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Transdisciplinary Sustainability Studies

Arising out of human–environment interaction, sustainability problems resist

disciplinary categories and simple solutions. This book offers a fresh approach
to practical and methodological concerns in transdisciplinary environmental
and sustainability studies. It illustrates methodological means by which research-
ers, professionals and decision-makers can address complex environmental
issues.
While scientific reasoning is mostly guided by disciplinary traditions,
transdisciplinary research rests on other cognitive strategies. As it does not
have a ready-made stance toward problems, figuring out what the puzzle is
and what the answer might look like are crucial aspects of transdisciplinary
inquiry. Through examples from environment and sustainability studies, the
volume discusses heuristic schemes that can give structure to this exploration.
By focusing on heuristics, rather than on methods, concepts, or general
guidelines, the book argues that a problem-centred approach often resists the
rigour of methodology. Learning from experience provides valuable ‘rules of
thumb’, checklists and other cognitive schemes for making ill-defined problems
more tangible.
Written by an international team of authors, the chapters draw examples
from dealing with issues in environmental protection, transport and climate
policy, ecosystem services and disservices, environmental beliefs and attitudes,
and more. Together with more theoretically oriented chapters, they show that
the intellectual processes needed to tackle complex sustainability problems are
as much about heuristic problem solving as they are about methodical work.

Katri Huutoniemi is Researcher in the Department of Social Research at the

University of Helsinki, Finland.

Petri Tapio is Professor in Futures Research at the University of Turku, Finland.

Routledge Studies in Sustainability

Critiquing Sustainability, Changing Philosophy

Jenneth Parker

Transdisciplinary Sustainability Studies

A heuristic approach
Katri Huutoniemi and Petri Tapio

Challenging Consumption
Pathways to a more sustainable future
Edited by Anna R. Davies, Frances Fahy and Henrike Rau

Democratic Sustainability in a New Era of Localism

John Stanton
Transdisciplinary
Sustainability Studies
A Heuristic Approach

Edited by
Katri Huutoniemi and Petri Tapio
First published 2014
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2014 selection and editorial material, Katri Huutoniemi and Petri Tapio;
individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Katri Huutoniemi and Petri Tapio to be identified as authors of
the editorial material, and of the individual authors as authors of their
contributions, has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and
78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Transdisciplinary sustainability studies : a heuristic approach / edited by
Katri Huutoniemi and Petri Tapio.
(Routledge studies in sustainability)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Sustainability--Methodology. 2. Sustainable development--Methodology.
3. Heuristic. I. Huutoniemi, Katri, author, editor of compilation.
II. Tapio, Petri.
HC79.E5T734 2014
338.9’27--dc23
2013043669

ISBN13: 978-0-415-85579-2 (hbk)

ISBN13: 978-0-203-73483-4 (ebk)

Typeset in Times New Roman

by Taylor & Francis Books
Contents

List of illustrations vii

Notes on contributors ix
Acknowledgements xi
Foreword: from method to transdisciplinary heuretics xii
JULIE THOMPSON KLEIN

1 Introduction: sustainability, transdisciplinarity and the

complexity of knowing 1
KATRI HUUTONIEMI

PART I
Heuristics and problem framing 21

2 Thinking outward: heuristics for systemic understanding of

environmental problems 23
KATRI HUUTONIEMI AND RISTO WILLAMO

3 Ecosystem services in integrated sustainability assessment: a

heuristic view 50
JARI LYYTIMÄKI AND LARS KJERULF PETERSEN

4 Heuristics for framing sustainability problems in transport 68

DAVID BANISTER

5 Exploring the space of alternatives: heuristics in

sustainability scenarios 85
PETRI TAPIO, MATTIAS HÖJER, ÅSA SVENFELT AND VILJA VARHO

PART II
Heuristics and problem solving 101

6 From complexity to solvability: the praxeology of

transdisciplinary research 103
CHRISTIAN POHL
vi Contents
7 Responding to communication challenges in transdisciplinary
sustainability science 119
TROY E. HALL AND MICHAEL O’ROURKE

8 Envisioning solutions: expert deliberation on environmental

futures 140
VILJA VARHO AND KATRI HUUTONIEMI

9 Understanding environmental heuristics: trust and dialogue 158

RIIKKA PALONIEMI AND ANNUKKA VAINIO

PART III
New directions for sustainability 175

10 Heuristics as cognitive tools for pursuing sustainability 177

JANNE I. HUKKINEN AND KATRI HUUTONIEMI

11 Transdisciplinarity as sustainability 194

ROBERT FRODEMAN

Index 210
Illustrations

Tables
1.1 Two major framings of inter- and transdisciplinarity 5
2.1 Stages of outward thinking in horizontally and vertically
oriented search 30
2.2 Dimensions of environmental issues that can be grasped
through outward thinking 38
3.1 General level classification of ecosystem services 53
4.1 The changes in travel distance in Great Britain
(1972/1973 – 2011) 71
5.1 Three uses of heuristics in a scenario process 87
5.2 Eight transport scenarios constructed using the Table heuristic 95
8.1 Examples of futures studies methods processing individual, team
and panel expertise 143
9.1 Means, standard deviations and correlation coefficients of the
main variables in the study of landowners 165
9.2 Means, standard deviations and correlation coefficients of the
main variables in the study of policy implementers 167
10.1 Primary metaphors 187

Figures
2.1 Processes of extending and integrating as well as demarcating and
compartmentalizing 31
2.2 The architecture of an environmental problem 36
3.1 Schematic models of the generation or consumption of ecosystem
services in relation to the share of green area in a city or other
urban area 57
3.2 Typology of non-recognition 61
5.1 Three ways to build, compare and illustrate alternative futures in
relation to each other 89
5.2 Four transport scenarios constructed and compared using the
Cross heuristic in two alternative ways 92
viii List of illustrations
5.3 Six transport scenarios constructed using the Two-dimensional
space heuristic 94
6.1 Transdisciplinary sustainability research links scientific knowledge
production and societal problem solving in a process of
co-producing knowledge 105
6.2 Map of purposes 108
7.1 Typical stages of a transdisciplinary sustainability science project 123
7.2 Communication challenges and responses organized as they
appear in the developmental stages of a typical transdisciplinary
sustainability science project 124
9.1 Standardized regression coefficients between the main variables in
the study of landowners 166
Notes on contributors

