the cave, if possible, and watch them at work. We

might be able to discover the secret of making diamonds, and,

after all, that's what you want, isn't it, Mr. Jenks?"

 

"Yes, I paid my money for the secret, and I ought to have it.

If I can get it quietly, so much the better. If not, I'll fight

for my rights!" and he looked very determined.

 

"Bless my powder horn!" cried Mr. Damon. "That's the way to

talk! And so we're to go cruising about in the air, looking for a

mountain shaped like a man's head."

 

"That's it," a greed Mr. Jenks, "and when we find it we will be

near Phantom Mountain, and the diamond makers."

 

The final details were completed that night. The last of the

supplies had been put aboard, the larder was well stocked, the

diamond testing apparatus was stored safely away, and all that

remained was for the adventurers to board the Red Cloud in the

morning, and soar away.

 

That night Tom was uneasy. Several times he got up, and looked

toward the shed where the airship was stored. He could not rid

himself of the idea that the men to whose interest it was that

the diamond-making secret remain undiscovered, might attempt to

wreck the airship before the start. Consequently both Eradicate

Sampson and Engineer Jackson were on guard. Tom looked from his

window, to the shed where the Red Cloud was housed. He saw

nothing to cause him any uneasiness.

 

"I guess I'm just nervous," he mused. "But, all the same, I'll

be glad when we've started

 

They were all up early the next morning, Mr. Damon beginning

the day by blessing the sunrise, and many other things that

struck his fancy. The airship was wheeled out of the shed, and

Tom gave her a final inspection.

 

"It's all right," he declared. "All aboard!"

 

"Now, do be careful," begged Mr. Swift. "Don't take too many

chances, Tom."

 

"I'll not."

 

The adventurers were in the forward part of the ship, and Tom

had taken his place at the wheels and levers in the pilot house.

As he was about to start the motor he looked toward the road, and

saw a horse and carriage. In the vehicle was a girlish figure, at

the sight of which Tom blushed and smiled. He waved his hand.

 

"I came to wish you good luck!" cried Mary Nester, for it was

she in the carriage.

 

"Thanks!" cried Tom, leaning from the window of the pilot

house. "It was good of you to get up so early."

 

"Oh. I'm always up early," she informed him.

 

"Look out that the motor doesn't scare your horse," Tom warned

her.

 

"Old Dobbin doesn't mind anything," was her answer. "I'll see

that he doesn't run away with me, as long as you're not on earth

to rescue me. Good-by, Tom!"

 

"Good-by!" he called, and then he pulled the lever that set in

motion the motor, and whirled the great propellers about. They

whizzed around with a roar, and the Red Cloud, shivering and

trembling with the vibration, rose in the air like some great

bird.

 

"We're off for the West and Phantom Mountain!" called Tom to

his companions.

 

As the airship soared upward, Eradicate Sampson ran forward

from where he had been standing near his mule Boomerang. He waved

his hands, and shouted something.

 

"Bless my hatband! What does he want?" asked Mr. Damon,

watching him curiously.

 

"It sounds as if he were calling to us to come back," spoke Mr.

Parker.

 

"It's too late now," decided Tom. "Maybe he forgot to tell us

good-by," but, he felt a vague wonder at Eradicate's odd motions;

for the colored man was pointing toward the stern of the airship,

as if there was something wrong there. But the Red Cloud soared

on.

 

 

 

CHAPTER IX  -  A WARNING BY WIRELESS

 

 

Rapidly the airship ascended, and, when it was high over the

town of Shopton, Tom headed the craft due west. Looking down he

tried to descry Mary Nestor, in her carriage, but the trees were

in the way, their interlocking branches hiding the girl. Tom did

see crowds of other persons, though, thronging the streets of

Shopton, for, though the young inventor had made many flights,

there was always a novelty about them, that brought out the

curious.

 

"A good start, Tom Swift," complimented Mr. Parker. "Is it

always as easy as this?"

 

"Starting always is," was the answer, "though, as the Irishman

said, coming down isn't sometimes quite so comfortable."

 

"Bless my gizzard! That's so," cried the eccentric Mr. Damon.

"Can we vol-plane to earth in the Red Cloud, Tom?"

 

"Yes, but not as easily as in the Butterfly. However I hope we

will not have to. Now, Mr. Damon, if you will just take charge of

the steering apparatus for a minute, I want to go aft."

 

"What for?"

 

"I wish to see if everything is all right. I can't imagine why

Eradicate was making those queer motions."

 

Mr. Damon, who knew how to operate the Red Cloud, was soon

guiding her on the course, while Tom made his way to the rear

compartments, through the motor room, where the stores of

supplies and food were kept. He made a careful examination,

looking from an after window, and even going out on a small, open

platform, but could discover nothing wrong.

 

"I guess Rad was just capering about without any special

object," mused Tom, but it was not long after this that they

learned to their dismay, that the colored man had had a method in

his madness.

 

On his way back through the motor room Tom looked to the

machinery, and adjusted some of the auxiliary oil feeders. The

various pieces of apparatus were working well, though the engine

had not yet been speeded up to its limit. Tom wanted it to "warm-

up" first.

 

"Everything all right?" asked Mr. Damon, as Tom rejoined them

in the pilot house, which was just forward of the living room in

the main cabin.

 

"Yes, I can't imagine what made Rad act that way. But I'll set

the automatic steering gear now, Mr. Damon, and then you will be

relieved."

 

Mr. Jenks was gazing off toward the west--to where he hoped to

discover the secret of Phantom Mountain.

 

"How do you like it?" asked Tom.

 

"It's great," replied the diamond man. "I've never been in an

airship before, and it's different than what I expected; but it's

great! It's the only craft that will serve our purpose among the

towering mountain peaks, where the diamond makers are hidden. I

hope we can find them."

 

In a little while the Red Cloud was skimming along at faster

speed, guided by the automatic rudders, so that no one was needed

in the pilot house, since there was no danger of collisions.

Airships are not quite numerous enough for that, yet, though they

may soon become so.

 

Tom and the others devoted several hours to arranging their

staterooms and bunks, and getting their clothing stowed away, and

when this was done Mr. Parker and Mr. Jenks sat gazing off into

space.

 

"It's hard to realize that we are really in an airship,"

observed the diamond man. "At first I thought I would be

frightened, but I'm not a bit. It doesn't seem as if anything

could happen."

 

"Something is likely to happen soon," said Mr. Parker,

suddenly, as he gazed at some weather instruments on the cabin

wall.

 

"Bless my soul! Don't say that!" cried Mr. Damon. "What is it?"

 

"I think, from my observations, that we will soon have a

hurricane," said the scientific man. "There is every indication

of it"'; and he seemed quite delighted at the prospect of his

prediction coming true.

 

"A hurricane!" cried Mr. Damon. "I hope it isn't like the one

that blew us to Earthquake Island."

 

"Oh, I think there will be no danger," spoke Tom. "If it comes

on to blow we will ascend or descend out of the path of the

storm. This craft is not like the ill-fated Whizzer. I can more

easily handle the Red Cloud; even in a bad storm."

 

"I'm glad to hear that," remarked Mr. Jenks. "It would be too

bad to be wrecked before we got to Phantom Mountain."

 

"Well, I predict that we will have a bad storm," insisted Mr.

Parker, and Tom could not help wishing that the scientist would

keep his gloomy forebodings to himself.

 

However the storm had not developed up to noon, when Tom, with

Mr. Damon's help, served a fine meal in the dining-room. In the

afternoon the speed of the ship was increased, and by night they

had covered several hundred miles. Through the darkness the Red

Cloud kept on, making good time. Tom got up, occasionally, to

look to the machinery, but it was all automatically controlled,

and an alarm bell would sound in his stateroom when anything went

wrong.

 

"Bless my napkin!" exclaimed Mr. Damon the next morning, as

they sat down to a breakfast of fruit, ham and eggs and fragrant

coffee, "this is living as well as in a hotel, and yet we are--

how far are we above the earth, Tom?" he asked, turning to the

young inventor.

 

"About two miles now. I just sent her up, as I thought I

detected that storm Mr. Parker spoke of."

 

"I told you it would come," declared the scientist, and there

was a small hurricane below them that morning, but only the lower

edge of it caught the Red Cloud, and when Tom sent her up still

higher she found a comparatively quiet zone, where she slid along

at good speed.

 

That afternoon Tom busied himself about some wires and a number

of complicated pieces of apparatus which were in one corner of

the main cabin.

 

"What are you doing now?" asked Mr. Jenks, who had been talking

with Mr. Parker, and showing that scientist some of the

manufactured diamonds.

 

"Getting our wireless apparatus in shape," answered the lad. "I

should have done it before, but I had so much to do that I

couldn't get at it. I'm going to send off some messages. Dad will

want to know how we are doing."

 

As he worked away, he also made up his mind to send another

message, in care of his father, for there was a receiving station

in the Swift home. And to whom this message was addressed Tom did

not say, but we fancy some of our readers can guess.

 

Finally, after several hours of work, the wireless was in shape

to send and receive messages. Tom pulled over the lever, and a

crackling sound was heard, as the electricity leaped from the

transmitters into space. Then he clamped the receiver on his ear.

 

"All ready," he announced. "Has anybody any messages they wish

sent?" For, with the courtesy of a true host he was ready to

serve his guests before he forwarded his own wireless notes.

 

"Just tell my wife that I'm enjoying myself," requested Mr.

Damon. "Bless my footstool! But this is great! We're off the

earth yet, connected with it."

 

Mr. Jenks had no one to whom he wanted to send any word, but

Mr. Parker wish to wire to a fellow scientist the result of some

observations made in the upper air.

 

Tom noted all the messages down, and then, when all was in

readiness he began to call his home station. He knew that either

his father or Mr. Jackson, the engineer, could receive the

wireless.

 

But, no sooner had the young inventor sent off the first few

dots and dashes representing "S. I."--his home station call--than

he started and a look of surprise came over his face.

 

"They're calling us!" he exclaimed.

 

"Who is?" asked Mr. Jenks.

 

"My house--my father. He--he's been trying to get us ever since

we started, but I didn't have the wireless in shape to receive

messages. Oh, I hope it's not too late!"

 

"Too late! Bless my soul, too late for what?" gasped Mr. Damon,

somewhat alarmed by Tom's manner.

 

The lad did not answer at once. He was intently listening to a

series of dots and dashes that clicked in the telephone receiver

clamped to his left ear. On his face there was a look of

worriment.

 

"Father has just sent me a message," he said. "It's a warning

flashed through space! He's been trying to get it to me since

yesterday!"

 

"What is it?" asked Mr. Jenks, rising from his seat.

 

"The mysterious man is aboard the airship--hidden away!" cried

Tom. "That's what Eradicate was trying to call to our attention

as we started off. Eradicate saw his face at a rear window, and

tried to warn us! The mysterious man is a stowaway on board!"

 

 

 

CHAPTER X  -  DROPPING THE STOWAWAY

 

 

Tom's excited announcement startled Mr. Damon and the others as

much as if the young inventor had informed them that the airship

had exploded and was about to dash with them to the earth. The

men leaped to their feet, and stared at the lad.

 

"A stowaway on board!" cried Mr. Damon.

"Bless my soul! How did he--"

 

"Are you sure that message is straight?" asked Mr. Jenks. "Did

Eradicate see the man?"

 

"He says he did," answered Tom. "The man is hidden away on

board now--probably among the stores and supplies."

 

"Bless my tomato sauce!" exploded Mr. Damon. "I hope he doesn't

eat them all up!"

 

"We must get him out at once!" declared Mr. Jenks.

 

"I knew something would happen on this voyage," came from Mr.

Parker. "I predicted it from the first!"

 

Tom thought considerable, but he did not answer the scientist

just then. Another communication was coming to him by wireless.

He listened intently.

 

"Father says," the lad told his companions "that Eradicate only

had a glimpse of the man at the last moment. He was looking from

the rear store-room window--he's the same man who called on me

that time--Rad remembers him very well."

 

"Bless my shoes! What's to be done?" inquired Mr. Damon,

looking around helplessly.

 

"We must get him out, that's all," decided Mr. Jenks; with

vigor. "Get him out and drop him overboard!"

 

"Drop him overboard!" cried Mr. Parker, in horror.

 

"Not exactly, but get rid of him," proceeded the diamond

seeker. "That man is one of my enemies. He has been sent by the

band of diamond makers hidden among the mountains, to spy on me,

and, if possible, prevent me from seeking to discover their

secret. He tried to work on Tom's Swift's fears, and frighten him

from using his airship on this quest. Then, when he failed, the

man must have sneaked into the shed, and hidden himself in the

ship. We must get rid of him, or he may wreck the Red Cloud!"

 

"That's so!" cried Tom. "We must try to capture him. I think we

had better--" the lad paused, and again listened to the wireless

message. "Father says Eradicate saw the man have a gun, so we

must be careful," the young inventor translated the dots and

dashes.

 

"Bless my powder horn!" exploded Mr. Damon.

 

"We shall have to proceed cautiously then," spoke Mr. Jenks.

"If he is like any others in the gang he is a desperate man."

 

"Better sneak up on him then, if we can," proposed Mr. Parker.

"There are enough of us to cope with one man, even if he is

armed. You have weapons aboard, haven't you?" he inquired of Tom.

 

"Yes," was the hesitating answer, "but I don't want to use them

if I can help it. Not only because of the danger, and a dislike

of shedding blood, but because a stray bullet might pierce the

gas bag and damage the ship."

 

"That's so," agreed Mr. Jenks. "Well, I guess if we go at it

the right way we can capture him without any shooting. But we

must talk more quietly--we ought to have whispered --he may have

heard us."

 

"I don't think so," replied Tom. "The storeroom is far enough

off so that he couldn't hear us. Besides, the motor makes such a

racket that he couldn't distinguish what we were talking about,

even if he heard our voices. So, unless he heard the wireless

working, and suspects something from that, he probably doesn't

know that we are aware of his presence aboard."

 

"But why do you think he has remained quiet all this while,

Tom?" asked Mr. Damon.

 

"Probably he wants to wait until the ship is farther out west,"

suggested Mr. Jenks. "Then he will be nearer his friends, and can

get help, if he needs it."

 

"And do you really believe he would destroy the Red Cloud?"

asked Mr. Parker.

 

"I think that all he is waiting for is a favorable chance,"

declared the diamond seeker. "He would destroy the craft, and us

too, if he could prevent us from discovering the secret of

Phantom Mountain, I believe."

 

"Then we must get ahead of him," decided Tom, quietly. "I have

just flashed to dad a message, telling him that we will heed his

warning. Now to capture the stowaway!"

 

"And while we're about it, give him a good scare when we do get

him," suggested Mr. Jenks.

 

"How?" asked Tom.

 

"Threaten to drop him overboard. Perhaps that will make him

tell how he happened to get in our ship, and what are the plans

of the gang of diamond makers. We may get valuable information

that way."

 

"I don't believe you can scare such fellows much," was Tom's

opinion, but it was agreed to try.

 

"How are you going to capture him?" asked Mr. Parker. "If he

has a gun it won't be any too easy to go in the storeroom, and

drag him out."

 

"We'll have to use a little strategy," decided Tom, and then

they discussed several plans. The one finally adopted was that

Tom and Mr. Damon should enter the storeroom, casually, as if in

search of food to cook for supper. They would discuss various

dishes, and Mr. Damon was to express a preference for something

in the food line, the box containing which, was well hack in the

room. This would give the two a chance to penetrate to the far

end of the apartment, without arousing the suspicions of the

hidden man, who, doubtless, would be listening to the

conversation.

 

"And as soon as we get sight of him, you and I will jump right

at him, Mr. Damon," said Tom. "Jump before he has a chance to use

his gun. Mr. Jenks and Mr. Parker will be waiting outside the

room, to catch him if he gets away from us. I'll have some ropes

ready, and we'll tie him up, and--well, we'll decide later what

to do with him."

 

"All right. I'm ready as soon as you are, Tom," said the

eccentric man. "Come ahead."

 

They went softly to the storeroom, and listened at the door.

There was no sound heard save that made by the machinery.

 

"I wonder if he's really here?" whispered Mr. Damon.

 

"We'll soon find out," answered Tom. "Let's go in."

 

They entered, and, in pursuance of their plan, Tom and his

friend talked of various foods.

 

"I think I'd like some of that canned lobster, with French

dressing on," spoke the eccentric man.

 

"That's away in the back end of the room," said Tom, in a loud

voice. "It's under a lot of boxes."

 

"Then I'll help you get it out! Bless my frying pan! but I am

very fond of lobster!" exclaimed Mr. Damon, in as natural tones

as was possible under the circumstances.

 

He and Tom moved cautiously back among the boxes and barrels.

They were glancing about with eager eyes. Tom switched on an

electric light, and, the instant he did so, he was aware of a

movement in a little space formed by one box which was placed on

top, of two others. The lad saw a dark figure moving, as if to

get farther out of sight.

 

"I've got him!" cried Tom, making a dive for the shadow.

 

A moment later the young inventor was bowled over, as a dark

figure leaped over his head.

