Part 19 (1/2)
He and Ned, with some of the crew and gunners, went outside the tank.
She was a sorry-looking sight, very different from the trim appearance she had presented when she first left the shop. Bricks, bits of stone, and piles of broken cement in chunks and dust lay thick on her broad back. But no real damage had been done, as a hasty examination showed.
”Well, are you satisfied, Tom?” asked his chum.
”Yes, and more,” was the answer. ”Of course this wasn't the hardest test to which she could have been submitted, but it will do to show what punishment she can stand. Being shot at from big guns is another matter. I'll have to wait until she gets to Flanders to see what effect that will have. But I know the kind of armor skin she has, and that doesn't worry me. There's one thing more I want to do while I have her out now.”
”What's that?” asked Ned.
”Take her for a long trip cross country, and then shove her through some extra heavy barbed wire. I'm certain she'll chew that up, but I want to see it actually done. So now, if you want to come along, Ned, we'll go cross country.”
”I'm with you!”
”Get inside then. We'll let the dust and masonry blow and rattle off as we go along.”
The tank started off across the fields, which stretched for many miles on either side of the deserted factory, when suddenly Ned, who was again at his post in the observation tower, called:
”Look, Tom!”
”What at?”
”That corner of the factory which is still standing. Look at those men coming out and running away!”
Ned pointed, and his chum, leaning over from the steering wheel and controls, gave a start of surprise as he saw three figures clambering down over the broken debris and making their way out of what had once been a doorway.
”Did they come out of the factory, Ned?”
”They surely did! And unless I miss my guess they were in it, or around it, when we went through like a fellow carrying the football over the line for a touchdown.”
”In there when the tank broke open things?”
”I think so. I didn't see them before, but they certainly ran out as we started away.”
”This has got to be looked into!” decided Tom. ”Come on, Ned! It may be more of that spy business!”
Tom Swift stopped the tank and prepared to get out.
Chapter XVI
The Old Barn
”There's no use chasing after 'em, Tom,” observed Ned, as the two chums stood side by side outside the tank and gazed after the three men running off across the fields as fast as they could go. ”They've got too much a start of us.”
”I guess you're right, Ned,” agreed Tom. ”And we can't very well pursue them in the tank. She goes a bit faster than anything of her build, but a running man is more than a match for her in a short distance. If I had the Hawk here, there'd be a different story to tell.”
”Well, seeing that you haven't,” replied Ned, ”suppose we let them go--which we'll have to, whether we want to or not--and see where they were hiding and if they left any traces behind.”
”That's a good idea,” returned Tom.
The place whence the men had emerged was a portion of the old factory farthest removed from the walls the tank had crunched its way through.