David Banister is Professor of Transport Studies at Oxford University and

Director of the Transport Studies Unit. He is currently the first Benelux
BIVEC-GIBET Transport Chair. His research expertise is in transport
scenario building, sustainable cities, energy and environmental modelling.
Robert Frodeman is Professor of Philosophy and founding Director of the
Center for the Study of Interdisciplinarity at the University of North
Texas. He works in environmental philosophy, science policy, and the phi-
losophy of interdisciplinarity. Frodeman’s Sustainable knowledge: a theory
of interdisciplinarity was published in 2013.
Troy E. Hall is Professor and Head of the Department of Conservation
Social Sciences at the University of Idaho. Her research explores social-
psychological dimensions of natural resource issues and interdisciplinary
communication.
Janne I. Hukkinen is Professor of Environmental Policy at the University of
Helsinki. He studies the cognitive aspects of sustainability assessment and
strategy.
Katri Huutoniemi is Post-doctoral Researcher in the Department of Social
Research at the University of Helsinki. Her research centres around the social,
epistemological and environmental aspects of inter- and transdisciplinary
research.
Mattias Höjer is Professor of Environmental Futures Studies and Director of
the Centre for Sustainable Communications at KTH Royal Institute of
Technology in Stockholm. Backcasting studies on consumption and energy
are his main focus.
Julie Thompson Klein is Professor of Humanities in the English Department and
Faculty Fellow for Interdisciplinary Development in the division of Research
at Wayne State University. Her expertise is inter- and transdisciplinary
research and education.
Jari Lyytimäki is Senior Researcher at Environmental Policy Centre, Finnish
Environment Institute. His research interests include emerging socio-ecological
issues, environmental communication and sustainability indicators.
x Notes on contributors
Michael O’Rourke is Professor of Philosophy and faculty in AgBioResearch
at Michigan State University. He has published on the topics of
communication, interdisciplinary theory and practice, and robotic agent
design.
Riikka Paloniemi is Senior Researcher at Environmental Policy Centre,
Finnish Environment Institute and a docent in Environmental Politics in
the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Helsinki.
Lars Kjerulf Petersen works as a Senior Researcher at the Department of
Environmental Science, Aarhus University. His research interests include
sustainable urban development, nature–culture interaction, household
practices for energy ‘prosumption’ and waste handling, socio-technical
transition, and media representations of environment and climate.
Christian Pohl is Co-director of td-net (www.transdisciplinarity.ch) of the
Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences and core member of TdLab of the
Department of Environmental Systems Science at ETH Zurich (www.
tdlab.usys.ethz.ch).
Åsa Svenfelt is a Ph.D. and research leader at Environmental Strategies
Research (fms) at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. Her
research interests are in environmental futures studies and uncertainty
management in environmental policy and planning.
Petri Tapio is Professor in Futures Research at the University of Turku. He is
interested in the future of transport, energy and agro-food thematics; see
www.fidea.fi.
Annukka Vainio is University Lecturer at the School of Social Sciences and
Humanities at the University of Tampere and a docent in social psychology
at the University of Helsinki.
Vilja Varho is a Principal Research Scientist in MTT Agrifood Research
Finland. Her research focuses on climate, energy and transport issues,
including future scenarios and policy choices.
Risto Willamo is Senior Lecturer in Environmental Change and Policy at the
University of Helsinki. His main interest is in transdisciplinary environmental
research.
Acknowledgements

This book project was initiated in the Frameworks for Interdisciplinary Envir-
onmental Analysis research group (www.fidea.fi), which investigates and develops
the conceptual basis for analyzing environmental issues from a comprehensive
problem- or solution-oriented perspective. The group inspired us to make the
effort to craft a book-length contribution to transdisciplinary sustainability
studies, and many of the group members became contributors to this volume.
This effort would not have been possible without the support of many
organizations and individuals. The ingredients of the chapters were developed
in several research projects, two of which were funded by the Academy of
Finland. We are grateful to the Academy for research grants to the projects
‘Climate Discussion on Transport: An Interdisciplinary Environmental Ana-
lysis’ (CAST, project number 128307) and ‘The Function and Management of
Aquatic Ecosystems in the Changing Environment: The Effects of Paradigm
Shifts’ (AQUADIGM, project number 263464). We are particularly indebted
to the Kone Foundation for a post-doctoral grant that enabled the first editor
to concentrate on developing the overarching idea behind the volume and
linking the various contributions to it.
This project was also supported by the home institutions of the two editors:
Department of Social Research at the University of Helsinki, and Finland
Futures Research Centre at the University of Turku. We thank especially the
participants of the Environmental Policy research seminar at the University of
Helsinki for commenting on the introductory chapter at several stages. Stra-
tegic funding for developing basic research in futures studies, granted by the
University of Turku, is kindly appreciated.
In addition, we are indebted to the three anonymous reviewers of our book
proposal, whose reports helped us further delineate our project, and to Khanam
Virjee, Charlotte Russell and others at Routledge, with whom it was a pleasure
to work. We also wish to thank our proofreader Pekka Jääskeläinen for checking
the language of the book manuscript within a challenging time frame.
Finally, we warmly thank the authors of the chapters of this volume for
joining us in this journey and accommodating our requests along the way to
its completion.
Katri Huutoniemi and Petri Tapio
Helsinki, October 2013
Foreword
From method to transdisciplinary heuretics
Julie Thompson Klein