 

"Catch him, Mr. Damon!" he cried.

 

"Bless my hatband! I--I--" Mr. Damon's voice ended in a grunt.

He, too, had been knocked down by the fleeing man.

 

"Look out, Mr. Jenks!" cried Tom, to warn those on guard at the

door of the storeroom.

 

There was the report of a gun, some excited shouts, and when

Tom could scramble to his feet, and rush out, he beheld Mr.

Parker calmly sitting on a struggling man, while Mr. Jenks held a

gun, that was still smoking.

 

"We caught him!" cried the scientist.

 

"Anybody hurt?" asked Tom, anxiously.

 

"No, I knocked up his gun as he fired," explained Mr. Jenks.

"Where are the ropes, Tom?"

 

The cords were produced and the man, who had now ceased to

struggle, was tightly bound. He uttered not a word, but he smiled

grimly when Mr. Damon remarked:

 

"I guess I'll go back in the storeroom, Tom, and see how much

food he ate."

 

"Oh, I guess he didn't take much," declared the lad. "He wasn't

there long enough."

 

"Well, Farley Munson, so it's you, is it?" asked Mr. Jenks, as

he surveyed the prisoner.

 

"Do you know him?" asked Tom, in some surprise.

 

"He was in with the diamond makers," said Mr. Jenks. "He was

one of those who took me to the secret cave. But it will be the

last time he ever goes there. How high up are we, Tom?"

 

"About two miles. Why?"

 

"I guess that will be far enough to let him fall," went on the

diamond seeker. "Come on, Mr. Damon, help me throw him

overboard!"

 

"You--you're not going to throw me over--with the airship two

miles high; are you?" gasped the man.

 

"Will you tell us what we want to know, if we don't?" asked Mr.

Jenks.

 

"What do you want to know?"

 

"How you got aboard, and what your object was in coming."

 

"That's easy enough. I had been hanging around the shed for

several days, watching a chance to get in. Finally I saw it, when

that colored man went to feed his mule, and I slipped in, and

hid in the airship. The stores were all in then, and I stowed

myself away among the boxes. I had food and water, so I didn't

touch any of yours," and he looked at Mr. Damon, who seemed much

relieved.

 

"And what was your object?" demanded Mr. Jenks.

 

"I wanted to prevent you from going to Phantom Mountain."

 

"How?"

 

"By destroying the airship if need be. But I hoped to

accomplish it by other means. I would have stopped at nothing,

though, to prevent you. You must keep away from there!"

 

"And if we refuse?" asked Tom.

 

"Then you'll have to take what comes!"

 

"But not from you!" exclaimed Mr. Jenks. "We're going to get

rid of you."

 

The man's face showed the alarm he felt.

 

"Oh, don't worry," said Mr. Jenks, quickly, "we're not going to

toss you overboard. We're not as desperate as your crowd. But

we're going to get rid of you, and then go on before you can send

any word to your confederates. We'll put you off in the most

lonesome spot we can find, and I guess you'll be some time

getting back to civilization. By that time we'll have the secret

of the diamonds."

 

"You never will!" declared the man, firmly. And he would say

nothing more, though by threats and promises Mr. Jenks tried to

get from him something about the men in with him, and where the

cave of the diamonds was located.

 

Heavily bound with ropes the man was locked in a small closet,

to be kept there until a favorable spot was reached for letting

him go. Mr. Jenks' plan, of dropping him down in some place where

he would have difficulty in sending on word to his confederates

was considered a good one.

 

Three days later, in crossing over a lonely region, near the

Nebraska National Forest, Farley Munson, which was one of the

names the spy went by, was dropped off the airship, when it was

sent down to within a few feet of the earth.

 

"It will take you some time to get to a telegraph office," said

Mr. Jenks, as a package of food, and a flask of water was tossed

down to the stowaway. He shook his fist at those in the airship,

and shouted after them:

 

"You'll never discover the secret of Phantom Mountain!"

 

"Yes, we will," declared Tom, as he sent the Red Cloud high

into the air again.

 

 

 

CHAPTER XI  -  A WEARY SEARCH

 

 

During the three days when the stowaway had been kept a

prisoner, the Red Cloud had made good time on her western trip.

She was now about two hundred and fifty miles from Leadville,

Colorado, and Tom knew he could accomplish that distance in a

short time. It was necessary, therefore, since they were so close

to the place where the real search would begin, to make some more

definite plans.

 

"We will need to replenish our supply of gasoline," said Tom,

shortly after the stowaway had been dropped, and when the young

inventor had made a general inspection of the airship.

 

"Is it all gone?" inquired Mr. Damon.

 

"Not all, but we will soon be in the wildest part of the Rocky

Mountains, and gasoline is difficult to procure there. So I want

to fill all our reserve tanks. But I would rather do that before

we get far into Colorado."

 

"Why?" inquired Mr. Parker.

 

"Because airships are not so common but what the appearance of

one attracts attention. Ours is sure to be talked about, and

commented on. In that case, in spite of our precaution in putting

Munson off in this lonely place, word of the Red Cloud being in

the vicinity of Leadville may reach the diamond makers, and put

them on their guard. We want to take them unawares if we can."

 

"That's so," agreed Mr. Jenks. "We had better get our gasoline

at the first stopping place, then, and proceed with our search.

Our first object ought to be to look for the landmark--the head

of stone. Then we can begin to prospect about a bit."

 

"My idea, exactly," declared Tom. "Well, then, I'll go down at

the first place we cross, where we can get gasoline, and then

we'll be in a position to hover in the air for a long time,

without descending."

 

The airship kept on her way, traveling slowly the remainder of

that day, and at dusk, when there was less chance of big crowds

seeing them, the Red Cloud was sent down on the outskirts of a

large village. Tom and Mr. Damon went to a supply store, and

arranged to have a sufficient quantity of the gasoline taken out

to the airship. It was delivered after dark, and little talk was

occasioned by the few who were aware of the presence of the

craft. Then, once more, they went aloft, and Tom sent several

wireless messages to Shopton, including one to Miss Nestor.

 

"Please tell my wife that I am well, and that I have a good

appetite," said Mr. Damon.

 

Mr. Parker also sent a message to a scientific friend of his,

stating that he made some observations among the mountains, of

the region in which the airship then was, and that the

indications were that a great landslide would soon take place.

 

"That won't worry us," spoke Tom, "for we'll be far above it."

 

"I hope we will be near enough to enable me to observe it, and

make some scientific notes," came from Mr. Parker. "I am positive

that one of these mountain peaks that we saw to-day will

disappear in a landslide within a few days. I have an instrument

somewhat like the one that records earthquakes, and it has been

acting strangely of late."

 

Tom wondered what enjoyment Mr. Parker got out of life, when he

was always looking for some calamity to happen, but the scientist

seemed to take as much pleasure in his gloomy forebodings now, as

he had on Earthquake Island.

 

They reached the vicinity of Leadville the next day, but took

care to keep high above the city, so that the airship could not

be observed. With powerful glasses they examined the mountainous

country, looking for the little settlement of Indian Ridge.

 

"There it is!" exclaimed Mr. Jenks, just as dusk was settling

down. I can make out the hotel I stopped at. Now we can really

begin our search. The next thing is to find the stone head, and

then, I think, I will have my bearings."

 

"We'll begin the hunt for that landmark in the morning," said

Tom.

 

High in the air hovered the Red Cloud. At that distance above

the earth she must have looked like some great bird, and the

adventurers thought it unlikely that any one in the vicinity of

Leadville would observe them.

 

The quest for the great mountain peak, that looked like a stone

head, was under way. Back and forth sailed the airship. Sometimes

she was enveloped in fog, and no sight could be had of the earth

below. At other times there were rain storms, which likewise

prevented a view. Mr. Parker was on the lookout for his predicted

mountain landslide, but it did not occur, and he was much

disappointed.

 

"It's queer I can't pick out that landmark," said Mr. Jenks

after two days of weary searching, when their eyes were strained

from long peering through telescopes. "I'm sure it was around

Indian Ridge, yet we've covered almost all the ground in this

neighborhood, and I haven't had a glimpse of it."

 

"Perhaps it was destroyed in a landslide, or some cataclysm of

nature," suggested Mr. Parker. "That is very possible."

 

"If that's the case we're going to have a hard time to locate

the cave of the diamond makers," answered Mr. Jenks, "but I hope

it isn't so."

 

They continued the search for another day, and then Tom, as

they sat in the comfortable cabin of the airship that night,

hovering almost motionless (for the motor had been shut down)

made a proposition.

 

"Why not descend in some secluded place," he suggested, "and

wander around on foot, making inquiries of the miners. They may

know where the stone head is, or they may even know about Phantom

Mountain."

 

"Good idea," spoke Mr. Jenks. "We'll do it."

 

Accordingly, the next morning, the Red Cloud was lowered in a

good but lonely landing place, and securely moored. It was in a

valley, well screened from observation, and the craft was not

likely to be seen, but, to guard against any damage being done to

it by passing hunters or miners, Mr. Parker and Mr. Damon agreed

to remain on guard in it, while Tom and Mr. Jenks spent a day or

two traveling around, making inquiries.

 

The young inventor and his companion proceeded on foot to a

small settlement, where they hired horses on which to make their

way about. They were to be gone two days, and in that time they

hoped to get on the right trail.

 

 

 

CHAPTER XII -  THE GREAT STONE HEAD

 

 

It was a wild and desolate country in which Tom Swift and Mr.

Jenks were traveling. Villages were far apart, and they were at

best but small settlements. In their journeys from place to place

they met few travelers.

 

But of these few they made cautious inquiries as to the

location of Phantom Mountain, or the landmark known as the great

stone head. Prospectors, miners and hunters, whom they asked,

shook their heads.

 

"I've heard of Phantom Mountain," said one grizzled miner, "but

I couldn't say where it is. Maybe it's only a fish story--the

place may not even exist."

 

"Oh, it does, for I've been there!" exclaimed Mr. Jenks.

 

"Then why don't you go back to it?" asked the miner.

 

"Because I can't locate it again," was the reply.

 

"Humph! Mighty queer if you've seen a place once, and can't get

to it again," and the man looked as if he thought there was

something strange about Tom and his companion. Mr. Jenks did not

want to say that he had been taken to the mountain blindfolded,

for that would have caused too much talk.

 

"I think if we spent to-night in a place where the miners

congregate, listened to their talk, and put a few casual

questions to them, more as if we were only asking out of idle

curiosity, we might learn something," suggested Tom.

 

"Very well, we'll try that scheme."

 

Accordingly, after they had left the suspicious miner the two

proceeded to a small milling town, not far from Indian Ridge.

There they engaged rooms for the night at the only hotel, and,

after supper they sat around the combined dance hall and gambling

place.

 

There were wild, rough scenes, which were distasteful to Tom,

and to Mr. Jenks, but they felt that this was their only chance

to get on the right trail, and so they stayed. As strangers in a

western mining settlement they were made roughly welcome, and in

response to their inquiries about the country, they were told

many tales, some of which were evidently gotten up for the

benefit of the "tenderfeet."

 

"Is there a place around here called Phantom Mountain?" asked

Tom, at length, as quietly as he could.

 

"Never heard of it, stranger," replied a miner who had done

most of the talking. "I never heard of it, and what Bill

Slatterly don't know ain't worth knowin'. I'm Bill Slatterly," he

added, lest there be some doubt on that score.

 

"Isn't there some sort of a landmark around here shaped like a

great stone head?" went on Tom, after some unimportant questions.

"Seems to me I've heard of that."

 

"Nary a one," answered Mr. Slatterly. "No stone heads, and no

Phantom Mountains--nary a one.

 

"Who says there ain't no Phantom Mountains?" demanded an

elderly miner, who had been dozing in one corner of the room, but

who was awakened by Slatterly's loud voice. "Who says so?"

 

"I do," answered the one who claimed to know everything.

 

"Then you're wrong!" Tom's heart commenced beating faster than

usual.

 

"Do you mean to say you've seen Phantom Mountain, Jed Nugg?"

demanded Slatterly.

 

"No, I ain't exactly seen it, an' I don't want to, but there is

such a place, about sixty mile from here. Folks says it's

haunted, and them sort of places I steer clear from."

 

"Can you tell me about it?" asked Mr. Jenks. eagerly. "I am

interested in such things."

 

"I can't tell you much about it," was the reply, "and I

wouldn't git too interested, if I was you. It might not be

healthy. All I know is that one time my partner and I were in

hard luck. We got grub-staked, and went out prospectin'. We

strayed into a wild part of the country about sixty mile from

here, and one night we camped on a mountain--a wild, desolate

place it was too."

 

The miner stopped, and began leisurely filling his pipe.

 

"Well?" asked Tom, trying not to let his voice sound too eager.

 

"Well, that was Phantom Mountain."

 

The miner seemed to have finished his story.

 

"Is that all?" asked Mr. Jenks. "How did you know it was

Phantom Mountain?"

 

"'Cause we seen the ghost--my partner and I--that's why!"

exclaimed the man, puffing on his pipe. "As I said, we was

campin' there, and 'long about midnight we seen somethin' tall

and white, and all shimmerin', with a sort of yellow fire,

slidin' down the side of the mountain It made straight for our

camp."

 

"Huh! Guess you run, didn't you, Jed?" asked Bill Slatterly.

 

"Course we did. You'd a run too, if you seen a ghost comm' at

you, an' firm' a gun."

 

"Ghosts can't fire guns!" declared Bill. "I guess you dreamed

it, Jed."

 

"Ghosts can't fire guns, eh? That's all you know about it. This

one did, and to prove I didn't dream it, there was a bullet hole

in my hat next mornin'. I could prove it, too, only I ain't got

that hat any more. But that was Phantom Mountain, strangers, an'

my advice to you is to keep away from it. I was on it but I

didn't exactly see it, 'cause it was dark at the time."

 

"Was it near a peak that looked like a stone

head?" asked Tom.

 

"It were, stranger, but I didn't take much notice of it. Me and

my partner got out of them diggin's next day, and I never went

back. I ain't never said much about this place, but it's called

Phantom Mountain all right, and I ain't the only one that's seen

a ghost there. Other grub-stakers has had the same experience."

 

"Why ain't I never heard about it?" demanded Bill,

suspiciously.

 

"'Cause as why you're allers so busy talkin' that you don't

never listen to nothin' I reckon," was Jed's answer, amid

laughter.

 

"Can you tell us what trail to take to get there?" asked Tom,

of the miner.

 

"Yes, it's called the old silver trail, and you. strike it by

goin' to a place called Black Gulch, about forty mile from here.

Then it's twenty mile farther on. But take my advice and don't

go."

 

"Can it be reached by way of Indian Ridge?" asked Mr. Jenks,

wondering how he had been taken to the cave of the diamond

makers. He did not remember Black Gulch.

 

"Yes, you can git there by Indian Ridge way, but it's more

dangerous. You're likely to lose your way, for that's a trail

that's seldom traveled." Mr. Jenks thought that, perhaps, was the

reason the gang had taken him that way. "It's easier to get to

the stone head and Phantom Mountain by Black Gulch, but it ain't

healthy to go there, strangers, take my advice on that,"

concluded the miner, as he prepared to go to sleep again.

 

Tom could scarcely contain the exultation he felt. At last, it

seemed, they were on the trail. He motioned to Mr. Jenks, and

they slipped quietly from the place, just as another dance was

beginning.

 

"Now for Black Gulch!" cried Tom. "We must hurry back to the

airship, and tell the good news.

 

"It's too late to-night," decided Mr. Jenks, and so they waited

until morning, when they made an early start.

 

They found Mr. Damon and Mr. Parker anxiously awaiting their

return. Mr. Damon blessed so many things that he was nearly out

of breath, and Mr. Parker related something of the observations

he had made.

 

"I think I have discovered traces of a dormant volcano," he

said. "I am in hopes that it will have an eruption while we are

here."

 

"I'm not," spoke Tom, decidedly. "We'll start for Black Gulch

as soon as possible."

 

The airship once more rose in the air, and, following the

directions the miner had given him, Tom pointed his craft for the

depression in the mountains which had been given the name Black

Gulch. It was reached in a short time, and then, making a turn up

a long valley the airship proceeded at reduced speed.

 

"We ought to see that stone head soon now," spoke Tom, as he

peered from the windows of the pilot house.

 

"It's queer we didn't notice it when we were up in the air,"

remarked Mr. Jenks. "We've been over this place before, I'm sure

of it."

 

The next moment Mr. Damon uttered a cry. "Bless my watch-

chain!" he exclaimed. "Look at that!"

 

He pointed off to the left. There, jutting out from the side of

a steep mountain peak was a mass of stone--black stone--which, as

the airship slowly approached, took the form and shape of a

giant's head.

 

"That's it! That's it!" cried Tom. "The great stone head!"

 

"And now for Phantom Mountain and the diamonds!" shouted Mr.

Jenks, as Tom let the airship slowly settle to the bottom of the

valley.

 

 

 

CHAPTER XIII  -  ON PHANTOM MOUNTAIN

 

 

Out from the Red Cloud piled Tom and the others. They made a

rush for the irregular mass of rock which bore so strong a

resemblance to the head of some gigantic man.

