"I hope it doesn't turn out later
that a crime has been committed, and we didn't show enough
gumption to prevent it."
"We couldn't prevent it. We heard the cries as soon as we
landed."
"Yes, but if we had rushed over at once we might have caught
the fellows. But I guess it was only a slight accident, and some
one was more frightened than hurt. We'll have to let it go at
that."
But the more he thought about it the more Tom Swift thought
there was something queer in that weird cry for help on the
lonely meadow in the darkness of the night.
CHAPTER XIV
THE TELEPHONE CALL
The defect in the motor which had caused Tom Swift to shut off
the power and drift down to earth was soon remedied, once the
young inventor began an examination of the craft. One of the oil
feeds had become choked and this automatically cut down the
gasoline supply, causing one or more cylinders to miss. It was a
safety device Tom had installed to prevent the motor running dry,
and so being damaged.
Once the clogged oil feed was cleared the motor ran as before,
and just as silently, though, as Tom had said, he was not
entirely satisfied with the quietness, but intended to do further
work toward perfecting it.
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