The appearance of Transdisciplinary Sustainability Studies marks an important

point in the history of the book’s core concepts of transdisciplinarity,
sustainability and heuristics.
First, the book benchmarks the ascendancy of transdisciplinarity (TD).
The concept is not new. In the first major typology of forms of inter-
disciplinary research and teaching, devised in 1970 for a pioneer international
conference on the topic, TD was defined as an overarching synthesis of
separate perspectives. The primary example was anthropology as the science
of humans. Conference participant Jean Piaget also defined transdisciplinarity
as the highest stage in the epistemology of interdisciplinary relationships, and
Erich Jantsch proposed a comprehensive model of science, education and
innovation imbued with social purpose (Apostel et al. 1972). Over the latter
half of the twentieth century, a number of synthetic paradigms gained influence,
including general systems theory, feminist theory and a team science–based
model of research on health and wellness. In humanities and interdisciplinary
fields informed by postmodern theories of culture, history and language, TD
also became associated with a transgressive critique of the existing structure
of knowledge and education for narrow specialization and exclusion of
marginalized groups and new approaches.
The connotation of transdisciplinarity at the heart of this book is aligned
with developments in problem-oriented research during the closing decades of
the century. An earlier form of ‘instrumental interdisciplinarity’ prioritized
problem solving over epistemology. The emphasis, though, was often on eco-
nomic, technological and scientific problems in science-based areas of inter-
national economic competition, such as computers, biotechnology and
manufacturing. A new form of problem-oriented research became evident in
the late 1980s and early 1990s in European contexts of environmental
research and, by the turn of the century, case studies were being reported in
all fields of human interaction with natural systems, technical innovations and
the development context (Klein et al. 2001). In these contexts, TD also
became associated with participation of stakeholders in society, fostering a
new trans-sectoral form of problem-oriented research.
 Foreword xiii
Two theories signified the intellectual foundation for a new form of trans-
disciplinarity. Mode 2 knowledge production theorized an emerging recontex-
tualization of knowledge around thematics of complexity, non-linearity,
heterogeneity and transdisciplinarity. New configurations of research work
and a new social distribution of knowledge were also bringing a wider range
of skills and expertise to problem solving, incorporating the expertise of
organizations and stakeholders beyond the academy. In proposing Mode 2,
Gibbons et al. (1994) initially highlighted instrumental contexts of application
and use, but subsequently Gibbons and colleagues extended Mode 2 theory to
argue that contextualization of problems requires participation in the agora of
public debate. Traditional forms of ‘reliable scientific knowledge’ are still impor-
tant but inclusion of lay perspective fosters ‘socially robust knowledge’ dis-
mantling the expert–lay dichotomy while fostering new partnerships between
the academy and society (Gibbons et al. 1994; Nowotny et al. 2001).
Paralleling Mode 2’s shift from traditional linear approaches within dis-
ciplinary domains, the theory of post-normal science (Funtowicz and Ravetz
1993) broke free of reductionist and mechanistic assumptions about the ways
things are related and how systems operate. In calling attention to ‘unstruc-
tured’ problems driven by complex cause–effect relationships and exhibiting a
high divergence of values and factual knowledge, post-normal science also
beckoned a new paradigm of knowledge and problem solving evident in the
second of the core concepts.
Second, this book benchmarks ascendancy of the transdisciplinary para-
digm of sustainability. The rise of environmental studies during the 1960s
heralded the promise of interdisciplinary research and education, amplified by
public and governmental support for the environment. Outcomes, however,
did not match the rhetoric of revolutionary change. Environmental Studies,
Lynton Caldwell (1983) reported in a genealogy of the field, had to confront
the same epistemological problem that all interdisciplinary fields do. Inter-
disciplinary fields arise because of a perceived misfit of needs, experience,
information and the prevailing structure of knowledge embodied in dis-
ciplinary organization. Environmental Studies theoretically represent ‘a latent
and fundamental restructuring of knowledge and formal education’. Yet,
many existing programmes simply added ‘environmental’ to their titles. New
programmes did emerge, but the curriculum was still ‘essentially eclectic’.
Subsequent declines in economic and social capital also undermined
early support, and values of specialization and statistical rationalization were
reasserted. The plurality of the underlying concept of ‘environment’, as well,
exacerbated fragmentation. Individual disciplines continue to claim objects of
study across spectra spanning biotic and abiotic aspects, applied and basic
research, natural and social sciences, holism and reductionism.
Transdisciplinary sustainability posited a different theory and practice of
environmental research. The concept of ‘ecology’ was a powerful cross-cutting
synthesis. However, the concepts of ‘modernization’ and ‘development’ per-
petuated an economic model of progress. As momentum grew for a more
xiv Foreword
comprehensive and global approach to complex problems marked by inde-
terminacy and uncertainty, a wider conception of ‘sustainability’ gained trac-
tion. Its most visible institutional formation is a programme, school or college
bearing the name, although many universities and colleges continue to offer
courses in ‘environmental studies’. This book’s platform for transdisciplinary
sustainability studies represents a new scale in the boundary work of solving
complex problems that do not have ready-made solutions and predictable
outcomes. Aligned with the new connotation of trans-sectoral TD in the late
twentieth century, it brings together academic and external stakeholder
groups in a new approach that moves beyond older methodologies and stra-
tegies of instrumental interdisciplinarity to resituate them in heuristics of
problem solving.
Third, the book beckons a new dialogue of method and cognition in
transdisciplinary heuristics. The word heuristics derives from the ancient
Greek εύρίσκ-ειν and its word stem εύρε-. In essence, it meant ‘to find’ (Oxford
English Dictionary 2012). Over the ensuing centuries, the term was associated
with an ‘art’ or type of ‘logic’ that is more fluid and ad hoc than linear and
rote deduction of an answer or a solution from a prescribed set of rules.
Emerging through discovery of options, each step draws closer to a workable
approach. The alignment of heuristics and TD in Transdisciplinary Sustainability
Studies moves beyond older forms of methodological interdisciplinarity that
aim to improve the quality of results, typically by borrowing a method or
concept from another discipline in order to test a hypothesis, to answer a
research question, or to help develop a theory (Klein 2010). This alignment
does not dismiss the value of borrowed methods and strategies. Awareness of
them is essential to a robust toolkit for problem solving. Yet, rules of thumb,
guidelines emanating from practice, and comparative weighing of possibilities
in the context of a particular problem are of equal importance. The etymo-
logical inheritance of ‘finding out’ also underscores the centrality of learning
in transdisciplinary sustainability studies, not in the narrow sense of classroom
lessons but a cognitive process that develops in situ, within the generative
dynamics of learning from each other, from trial and error, and from reflection
on a research team’s art of invention.
Ultimately, transdisciplinary heuristics constitute a form of invention that
may be likened to heuretics in the discipline of rhetoric. Returning to ety-
mology, the Oxford English Dictionary defines heuretics as ‘the branch of
logic which treats of the art of discovery or invention’. The rhetorician Gregory
Ulmer (1994) extended this concept in Heuretics: The Logic of Invention.
Continuing a decades-long synthesis of lessons from poststructuralist theory,
avant-garde art experiments, and electronic media, Ulmer aimed to find forms
appropriate for cultural studies research and teaching writing in the digital age.
Ulmer contrasted traditional methods of interpreting print-based texts to the
‘generative productivity’ that occurs in avant-garde and in composing digital
works that mix word, image and sound. Transdisciplinary sustainability stu-
dies are not concerned with hypermedia, but they too are engaged in creating
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
 “Hurray!” cried Ned. “She’s doing it!”
“Yes, we’re off on the first real flight, anyhow,” agreed Tom.
“It works better than I expected,” Mr. Swift said. All along he had
been a bit skeptical about this new scheme.
A little later they were sailing over Lake Carlopa and Mr. Damon,
looking down from one of the observations of the car, said:
“Aren’t we flying a bit low, Tom?”
“Yes, I think we are,” agreed the young inventor. “Put her up a
bit!” he signaled to the pilot through the speaking tube.
Back came the answer:
“I can’t! Something has gone wrong! I’m losing power! I’m afraid
we’re in for a fall!”
 CHAPTER XVI
JASON JACKS