 

"That's the one! That's the thing I saw when they were taking

me along here blindfolded!" exclaimed Mr. Jenks. "I'm sure we're

on the right trail, now!"

 

"But what gets me, though," remarked Mr. Damon, "is why we

couldn't see that landmark when we were up in the air. We had a

fine view, and ought to have been able to pick it out with the

telescopes."

 

The adventurers saw the reason a few seconds later. The image

was visible only from one place, and that was directly looking up

the valley. If one went too far to the right or left the head

disappeared from view behind jutting crags, and it was impossible

to see it from overhead, because the head was almost under a

great spur of a mighty mountain.

 

"We might have hunted for it a week in the airship, and been

directly over it," said Tom, "and yet we would never have seen

it."

 

"Yes, but we never would have gotten here in such good shape if

it hadn't been for your wonderful craft," declared Mr. Jenks. "It

brought us here safely and quickly, and enabled us to elude the

men who tried to keep us back. We're here in spite of them. If we

had traveled by train they might have interfered with us in a

dozen ways."

 

"That's so," agreed Mr. Damon. "Well, now we're here, what's to

be done? Which way do we start to reach the cave where the

diamonds are manufactured, Mr. Jenks?"

 

"That I can't say. As you know, I only had a momentary glimpse

of this stone head as they wore taking me along the trail. Then

one the men noticed that the bandage had slipped and he pulled it

into place. So I really can't say which direction to take now, in

order to discover the secret."

 

"How long after you saw the head before you reached the cave?"

asked Tom. "In that way we may be able to tell how far away it

is."

 

"Well, I should say it was about two or three hours after I saw

the head, before we got to the halting place, and I was carried

into the cave. That would make it several miles from here, for we

went in a wagon."

 

"Yes, and they might have driven in a round-about way, in order

to deceive you," suggested Mr. Damon. "At best we have but a

faint idea where the diamond cave is, but we must search for it;

eh, Tom?"

 

"Certainly. We'll start right in. And as the airship will be of

but little service to us now, I suggest that we leave it in this

valley. It is very much secluded, and no one will harm it, I

think. We can then start off prospecting, for I have a large

portable tent, and we can carry enough food with us, with what

game we can shoot, to enable us to live. I have a regular camping

outfit on board."

 

"Fine!" cried Mr. Parker, "and that will give me a chance to

make some observations among the mountains, and perhaps I can

predict when a landslide, or an eruption of some dormant volcano,

may occur."

 

"Bless my stars!" cried Mr. Damon. "I don't wish you any bad

luck, Mr. Parker, but I sincerely hope nothing of the sort

happens! We had enough of that on Earthquake Island!"

 

"One can not halt the forces of nature," said the scientist,

solemnly. "There are many towering peaks around here which may

contain old volcanoes. And I notice the presence of iron ore all

about. This must be a wonderful place in a thunder and lightning

storm."

 

"Why?" asked Tom, curiously.

 

"Because lightning would be powerfully attracted here by the

presence of the metal. In fact there is evidence that many of the

peaks have been struck by lightning," and the scientist showed

curious, livid scars on the stone faces of the peaks within

sight.

 

"Then this is a good place to stay away from in a storm,"

observed Mr. Damon. "However, we won't worry about that now. If

this is the landmark Mr. Jenks was searching for, then we must be

in the vicinity of Phantom Mountain."

 

"I think we are," declared the diamond seeker. "Probably it is

within sight now, but there are so many peaks, and this is such a

wild and desolate part of the country that we may have trouble in

locating it."

 

"We've got to make a beginning, anyhow," decided Tom, "and the

sooner the better. Come, we'll make up our camping kits, and

start out."

 

It was something to know that they were on the right trail, and

it was a relief to be able to busy oneself, and not be aimlessly

searching for a mysterious landmark. They all felt this, and soon

the airship was taken to a secluded part of the valley, where it

was well hidden from sight in a grove of trees.

 

Tom and Mr. Damon then served a good meal, and preparations

were made to start on their search among the mountains--a search

which they hoped would lead them to Phantom Mountain, and the

cave of the diamond makers.

 

The tent which would afford them shelter was in sections, and

could be laced together. They carried food, compressed into small

packages, coffee, a few cooking utensils; and each one had a gun,

Tom carrying a combination rifle and shotgun, for game.

 

"We can't live very high while we're on the trail," said the

young inventor, "but it won't be much worse than it was on

Earthquake Island. Are we all ready?"

 

"I guess so," answered Mr. Damon. "How long are we going to be

away?"

 

"Until we find the diamond makers!" declared Tom, firmly.

 

Shouldering their packs, the adventurers started off. Tom

turned for a last look at his airship, dimly seen amid the trees.

Would he ever come back to the Red Cloud? Would she be there when

he did return? Would their quest be successful? These questions

the lad asked himself, as he followed his companions along the

rocky trail.

 

"Perhaps we can find the road by which these men go in and out

of the cave," suggested Mr. Damon, when they had gone on for

several miles.

 

"I fancy not," replied Mr. Jenks. "They probably take great

pains to hide it. I think though, that our best plan will be to

go here and there, looking for the entrance to the cave. I

believe I would remember the place."

 

"But why can't you follow the directions given by the miner who

told you about Phantom Mountain?" asked Mr. Damon.

 

"Because his talk was too indefinite," answered Mr. Jenks. "He

was so frightened by seeing what he believed to be a ghost, that

he didn't take much notice of the location of the place. All he

knows is that Phantom Mountain is somewhere around here."

 

"And we've got to hunt until we find it; is that the idea?"

asked Mr. Parker.

 

"Or until we see the phantom" added Tom, in a low voice.

 

"Bless my topknot!" exclaimed Mr. Damon. "You don't mean to say

you expect to see that ghost; do you Tom?"

 

"Perhaps," answered the young inventor, and he did not add

something else of which he was thinking. For Tom had a curious

theory regarding the phantom.

 

They tramped about the remainder of that day. Toward evening

Tom shot some birds, which made a welcome addition to their

supper. Then the tent was put together, some spruce and hemlock

boughs were cut to make a soft bed, and on these, while the light

of a campfire gleamed in on them, the adventurers slept.

 

Their experience the following day was similar to the first.

They saw no evidence of a large cave such as Mr. Jenks had

described, nor were there any traces of men having gone back and

forth among the mountains, as might have been expected of the

diamond makers, for, as Mr. Jenks had said, they made frequent

journeys to the settlement for food, and other supplies.

 

"Well, I haven't begun to give up yet," announced Tom, on the

third day, when their quest was still unsuccessful. "But I think

we are making one mistake."

 

"What is that?" inquired Mr. Jenks.

 

"I think we should go up higher. In my opinion the cave is near

the top of some peak; isn't it, Mr. Jenks?"

 

"I have that impression, though, as you know, I never saw the

outside of it. Still, it might not be a bad idea to ascend some

of these peaks."

 

Following this suggestion, they laid their trail more toward

the sky, and that night found them encamped several thousand feet

above the sea-level. It was quite cool, and the campfire was a

big one about which they sat after supper, talking of many

things.

 

Tom did not sleep well that night. He tossed from side to side

on the bed of boughs, and once or twice got up to replenish the

fire, which had burned low. His companions were in deep slumber.

 

"I wonder what time it is?" mused Tom, when he had been up the

third time to throw wood on the blaze. "Must be near morning." He

looked at his watch, and was somewhat startled to see that it was

only a little after twelve. Somehow it seemed much later.

 

As he was putting the timepiece back into his pocket the lad

looked around at the dark and gloomy mountains, amid which they

were encamped. As his gaze wandered toward the peak of the one on

the side of which the tent was pitched, he gave a start of

surprise.

 

For, coming down a place where, that afternoon, Tom had noticed

a sort of indefinite trail. was a figure in white. A tall, waving

figure, which swayed this way and that--a figure which halted and

then came on again.

 

"I wonder--I wonder if that can be a wisp of fog?" mused the

young inventor. He rubbed his eyes, thinking it might be a

swirling of the night mist or a defect of vision. Then, as he saw

more plainly, he noticed the thing in white rushing toward him.

 

"It's the phantom--the phantom!" cried Tom, aloud. "It's the

thing the miner saw! We're on Phantom Mountain now!"

 

 

 

CHAPTER XIV  -  WARNED BACK

 

 

Tom's cries awakened the sleepers in the tent. Mr. Damon was

the first to rush out.

 

"Bless my nightcap, Tom!" he cried. "What is it? What has

happened? Are we attacked by a mountain lion?"

 

For answer the young inventor pointed up the mountain, to

where, in the dim light from a crescent moon, there stood boldly

revealed, the figure in white.

 

"Bless--bless my very existence!" cried the odd man. "What is

it, Tom?"

 

"The phantom," was the quiet answer. "Watch it, and see what it

does."

 

By this time Mr. Jenks and Mr. Parker had joined Tom and Mr.

Damon. The four diamond seekers stood gazing at the apparition.

And, as they looked, the thing in white, seemingly too tall for

any human being, slid slowly forward, with a gliding motion. Then

it raised its long, white arms, and waved them threateningly at

the adventurers.

 

"It's motioning us to go back," said Mr. Parker in an awed

whisper. "It doesn't want us to go any farther."

 

"Very likely," agreed Tom, coolly. "But we're not going to be

frightened by anything like that; are we?"

 

"Not much!" exclaimed Mr. Jenks. "I expected this. A ghost

can't drive me back from getting my rights from those

scoundrels!"

 

"Suppose it uses a revolver to back up its demand?" asked the

scientist.

 

"Wait until it does," answered Mr. Jenks. But the figure in

white evidently had no such intentions. It came on a little

distance farther, still waving the long arms threateningly, and

then it suddenly disappeared, seeming to dissolve in the misty

shadows of the night.

 

"Bless my suspenders!" cried Mr. Damon." "That's a very

strange proceeding! Very strange! What do you make of it, Tom?"

 

"It is evidently some man dressed up in a sheet," declared Mr.

Jenks. "I expected as much."

 

"The work of those diamond makers; do you think?" continued Mr.

Damon.

 

"I believe so," answered Tom, slowly, for he was trying to

think it out. "I believe they are the cause of the phantom,

though I don't know that it's a man dressed in a sheet."

 

"Why isn't it?" demanded Mr. Jenks.

 

"Because it was too tall for a man, unless he's a giant."

 

"He may have been on stilts," suggested Mr. Parker.

 

"No man on stilts could walk along that way," declared Tom,

confidently. "He glided along too easily. I am inclined to think

it may be some sort of a light."

 

"A light?" queried Mr. Damon.

 

"Yes, the diamond makers may be hidden in some small cave near

here, and they may have some sort of a magic lantern or a similar

arrangement, for throwing a shadow picture. They could arrange it

to move as they liked, and could cause it to disappear at will.

That, I think, is the ghost we have just seen."

 

"But the diamond makers have only been in this mountain

recently," objected Mr. Jenks, "and the phantom was here before

them. In fact, that was what gave the place its name."

 

"That may be," admitted the lad. "There are many places that

have the name of being haunted, but no one ever sees the ghost.

It is always some one else, who has heard of some one who has

seen it. That may have been the case here. I grant that this

place may have been called 'Phantom Mountain' for a number of

years, due to the superstitious tales of miners. The diamond

makers came along, found the conditions just right for their

work, and adopted the ghost, so to speak. As there wasn't any

real spirit they made one, and they use it to scare people away.

I think that's what we've just seen, though I may be wrong in my

theory as to what the phantom is."

 

"Well, it's gone now, at any rate," said Mr. Jenks, "and I

think we'd better get back inside the tent. It's cold out here."

 

"Aren't some of us going to stand guard?" demanded Mr. Damon.

 

"What for?" asked Mr. Jenks.

 

"Why--er--bless my key-ring! Suppose that ghost takes a notion

to come down here, and use his gun, as he did on the miners?"

 

"I don't believe that will happen," remarked Tom. "The diamond

makers, if the white thing had anything to do with them, have

given us a warning, and I think they'll at least wait until

morning to see how we heed it."

 

"We aren't going to heed it!" burst out Mr. Jenks. "I'm going

to go right ahead and find that cave where they make diamonds!"

 

"And we're with you!" exclaimed Tom. "We'll have a good fire

going the rest of the night, and that may keep intruders away. In

the morning we'll begin our search, and we'll go up the trail

where we saw the white figure."

 

A big pile of wood had been collected for the fire, and Tom now

piled some logs and branches on the blaze. It would last for some

time now, and the adventurers, still talking of the "ghost" went

back into the tent. It was over an hour before they all got to

sleep again, and Mr. Jenks and Mr. Damon took turns in getting up

once or twice during the remainder of the night to replenish the

fire.

 

Morning dawned without anything further having occurred to

disturb them, and, after a hearty breakfast, to which Tom added

some fish he caught in a nearby mountain stream, they set off up

the trail on Phantom Mountain.

 

They had left their tent standing, as they proposed making that

spot their headquarters until they located the cave they were

seeking. What their course would be after that would depend on

the circumstances.

 

If they had expected to have an easy task locating the cavern

in which Mr. Jenks had seen diamonds made, the adventurers were

disappointed. All that day they tramped up and down the mountain,

looking for some secret entrance, but none was disclosed. The

higher they went up the great peak, the fainter became the trail,

until, at length it vanished completely.

 

But this was not to be wondered at, since it was on solid rock,

in which no footsteps would leave an impression.

 

"They never brought you up here in a wagon, Mr. Jenks," decided

Tom, when he saw how steep the place was.

 

"I'm inclined to think so myself," admitted the diamond man.

"They must have reached the cave from some other way. As a matter

of fact, I walked some distance after getting out of the vehicle,

before we got to the cavern. But, even at that, I don't believe

we came this way."

 

"Yet the phantom was here," persisted Tom, "and I'm convinced

that the cave is in this neighborhood. It's up to us to find it!"

 

But they searched the remainder of that day in vain, and as

night was coming on, they made their way back to the camp. As

Tom, who was in the lead, approached the tent, he saw something

black fastened to the entrance.

 

"Hello!" he cried. "Some one's been here. That wasn't on the

tent when he left this morning."

 

"What is it?" asked Mr. Damon.

 

"A black piece of paper, written on with white ink," replied

the lad. He was reading it, and, as he perused it a look of

surprise came over his face.

 

"Listen to this!" called Tom. "It's evidently from the diamond

makers."

 

Holding up the black paper, on which the white writing stood

out in bold relief Tom read aloud:

 

 

"Be warned in time! Go back before it is too late! You are near

to death! Go back!"

 

 

"Bless my shoelaces!" cried Mr. Damon. "This is getting

serious."

 

 

 

CHAPTER XV  -  THE LANDSLIDE

 

 

Gathered about the young inventor, the three men looked at the

warning. The writing was poor, and it was evident that an attempt

had been made to disguise it. But there was no misspelling of

words, and there were no rudely drawn daggers, or bloody hands or

anything of that sort. In fact, it was a very business-like sort

of warning.

 

"Rather odd," commented Mr. Jenks. "Black paper and white ink."

 

"White ink is easy enough to make," stated Mr. Parker. "I fancy

they wanted it as conspicuous as possible."

 

"Yes," agreed Tom, "and this warning, together with the antics

of the thing in white last night, shows that they are aware of

our presence here, and perhaps know who we are. We will have to

be on our guard."

 

"Do you think that fellow Munson, whom we left in the forest,

could have gotten here and warned them?" asked Mr. Damon.

 

"It's possible," admitted Tom, "but now let's see if the person

who pinned this warning on our tent took any of our things."

 

A hasty examination, however, showed that nothing had been

disturbed, and Tom and Mr. Damon were soon getting supper ready,

everyone talking, during the progress of the meal, about the

events of the day, and the rather weird culmination of it.

 

"Well, we haven't had a great deal of success--so far,"

admitted Tom, as they sat about the fire, in the fast gathering

dusk. "I think, perhaps, we'd better try on the other side of the

mountain to-morrow. We've explored this side pretty thoroughly."

 

"Good idea," commented Mr. Jenks. "We'll do it, and move our

camp. I only hope those fellows don't find our airship and

destroy it. We'll have a hard time getting back to civilization

again, if we have to walk all the way."

 

This contingency caused Tom some uneasiness. He did not like to

think that the unscrupulous men might damage the Red Cloud, that

had been built only after hard labor. But he knew he could

accomplish nothing by worrying, and he tried to dismiss the

matter from his mind.

 

They rather expected to see the thing in white again that

night, but it did not appear, and morning came without anything

having disturbed their heavy sleep, for they were tired from the

day's tramp.

 

It took them the greater part of the day to make a circuit of

the base of Phantom Mountain in order to get to a place where a

sort of trail led upward.

 

"It's too late to do anything to-night," decided Tom, as they

set up the tent. "We'll rest, and start the first thing in the

morning."

 

"And the ghost isn't likely to find us here," added Mr. Damon.

"Where are you going, Mr. Parker?" he asked, as he saw the

scientist tramping a little way up the side of the mountain.

