Part 31 (1/2)

”That's what struck me,” Tom answered, as he continued to drive the Hawk earthward. ”They thought they were doing a smart trick--imitating the tactics of the Allies with their tanks--but they must be color blind.”

Ned took another observation through the gla.s.ses. He could see the tank more easily now. There she was, fairly well hidden in a clump of bushes and small trees on the banks of a river, about a hundred miles away from Shopton. It was in a wild and desolate country, and only with the airs.h.i.+p could the trail have thus been followed.

Ned saw that the tank had been daubed with green, yellow, and brown paint, in fantastic blotches, to make the big machine blend with the foliage; and, to a certain extent, this had been accomplished.

But, as Ned had remarked, the green used was of too vivid a hue. No natural tree put forth leaves like that, and the gla.s.s had further revealed the error.

”Look, Tom!” suddenly cried Ned. ”She's moving!”

”You're right!” answered the young inventor. ”They've seen us and are trying to get away.”

”But they can't beat your airs.h.i.+p, Tom.”

”I know that. But their game--Oh, Ned, they're going to wreck her!”

cried Tom, and there was anguish in his voice.

As the two looked down from their seats In the Hawk they saw the tank, in its fantastic dress of splotchy paint, leave her lair amid the bushes and trees, and head toward the river. Like some ponderous prehistoric monster about to take a drink, she careened her way toward the stream, which, at this point, ran between high banks.

”What's the game?” cried Ned.

”They're going to send her to smas.h.!.+” cried Tom. ”She's pretty tough, Tom, but she'll never stand a tumble down into the river without breaking a lot of machinery inside her.”

”But if they demolish the tank they'll kill themselves, won't they?

And Koku and your men, too, who must be prisoners in her!”

”They won't risk their own worthless hides, you may be sure of that!”

exclaimed Tom.

”There they go, but they must have left Koku and the others to their fate!”

”Oh, if they could only get loose and take control now, Tom, they'd save your tank for you!” shouted Ned.

”Yes; but they can't, I'm afraid. They may be killed, or so securely bound that they can't get loose!”

”Can't you get the Hawk there in time to stop her?”

”I'm afraid not. By that time she'll have attained top speed and it would be taking our lives in our hands to try to make a flying jump, get inside, and shut off the motors.”

”Then the tank's got to smas.h.!.+” said Ned gloomily.

Tom did not answer for a moment. He and his chum watched the fleeing figures running away from the war engine. What the plotters had done, as soon as they saw the aircraft and realized that Tom had discovered them, was to start the motors and leap from the tank, closing the doors after them. Whether or not they had left Koku and the others prisoners inside remained to be seen.

But the tank was plunging her way toward the steep bank of the river, doomed, it seemed, to great damage, if not to destruction.

”Oh, if we could only halt her!” murmured Ned.

Tom Swift was busy with some apparatus on the Hawk. Ned heard the hum of an electric motor which was connected with the engine, and there soon sounded the crackle of the wireless.

”What are you doing? Signaling for help from those inside the tank?”