Just for a moment or two Tom Swift wished he were in the motor
cockpit of the plane instead of in the passenger car with his father
and his friends. He had an idea he might so manipulate the controls
as to cause the falling plane to increase speed and keep on flying
until a safe landing could be made.
But in an instant this idea passed. Tom had full confidence in his
mechanician, and realized if Harry Meldrum could not prevent a fall
Tom himself could not, for Meldrum, taught in the Swift school of
flying, was a thoroughly competent and resourceful airman.
“What’s wrong?” Tom asked his engineer through the tube.
“Oil pump has blown out a gasket! The engine is heating. It’s got
to stop soon and we’ll have to come down—in the lake, I guess,”
was the grim finish of the report.
“Well, I’ve landed in worse places,” remarked Tom.
“Is anything going to happen?” his father wanted to know.
“I’m afraid there is,” the young inventor answered. “We’re being
forced down. I thought everything was all right with the machinery,
but you never can tell.”
“Bless my accident insurance policy! Do you think we’ll go down
right in the water, Tom?” gasped Mr. Damon.
“It begins to look so,” was the reply. “But perhaps better there
than on land—there won’t be such a shock. The plane has floating
compartments, and so has this car—I had them built in as a
precaution against water landings. I don’t believe there will be any
real danger.”
There was no doubt about it—the plane was gradually settling
lower and lower—ever coming nearer to the surface of Lake
Carlopa.
“She’s slowing up, Tom,” remarked Ned, as he listened to the
throbs and pulsations of the motor above them.
“Yes, I’m afraid we’re in for it,” came the response. “Can’t you
make any emergency repairs, Meldrum?” he asked the mechanician.
 “Bert’s trying, but it doesn’t seem of much use,” was the answer.
Bert Dodge was the assistant engineer, and fully as competent as
his chief.
“This settles one thing,” remarked Tom, as he glanced out of the
car window. “On the next flight I’ll have a duplicate oiling system
installed.”
“Brace yourselves, everybody! We’re in for a ducking!” came the
cry.
The next moment the big new aeroplane and its attached
passenger car plunged into Lake Carlopa with a mighty splash. For a
moment it seemed that they would be engulfed and all drowned
before they could make egress from the plane and car. But Meldrum
had guided the machine down on a long angle so that the water was
struck a glancing blow. In effect, the lower surface of the car and the
tail of the plane slid along the surface of the water for some distance.
This neutralized some of the force of the impact, and then, though
the machine settled rather deeply in the water, it did not sink. The air
compartments prevented that.
However, help was at hand. A number of motor boats were out
on the lake, their occupants watching the trial flight of the new airline
express. When it was known that an accident had happened, these
craft speeded to the rescue. As soon as the boats drew near the
men in the plane and those in the car climbed outside and thence
were taken off in the boats.
“Looks as if it was going to be a total loss, Tom,” said Mr. Damon
gloomily, as the craft settled lower and lower in the water.
“It’s bad enough,” Tom admitted, ruefully shaking his head, as the
boat that had taken him off circled about the Falcon, as Tom had
christened his first machine. “But even if she sinks to the bottom I
believe I can raise her. The lake isn’t very deep here.”
However, it was not quite as bad as that. The Falcon was only
partly submerged, and there she lay, water-bound, in the lake. Her
actions decided Tom to install more air-tight compartments and make
the car lighter, which would insure its floating higher in case of
another water drop.
“Well, there’s nothing more we can do now,” decided the young
inventor. “If you’ll take me ashore, please,” he said to his rescuer, “I’ll
make arrangements for getting the Falcon out.”
He gave orders to this effect as soon as he reached his shop,
and when Mr. Swift, with a dubious shake of his head said:
“I’m afraid this is a failure, Tom! It’s too much for you.” The young
inventor with a determined air answered:
“I’ve never given up anything yet, and I’m not going to begin now!
I see where I made some mistakes and I’m going to correct them.”
And when the plane and the car were raised and brought to
shore—being found to have suffered little damage—Tom started his
reconstruction work with more vim than before.
However, the accident, while it was not a serious one from a
mechanical standpoint, had a bad effect on Ned’s campaign to raise
funds for putting the airline express into actual service. True as it is
that nothing succeeds like success, nothing is more dampening to a
money campaign than failure. Capital seems very timid in the face of
failure, and deaf ears were turned to Ned’s urgent appeal to the
public to buy stock. For while Tom was working on the mechanical
end, Ned looked after the business interests.
“Well, Ned, how goes it?” asked the young inventor at the close
of a hard day’s work when Tom himself had been much cheered by
the progress he had made in lightening his passenger car and
installing a dual oiling system on the plane.
“It doesn’t go at all,” was the somewhat gloomy answer. “People
seem afraid to risk their money. If you could only make a successful
flight, Tom, or get some millionaire to invest about a hundred
thousand dollars without really seeing the thing fly, we’d be all right.”
“I think I’ll be more successful in the first proposition than in the
second,” replied Tom, with a smile. “I don’t know many millionaires
who are letting go of dollars in hundred thousand lots.”
“In fact, Tom, we’re almost at the end of our financial rope. We’ve
got just about enough to complete the improvements you have
begun.”
“After that I’ll try another flight. If that succeeds I think public
confidence will be restored,” returned Tom. “If we fall again—well
——”
“You’ll give up, I suppose,” finished Ned.
 “Not at all!” was the quick reply. “You’ll find some other means of
financing the thing. This is going to succeed, Ned! I’m going to make
it! We’ll go from ocean to ocean by daylight!”
Tom banged his fist down on his desk with force enough to spill
some ink out of the bottle, and then, getting up from his chair, began
putting on his coat.
“Where are you going—out to hunt for a kind millionaire?” asked
Ned.
“No; that’s your end of the job. I’m going for a ride with Mary,”
was the smiling reply. “I want to get some of the cobwebs out of my
brain. I can’t do any more now, and I promised Mary I’d take her for a
spin in the electric runabout. It’s working all right, I suppose?” he
asked, for Ned had been using that speedy machine in his financial
campaign.
“Yes, it works well, Tom—faster than ever. And I hope things will
take a turn for the better to-morrow.”
“So do I. See you later,” and Tom was off to keep his appointment
with Mary Nestor.
Tom and Mary were riding along a quiet country road back of a
little village when Mary observed just ahead of them an old man
driving a horse hitched to a light carriage.
“Speaking of millionaires, Tom,” she said, “there goes one.”
“Where?” he asked.
“There! Jason Jacks. He has several millions, it’s said, but he
holds on to them. Father knows him.”
“Lucky boy!” exclaimed Tom. “I wish I were you, J. J.!”
“Well, I don’t!” came promptly from Mary. “If you were Jason
Jacks, I wouldn’t be out riding with you, Tom Swift!”
“Why not?” he demanded quizzically.
“Because he’s old, he hasn’t any teeth——”
“Well, you don’t want to be bitten, do you?” joked Tom.
“No, of course not. But he’s got a mean disposition, he’s homely
——”
“Thanks!” interrupted Tom, with a laugh. “That’s an implied
compliment, I take it.”
“Take whatever you like,” laughed Mary.
 “I’d like to take a few thousands from Millionaire Jason Jacks,”
retorted the young man. “Still, if you feel that way about him, Mary,
I’m just as glad to be what I am,” and Tom—well, it is affairs of no
outsider what he did just then.
The look which passed between him and Mary changed in a
moment to a glance of alarm as the girl pointed to the carriage
ahead of them and exclaimed:
“Oh, Tom! I believe that horse is running away!”
“I pretty near know it is!” was the answer, as Tom began to speed
up the electric runabout.
“Oh, Mr. Jacks will be thrown out,” went on Mary. “He doesn’t
seem to know how to manage that animal! And there’s a dangerous
part of the road just ahead—it goes around a curve and close to the
edge of a cliff! Oh, Tom, what are you going to do?”
 CHAPTER XVII
THE AIRLINE STARTS