 

"I am going to make some observations," was the answer, and no

one paid any more attention to him for some time. Supper was

nearly ready when Mr. Parker returned. His face wore a rather

serious air, and Mr. Damon, noting it, asked laughingly:

 

"Well, did you discover any volcanoes, that may erupt during

the night, and scare us to death?"

 

"No," replied Mr. Parker, calmly, "but there is every

indication that we will soon have a terrific electrical storm.

From a high peak I caught a glimpse of one working this way

across the mountains."

 

"Then we'd better fasten the tent well down," called Tom. "We

don't want it to blow away."

 

"There will not be much danger from wind," was Mr. Parker's

opinion.

 

"From what then?" asked Mr. Jenks.

 

"From the discharges of lightning among these mountain peaks,

which contain so much iron ore. We will be in grave danger."

 

The fact that the scientist had not always made correct

predictions was not now considered by his hearers, and Tom and

the two men gazed at Mr. Parker in some alarm.

 

"Is there anything we can do to avoid it?" asked Mr. Jenks.

 

"The only thing to do would be to leave the mountain," was the

answer, "and, as the iron ore extends for miles, we can not get

out of the danger zone before the storm will reach us. It will be

here in less than half an hour."

 

"Then we'd better have supper," remarked Tom, practically, "and

get ready for it. Perhaps it may not be as bad as Mr. Parker

fears."

 

"It will be bad enough," declared the gloomy scientist, and he

seemed to find pleasure in his announcement.

 

The meal was soon over, and Tom busied himself in looking to

the guy ropes of the tent, for he feared lest there might be wind

with the storm. That it was coming was evident, for now low

mutterings of thunder could be heard off toward the west.

 

Black clouds rapidly obscured the heavens, and the sound of

thunder increased. Fitful flashes of lightning could be seen

forking across the sky in jagged chains of purple light.

 

"It's going to be a heavy storm," Tom admitted to himself. "I

hope lightning doesn't strike around here."

 

The storm came on rapidly, but there was a curious quietness in

the air that was more alarming than if a wind had blown. The

campfire burned steadily, and there was a certain oppressiveness

in the atmosphere.

 

It was now quite dark, save when the fitful lightning flashes

came, and they illuminated the scene brilliantly for a few

seconds. Then, by contrast, it was blacker than ever.

 

Suddenly, as Tom was gazing up toward the peak of Phantom

Mountain, he saw something that caused him to cry out in alarm.

He pointed upward, and whispered hoarsely:

 

"The ghost again! There's our friend in white!"

 

The others looked, and saw the same weird figure that had

menaced them when they were encamped on the other side of the

peak.

 

"They must have followed us," said Mr. Jenks, in a low voice.

 

Slowly the figure advanced, It waved the long white arms, as if

in warning. At times it would be only dimly visible in the

blackness, then, suddenly it would stand out in bold relief as a

great flash of fire split the clouds.

 

The thunder, meanwhile, had been growing louder and sharper,

indicating the nearer approach of the storm. Each lightning flash

was followed in a second or two, by a terrific clap. Still there

was no wind nor rain, and the campfire burned steadily.

 

All at once there was a crash as if the very mountain had split

asunder, and the adventurers saw a great ball of purple-bluish

fire shoot down, as if from some cloud, and strike against the

side of the crag, not a hundred feet from where stood the ghostly

figure in white.

 

"That was a bad one," cried Mr. Damon, shouting so as to be

heard above the echoes of the thunderclap.

 

Almost as he spoke there came another explosion, even louder

than the one preceding. A great ball of fire, pear shaped, leaped

for the same spot in the mountain.

 

"There's a mass of iron ore there!" yelled Mr. Parker. "The

lightning is attracted to it!"

 

His voice was swallowed up in the terrific crash that followed,

and, as there came another flash of the celestial fire, the

figure in white could be seen hurrying back up the mountain

trail. Evidently the electrical storm, with lightning bolts

discharging so close, was too much for the "ghost."

 

In another instant it looked as if the whole place about where

the diamond seekers stood, was a mass of fire. Great forked

tongues of lightning leaped from the clouds, and seemed to lick

the ground. There was a rattle and bang of thunder, like the

firing of a battery of guns. Tom and the others felt themselves

tingling all over, as if they had hold of an electrical battery,

and there was a strong smell of sulphur in the air.

 

"We are in the midst of the storm!" cried Mr. Parker. "We are

standing on a mass of iron ore! Any minute may be our last!"

 

But fate had not intended the adventurers for death by

lightning. Almost as suddenly as it had begun, the discharge of

the tongues of fire ceased in the immediate vicinity of our

friends. They stood still--awed--not knowing what to do.

 

Then, once more, came a terrific clap! A great mass of fire,

like some red-hot ingot from a foundry, was hurled through the

air, straight at the face of the mountain, and at the spot where

the figure in white had stood but a few minutes before.

 

Instantly the earth trembled, as it had at Earthquake Island,

but it was not the same. It was over in a few seconds. Then, as

the diamond seekers looked, they saw in the glare of a score of

lightning flashes that followed the one great clap, the whole

side of the mountain slip away, and go crashing into the valley

below.

 

"A landslide!" cried Mr. Parker. "That is the landslide which I

predicted! The lightning bolt has split Phantom Mountain!"

 

 

 

CHAPTER XVI  - THE VAST CAVERN

 

 

For a time the roiling, slipping, sliding and tumbling of the

mass of earth and stones, down the side of the mountain,

effectually drowned all other sounds. Even the thunder was

stilled, and though Tom and his companions called to one another

in terror, their voices could not rise above that terrific

tumult.

 

Finally, when they found that the direction of the slide was

away from their tent, and that they were not likely to be

engulfed, they grew more calm.

 

Gradually the noise subsided. The great boulders had rolled to

the bottom of the valley, and now only a mass of earth and stones

was sliding down. Even this stopped in about five minutes, and,

as though satisfied with what it had done, the electrical storm

passed. Not a drop of rain had fallen.

 

"Bless my shirt studs!" exclaimed Mr. Damon, who was the first

to speak after the din had quieted. "Bless my soul! But that was

awful!"

 

"It was just what I expected," said Mr. Parker, calmly. "I

knew, from my observations, that we were in a region where

landslides and terrific electrical storms may be expected at any

time. I fully looked for this."

 

"Well," remarked Mr. Jenks, rather sarcastically, "I hope it

came up to your expectations, Mr. Parker."

 

"Oh, fully," was the answer, "though I wish it could have

happened in daylight, so that I could better have observed

certain phenomena regarding the landslide. They are very

interesting."

 

"At a distance," admitted Tom, with a laugh of relief. "Well,

I'm glad it's over, though we'll have to wait until morning to

see what damage has been done. Lucky we weren't struck by

lightning. I never saw such bolts!"

 

"Me, either!" declared Mr. Damon. "This mountain seems to

attract them."

 

"It is like a magnet," said Mr. Parker. "I think I shall be

able to make some fine observations here."

 

"If we live through it," murmured Mr. Jenks.

 

They watched the play of lightning about a distant bank of

clouds, but the storm was now far away, only a faint rumbling of

thunder being heard.

 

"I'm wondering what happened to the phantom," said Tom, after a

pause. "Seems to me he was right in that track of the storm."

 

"Do you think it was a 'he'?" asked Mr. Jenks.

 

"I think we'll find that it's some sort of a man," answered the

young inventor. "We may find out very soon, now. I've changed my

theory about the ghost being reflections of light."

 

"How's that?" Mr. Damon wanted to know.

 

"Well, I think we are on the side of Phantom Mountain where the

diamond cave is," went on the lad. "The fact that the phantom

appeared here, soon after we arrived, shows that the men kept

close track of our movements. It also shows, I think, that the

phantom did not have to travel far to be on the spot, whereas we

had to make quite a trip to get around the base of the mountain.

I think the cave is up there," and Tom pointed toward the spot

where the weird figure had been last seen, before the storm drove

it back.

 

"There may be two phantoms," suggested Mr. Jenks. "They may

keep one on this side of the mountain, and one on the other, to

warn intruders away.

 

"It's possible," admitted Tom. "Well, we'll see how things look

in the morning, when we'll take up our march again, and go up the

mountain. We'll reach the top, if possible, which we couldn't do

from the other side, as it was too steep."

 

"I hope we shall be able to go forward in the morning," came

from Mr. Jenks.

 

"What do you mean?" asked the lad, struck by a peculiar

significance in the diamond man's tones.

 

"Why, that landslide may have opened a great gully in the side

of Phantom Mountain, which will prevent us from passing. It was a

terrific lot of earth and stones that slid away," answered Mr.

Jenks.

 

"It certainly was," agreed Mr. Parker. "I would not be

surprised if the mountain was half destroyed, and it may be that

the diamond cave no longer exists."

 

"Not very cheerful, to say the least," murmured Mr. Jenks to

Tom, and, as it was getting quite chilly, following the storm,

they went inside the tent.

 

Tom could hardly wait for daylight, to get up and see what

havoc the landslide had wrought. As soon as the first faint flush

of dawn showed over the eastern peaks, he hurried from the tent.

Mr. Damon heard him arise, and followed.

 

A curious scene met their eyes. All about were great rocks rent

and torn by the awful power of the lightning. The fronts of the

stone cliffs were scarred and burned by the electrical fire, and

fantastic markings, grotesque faces, and leering animals seemed

to have been drawn by some gigantic artist who used a bolt from

heaven for his brush.

 

But the eyes of Tom and Mr. Damon took all this in at a glance,

and then their gaze went forward to where the avalanche had torn

away a great part of the mountain.

 

"Whew! I should say it was a landslide!" cried Tom.

 

"Bless my wishbone, yes!" agreed Mr. Damon.

 

Below them, in the valley, lay piled immense masses of earth

and stones. Boulders were heaped up on boulders, and rocks upon

rocks, being tossed about in heaps, strung about in long ridges,

and swirled about in curves, as though some cyclone had toyed

with them after the lightning flash had tossed them there.

 

"But the mountain isn't half gone," said Tom, as his eyes took

in what was left of the phantom berg. "I guess it will take a few

more bolts like that one, to put this hill out of business."

 

Though the landslide had been a great one, the larger part of

the mountain still stood. An immense slice had been taken from

one side, but the summit was untouched.

 

"And there's where the diamond cave is!" cried Tom, pointing to

it.

 

"I think so myself," agreed Mr. Jenks, who came from the tent

at that moment, and joined the lad and Mr. Damon. "I think we

shall find the cave somewhere up there. We must start for it, as

soon as we have eaten, and we may reach it by night."

 

The three stood gazing up toward the summit of the great

mountain. Suddenly, as the sun rose higher in the heavens, it

sent a shaft of rosy light on the face of the berg that had been

scarred by the landslide. Tom Swift uttered an exclamation, and

pointed at something.

 

"See!" he cried. "Look where the trail is--the trail down which

the phantom must have come. It is on the edge of a cliff now!"

 

They looked, and saw that this was so. The increasing light had

just revealed it to them. When the lightning bolt had torn away a

great portion of the mountain it had cut sheer down for a great

depth and when the earth and stones fell away they left a narrow

pathway, winding around the mountain, but so near the edge of a

great chasm, that there was room but for one person at a time to

walk on that footway. The uncertain trail up Phantom Mountain had

all but been destroyed.

 

"The way up to the peak is by that path, now," spoke Tom, in a

low voice.

 

"Bless my soul!" cried Mr. Damon. "It's as much as a man's life

is worth to attempt it. If he got dizzy, he'd topple over, and

fall a thousand feet. Dare we risk it?"

 

"It's the only way to get up," went on Tom. "It's either that

way, or not at all. We've tried the other side without success.

We must go up this way--or turn back."

 

"Then we'll go up!" cried Mr. Jenks. "It may not be as

dangerous as it looks from here."

 

But it was even more dangerous than it appeared, when they went

part way up it after a hasty breakfast. The trail was a mere

ledge of rock now, and in some places, to get around a projecting

edge of the mountain, they had to stand with their backs to the

dizzy depths at their feet, and with both arms outstretched work

their way around to where the trail was wider.

 

"Shall we risk it?" asked Tom, when they had tried the way, and

found it so dangerous. "We can't take anything with us--even our

guns, for we couldn't carry them, and if we reach the month of

the cave, and find those men there--"

 

He paused significantly. The adventurers looked at one another.

The search for the diamond makers was becoming more and more

dangerous.

 

"I say let's go on!" decided Mr. Damon, suddenly. "We want to

locate that cave, first of all. Perhaps, when we do find it, we

may see some easier way of getting to it than this. And if those

diamond makers do attack us--well, I don't believe they'll shoot

defenseless men, and they may listen to reason, and give Mr.

Jenks his rights--tell him how to make diamonds in return for the

money he gave them."

 

"I don't believe those scoundrels will listen to reason,"

replied the diamond man, "but I agree with Mr. Damon that we

ought to go on. We may find some other means of reaching the

cave--if we can discover it, and we'll take a chance with the

men."

 

"Forward it is, then!" cried Tom. "I have a revolver, and I can

supply one of you gentlemen with another. They may come in useful

in an emergency. Let's go back to camp, take a little lunch in

our pockets, and try to scale the mountain."

 

They were soon on their way up the dizzy path once more, and,

as they advanced, they found it growing more and more dangerous.

In some places they found it almost impossible to get around

certain corners, where there was barely room for their feet. As

Tom remarked grimly, a fat man never could have done it.

Fortunately they were all comparatively thin, for their hard

work, and not too abundant food, since they had left the airship,

had reduced their weight.

 

Up and up they went, higher and higher, sometimes finding the

path wide enough for two to walk abreast, and again seeing it

narrow almost to a ribbon. They hardly dared look down into the

chasm at their left--a chasm filled, in part, with the rocks and

boulders tossed into it by the lightning bolt.

 

Tom was in the lead, and had just made a dangerous turn around

a shoulder of rock--one of those places where he had to extend

both arms, and fairly hug the cliff before he could get around.

 

But, when he had made it, and found himself on a broad pathway,

cut in the living rock, he gave a great shout--a shout that

caused his companions to hasten to his side. They found the young

inventor pointing to a clump of bushes and small trees.

 

But it was not the shrubbery that Tom desired to call to their

attention. They saw that in an instant, for, dimly seen through

the leaves, was something black, and, as they looked more

closely, they saw that it was a great hole in the side of the

mountain--a vast cavern, opening like a tunnel.

 

"The cave! The cave!" cried Tom. "The diamond makers' cave

 

Hardly had he spoken than two men, each one carrying a gun,

showed themselves in the mouth of the cavern, and, instant later

they both ran toward the little party of adventurers.

 

 

 

CHAPTER XVII  -  THE PHANTOM CAPTURED

 

 

Surprise held Tom and his friends almost spellbound for the

moment. The young inventor's hand went toward the pocket where he

carried his revolver. Mr. Jenks, who had the only other weapon,

sought to draw it, but he was stopped by a gesture of one of the

two men with guns.

 

"Hold on, strangers!" the man cried. "I know what you're up to!

Better not try to draw anything--it might not be healthy. Now,

then, who are you, and what do you want?"

 

The question came rather as a surprise, at least to Tom and Mr.

Jenks. They had taken it for granted that these men--if they were

the diamond makers--would know Mr. Jenks, and guess at his errand

in coming back to Phantom Mountain. But, it seemed, that they

took them all for casual strangers.

 

No one answered for a moment. Tom caught the eye of Mr. Jenks,

and there was a look of hope in it. If ever there was a time for

strategy, it was now. Evidently Munson, the stowaway on the

airship, had not yet been able to send a warning to his

confederates. And neither of the two men recognized Mr. Jenks as

the man who had been defrauded of his rights. It might be

possible to conceal the real object of the adventurers until they

had time to formulate a plan of action.

 

"Well," exclaimed the man with the gun, impatiently, "I ask you

folks a question. What do you want?"

 

Fortunately, neither Mr. Damon nor Mr. Parker replied. The

former because he deferred to Tom and Mr. Jenks, and the

scientist because he was busy inspecting some curious rocks he

picked up. As it turned out this was the luckiest thing he could

have done. It lent color to what Mr. Jenks said a moment later.

 

"What are you doing up here?" demanded the man again. "Don't

you know this is private property?"

 

"We--we were just looking around," answered Mr. Jenks, which

was true enough; as far as it went.

 

"Prospecting," added Tom.

 

"After gold?" demanded the second man, suspiciously.

 

"We'd be glad to find some," retorted the lad. At that moment

Mr. Parker began breaking off bits of rock with a small

geologist's hammer which he carried. The men with the guns looked

at him.

 

"So you think you'll find gold up here?" asked the one who had

first spoken.

 

"Is there any?" inquired Tom, trying to make his voice sound

eager.

 

"Nary a bit, strangers," was the answer, and the two men

laughed heartily. "Now, we don't want to seem harsh," went on the

man who seemed to be the spokesman, "but you'd better get away

from here. This is private ground, and dangerous too--how'd you

ever get up the trail--we heard it was destroyed."

 

"There is still a narrow path," said Mr. Jenks. "We came up

that--the lightning and landslide haven't left much of it,

though."

