CHAPTER I
A WONDERFUL STORY
Tom Swift, who had been slowly looking through the pages of a
magazine, in the contents of which he seemed to be deeply interested,
turned the final folio, ruffled the sheets back again to look at a certain map
and drawing, and then, slapping the book down on a table before him, with
a noise not unlike that of a shot, exclaimed:
"Well, that is certainly one wonderful story!"
"What\'s it about, Tom?" asked his chum, Ned Newton. "Something
about inside baseball, or a new submarine that can be converted into an
airship on short notice?"
"Neither one, you--you unscientific heathen," answered Tom, with a
laugh at Ned. "Though that isn\'t saying such a machine couldn\'t be
invented."
"I believe you--that is if you got on its trail," returned Ned, and there
was warm admiration in his voice.
"As for inside baseball, or outside, for that matter, I hardly believe I\'d
be able to tell third base from the second base, it\'s so long since I went to a
game," proceeded Tom. "I\'ve been too busy on that new airship stabilizer
dad gave me an idea for. I\'ve been working too hard, that\'s a fact. I
need a vacation, and maybe a good baseball game----"
He stopped and looked at the magazine he had so hastily slapped down.
Something he had read in it seemed to fascinate him.
"I wonder if it can possibly be true," he went on. "It sounds like the
wildest dream of a professional sleep-walker; and yet, when I stop to think,
it isn\'t much worse than some of the things we\'ve gone through with,
Ned."
"Say, for the love of rice-pudding! will you get down to brass tacks
and strike a trial balance? What are you talking of, anyhow? Is it a
joke?"