Mary Nestor’s reason for putting her question to the young

inventor was because Tom was speeding up the electric auto and
guiding it along the road in the direction of the runaway horse. For
that the animal was in a frenzy and was now running away was
apparent to both the young people.
“What are you going to do, Tom?” repeated Mary.
“I’m going to save Mr. Jacks if I can before he gets to the
dangerous part of the road,” answered the young inventor. “If I can
run up alongside of him, I may be able to lift him out of his carriage in
case there is a likelihood of his going down the gully. Is the road very
narrow there, Mary?”
“Yes, it is—hardly wide enough for two between the side of the
cliff on the left and the edge of the gully on the right.”
“Then there’s not much chance of driving the runabout between
him and the edge of the gully,” reasoned Tom. “I might go in myself.
Luckily he’s driving on the left side of his buggy and this car has a
right-hand drive. I can reach right over and grab him. And when I get
near enough to do that, Mary, I want you to take the steering wheel
of this car and hold it steady. Can you do that?”
“I’ll try, Tom.”
“You’ve got to do it if we’re to save his life.”
“Very well then, Tom, I will,” returned Mary in a quiet voice, and
Tom knew she would not fail him. “How fast the horse is going!” she
added.
The light buggy whirled around a curve on two wheels in a
manner to make Mary catch her breath. Tom gave a low whistle.
Then as the runabout made the same curve, Tom saw that the road
ahead was straight but narrow. On one side, the left, rose a high cliff
of rock, and on the right hand was a deep gully, the road running
along its very edge.
“Oh, Tom, do you think you can catch him in time?” asked Mary
anxiously. “There’s another curve, just ahead, and if the horse goes
around that as fast as it is going now it will go over the edge and Mr.
Jacks will be killed!”
“I’ve got to get him before that happens,” declared Tom grimly.
“The horse will never be born that can beat my runabout.” Not idly
had Tom’s electric machine been called “the speediest car on the
road,” and now it surely was speeding.
Though the frantic horse did his best, it was naught against the
power of the batteries concealed in Tom’s car, and in a few moments
the young inventor was driving along the narrow road on even terms
with the swaying carriage in which sat a white-faced man. He was
sawing on the reins and trying by his voice to halt the horse, but
without effect.
“The curve is just ahead, Tom,” warned Mary.
“All right,” he answered. “You take the wheel now. I’m going to
stand up, reach over, and pull him into this car. Keep close to the
face of the cliff—it’s our only chance!”
A moment later Tom rose in his seat, and as his hands left the
steering wheel Mary leaned over and took charge of guiding the car.
Exerting all his strength, Tom caught hold of Mr. Jacks under the
arms and fairly pulled him from his seat. Luckily the old man was frail
and light, or Tom could not have done it.
“Here! Here!” cried the frightened horseman. “What—what——”
But the breath was fairly choked out of him as Tom hauled him
into the runabout and jammed him down on the seat between Mary
and himself. Then Tom grabbed the wheel, and put on the brakes
with all his might, for the dangerous curve was just ahead.
On sped the maddened horse, the buggy bouncing up off the
uneven road. Just as the runabout slowed to a stop the mad animal
swung around the curve. It did not make it, for its speed was too
great, and a moment later Mary gave a cry of pity as the ill-fated
brute shot over the edge of the cliff, dragging the light buggy with it.
There was a rattle of gravel, a shower of stones, a weird cry from the
horse, which must have sensed its doom, and then the end came.
Down the precipitous cliff had plunged the animal, crashing to
death on the rocks below amid the splinters of the little carriage. Up
above on the road, close to the rocky face of the cliff, sat the three in
the runabout—a trembling, aged man, a white-faced girl, and Tom
Swift, flushed by his exertions.
“Well—well,” stuttered Jason Jacks, when he could get his
breath, “I guess I’ve had a narrow escape. My—my horse went over
the cliff, didn’t he?”
“I’m afraid he did,” answered Tom grimly.
“Well, I’m just as glad,” went on the millionaire.
“Oh, Mr. Jacks!” exclaimed Mary.
“Ha! you know me, do you, young lady? Well, the reason I said
that is because if he’s that kind of an animal, likely to run away
without warning on a dangerous road—as he did—I don’t want ever
to drive him again, and I wouldn’t want anybody else to. I only
bought him the other day, and I’m glad I found out his trick in time.
But let me see—you know me. Do I know you?” and he glanced
sharply at the now blushing girl.
“I think you know my father, Mr. Jacks,” she replied. “He is Mr.
Nestor, and I have seen you at our house.”
“Oh, of course! To be sure—Mary Nestor. Well, I’m much obliged
to you—and more obliged to this young man for saving my life.
What’s your name?” he asked bluntly.
“Tom Swift.”
“Tom Swift. Oh, yes, I’ve heard that name before. You have a
plant in Shopton, haven’t you? You make motor boats and such
things?”
“Yes, I have invented a few things,” Tom modestly admitted.
“Um—yes,” murmured the millionaire. “I’ve heard of you. Well, I’m
too much upset to thank you properly now. Could you leave me at
my home?”
“Glad to,” answered Tom. “Do you want to drive around the road
at the bottom of the cliff and find out about your horse?”
“I guess there isn’t much left of him, young man,” was the grim
answer. “He’s had his last run. It was a narrow escape for me. How
did you happen to be right on the spot?”
“Just by chance,” Tom replied.
He drove back to the millionaire’s home, declining an invitation to
come in. Then Tom and Mary went on, and when later in the evening
he left her at her home, she said with shining eyes:
 “Oh, Tom, suppose he should?”
“Should what, Mary?”
“Give you ten or twenty thousand dollars for saving his life? He