 

Mr. Parker looked quickly up from the rocks at which he was

tapping with his small hammer. "You have terrific lightning up

here," he said. "I am much interested in it, from a scientific

standpoint. I predict that some day the entire mountain will be

destroyed by a blast from the sky."

 

"I hope it won't be right away," spoke one of the men. "Now I

guess you folks had better be leaving while there's a path left

to go down by."

 

"Might I ask," broke in Mr. Parker, as calmly as though he was

lecturing to a class of students, "might I ask if you have

noticed any peculiar effect of the lightning up here on the

summit of the mountain? Does it fuse and melt rocks, so to

speak?"

 

"What's that?" cried the spokesman, with a sudden flash of

anger. The two men looked at each other.

 

"I wanted to know, merely for scientific reasons, whether the

lightning up here ever melted rocks?" repeated Mr. Jenks.

 

"Well, whether it's for scientific reasons or for any other,

I'm not going to answer you!" snapped the man. "It's none of your

affair what the lightning does up here. Now you'd all better

'vamoose'--clear out!"

 

"All right--we'll go," said Tom, quickly, at the same time

motioning to Mr. Jenks to agree with him. The eyes of the young

inventor were roving about. He saw what looked like a second

trail, leading down the mountain, from the far side of the cave.

He was convinced now that there was another way to get to it.

Possibly they might find it. At any rate nothing more could be

done now. They must go back, for the cavern was too well guarded

to attempt to enter it by force--at least just yet.

 

"Yes, we'll go back," assented Mr. Jenks.

 

Mr. Parker was tapping away at the rocks. He looked toward the

black mouth of the big cave. On what corresponded to the roof of

it, some distance back from the entrance, he saw a slender metal

rod sticking up into the air.

 

"May I ask if that's a lightning rod?" he inquired innocently.

"If it is, I should like to ask about its action in a mountain

that is so impregnated with iron ore.

 

"You may ask until you get tired!" cried the spokesman, again

showing unreasoning anger, "but you'll get no answer from us. Now

get away from here before we do something desperate. You're on

private ground and you're not wanted. Clear out while you have

the chance."

 

There was no help for it. Slowly our friends turned and began

to go down the dangerous trail. They were soon out of sight of

the two men who stood before the cave, with their guns ready, but

neither Tom nor any of his companions spoke for some time.

 

When they had rounded one of the most dangerous turns the young

inventor sat down to rest, an example followed by the others.

 

"Well," asked Tom, "do you think those are some of the diamond

makers, Mr. Jenks?"

 

"I certainly do, though I never saw those two men before. If I

could once get inside the cave, I could tell whether or not it

was the one where I was practically held a prisoner. But I'm sure

it is. I know some of the men used to go off every day with guns,

and not come back until night. I have no doubt they were on

guard, just as these two are. And, also, I think I heard them

speak of a second entrance to the cavern. The one we just saw may

not be the main one, through which I was taken."

 

"I believe we are on the right track," ventured Mr. Damon, "but

we will either have to go up there after dark, which will be

risky, on account of the narrow trail, or else we will have to

find some other path."

 

"The last would be better," spoke Tom.

 

"That rod of metal sticking up on top of the cave interested

me," said the scientist. "Did you hear anything of that when you

were here before, Mr. Jenks?"

 

"No. Probably that is only a lightning rod, or it may be a

staff for a signal flag. But what surprises me is that those men

didn't suspect that we were seeking to discover their secret.

They took us for ordinary prospectors."

 

"So much the better," remarked Tom. "We have a chance now of

getting inside that cave. But we will have to go back to camp,

and make other plans. And we must hurry, or it will be dark

before we get there."

 

They hastened their steps, pausing only briefly to eat some of

the lunch they had brought along, and to drink from a spring that

bubbled from the side of the mountain. It was getting dusk when

they got back to their tent. They found nothing disturbed.

 

"I wonder if we'll see that phantom again to-night?" ventured

Tom, as they were sitting about the campfire a little later.

 

"Probably not," remarked Mr. Jenks. "I don't believe the ghost

will venture down the dangerous trail after dark, and the gang

may think that the warning given us by the two men on guard at

the cave will be sufficient. But if we don't leave here by

to-morrow I think we will have another visit from the thing in

white."

 

It was about an hour after this when Tom was collecting some

wood in a pile nearer the fire, so as to have it ready to throw

on, in case there was any alarm in the night, that he happened to

look up toward the summit of the mountain. A slight noise, as of

loose stones rolling down, attracted his attention, and, at

first, he feared lest another landslide was beginning, but a

moment later he saw what caused it.

 

There, advancing down the steep and dangerous trail was the

figure in white--the phantom. Instantly a daring plan came into

Tom's head. Dropping the wood softly, he moved back out of the

glare of the fire.

 

"Mr. Jenks!" he called in a whisper.

 

The diamond man, who was behind the tent, came toward Tom.

 

"What is it?" he asked. Then, as he saw the ghostly visitor, he

added: "Oh--the phantom again! What's it up to?"

 

"The same thing," replied Tom, "but it won't do it long, if my

plan succeeds."

 

"What plan is that, Tom?"

 

"I'm going to try to capture that--that man--or whatever it is.

Will you help?"

 

"Surely!"

 

"Then let's work around behind it, while Mr. Damon and Mr.

Parker come up from in front. We'll solve this part of the

mystery, anyhow, if it's possible!"

 

The two other men were soon told of the plan. Meanwhile the

thing in white had advanced slowly, until within a few hundred

feet of the camp. They could see now that it was no shaft of

light, but some white body, shaped like a tall, thin man, draped

in a white garment. The long arms waved to and fro. There was no

semblance of a head.

 

"You and Mr. Parker go right toward it, slowly, Mr. Damon,"

advised Tom. "Mr. Jenks and I will make a circle, and get in

back. Then, if it's anything alive we'll have it."

 

The "ghost" continued to advance. Tom and the diamond man stole

off to one side, their buckskin moccasins making no sound. Mr.

Damon and the scientist went boldly forward.

 

This movement appeared to disconcert the spirit. It halted,

waved the arms with greater vigor than before, and seemed to

indicate to the adventurers that it was dangerous to advance. But

Mr. Damon and Mr. Parker kept on. They wanted to give Tom and Mr.

Jenks time enough to make the circuit.

 

Suddenly the stillness of the night was broken by a low

whistle. It was Tom's signal that he and Mr. Jenks were ready.

 

"Come on! Run!" cried Mr. Damon.

 

The scientist and the eccentric man leaped forward.

 

The "ghost" heard the whistle, and heard the spoken words. The

thing in white hesitated a moment, and then raised one arm. There

was a flash of lire, and a loud report.

 

"He's firing in the air!" cried Tom. "Come on, we have him

now!"

 

Undaunted by the display of firearms, Mr. Damon and Mr. Parker

kept on. They could hear Tom and Mr. Jenks running up in back of

the figure. The latter also heard this, and suddenly turned.

Caught between the two forces of our friends, the "ghost" was at

a loss what to do.

 

The next instant Tom, who had distanced Mr. Jenks, made a

flying tackle for the figure in white, and caught it around the

legs. Very substantial legs they were, too, Tom felt--the legs of

a man.

 

"Wow!" yelled the "ghost," as he went down in a heap, the

revolver falling from his hand.

 

"Come on!" cried Tom. "I have him!"

 

His friends rushed to his aid. There was a confused mass of

dark bodies, arms and legs mingled with something tall and thin,

all in white. Suddenly the moon came from behind a cloud and they

could see what they had captured--for captured the phantom was.

 

It proved to be a rather small man, who wore upon his shoulders

a framework of wood, over which some white cloth was draped. It

had fallen off him when Tom made that tackle.

 

"Well," remarked the young inventor, as he sat on the

struggling man's chest. "I guess we've got you."

 

"I rather guess you have, stranger," was the cool reply.

 

 

 

CHAPTER XVIII  -  BILL RENSHAW WILL HELP

 

 

They were all panting from the exertion of the run up the

mountain and the contest with the phantom--a phantom no longer--

though, truth to tell, the struggle was not nearly so fierce as

Tom had expected. He thought the "ghost" would put up a stiff

fight.

 

"Got any ropes to tie him with?" asked Mr. Damon, who was

helping Tom hold the man down.

 

"Ropes? You aren't going to tie me up are you, strangers?"

asked the captive.

 

"That's what we are!" exclaimed Mr. Jenks. "We've had trouble

enough in this matter, and if I've got one of the gang, perhaps I

can get some of the others, and have my rights. So tie him up,

Tom, and we'll take him to camp.

 

"Oh, you needn't go to all that trouble, strangers," went on

the man, calmly. "If one of you will get off my chest, and the

other gentleman ease up on my stomach a bit, I'll walk wherever

you want me, and not make any trouble. I haven't got a gun."

 

"Bless my gloves! But you're a cool one," commented Mr. Damon,

as he complied with the man's request, and got up from his

stomach. "But look out for him, Tom. He had a gun, for he fired

it in the air."

 

"He hasn't it now," answered the young inventor. "I knocked it

from his hand when I leaped for him."

 

"That's what you did," assented the man, as he got up, while

Tom kept a tight hold of him, as did Mr. Jenks. "What kind of a

grizzly bear hug do you call that, anyhow, that you gave me?"

 

"That was a football tackle," explained Tom.

 

"I allers heard that was a dangerous game!" remarked the former

phantom simply. "Well, now you've got me, what are you going to

do with me?"

 

"Take you where we can have a good look at you," replied Mr.

Jenks, as he kicked aside the wooden framework, and the sheet

which had made the "ghost" appear so tall. "So this is how you

worked it; eh?"

 

"Yep. That was the 'haunt' stranger. I made it myself, and it

worked all right until you folks come along. I rather suspicioned

from the first, when I played the trick over on 'tother side of

the mountain, that you wouldn't be so easy to fool as most

prospectors are."

 

"Oh, so you're the only ghost then?" asked Tom.

 

"I'm the only one."

 

By this time they had reached the camp. Tom threw some light

logs on the fire, which blazed up brightly. As the flames

illuminated the face of their captive, Mr. Jenks looked at him,

and cried out:

 

"Why it's Bill Renshaw!"

 

"That's me," admitted the man who had played the part of the

phantom, "and thunder-turtles! if it ain't Mr. Jenks who was once

in the diamond cave with us. Whatever happened to you? I never

heard. The others said you got tired and went away."

 

"They took me away--defrauded me of my rights!" declared Mr.

Jenks, bitterly. "But I'll get them back! To think of Bill

Renshaw playing the part of a ghost!"

 

"They made me do it," went on the man, somewhat dejectedly. "I

wanted to be at work in the cave, but they wouldn't let me."

 

"Is this man one of the diamond makers?" asked Tom, in great

surprise.

 

"He is--one of the helpers, though I don't believe he knows the

secret of making the gems," explained Mr. Jenks. "He was one of

the men in the cave when I was there before, and he and I struck

up quite a friendship; didn't we, Renshaw?"

 

"That's what, and there ain't no reason why we can't be friends

now; that is unless you hold a grudge against me for firing at

you. But I only shot in the air, to scare you away. Them's my

instructions. I'm supposed to be on guard, and scare away

strangers. I'm tired of the work, too, for I don't get my share,

and those other fellows, in the cave, get all the money from the

diamonds."

 

Tom Swift uttered an exclamation. A sudden plan had come to

him. Quickly he whispered to Mr. Jenks:

 

"Make a friend of this man if possible. He evidently is

dissatisfied. Offer him a sum to show us another way into the

cave, and we may yet discover the secret of the diamond makers."

 

"I will," declared Mr. Jenks, quietly. Then, turning to

Renshaw, he added:

 

"Bill, come over here. I want to have a talk with you. Perhaps

it will be to our mutual advantage."

 

He led the former phantom to one side, and for some time

conversed earnestly with him. Mr. Jenks told the story of how he

had been deceived by Folwell and the others who were at the head

of the gang of diamond makers. The rich man related how they had

taken his money, and, after promising to disclose the secret

process to him, had broken faith, and had drugged him, afterward

taking him out of the cave.

 

"I want only my rights, and that for which I paid," concluded

Mr. Jenks. "Now, I gather that these men haven't treated you

altogether fairly, Bill."

 

"Indeed they haven't. I helped 'em to the best of my ability,

and all I get out of it is to stay out on this lonely side of the

mountain, and play ghost. They owe me money, too, and they won't

pay me, either, though they have lots, for they sold some

diamonds lately."

 

"Then they are still making diamonds?" asked Mr. Jenks,

eagerly. "Have you seen them? Do you know the secret?"

 

"No, I don't know it, for they won't let me in on it. I'm

always sent out of the cave just before they make the gems. But I

know they've made some lately, and have sold 'em. I want my

share."

 

"Look here!" exclaimed Mr. Jenks, quickly, wishing to strike

while the iron was hot. "I'll make you a proposition. Show us how

to get into that cave, unknown to the diamond makers, and I'll

pay you twice what they agreed to. Is it a bargain?"

 

Bill Renshaw considered a moment. Then he thrust out his hand,

clasped that of Mr. Jenks, and exclaimed:

 

"It is. I'll take you into the cave by an entrance that's

seldom used. There are four ways to get in. The one where the two

men drove you back is the rear one. The front one is on the other

side of the mountain, but it's so well concealed that you'd never

find it. But I can take you to one where you can get in, and

those fellows will never know it. And, what's more, I'll help you

if it comes to a fight!"

 

"Good!" exclaimed Mr. Jenks. "I think we'll discover the secret

of the diamond makers this time," and he went to tell the others

of the success of his talk. Bill Renshaw had been converted from

an enemy into a friend, and the former phantom was now ready to

lead Tom and the others into the secret cave.

 

"We'll start in the morning," decided Mr. Jenks, who, after

many disappointments, at last saw success ahead of him.

 

 

 

CHAPTER XIX  -  IN THE SECRET CAVE

 

 

Tom Swift was up at break of day, and the others were not far

behind him.

 

"Now for the secret cave!" cried the young inventor as he gazed

up the mountain, in the interior of which the mysterious band of

men were making the diamonds.

 

"Have you made any plans, Bill?" asked Mr. Jenks of the former

phantom, who had cast his lot in with the adventurers. "What will

be the best course for us to follow?"

 

"You just leave it to me, Mr. Jenks," was the answer. "I'll get

you into the cave, and those fellows, who, I believe, are trying

to do me out of my rights, as they did you out of yours, will

never know a thing about it."

 

"Bless my finger-nails!" cried Mr. Damon. "That will be great!"

We can get in the cave, and watch them make the diamonds at our

leisure."

 

"They don't make them every day," explained Renshaw. "It seems

they have to wait for certain occasions. Mostly they make the

diamonds when there's a big storm."

 

"A big storm" asked the scientist with a sudden show of

interest. "Do you mean one of those electrical storms, such as we

had the other night?"

 

"That's it, Mr. Parker, though why they wait until there's a

storm is more than I can tell."

 

"Perhaps they know that on such occasions no one will venture

up the mountain," spoke Mr. Damon.

 

"No, it isn't that," declared the scientist. "I think I am on

the track of a great scientific discovery, and I will soon be

able to make observations that will confirm it."

 

"Well, I'm going to make an observation right now," said Tom,

with a laugh. "I'm going to see what there is for breakfast."

 

"And that reminds me," came from Mr. Jenks, "shall we move our

camp, Bill, and take the tent with us to the cave?"

 

"I hardly think so," was the answer. "I think the best plan

would be to conceal the tent somewhere around here, in case you

might need it again. You can also store what food you have left."

 

"But, bless my appetite, we don't want to starve in that

diamond cave!" objected Mr. Damon.

 

"I'll see that you don't," declared Bill Renshaw. "I'll take

you in there, unbeknownst to those fellows, and I'll provide you

with plenty of food and water. You see the cave is so big that

there are some parts they never visit."

 

"And we can stay in one of those parts, and eat?" asked Tom.

 

"Sure," answered Bill.

 

"And watch the diamond makers at work?" asked Mr. Jenks.

 

"That's it," replied the former phantom.

 

"Then the sooner we get started the better," remarked Mr.

Damon. Mr. Parker said nothing. He appeared to be thinking

deeply, and was tapping at some rocks with his little hammer.

 

The advice of Bill Renshaw was followed, and the tent, and what

food remained, was concealed in the bushes, with rocks piled over

to keep away prowling animals. Then they started for the secret

cave.

 

The man who played the part of a ghost picked up the framework

and white cloth that had formed his disguise.

 

"I'll still have to use this," he explained, "for I don't want

those fellows to know that I'm helping you. I'll continue to play

the spirit of the mountain, but there won't be much need of it. I

don't think any more people will come prospecting out here."

 

"Have you heard of the arrival of Farley Munson?" asked Tom, as

he related the facts about the stowaway.

 

"He hadn't arrived up to a day or so ago," answered Bill. "I

guess he's still traveling. Farley is one of the heads of the

gang," he added, "and a dangerous man."

 

As Bill led the way toward the cave, taking a route that the

adventurers had never suspected led to it, he explained that the

cavern was a large one, capable of holding an army.

