"All right," a.s.sented the other. "Only you"re going to be beat badly. I never saw an electric car yet that could do anything except to crawl along."
"You"re going to see one now," was all the retort Tom permitted himself.
"Here we go then!" cried the man, and he gave his gear handle a yank, and shoved over the sparking and gasolene levers.
His car instantly shot ahead, and went "chug chugging" down the road in a cloud of dust. At the same moment Tom, in answer to a look from Ned, who feared his friend was going to be left behind, turned more power into the motor. The humming, purring sound increased and the electric car forged ahead.
"Can you catch him?" asked Ned.
"Watch," was all Tom said.
The hum of the motor became a sort of whine, and the electric rapidly acquired speed. It crept up on the gasolene car, as an express train overtakes a freight, and the man, looking back, and expecting to see his rival far behind was surprised to note the queer looking vehicle lapping his rear wheels.
"Well, you are coming on, aren"t you?" he asked. "Maybe you"ll keep up now!" He shifted the gears, using a little more gasolene. For a moment his car opened a wide gap between it and Tom"s, but the young inventor had only begun to race. Still louder purred the motor, and in a few minutes Tom was running on even terms with his compet.i.tor. The man looked annoyed, and tried, by the skilful use of gasolene and sparking levers, to leave Tom behind. But the electric held her own.
"I"ve got to go the limit I see," remarked the man at last, glancing sideways at the other car. "I"ll tell "em you"re coming," he added, "though I must say your electric does better than any of its kind I ever came across."
"I"m not done yet," was the comment of our hero. But the man did not hear him, for he was yanking into place the lever that enabled him to run on direct drive for fourth speed.
Forward shot his car, and, for perhaps a quarter of a mile it led. The racers were almost at the end of the three-mile level stretch of road, and if Tom was going to win the impromptu contest it seemed high time he began.
"Can you catch him?" asked Ned anxiously.
"Watch," was his chum"s reply. "I haven"t used my high speed gear yet.
I"m afraid the fuses won"t stand it, but here goes for a try, anyhow."
He threw over a switch, changed a lever and then, having pushed into place the last gear, he grasped the steering wheel more firmly.
There was need of it, for, in an instant, the electric runabout, with the motors fairly roaring, swept up the road, after the gasolene car that was almost hidden from sight in a cloud of dust. Faster and faster went Tom"s car. The young inventor was listening with critical ear to the song of the machinery. He wanted to learn if it was running sweet and true, for that is how a careful mechanic tests his apparatus. Foot by foot the distance between the two cars lessened. Now the electric was lapping the rear wheels of the gasolene machine, but the driver did not know it. His whole attention was on the road ahead of him.
"Half a mile more!" cried Ned, naming the distance which yet remained of the straight stretch. "Can you do it, Tom?"
His chum nodded. He shoved the controller handle over to the last notch, and then waited an anxious second. Would the fuse carry the extra load? It seemed so, for there was a slight increase of power.
An instant later Tom gave a sudden twist to the steering wheel. It was well that he did, for he was pa.s.sing the gasolene car dangerously close. Then he was ahead of it, and in a second he was three lengths in advance.
Desperately the man opened his m.u.f.fler, and sought to gain by this advantage, but though his car gave off explosions like a battery of guns in action, he could not gain on Tom. The electric shot around a curve in the road, winner of the impromptu race by an eighth of a mile.
"Well," asked Tom of his chum, as he slowed down, for the road now was not so good, "did I do it?"
"You certainly did. Whew! But we did scoot along?"
"Eighty miles an hour there one spell," went on the young inventor, glancing at a gauge. "But I"ve got to do better than that to win the big race."
CHAPTER XV
ANDY FOGER"S BLACK EYE
Around the bend came the six-cylinder touring car. The driver, with a surprised look on his face, was slacking up. He ran his machine up alongside of Tom"s.
"Say," he asked, in dazed tones, "did you take a short cut, or anything like that to get ahead of me?"
"No," answered the youth.
"And you didn"t jump me in the air?"
"No," was Tom"s answer, smilingly given.
"Well, all I"ve got to say is that you"ve got a wonderful car there, Mr.--er--er--" He paused suggestively.
"Swift is my name," our hero answered. "Thomas Swift, of Shopton."
"Ah, I"ve heard of you. My name is Layton--Paul Layton. I"m from Netherton. Let"s see, you built an airship, didn"t you?"
"I helped," Tom admitted modestly.
"Well, you beat me fair and square, and if I do say it myself I"ve got a fairly speedy car. Took two firsts at the Indianapolis meet last month. But you certainly scooted ahead of me. Where did you buy that electric, if I may ask?"
"I made it."
"I might have known," admitted the man. "But are you going to put them on the market? If you are I"d like to get one. I want the fastest car going, and you seem to have it."
"I hadn"t thought of manufacturing them for sale," said the young inventor. "If I do, I"ll let you know."
"I wish you would. My! I had no idea you could beat me, but you did--fair and square."
There was some more talk, and then Mr. Layton started on, after exacting from Tom a further promise to let him know if any electrics were to be made for sale.
"You certainly have a wonderful car," complimented Ned, as he and his chum took a short cut to Shopton.
"Well, I"m not quite satisfied with it," declared Tom.
"Why not?"
"Well, I"ve set a hundred miles an hour as my limit. I didn"t make but eighty to-day. I"ve got to have more speed if I go up against the crowd that will race for the touring club"s prize."
"Can you make a hundred miles?"
"I think so. I"ve got to change my gears, though, and use heavier fuses. I was afraid every second that one of the fuses would melt, and leave me stranded. But they stood pretty well. Of course, when the car, geared as it is now, has been run a little longer it will go faster, but it won"t come up to a hundred miles an hour. That"s what I want, and that"s what I"m going to get," and the lad looked very determined.
Ned was taken to the bank, and, as Tom turned his machine around, to go home, he saw, standing on the steps of the new bank, which was almost across the street from the old one, Andy Foger, and the bully"s father.
The red-haired lad laughed at Tom"s rough looking car, and said something to his parent, but Mr. Foger did not notice Tom. Not that this caused our hero any uneasiness, however.
But, as he swung away from the bank, he saw, coming up the street a figure that instantly attracted his attention. It was that of Mr. Berg, and Tom at once recalled the night he had pursued the submarine agent, and torn loose his watch charm. Mr. Berg was evidently going to enter the new bank, for, at the sight of the former agent, Mr. Foger descended the steps, and went to meet him.