could well afford to do it—he’d never miss the money—and then you
could finish the new airline machines.”
“I don’t want any reward for saving lives, Mary. Besides, he’d
have to give you a share. If you hadn’t been with me I never could
have saved him.”
“Nonsense, Tom!”
“No nonsense about it!”
It was the next day that Jason Jacks called at Tom Swift’s office,
driving up in a handsome two-horse carriage with a footman in livery.
For the old millionaire was eccentric and liked to imagine he was
living in the old times. He never could be induced to ride in an
automobile.
“I’ve come to reward you, Tom Swift, for saving my life,” began
Mr. Jacks, taking out his check book.
“Excuse me, sir,” said Tom, firmly but in respectful tones, “you
can’t do anything of the kind.”
“Can’t do what?” Mr. Jacks asked sharply.
“Reward me for saving your life. Any one else would have done
the same if he had had the chance, and I would have done the same
for any one else.”
“Yes—I suppose so,” slowly admitted Mr. Jacks, and it was easy
to see that Tom’s refusal pleased him rather than otherwise. “Human
life can’t be bought, though I hold mine at a high price. But look here,
young man, since you won’t accept a reward, will you let me do you
a favor in return for the one you did me? That’s fair, isn’t it?”
“Yes, I suppose it is,” admitted Tom.
“Well, then, I’ve been making inquiries about you, and I hear you
are trying to launch a new invention. I don’t go in much for those
things myself—I have no use for aeroplanes, motor boats, or
automobiles, though I admit they have their place in the world, and I
own stock in several motor companies. But I won’t ride in them.
“Now, I hear you are contemplating an airline express to San
Francisco, but you haven’t had much success with it so far. Am I
right?”
 “Yes,” admitted Tom. “I have no hesitation in saying I am a bit
short of cash to complete some improvements.”
“Then will you let me help finance the thing?” asked Mr. Jacks.
“Oh, on a strictly business basis,” he added quickly, as he saw Tom
about to refuse. “I’ll buy stock the same as I would in any other
enterprise, and if it succeeds I expect to be paid my profit, the same
as other investors. If it fails—well, it won’t be the first time I have lost
money, though I don’t make a practice of that,” and he chuckled
dryly.
“I’d be glad to sell you some stock,” said Tom quickly.
“All right then, young man, we can do business. I’ll have my
secretary see you in a few days. I don’t like to be under obligations
to anybody.”
“Neither do I,” retorted Tom; “and I feel sure that you will get a
good return on what you invest with me. I’m going to succeed.”
“Well, if you do half as cleverly as you did when you pulled me
out of that runaway, you’ll win!” predicted Mr. Jacks.
A few days later he invested fifteen thousand dollars in Tom’s
new enterprise, taking stock to that value, and promising that if Tom
could make six successful trips each way, between Long Island and
the Golden Gate, carrying passengers as arranged, he would invest
one hundred thousand dollars more and perhaps even a larger sum.
“Hurray!” cried Tom when he heard this news from Ned, who, of
course, had attended to the details of this matter. “Now our success
is assured!”
“Oh, I’m so glad!” exclaimed Mary, when he told her.
Busy scenes were the order of the day and night at the Swift
plant after this much-needed new capital was paid in. Tom kept his
men busy making improvements in the Falcon, and at last the day
arrived when a final test was to be made.
Once more Tom, Ned, Mr. Damon, Koku, and some others took
their places in the car. Mr. Swift declined to come, saying it was too
much for his nerves. The car rolled over the field, was clamped to
the chassis of the big aeroplane, and up in the air it rose.
This time there was no accident, and off above the lake and over
the country soared the Falcon, flying beautifully. “It’s a success!”
cried Ned.
 “I want to make a test landing and see how long it takes to
unclamp the car and fasten it to the other plane,” said Tom, before
he would permit himself to exult.
This test was successfully met, and up rose the second plane,
carrying the car, just as if the scene had taken place on the field in
Chicago, the end of the first lap of the proposed airline express.
Not until then did Tom permit himself to see visions of complete
success. But after another landing had been made and when the car
had been rolled to the third plane, it was evident that the scheme
could be carried out. The third plane did not go up, not being quite
ready.
“Of course,” Tom said to his friends when they were talking it
over, “this doesn’t mean that we can make the time which I hope is
possible—sixteen hours from coast to coast—but I’m going to make
a big effort for those figures.”
In the next few weeks matters were rushed to completion. A
landing field was secured on Long Island, another in Chicago, one
on the outskirts of Denver, and the last one at the Golden Gate. The
route was mapped out with care, and guide posts and signal towers
were placed in position.
Then, on a certain day, after many exhaustive tests, it was
decided to inaugurate the first schedule of the airline express. The
two planes had been sent, one to Chicago and the other to Denver,
while the third was waiting on the Long Island field, where the
passenger car had been taken.
Newspaper reporters, cameramen, moving picture operators, and
many spectators were on hand.
“All aboard!” cried Tom, as he gave the signal to start. As he was
about to close the door of the car, which would soon be soaring aloft,
a boy ran across the field and thrust into the hands of the young
inventor a piece of paper.
“What is it?” demanded Tom.
“Message for you! Man gave me a dollar to deliver it just as you
started,” panted the boy.
Then, before he could answer, though he had an ominous
feeling, Tom felt the car being lifted off the ground. The airline
express had started!
 CHAPTER XVIII
CHICAGO