 

"But there's only a small part of it used by the diamond

makers," he added. "They work in a small recess, near the summit

of the mountain. The little cave, where I'm going to take you,

opens off from it by a long passage. And, except that you'll be

pretty much in the dark, you'll be quite comfortable. There are

tables, chairs, and some bunks in the place. I can get you some

lights, and plenty of food."

 

"But, if you are seen taking away food, won't the others

suspect something?" asked Tom.

 

"I do pretty much as I please," said Bill. "I go and come when

I like. All I'm supposed to do is to watch my two sides of the

mountain, play the ghost, and give warning when any one is

coming. Sometimes I leave black and white messages, like the one

I put on your tent. Those fellows fix 'em up for me. I've told

'em about you, though I didn't know who you were, and they think

you have gone, for the two men on guard at the rear entrance so

reported. Sometimes I stay out on the mountain for a couple of

days at a time, when the weather's good, and don't go back to the

cave. Those times I take food with me, and so if they see me

making off with some supplies they'll think I'm going to camp

out."

 

"It doesn't look as though we'd ever get into a cave near the

top of the mountain, going this way," said Tom, as they marched

along. "We're going down, instead of up."

 

"That's the secret of this trail," explained Bill. "We go down

in a sort of valley, and then go up a pretty stiff place, and

then we're on a direct trail to the entrance I told you about.

It's a steep road to climb, but I guess we can manage it."

 

And a hard climb the adventurers did find it. The road was

almost as bad as the one along the edge of the chasm, but they

managed to negotiate it, and finally found themselves on a fairly

good trail.

 

"We'll soon be there," Bill assured them. "After you get in the

little cave, where I'm going to hide you, I'll have to leave you

for a spell, until I get my ghost rigging fixed up again. But

I'll see that you have plenty of food and drink."

 

A little later their guide came to a sudden halt, and peered

around anxiously.

 

"What's the matter?" asked Tom.

 

"I was just looking to see if any of the men were about," he

answered. "But I guess not--it looks all right. The entrance is

right here."

 

They were on a side of the mountain, near the summit. Below

stretched a magnificent scene. A great valley lay at their feet,

and they could look off to many distant peaks. The main trail to

Leadville, and the one to the settlement of Indian Ridge, was in

sight.

 

Suddenly Tom, who had been using a small but powerful

telescope, uttered an exclamation, and focussed the instrument on

a speck that seemed moving along on the trail below.

 

"A man--coming up the mountain," cried Tom. "And--it can't be--

yet it is--it's Farley Munson--the stowaway!" he cried. "He's

coming here!"

 

"Let me look!" begged Mr. Jenks, taking the glass from Tom. An

instant later the diamond man exclaimed: "Yes, it's Munson!"

 

"Then in here with you--quick!" cried Renshaw. "He can't see us

yet, and we'll be out of sight in another minute."

 

The former spirit pulled aside some thick bushes, and pointed

to a hole which was disclosed.

 

"The entrance to the secret cave," he announced. "Slip in all

of you."

 

Tom, after another glance at the man toiling his way up the

mountain, entered the cavern. He was followed by the others. Bill

was the last to enter, and he replaced the bushes over the

entrance.

 

"At last!" exclaimed Mr. Jenks, as he gazed up at the roof of

the dimly-lighted vault in which they found themselves.

 

"Yes, we're in the diamond makers' secret cave," added Tom.

"Now to catch them at work!"

 

"Come on," advised Bill, in a low tone, "We're not safe yet,"

and he produced a lantern from some hidden recess, lighted the

wick, and led the way. As the others followed they were aware of

a subdued noise in the great cavern.

 

 

 

CHAPTER XX  -  MAKING THE DIAMONDS

 

 

"What's that noise?" asked Tom, as their guide flashed the

lantern to show them the way.

 

"That's the men getting ready to make diamonds, I guess," was

the answer. "You see it takes quite a while to get the stuff

ready. I don't know what they use--they never tell me any of

their secrets."

 

"Oh, I know the ingredients well enough," said Mr. Jenks, "but

I don't know the secret of how they apply the terrific heat and

pressure necessary to fuse the materials into diamonds."

 

"Well, you'll soon know," declared Bill Renshaw. "Of course it

isn't always successful. I've known 'em to try half a dozen times

before they got any diamonds big enough to satisfy 'em. They gave

me some of the small ones when I asked for my wages.

 

"How did you come to get in with these men?" asked Tom, curious

to understand how a person seemingly as honest as Renshaw

appeared to be had cast his lot in with the men who had broken

faith with Mr. Jenks.

 

"Oh, I've lived around these parts all my life," was the

answer. "I knew of this cave before these diamond fellers came to

it. In fact, I showed it to 'em. It was several years ago that a

party of men who were prospecting around here came to me and

asked if I knew of a small cave near the top of a high mountain,

where lightning storms were frequent. I told them about Phantom

Mountain, as it was called then, and also of this cave. If

there's any place where they have worse lightning storms than

here, I'd like to know it. They scare me, sometimes, like the

night when that landslide happened, and I'm sort of used to 'em.

 

"Well, I took these men to the cave, and they hired me as a

sort of lookout. Then they began their work, and at first I

didn't know what they were up to, but finally I caught on. Then

Mr. Jenks came, and disappeared mysteriously, though then I

didn't know that they had played a trick on him. I was outside

most of the time, pretending I was the ghost. So that's how I

came to get in with 'em, and I wish I was out."

 

"You soon will be, I think," declared Mr. Jenks. "But won't our

talking be heard by the men?"

 

"No danger. There is a thick wall between this part of the

cave, and the part where they live and work. I'll soon have you

well hid, and then you wait until I come back."

 

"What about Munson?" asked Tom. "He is evidently on his way

here to tell his confederates about us."

 

"He won't know what has happened to us," said Mr. Jenks, "and

he won't see anything of us. I guess we're safe enough."

 

Through the dark passage they followed Bill Renshaw until he

came to a halt in a place that suddenly widened and broadened

into a good-sized cave.

 

"Here's your stopping place," said the former ghost. "Now if

you follow that passage, off to the left," and he pointed to it,

"you'll come to the larger part of the cave where the diamond

makers are. But go cautiously, and don't make any noise. I won't

be responsible for what happens."

 

"We'll take all the risk," interrupted Tom.

 

"All right. Now there's a couple of lanterns around here. I'll

light them, and leave you for a while until I can get some grub.

I'll be back as soon as I can."

 

He glided away, after lighting two lanterns, by the gleams of

which the adventurers could see that they were in a vaulted

cavern that had evidently been fitted up as a living apartment.

The sides, roof and floor were of stone. It was clean, and the

air was fresh. There were some chairs, a table, and several cots,

with pieces of bagging for bedding, though it was warm in the

place.

 

"I guess we can stay here until we discover the secret," spoke

Tom.

 

"Bless my watch! We can if we have something to eat," came from

Mr. Damon, with something like a sigh. "I'm hungry!"

 

"And I want to make some observations," said Mr. Parker. "From

what I have seen of this mountain, I would not be surprised if

this cave was to be suddenly destroyed by a landslide or a

lightning bolt. I will make some further investigations."

 

"Well, if it's going to cause you to make such gloomy

prophecies as that, I'd just as soon you wouldn't look any

further," spoke Tom. in a low voice. But Mr. Parker, taking one

of the lanterns, set about examining the rock of which the cave

consisted.

 

In a short time Bill Renshaw returned with enough food to last

for two days. He said he was going out on the mountain once more

to act the part of a lookout, and would visit the adventurers

again the next day.

 

"In the meanwhile you can do just as you please," he said.

"Nobody is likely to disturb you here, and you can sneak up and

take a look at the men in the other cave whenever you're ready.

Only be careful--that's all I've got to say. They're desperate

men."

 

It was not very pleasant, eating in the gloomy cavern, but they

made the best of it. They cooked on a small oil-stove they found

in the place, and after some hot coffee they felt much better.

 

"Well," remarked Tom, after a while, "shall we take a chance,

and go look at the men at work?"

 

"I think so," answered Mr. Jenks. "The sooner we discover this

mystery, the better. Then we can go back home."

 

"And recover my airship," added Tom, who was a bit uneasy

regarding the safety of the Red Cloud.

 

"Then, bless my finger-rings! let's go and see if we can find

the big cave your friend the ghost told us of," suggested Mr.

Damon.

 

Cautiously they made their way along the passage Bill had

pointed out. As they went forward the subdued noise became

louder, and finally they could feel the vibration of machinery.

 

"This is the place," whispered Mr. Jenks. "That sound we hear

is one of the mixing machines, for grinding the materials--carbon

and the other substances--which go to make up the diamonds. I

remember hearing that when I was in the cave before."

 

"Then we must be near the place," observed Tom.

 

"Yes, but I didn't have much chance to look around when I was

here before. They wouldn't let me. I never even knew of the small

cave Bill took us to."

 

"Well, if we're close to it, we'd better go cautiously, and not

talk any more than we're obliged to," suggested Mr. Parker, and

they agreed that this was good advice.

 

They walked on softly. Suddenly Tom, who was in the lead, saw a

gleam of light.

 

"We're here," he whispered. "I'll put out our lantern, now,"

which he did. Then, stealing forward he and the others beheld a

curious sight. The tunnel they were in ended at a small hole

which opened into a large cavern, and, fortunately, this opening

was concealed from the view of those in the main place.

 

"The diamond makers!" whispered Tom, hoarsely, pointing to

several men grouped about a number of strange machines.

 

"Yes--the very place where I was," answered Mr. Jenks, "and

there is the apparatus--the steel box--from which the diamonds

are taken --now to see how they make them."

 

Fascinated, the adventurers looked into the cave. The men there

were unaware of the presence of our friends, and were busily

engaged. Some attended to the grinding machine, the roar and

clatter of which made it possible for Tom and the others to talk

and move about without being overheard. Into this machine certain

ingredients were put, and they were then pulverized, and taken

out in powdery form.

 

The power to run the mixing machine was a gasoline motor, which

chug-chugged away in one corner of the cave.

 

As the powder was taken out, other men fashioned it into small

balls, which were put on pan, and into a sort of oven, that was

heated by a gasoline stove.

 

"Is that how they make the diamonds?" asked Mr. Damon.

 

"That is evidently the first step," said Mr. Jenks. "Those

balls of powdered chemicals are partly baked, and then they are

put into the steel box. In some way terrific heat and pressure

are applied, and the diamonds are made. But how the heat and

pressure are obtained is what we have yet to learn."

 

He paused to watch the men at work. They were all busy, some

attending to the machines, and others coming and going in and out

of the cave. In one part a man was apparently getting ready a

meal.

 

Suddenly there rushed into the cave a man who seemed much

excited.

 

"Are you nearly ready with that stuff?" he cried. "There's a

good storm gathering on the mountain!"

 

"Yes, we'll be ready in half an hour," answered one of the men

at the mixing machine.

 

"Good. It will be flashing lightning bolts then, and we can see

what luck we have. The last batch was a failure." The man hurried

out again. Mr. Parker touched Tom and Mr. Jenks on their

shoulders.

 

"What is it?" asked Tom.

 

"I know the secret of making the diamonds,~ said the scientist.

 

"What?" cried Mr. Jenks.

 

"It is by the awful power of the lightning bolts!" whispered

Mr. Parker. "Everything is explained now--the reason why they

make diamonds in this lonely place, near the top of the mountain.

They need a place where the lightning is powerful. I can

understand it now--I suspected it before. They make diamonds by

lightning!"

 

"Are you sure?" cried Mr. Jenks.

 

"Positive."

 

"I agree with you," said Tom Swift. "I was just getting on that

track myself, when I saw the electric wires running to the steel

box. That explains the upright rod on the top of the mountain.

The man says a storm is coming --very well; we'll stay here and

watch them make diamonds!"

 

As he spoke there came the mutter of thunder, and the mountain

vibrated slightly. The men in the cave redoubled their activity.

Tom and his friends felt that the secret process they had so long

sought was about to be demonstrated before their eyes.

 

 

 

CHAPTER XXI  -  FLASHING GEMS

 

 

Eagerly the adventurers looked through the opening at the end

of the passage into the larger cave. The men opened the small

oven in which the balls of white chemicals and carbon mixed, had

been baked, and a pile of things, that looked like irregularly-

shaped marbles, were placed in the steel box.

 

This box, which was about the size of a trunk, was of massive

metal. It was placed in a recess in the solid rock, and all about

were layers of asbestos and other substances that were

nonconductors of heat.

 

"That box becomes red hot," exclaimed Mr. Jenks, in a whisper.

"When things are in readiness, that lever is pulled and the

diamonds are made. I pulled it once, but I did not then know the

process involved. I supposed that the lightning had nothing to do

with making the diamonds."

 

"It has--a most important part," said Mr. Parker. The hidden

adventurers could talk in perfect safety now, for the men in the

large cave were too excited to pay much attention to them. The

muttering of the thunder grew louder, and at times a particularly

loud crash told that a bolt had struck somewhere in the vicinity

of the cave.

 

"But, bless my watch-charm!" exclaimed Mr. Damon, "I didn't

know lightning made diamonds."

 

"It does not--always," went on the scientist. "But great heat

and pressure are necessary to create the gems. In nature this was

probably obtained by prehistoric volcanic fires, and by the

terrific pressure of immense rocks. It is possible to make

diamonds in the laboratory of the chemist, but they are so minute

as to be practically valueless.

 

"However, these men seem to have hit upon a new plan. They

utilize the terrific heat of lightning, and the pressure which is

instantaneously obtained when the bolt strikes. I am anxious to

see how it is done. Look, I think they are getting ready to make

the gems."

 

Indeed there seemed to be an air of expectancy among the

diamond makers. The mixing machine had now been stopped, and, as

it was more quiet in the cave, our friends, in their hiding-

place, had to speak in mere whispers. All the men were now

gathered about the great steel box.

 

This receptacle had been closed by a solid metal door, which

was screwed and clamped tight. Then one of the men examined a

number of heavily insulated electric wires that extended from the

box off into the darkness where Tom and his companions could not

discern them.

 

"That's Folwell--the man I befriended, and who got me into this

game," whispered Mr. Jenks. "He was also one of the first to turn

against me. I think he's one of the leaders."

 

Folwell came back, after having gone into a dark part of the

cave. He went over to an electrical switch on one of the stone

walls.

 

"It's almost time," Tom heard him say to his confederates. "The

storm is coming up rapidly."

 

"Will it be severe enough?" asked one of the helpers. "We had

all our work for nothing last time. The flashes weren't heavy

enough."

 

"These will be," asserted Folwell. "The indicator shows nearly

a million volts now, and it's increasing."

 

"A million volts!" exclaimed Tom. "I hope it doesn't strike

anywhere around here."

 

"Oh, it will probably be harmlessly conducted down on the heavy

wires," said Mr. Parker. "We are in no danger, at present, though

ultimately I expect to see the whole mountain shattered by a

lightning bolt."

 

"Cheerful prospect," murmured Tom.

 

There was a terrific crash outside. The rocky floor of the cave

trembled.

 

"Here she comes!" cried Folwell. "Get back, everybody! I'm

going to throw over the switch now!"

 

The men retreated well away from the steel box. Folwell threw

over the lever--the same one Mr. Jenks remembered pulling. Then

the man ran to the electric switch on the wall, and snapped that

into place, establishing a connection.

 

There was a moment's pause, as Folwell ran to join the others

in their place of safety. Then from without there came a most

nerve-racking and terrifying crash. It seemed as if the very

mountain would be rent into fragments.

 

Watching with eager eyes, the adventurers saw sparks flash from

the steel box. Instantly it became red hot, and then glowed white

and incandescent. It was almost at the melting point.

 

Then came comparative quiet, as the echoes of the thunder died

away amid the mountain peaks.

 

"I guess that did the trick!" cried Folwell. "It was a terrific

crash all right!"

 

He and the others ran forward. The steel box was now a cherry

red, for it was cooling. Folwell threw back the lever, and

another man disconnected the switch. There was a period of

waiting until the box was cool enough to open. Then the heavy

door was swung back.

 

With a long iron rod Folwell drew something from the retort. It

was the tray which had held the white balls. But they were white

no longer, for they had been turned into diamonds. From their

hiding-place Tom and the others could see the flashing gems, for,

in spite of the fact that the diamonds were uncut, some of them

sparkled most brilliantly, due to the peculiar manner in which

they were made.

 

"We have the secret of the diamonds!" whispered Mr. Jenks.

"There must be a quart of the gems there!"

 

The men gathered about Folwell, uttering exclamations of

delight. The diamonds were too hot to handle yet.

 

"That's going some!" exclaimed the chief of the diamond makers.

"We have a small fortune here."

 

The was a sudden commotion at one end of the cave. A man rushed

in. At the sight of him Tom stared and uttered an exclamation.

 

"Munson--the stowaway!" he whispered.

 

"Hello!" cried Folwell, as he saw his confederate. "I thought

you were East, keeping Jenks away from here."

 

"He got the best of me!" cried Munson, "he and that Tom Swift!

I stowed away on their airship, but they found me out by a

wireless message, and marooned me in the woods. I've been trying

to get here ever since! Didn't you get my messages of warning?"

 

"No--what warnings ?" cried Folwell.

 

"About Jenks, Tom Swift and the others. They're here--they must

be on Phantom Mountain now. In fact, I shouldn't be surprised if

they were in this cave. I traced them to their camp, but they're

gone. They may be among us now--in some of the secret recesses!"

 

For an instant Folwell stared at the bearer of these tidings.

Then he cried out:

 

"Scatter men, and find these fellows! We must get them before

they discover our secret!"

 

"It's too late--we know it!" exulted Tom Swift. Then he

whispered to the others to hurry to the part of the cave where

Bill Renshaw had first hidden them.

 

 

 

CHAPTER XXII  -  PRISONERS

 

 

"Do you think there is any danger of them finding us?" asked

Mr. Damon, as he hurried along beside Tom.

 

"I'm afraid so," was the answer. "I've been worried ever since

we saw Munson heading this way. But we couldn't do any

differently."

 

"Perhaps Bill Renshaw may be able to conceal us," suggested Mr.

Jenks. "Very likely he knows that Munson is on hand. Perhaps we

will be safe for a while. I want to make a few more observations

as to how they manufacture the diamonds, and then, with what I

already know, I'll have the secret."

 

"And I'd like to make some scientific tests of the sides and

bottom rocks of the cave," spoke Mr. Parker. "I think it will

bear

out my theory that the mountain will soon be destroyed."

 

"Well, you were right about Earthquake Island, and you may be

right about this mountain," said Tom, "but if it is going to be

annihilated I hope we get far enough away from it."

 

We can keep our presence here a secret for a few more days, I

think that will be long enough," proceeded Mr. Jenks. "Then we

will leave."

 

"And, in the meanwhile, they'll be searching for us," objected

Mr. Damon. "I wish that ghost-chap would come back and tell us

what to do. Bless my liver-pin, but we are going to be in

considerable danger, I'm afraid! Those men may capture us, and

decide to make diamond dust from us."

 

"Come on--hurry to the little cave," urged Tom. "Then we'll get

ready to defend ourselves."

 

"The main cave is a large one," said Mr. Jenks, "and there are

many hiding places in it. In fact, it is so large that it will

take those fellows several days to complete a circuit of it. By

that time Bill Renshaw may come back, and take us to some place

in which they have already searched for us. Then we'll be

comparatively safe."

 

This thought was some consolation to them, as they made their

way through the dark passage, dimly illuminated by the lantern

they had rekindled, to the place where Bill had hidden them. They

found things as they had left them, and proceeded to get a meal,

though Tom said it would be best not to cook anything, or even to

make coffee, for fear the odors would enable the searchers to

trail them.

 

So they ate cold food, glad to get that. Silently they sat

about the dimly-lighted cavern, and discussed the situation. True

they might even now retreat, going out of the entrance Bill had

showed them, and so escape. But Mr. Jenks felt that his mission

was not completed yet, and they all agreed to stay with him.

 

"For there are several points about making diamonds that are

not quite clear to me," he said. "I need to know how that steel

box is constructed, how the electrical switches are arranged,

what kind of lightning rods they use, and how they regulate the

pressure. The other things, and how to mix the ingredients, I

already know."

 

"Then we'll do our best to help you," promised Tom. "But now I

think we had better see what sort of a defense we can put up. We

have our guns and revolvers, and with these chairs and tables we

can build a sort of barricade behind which we can take refuge if

those fellows do discover our hiding place."

 

This was conceded to be a good idea, and soon a rude sort of

fort was made, behind which the adventurers could take their

stand and fight, if necessary, though they hoped this would not

come to pass.

 

They remained quietly in the cave the remainder of that day,

and, when it was night, as they could tell by their timepieces--

there was no daylight--they divided the hours into watches,

taking turns standing guard.

 

Morning, at least in point of time, came without any

disturbance, and they made a cold breakfast. They hoped that Bill

Renshaw would come, but he did not appear.

 

After sitting in the dark cave until afternoon, Tom said:

 

"I think we might as well go and take another observation of

the big cave. We can tell what the men are doing, then, for they

don't seem to have been near us. Maybe they have given up the

search for us, and we can see them at work, and Mr. Jenks can

gain what further knowledge he needs."

 

"That will be a good plan," agreed the diamond man. "It's

maddening to sit here, doing nothing."

 

"And it will be comparatively safe to go from here to our

former post of observation," added Tom, "for there doesn't seem

to be any opening along the tunnel, into the larger cave, except

the place where we were."

 

Accordingly they started off. Cautiously they looked through

the opening into the apartment where they had seen the diamonds

made.

 

"There's not a soul here!" exclaimed Tom, in a whisper. The

others looked. The place was deserted--the machinery silent. Mr.

Jenks peered in for a moment, and then exclaimed:

 

"I'm going in! Now's my chance to find out all that I wish to

know! It may never come again, and then we can soon leave Phantom

Mountain!"

 

It was a daring plan, but it seemed to be the best one to

follow. They were all tired of inactivity. Mr. Jenks managed to

get through the opening, and dropped into the big cave. The

others followed. Mr. Jenks hurried over to the steel box, and

began an examination of it. Tom Swift was looking at the

electrical switch. He saw how it was constructed. Mr. Damon and

Mr. Parker were peering interestedly about.

 

Suddenly the sound of voices was heard, and the echo of

footsteps. Mr. Jenks started.

 

"They're coming back!" he whispered hoarsely. "Run!"

 

They all turned and sped toward their hiding place. But they

were too late. An instant later Folwell, Munson and the other

diamond makers confronted them. Our friends made a bold rush, but

were caught before they could go ten feet.

 

"We have them!" cried Munson. "They walked right into our

hands!"

 

It was true. Tom Swift and the others were the prisoners of the

diamond makers.

 

 

 

CHAPTER XXIII  -  BROKEN BONDS

 

 

"Well," remarked Tom Swift, in mournful tones, "this looks as

if we were up against it; doesn't it?"

 

"Bless my umbrella, it certainly does," agreed Mr. Damon.

 

"And it's all my fault," said Mr. Jenks. "I shouldn't have gone

into the big cave. I might have known those men would come back

any time."

 

The above conversation took place as our friends lay securely

bound in a small cave, or recess, opening from the larger cavern,

where, about an hour before, they had been captured and made

prisoners by the diamond makers. Despite their struggles they had

been overpowered and bound, being carried to the cave, where they

were laid in a row on some old bags.

 

"It certainly is a most unpleasant situation, to say the

least," observed Mr. Parker.

 

"And all my fault," repeated Mr. Jenks.

 

"Oh, no it isn't," declared Tom Swift, quickly. "We were just

as ready to follow you into that cave as you were to go. No one

could tell that the men would return so soon. It's nobody's

fault. It's just our bad luck."

 

From where he lay, tied hand and foot, the young inventor could

look out into the cave where he and the others had been caught.

The diamond makers were busily engaged, apparently in getting

ready to manufacture another batch of the precious stones. They

paid little attention to their captives, save to warn them, when

they had first been taken into the little cave, that it was

useless to try to escape.

 

"They needn't have told us that," observed Tom, as he and the

others were talking over their situation in low voices. "I don't

believe any one could loosen these ropes."

 

"They certainly are pretty tight," agreed Mr. Damon. "I've been

tugging and straining at mine for the last half hour, and all

I've succeeded in doing is to make the cords cut into my flesh."

 

"Better give it up," advised Mr. Jenks.

 

"We'll just have to wait."

 

"For what?" the scientist wanted to know.

 

"To see what they'll do with us. They can't keep us here

forever. They'll have to let us go some time." Following their

capture, Folwell and Munson, the latter the stowaway of the

airship, had been in earnest conversation regarding our friends,

but what conclusion they had reached the adventurers could only

guess.

 

"And we didn't have time to examine the diamond-making

machinery close enough so that we could duplicate it if

necessary," complained Tom, a little later.

 

"No," agreed Mr. Jenks. "There are certain things about it that

are not clear to me. Well, I don't believe I'll have another

chance to inspect it. They'll take good care of that, though they

seem to be getting ready to make more diamonds."

 

"Perhaps they're going to manufacture a big batch, and then

leave this place," suggested Mr. Damon. "They will probably go to

some other secret cave, and leave us here."

 

"I hope they untie us before they leave, and give us something

to eat," remarked the young inventor.

 

For two hours longer the captives lay there, in most

uncomfortable positions. Then Folwell and Munson, leaving the

group of diamond makers who were grouped about the machinery,

approached the captives.

 

"Well," remarked Munson, "we got ahead of you after all; didn't

we. You thought you had our secret, but it will be a long while

before you ever make diamonds."

 

"What are you going to do with us?" asked Tom.

 

"Never mind. You came where you had no right to, and you must

take the consequences."

 

"We did have a right to come here!" exclaimed Mr. Jenks. "I am

entitled to know how the diamonds are made. I paid for the

information, and you tricked me. If ever it's possible I'll have

the whole gang arrested for swindling."

 

"You'll never get the chance!" declared Folwell. "You were

given some diamonds for the money you invested, and that makes us

square."

 

"No, it doesn't!" declared Mr. Jenks. "I invested the money to

learn how to make diamonds, and you know it! You tricked me, and

I had a right to try to discover your secret! I nearly have it,

too, and I'll get it completely before I'm done with you!"

 

"No, you won't!" boasted Folwell. "But we didn't come here to

tell you that. We came to give you something to eat. We're not

savages and we'll treat you as well as we can in spite of the

fact that you are trespassers. We're going to give you some grub,

but I warn you that any attempt to escape will mean that some of

you will get hurt."

 

He signalled to some of his confederates. These men unbound the

captives' arms, and stood over them while they ate some coarse

food that was brought into the small cave. They were given coffee

to drink, and then, when the simple meal was over, they were

securely bound again, and left to themselves, while the diamond

makers went back to their machinery.

 

It was evident that they were going to attempt a big operation,

for an unusually large quantity of the white stuff was prepared.

The prisoners watched them idly. They could see some but not all

of the operations. In this way several hours passed.

 

Gloom possessed the hearts of Tom and his friends. Not only had

their expedition been almost a failure so far, but the young

inventor was worried lest the gang might discover and wreck his

airship. This would prove a serious loss. Lying there in the

semi-darkness the lad imagined all sorts of unpleasant

happenings.

 

At times he dozed off, as did the others. They had become

somewhat used to the pain caused by the bonds, for their nerves

were numb from the strain and pressure.

 

Once, as he was lightly sleeping, Tom was awakened by hearing

loud voices in the main cave. He looked out, rolling over

slightly to get a better view. He saw the man who, once before

had run in to give news of an approaching electrical storm.

 

"Are you fellows all ready?" asked this same man again.

 

"Yes. Is there another storm coming?"

 

"Yes, and it's going to be a corker!" was the reply. "It's one

of the worst I've ever seen. It's sweeping right up the valley.

It'll be here in an hour."

 

"That's good. We need a big flash to make all the material we

have prepared into diamonds. It's the biggest batch we ever

tried. I hope it succeeds, for we're going to leave--" The rest

was in so low a tone that Tom could not catch it.

 

The storm messenger departed. Folwell and Munson busied

themselves about the machinery. Tom dozed off again, dimly

wondering what had become of Bill Renshaw, and whether the former

ghost knew of their plight. The others were asleep, as the young

inventor saw by the dim light of a lantern in the cave. Then, he

too, shut his eyes.

 

Tom was suddenly awakened by feeling some one's hands moving

about his clothing. At first he thought it was one of the

diamond-making gang, who had sneaked in to rob him. "Here! What

are you up to?" exclaimed Tom.

 

"Quiet!" cautioned a voice. "Are you all here?"

 

"All of us--yes. But who are you?"

 

"Easy--keep quiet, Tom Swift! I'm Bill Renshaw! I've been

searching all over for you, since I got back to your cave and

found it empty. Now I'm going to free you. I got in here by a

secret entrance. Wait, I'll cut your ropes." There was a slight

sound, and an instant later Tom was freed from his bonds.

 

 

 

CHAPTER XXIV  -  IN GREAT PERIL

 

 

The young inventor could scarcely believe the good luck that

had so unexpectedly come to him and his companions. No sooner was

Tom able to move freely about than Bill Renshaw performed the

same service for Mr. Jenks and the others, cautioning them to be

quiet as he awakened them, and cut the ropes.

 

"Bless my circulation!" exclaimed Mr. Damon, in a hoarse

whisper. "How did you ever get here. I'd given ourselves up for

lost."

 

"Oh, I came in off the mountain, as there's a big storm due,"

explained the man. "There was no need of me playing the haunt in

daytime, anyhow. I went to the cave, found you and your things

gone, and I surmised that you might have walked into some trap."

 

"We did," admitted Mr. Jenks, grimly.

 

"Well, I hunted around until I found you," went on Bill. "This

mountain is honeycombed with caves, all opening from the large

one, I know them better than these fellows do, so I could explore

freely, and keep out of their sight. They didn't know that there

was a second entrance to this place, but I did, and I made for

it, when I couldn't find you in some of the other caves where I

looked. And, sure enough, here you were."

 

"Well, we can't thank you enough," said Mr. Parker. "But you

say there is a big storm coming?"

 

"One of the biggest that's been around these parts in some

time," replied Bill.

 

"Then perhaps the mountain will be destroyed," went on the

scientist, as calmly as if he had remarked that it might rain.

 

"I hope nothing like that happens until we get away," spoke Mr.

Damon, fervently.

 

"What had we better do?" inquired Tom.

 

"Get away, unless you want to discover some more of their

secrets," advised Bill. "Those fellows are planning something,

but I can't find out what it is. They are suspicious of me, I

think. But they are up to something, and I believe, it would be

best for you to leave while you have the chance. It may not be

healthy to stay. That's why I did my best to untie you."

 

"We appreciate what you have done," declared Mr. Jenks, "but I

want my rights. I must learn a few more facts about how to make

diamonds from lightning flashes, and then I will have the same

secret they cheated me out of. I think if we wait a while we may

be able to see the parts of the process that are not quite clear

to us. What do you say, Tom Swift?"

 

"Well, I would like to learn the secret," replied the lad, "and

if Bill thinks it's safe to stay here a while longer--

 

"Oh, I guess it will be safe enough," was the reply. "Those

fellows won't bother about you now that they are about to make

some more diamonds. Besides, they think you're all tied up. Yes,

you can stay here and watch, I reckon. I've got a couple of guns,

and--

 

"Then we'll stay," decided Tom. "We can put up a better fight

now."

 

Silently, in their prison, but which they could now leave

whenever they pleased, the adventurers watched the diamond makers

once more. The same process they had witnessed before was gone

through with. The white balls were put inside the steel box and

sealed up. Then they waited for the storm to reach its height.

 

That this would not be long was evidenced by the mutterings of

thunder which every moment grew louder. The outburst of

electrical fury was likely to take place momentarily, and that it

would be unusually severe was shown by the precautions taken by

the diamond makers. They attached a number of extra wires, and

brought out some insulated, hard rubber platforms, on which they

themselves stood. Tom and Mr. Jenks were much interested in

watching this detail of the work, and sought to learn how each

part of the process was done.

 

"I almost think we can make diamonds, Tom, when we get back to

civilization," whispered Mr. Jenks.

 

"I hope we can," answered Tom, "and we can't get back any too

soon to suit me. I want to be in my airship again."

 

"I don't blame you. But look, they are getting ready to adjust

the switch."

 

The adventurers ceased their whispered talk, and eagerly

watched the diamond makers. Folwell and Munson were hurrying to

and fro in the big cave, attending to the adjustments of the

machinery.

 

"On your insulated plates--all of you," Folwell gave the order.

"This is going to be a terrific storm. The gage shows twice the

power we have ever used, and it's creeping up every minute! We'll

have more diamonds than ever had before!"

 

"Yes, if the mountain isn't destroyed," added Mr. Parker, in a

low voice. "I predict that it will be split from top to bottom!"

 

"Comforting," thought Tom, grimly.

 

"I guess we're all ready," said Folwell, in a low tone to

Munson. "We'd better get insulated ourselves. I'm going to throw

the switch."

 

He did so. A moment later the man who had before given warning

of the storm came dashing in. He was very much excited.

 

"It's awful!" he cried. "The lightning is striking all over!

Big rocks are being split like logs of wood!"

 

"Well, it can't do any damage in here," said Munson. "We are

well protected. Get on one of the plates," and he motioned to one

of the hard-rubber platforms that was not occupied. The roar and

rumble of the storm outside had given place to short terrific

crashes. In their small cave the adventurers could feel the solid

ground shake.

 

A bluish light began dancing about the electrical wires. There

was a smell of sulphur in the air. Crash after crash resounded

outside. A flash of flame lit up the whole interior of the cave.

It came from the copper switch.

 

"Something's wrong with the insulation!" cried Munson.

 

"Don't go near it!" yelled Folwell. "If you value your life,

stand still!"

 

Hardly had he spoken than inside the cavern there sounded a

report like that of a small cannon. A big ball of fire danced

about the middle of the cave and then leaped on top of the steel

box.