Strange and mingled were the feelings Tom Swift had as his
great experiment was started. There was exultation mingled with
apprehension. Exultation that he had at last triumphed over many
difficulties and the plots of his enemies and had reached the point of
starting the service which might revolutionize travel. Apprehension
lest he might fail, and also apprehension over this latest happening
—the giving to him of this note.
It had a sinister appearance—this hasty message delivered in
such a manner. It was in keeping with some other things that had
happened of late.
But Tom’s chief concern now was to see that his new craft got
safely into the air and on its way. He could deal later with those who
sought to steal from him the fruits of his labor and his brain.
So, overcoming his natural curiosity to see what the note
contained, Tom resolutely thrust it into his pocket and gave his whole
attention to directing the management of the Falcon, which was the
plane and accompanying car selected to hop off on the first leg of
the transcontinental trip. The other planes were named, respectively,
the Eagle and the Osprey.
This last name was chosen by Tom as fitting for the plane in
which he hoped to ride when he sighted the Pacific coast and ocean.
For the osprey is a fish-hawk, and Ned agreed with Tom that it was a
most appropriate name for a craft in which they hoped to sight an
ocean with its millions of fish.
Tom, together with Ned, Mr. Damon, and some assistants, rode in
the hanging car, while in the cockpit of the aeroplane above them
were Harry Meldrum and Bert Dodge, the two able mechanicians.
Once he had seen for himself how the car behaved, Tom intended to
take his shift in the cockpit, piloting the plane part of the time.
Tom had invited Mr. Jacks to make the first trip, but the eccentric
millionaire, whose money had enabled the initial planes to be
finished and who had promised to invest a hundred thousand dollars
more in case Tom could successfully complete six round trips, had
smiled as he shook his head.
“None of that for me!” he had answered. “Runaway horses are
dangerous enough, without tempting fate in the shape of an
aeroplane. I wouldn’t go up for a million dollars, Tom. But I wish you
all success!”
And success is what Tom hoped for as the craft rose from the
ground on this, its first official trip.
“Well, Tom, she’s moving!” exclaimed Ned, as they rose higher
and higher on a long slant off the landing field and headed toward
the west.
“Yes, we got off in good shape,” agreed Tom, as he noted various
instruments and gages on the walls of the car which indicated their
speed upward as well as forward and gave their height above the
earth.
“It certainly is fine,” asserted Mr. Damon. “Bless my upper berth!
it beats traveling in a Pullman. And if you can do as you say, Tom,
and keep us in this car right through to the end of the journey in San
Francisco, it will be a marvel. No change, nothing to worry about,
and traveling as clean as in a bath tub! It’s great! Bless my
toothbrush, it’s great!”
“I wouldn’t go so far as to say there was nothing to worry about,”
remarked Tom, with a laugh, as he signaled to the mechanician for
more speed.
“What do you mean—that letter the kid gave you?” asked Ned, in
a low voice.
“No, I haven’t looked at that yet. Probably it’s from some one who
begged for a free ride,” Tom answered. “But I mean the race isn’t
over until we have sighted the Golden Gate. We’ve got to be there
before dark to make a success of this airline express, and we’ve got
to travel pretty fast—averaging two hundred miles an hour for over
fifteen hours. I hope we can do it, but I haven’t given up worrying lest
we fail.”
“Oh, we’ll do it all right!” declared Mr. Damon.
“Sure!” added Ned, though, truth to tell, he could understand and
appreciate Tom’s feelings, knowing, as he did, something of
mechanics and the slight defect in a piece of machinery that might
throw all calculations out.
The Falcon was now rapidly gaining height and speed, though,
comfortably housed as they were in the car, the occupants felt no
unpleasant sensations.
If one has ever ridden in an aeroplane he knows the swift, easy,
gliding motion of the car. It is like nothing on earth, for there is
absolutely no motion felt as in riding in an automobile or motor boat.
There are none of the bumps of the roads, nor the swaying or rolling
of water travel.
Of course there are “air pockets,” and when these are
encountered even the best airship may take a sudden drop, which
sensation is slightly felt. And if one exposes one’s face or hands or
other part of the body to the rush of air, there is a most distinct
sensation felt. But the cowl of the cockpit protects those in it from the
terrific rush of wind, the pressure of which at two hundred and six
miles an hour, is tremendous; and of course those housed in the car
felt nothing.
So it was like making a journey in a dream, almost, and once the
passengers were up above the earth there was nothing by which
their progress could be gaged, as there is in a railroad train, when
telegraph poles, fence posts, and the scenery seem to rush past at
great speed.
So perfectly were the powerful motors running that in a short time
the gages showed that the great speed of two hundred miles an hour
had been attained. But Tom wanted to do better than this, especially
on the first part of the journey, between Long Island and Chicago.
“The more time we make on the start the less we’ll have to worry
about when we begin on the third lap—over the mountains,” he said
to Ned. “I’ll go up into the cockpit myself soon. I just want to see that
everything is all right here.”
This did not take long. A full complement of passengers was not
carried on this initial trip, and there was more than room for all of
them in the comfortable chairs. Koku had to be content with a bench,
for no ordinary chair was large enough for him, and to his delight
Eradicate was allowed to take charge of the small kitchen, where a
buffet lunch would be served at noon, and other refreshments as
needed.
“Ah eben gib dat giant suffin in case he git hungry,” chuckled
Eradicate, who seemed to forget his jealous enmity against the big
man in his delight at being near Tom and allowed to serve.
After making a round of the car and seeing that everything was
well, Tom signaled up to Meldrum that he was going to take charge
of the driving of the plane, asking Meldrum to come down below.
There was an enclosed companionway, or ladder, by which the plane
cockpit could be reached through the roof of the detachable car.
“Hadn’t you better look at that note before you go up?” suggested
Ned, motioning to the pocket in which Tom had put the letter the boy
had delivered to him at the last minute.
“That’s so—I almost forgot about it,” said the young inventor, with
a laugh. “But it’s too late to answer it—we’re quite a way from the
starting point.”
This was true. It had taken only a few minutes for them to soar
over New York City, with its forest of tall buildings, then over the
Hudson, across Jersey City, and so out on the long straight air line
that led to Chicago.
Tom pulled out the crumpled missive and ripped open the
envelope. As he read the few lines a look of anger came over his
face.
“What is it?” asked Ned.
“Read it yourself,” Tom answered.
And Ned scanned these lines:
“Look out for yourself. You have started but you haven’t
finished. Our time is coming.
“The Masked Two.”
“Well, of all the nerve!” cried Ned.
“Haven’t they!” said Tom. “But it will take more than threats to
make me give up this project. I haven’t got my final patent papers,
but I will when I finish these trial trips. I need to make only five more
after this, and then Jacks will put in a lot of money. It was lack of
ready money that was holding me back—once I have plenty of cash I
can snap my fingers at those fellows!”
 “Only five more trips,” murmured Ned. “And this one hasn’t
finished its first third, Tom. But we’ll do it! The Masked Two can go
jump in the lake.”
“You said it!” exclaimed Tom. “I’m not going to worry any more
about it. Come on up in the plane with me.”
But though Tom declared that he was not going to worry over the
matter, still he could not altogether dismiss it from his mind. He had
left his aged father at home in charge of the works, and though there
were faithful men around him and every safeguard that ingenuity
could devise, still those sinister enemies might find some way of
breaking through the cordon and damaging the plant or injuring Mr.
Swift. So, in spite of his brave words, Tom worried.
“However, we’re in touch with them all the while by wireless,” Ned
remarked, as Meldrum and Dodge descended when Tom had
assumed charge of the controls, with Ned to help him. “You can
always send and receive messages, and so you’ll know when
anything happens.”
“Yes,” agreed the young inventor. “I almost forgot about that. I
can keep in touch with home that way. I’ll wireless back soon, and
see how everything is.”
This Tom did after he had speeded up the plane a little, once he
found the motor was working well after warming up. They were now
high in the air, hastening west.
Ned sent off the message through the ether waves. A powerful
radio set had been installed, and Tom could talk directly to his father,
which he was soon doing.
“We’re making fast time, Dad,” he told him. “How are things back
there?”
“All right, Tom. You made a fine start. I only hope you keep it up.”
“We will. And look out for yourself. Our enemies haven’t given
up.”
“I’ll be on the watch, Tom. Good-bye and good luck!”
For over four hours Tom and Ned, by turns, with occasional relief
from Meldrum and Dodge, kept the motors running at top speed. And
it was not quite mid morning by the clock when Ned, taking an
observation, cried to his friend:
“There’s Chicago below us, Tom!”
 “Good!” exulted Tom Swift. “We’ll finish the first leg a little ahead
of time!”
 CHAPTER XIX
DENVER

Tom, by his calculations and by computing their rate of speed for

the past five hours, was already pretty sure in his own mind that they
would reach the City of the Lakes at least within the time limit he had
set for himself. But he was, nevertheless, glad of Ned’s confirmation.
“Now if they have everything in readiness at the field, we won’t
lose much time in detaching this car from the Falcon and in hitching
it on to the Eagle,” Tom remarked to his chum as he prepared to
make the landing.
“It wouldn’t do any harm to wireless them and make sure,” Ned
suggested.
“No, you’re right. Go ahead and do it. And, by crickity
grasshoppers!” cried Tom, as he looked at the gasoline and oil
gages, “we’re getting in just by the skin of our teeth, too.”
“How come?” asked Ned.
“We’ve got just about enough gas left to make the field,” Tom
said. “I didn’t realize we’d used up quite so much. The engine was
cold when we started so early in the morning, I guess, and it took
more fuel to pep it up. I’ll take along a bit extra on the next two legs.”
“A good idea,” suggested Ned, as he began working the wireless
instrument, to call the operator at the Chicago landing field. He was
not long in getting him, for Tom had made his arrangements well,
and those associated with him in the airline express were anxiously
awaiting his arrival.
“We’ll land in about three minutes,” Ned sent the message. “Is
everything in readiness for a quick change?”
“All O. K., sir,” was the reply, for a former army flier was in charge
here and he held to the traditions of the service.
“Better send word back to Dad,” went on Tom, as he banked the
plane slightly in readiness for bringing it up into the wind to make the
landing on the big field just below them. Off to the left was the
glistening lake, and Tom had a momentary glimpse of the wide and
beautiful Lake Shore Drive, Chicago’s principal boulevard.
 “Did you get him, Ned?” asked the young inventor, as he noted
below him the crowd that had assembled to await his landing. Word
of the sensational attempt to link the two edges of the United States
by a dawn-to-dark flight had been broadcasted all over the country.
“Yes, your father’s all right,” reported Ned, who had been
listening. “He sends his congratulations and so does Mary.”
“Is she there?”
“Yes, and anxious for your success,” reported Ned.
“Tell her I’ll talk to her after we hop off on the other leg,” directed
Tom, and then his attention had to be given to making a safe landing
—no easy feat when it is remembered that he had no ordinary
aeroplane to bring down, but a heavy car attached to it and
passengers to look after.
But he was successful, letting the Falcon gently down to the
ground with scarcely a perceptible jolt, and then rolling gently along
the even field toward the place where the other plane was in
readiness, with motors slowly turning over.
“Lively now!” cried Tom to the men who gathered about him—
trained workers from his own shops who had been sent on ahead to
make the changes. “Every second counts, boys!”
A curious crowd surged forward to see the daring men who had
set out to do their best to annihilate time and space. The throng
would have overwhelmed the plane and its occupants, thus
preventing the quick shift of the car, but for the fact that mounted
police, whose aid Tom had enlisted, kept the curious ones back a
certain distance. As it was, however, there was another small army
of movie cameramen, newspaper photographers, and reporters on
the scene, anxious to get the news.
“Will you please stick your head out of the window, Mr. Swift!
Thanks. There! I got you!” Thus spoke one of the newspaper
cameramen. Meanwhile others were clicking their shutters while the
movie men were industriously grinding the cranks of their machines.
“What were your sensations? Did anything happen on the trip?
Do you think you’ll make the next leg on schedule?”
These were only samples of the scores of questions that were
fired at Tom by the newspaper reporters as he sat in the car while it
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