 

"This is a fearful storm," cried Munson.

 

The adventurers in the cave did not know what to say or do.

They were in deadly peril.

 

Suddenly there came a crash louder than any that had preceded

it. The whole side of the cave where the switches were was a mass

of bluish flame. Then came a ripping, tearing sound, and a tangle

of wires and copper connections were thrown to the floor. At the

same time the steel box, containing the materials from which

diamonds were made, turned blue, and flames shot from it.

 

"It's all up with us!" cried Munson. "Run for it, everybody!

The wires are down, and this place will be an electric furnace in

another minute!"

 

He leaped toward the exit from the cave.

 

"What about those fellows?" asked Folwell, indicating the place

where Tom and the others had been tied.

 

"They'll have to do the best they can! It's every man for

himself, now!" yelled Munson. There was a wild scramble from the

cavern.

 

"Come on!" cried Tom. "We must escape! It's our only chance!"

 

He leaped into the big cave, followed by the others. Already

long tongues of electrical fire were shooting out from the walls

and roof as Tom Swift and his companions, evading them as best

they could, sought safety in flight.

 

 

 

CHAPTER XXV  -  THE MOUNTAIN SHATTEREDÄCONCLUSION

 

 

"Can't we get some of the diamonds?" cried Mr. Damon, as he

raced along behind Tom. "Now's our chance. Those fellows have all

gone!" The odd man made a grab for something as he ran.

 

"It's as much as our lives are worth," declared the young

inventor. "We dare not stop! Come on!"

 

"I'd like to investigate some of the machinery," spoke Mr.

Jenks, "but I wouldn't stop, even for that."

 

"The storm is too dangerous," called Bill Renshaw. "I can show

you a shorter way out than the one those fellows have taken.

Follow me."

 

"No way can be too short," said Mr. Parker, solemnly. "This

mountain will go to pieces shortly, I think!"

 

Tom shuddered. He remembered how narrow had been their escape

when Earthquake Island sank into the sea. And that some terrific

upheaval was now imminent might be judged from the awful reports

that sounded more plainly as the adventurers raced toward the

opening of the cave. It was like the bombardment of some doomed

city.

 

Mr. Jenks and Tom cast one longing look behind at the

complicated and expensive machinery that had been installed in

the cave by the diamond makers. They had abandoned it, and in it

lay the secret of making precious gems. But there was no time to

stop now, and investigate.

 

"This way," urged Bill Renshaw. "We'll soon be out."

 

"But won't it be dangerous to go outside?" asked Mr. Damon.

"Shan't we be struck by lightning? There is some protection in

here."

 

"None at all," said Mr. Parker, quickly. "This mountain is a

natural lightning rod. To stay here in this cave will be sure

death when the storm gets directly over it. And that will be very

soon. We must get on insulated ground. Is there any part of this

mountain that does not contain iron ore?" the scientist asked of

the former spirit.

 

"Yes; the way out by which we are going lands on a dirt hill."

 

"That's good; then we may be saved."

 

On they ran. They had no lanterns, but the blue light of the

electricity, as it leaped from point to point inside the cave,

where there were outcroppings of iron ore, made the place bright

enough to see.

 

"Here we are!" cried Bill Renshaw at length. "Here's the way

out!"

 

Making a sudden turn in the winding passage he showed the

adventurers a small opening in the side of the crag. In an

instant they had passed through, and found themselves in daylight

once more. The sudden glare almost blinded them, for, though the

sky was overcast by clouds, from which jagged tongues of

lightning played, the outside was much lighter than the dark

cave.

 

"I should say it was a storm!" cried Tom Swift. "See, it is

striking every minute, and all around us!"

 

In fact, lightning bolts were falling on every side of the

adventurers. Every time the balls of fire struck, they burst open

great stones, or seared a livid scar on the face of some cliff.

As for Tom and the others, they stood on a dry dirt hill, in

which, fortunately, there was no iron ore. To this fact they

undoubtedly owed their lives, though had there been rain, to

moisten the ground and make the earth a good conductor of

electricity, they probably would have been badly shocked. But the

electrical outburst was not accompanied by rain.

 

Tom looked up. He saw a compact mass of cloud moving toward the

summit of the mountain on the slope of which they stood. From

this

cloud there played shafts of reddish-green fire.

 

"Look!" called the young inventor to Mr. Parker. The instant

the latter saw the cloud, he cried:

 

"We must get away from here by all means! That is the center of

the storm. As soon as it gets over the mountain, where that

lightning rod is, all the electrical fluid will be discharged in

one bolt at the mountain, and it will be destroyed! We must run,

but keep on the dirt places! Run for your lives!"

 

They needed no second warning. Turning, they fled down the

steep side of the mountain, slipping and stumbling, but taking

care not to step on any iron ore. Behind them flashed the

lightning bolts.

 

Suddenly there was a most awful crash. It seemed as if the end

of the world had come, and the ear drums of Tom and his

companion almost burst with the fearful report. The concussion

knocked them down, and they lay stunned for a moment.

 

Following the terrible report there was a low, rumbling sound.

Hardly knowing whether he was dead or alive, Tom opened his eyes

and looked about him. What he saw caused him to cry out in

terror.

 

The whole mountain seemed bathed in fire. Great blue, red and

green flashes played around it. Then the towering cliff seemed to

melt and crumble up, and the great peak, the top of it containing

the diamond makers' cave, from which they had fled but a few

minutes before, the entire summit was toppled over into the

valley on the other side, and in the direction opposite to that

where the adventurers stood.

 

Then came a profound silence, and the lightning ceased. The

storm was over, and only the rattle of stones and boulders, as

they came to rest in the valley below, reached the ears of our

friends.

 

"Phantom Mountain has been destroyed, just as I said it would

be," spoke Mr. Parker, solemnly. Once more he had prophesied

correctly.

 

For a few minutes the adventurers hardly knew what to say. They

arose awkwardly from the ground where the shock had tossed them.

Then Tom remarked, as calmly as possible:

 

"Well, it's all over. I guess we may as well get back to our

airship."

 

"What became of Munson and the others?" asked Mr. Damon.

 

Mr. Jenks pointed to the trail, far below. The figures of some

men, running madly, could be seen.

 

"There they go," he said; "I fancy we have seen the last of

them." And they had, for some time at least.

 

There was little use lingering any longer on Phantom Mountain--

indeed little of it was left on which to remain. Looking back

toward the place where the cave had been, Tom and the others

started forward again. The diamond-making machinery had all been

destroyed. So, also, had the finished diamonds stored in the

cavern and the large supply which had probably been made by the

last terrific crash. No one would ever have them now. Tom and Mr.

Jenks felt a sense of disappointment, but they were glad to have

escaped with their lives. They sought their former camp, but the

tent and all their food was buried under tons of earth and rocks.

 

Three days later, after rather severe hardships, they were near

the place where they had left the Red Cloud. They had suffered

cold and hunger, for they had no food supplies, and, had it not

been that Bill Renshaw knew the haunts of some game, of which

they managed to snare some, they would have fared badly, for they

had left their guns in the cave.

 

"Well, there are the trees behind which I hope my airship is

hidden," announced Tom, as they came to the spot. "Good old Red

Cloud! Maybe we won't do some eating when we get aboard, eh?"

 

"Bless my appetite! but we certainly will!" cried Mr. Damon.

 

"There's somebody walking around the place," spoke Mr. Jenks.

 

"I hope it's no one who has damaged the ship," came from Tom,

apprehensively. He broke into a run, and soon confronted an aged

miner, who seemed to have established a rude sort of camp near

the airship.

 

"Is anything the matter?" asked Tom, breathlessly. "Is my

airship all right?"

 

"I guess she's all right, stranger," was the reply. "I don't

know much about these contraptions, but I haven't touched her. I

knowed she was an airship, for I've seen pictures of 'em, and

I've been waiting until the owner came along."

 

"Why?" asked Tom, wonderingly.

 

"Because I've got a proposition to make to you," went on the--

miner, who said his name was Abe Abercrombie. "I've been a miner

for a good many years, and I'm just back from Alaska, prospecting

around here. I haven't had any luck, but I know of a gold mine

in Alaska that will make us all rich. Only it needs an airship to

get to it, and I've been figuring how to hire one. Then I comes

along, and I sees this big one, and I makes up my mind to stay

here until the owners come back. That's what I've done. Now, if I

prove that I'm telling the truth, will you go to Alaska--to the

valley of gold with me?"

 

"I don't know," answered Tom, to whom the proposition was

rather sudden. "We've just had some pretty startling adventures,

and we're almost starved. Wait until we get something to eat, and

we'll talk. Come aboard the Red Cloud," and the lad led the way

to his craft which was in as good condition as when he left it to

go to the diamond cave. Later he listened to the miner's story.

 

Tom Swift did go to the valley of gold in Alaska, and what

happened to him and his companions there will be told of in the

next volume of this series, to be called "Tom Swift in the Caves

of Ice; or, the Wreck of the Airship."'

 

It did not take our friends long, after they had eaten a hearty

meal, to generate some fresh gas, and start the Red Cloud oh her

homeward way. Tom wanted to take Bill Renshaw with him, hut the

old man said he would rather remain among the mountains where he

had been born. So, after paying him well for his services, they

said good-by to him. Abercrombie, the miner, also remained

behind, but promised to call and see Tom in a few months.

 

"Well, we didn't make any money out of this trip," observed Mr.

Jenks, rather dubiously, as they were nearing Shopton, after an

uneventful trip. "I guess I owe you considerable, Tom Swift. I

promised to get you a lot of diamonds, but all I have are those I

had from my first visit to the cave."

 

"Oh, that's all right," spoke Tom, easily. "The experience was

worth all the trip cost."

 

"Speaking of diamonds, look here!" exclaimed Mr. Damon,

suddenly, and he pulled out a double handful.

 

"Where did you get them?" cried the others in astonishment.

 

"I grabbed them up, as we ran from the cave," said the

eccentric man; "but, bless my gaiters! I forgot all about them

until you spoke. We'll share them."

 

These diamonds, some of which were large, proved very valuable,

though the total sum was far below what Mr. Jenks hoped to make

when he started on the remarkable trip. Tom gave Mary Nestor a

very fine stone, and it was set in a ring, instead of a pin, this

time.

 

On their arrival in Shopton, where Mr. Swift, the housekeeper,

Mr. Jackson and Eradicate Sampson were much alarmed for Tom's

safety, an attempt was made to manufacture diamonds, using a

powerful electric current instead of lightning. But it was not a

success, and so Mr. Jenks concluded to give up his search for the

secret which was lost on Phantom Mountain.

 

And now we will take leave of Tom Swift, to meet him again soon

in other adventures he is destined to have in the caves of ice

and the valley of gold.

 

 

 

 

 

THE END

 

 

THE  TOM SWIFT SERIES

 

By VICTOR APPLETON

 

 

 

TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR CYCLE

Or Fun and Adventure on the Road

TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR BOAT

Or The Rivals of Lake Carlopa

TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRSHIP

Or The Stirring Cruise of the Red Cloud

TOM SWIFT AND HIS SUBMARINE BOAT

Or Under the Ocean for Sunken Treasure

TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RUNABOUT

Or The Speediest Car on the Road

TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIRELESS MESSAGE

Or The Castaways of Earthquake Island

TOM SWIFT AMONG THE DIAMOND MAKERS

Or The Secret of Phantom Mountain

TOM SWIFT IN THE CAVES OF ICE

Or The wreck of the Airship

TOM SWIFT AND HIS SKY RACER

Or The Quickest Flight on Record

TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RIFLE

Or Daring Adventures In Elephant Land

TOM SWIFT IN THE CITY OF GOLD

Or Marvelous Adventures Underground

TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDER

Or seeking the Platinum Treasure

TOM SWIFT IN CAPTIVITY

Or A Daring Escape by Airship

TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIZARD CAMERA

Or The Perils of Moving Picture Taking

TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT SEARCHLIGHT

Or On the Border for Uncle Sam

TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT CANNON

Or The Longest Shots on Record

TOM SWIFT AND HIS PHOTO TELEPHONE

Or The Picture that Saved a Fortune

TOM SWIFT AND HIS AERIAL WARSHIP

Or The Naval Terror of the Seas

TOM SWIFT AND HIS BIG TUNNEL

Or The Hidden City of the Andes

 

 

 

 

THE MOTION PICTURE CHUMS SERIES

 

By VICTOR APPLETON

 

 

In these stories we follow the adventures of three boys, who,

after purchasing at auction the contents of a moving picture

house, open a theatre of their own. Their many trials and

tribulations, leading up to the final success of their venture,

make very entertaining stories.

 

THE MOTION PICTURE CHUMS' FIRST VENTURE

 

Or Opening a Photo Playhouse in Fairlands.

 

The adventures of Frank. Randy and Pep in running a Motion

Picture show. They had trials and tribulations hut finally

succeed.

 

THE MOTION PICTURE CHUMS AT SEASIDE PARK

 

Or The Rival Photo Theatres of the Boardwalk.

 

Their success at Fairlands encourages the boys to open their

show at Seaside Park, where they have exciting adventures--also a

profitable season.

 

THE MOTION PICTURE CHUMS ON BROADWAY

 

Or The Mystery of the Missing Cash Box.

 

Backed by a rich western friend the chums established a photo

playhouse in the  great metropolis, where new adventures await

them.

 

THE MOTION PICTURE CHUMS' OUTDOOR EXHIBITION

 

Or The Film that Solved a Mystery.

 

This time the playhouse was in a big summer park. How a film

that was shown gave a clew to an important mystery is

interestingly related.

 

THE MOTION PICTURE CHUMS' NEW IDEA

 

Or The First Educational Photo Playhouse.

 

In this book the scene is shifted to Boston, and there is

intense rivalry in the establishment of photo playhouses of

educational value.

 

THE MOTION PICTURE CHUMS AT THE FAIR

 

Or The Greatest Film Ever Exhibited.

 

The chums go to Sap Francisco, where they have some trials

but finally meet with great success.

 

THE MOTION PICTURE CHUMS' WAR SPECTACLE

 

Or The Film that Won the Prize.

 

Through being of service to the writer of n great scenario. the

chums are enabled to produce it and win a prize.

 

 

 

 

THE BOYS OF COLUMBIA HIGH SERIES

 

By GRAHAM B. FORBES

 

Never was there a cleaner, brighter, more manly boy than Frank

Allen, the hero of this series of boys tales, and never was there

a better crowd of lads to associate with than the students of the

School. All boys will read these stories with deep interest. The

rivalry between the towns along the river was of the keenest, and

plots and counterplots to win the champions, at baseball, at

football, at boat racing, at track athletics, and at ice hockey,

were without number. Any lad reading one volume of this series

will surely want the others.

 

THE BOYS OF COLUMBIA HIGH

Or The All Around Rivals of the School

 

THE BOYS OF COLUMBIA HIGH ON THE DIAMOND

Or Winning Out by Pluck

 

THE BOYS OF COLUMBIA HIGH ON THE RIVER

Or The Boat Race Plot that Failed

 

THE BOYS OF COLUMBIA HIGH ON THE GRIDIRON

Or The Struggle for the Silver Cup

 

THE BOYS OF COLUMBIA HIGH ON THE ICE

Or Out for the Hockey Championship

 

THE BOYS OF COLUMBIA HIGH IN TRACK ATHLETICS

Or A Long Run that Won

 

THE BOYS OF COLUMBIA HIGH IN WINTER SPORTS

Or Stirring Doings on Skates and Iceboats

 

 

12mo. Illustrated. Handsomely bound in cloth, with cover design

and wrappers in colors.

 

GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK

 

 

THE OUTDOOR CHUMS SERIES

 

By CAPTAIN QUINCY ALLEN

 

The outdoor chums are four wide-awake lads, Sons of wealthy men

of a small city located on a lake. The boys love outdoor life,

and are greatly interested in hunting, fishing, and picture

taking. They have motor cycles, motor boats, canoes, etc., and

during their vacations go everywhere and have all sorts of

thrilling adventures. The stories give full directions for

camping out, how to fish, how to hunt wild animals and prepare

the skins for stuffing, how to manage a canoe, how to swim, etc.

Full of the spirit of outdoor life.

 

THE OUTDOOR CHUMS

Or The First Tour of the Rod, Gun and Camera Club.

 

THE OUTDOOR CHUMS ON THE LAKE

Or Lively Adventures on Wildcat Island.

 

THE OUTDOOR CHUMS IN THE FOREST

Or Laying the Ghost of Oak Ridge.

 

THE OUTDOOR CHUMS ON THE GULF

Or Rescuing the Lost Balloonists.

 

THE OUTDOOR CHUMS AFTER BIG GAME

Or Perilous Adventures in the Wilderness.

 

THE OUTDOOR CHUMS ON A HOUSEBOAT

Or The Rivals of the Mississippi.

 

THE OUTDOOR CHUMS IN THE BIG WOODS

Or The Rival Hunters at Lumber Run.

 

THE OUTDOOR CHUMS AT CABIN POINT

Or The Golden Cup Mystery.

 

 

End.