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Title: Tom Swift and his Giant Cannon
or, The Longest Shots on Record

Author: Victor Appleton

Posting Date: July 17, 2008 [EBook #1361]
Release Date: June, 1998

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT CANNON ***

Produced by Anthony Matonac

TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT CANNON

or

The Longest Shots on Record

by

Victor Appleton

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I ON A LIVE WIRE
II "WE'LL TAKE A CHANCE!"
III PLANNING A BIG GUN
IV KOKU'S BRAVE ACT
V OFF TO SANDY HOOK
VI TESTING THE WALLER GUN
VII THE IMPOSSIBLE OCCURS
VIII A BIG PROBLEM
IX THE NEW POWDER
X SOMETHING WRONG
XI FAILURE AND SUCCESS
XII A POWERFUL BLAST
XIII CASTING THE CANNON
XIV A NIGHT INTRUDER
XV READY FOR THE TEST
XVI A WARNING
XVII THE BURSTING DAM
XVIII THE DOPED POWDER
XIX BLOWING DOWN THE BARRIER
XX THE GOVERNMENT ACCEPTS
XXI OFF FOR PANAMA
XXII AT GATUN LOCKS
XXIII NEWS OF THE MINE
XXIV THE LONGEST SHOT
XXV THE LONG-LOST MINE

TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT CANNON

CHAPTER I

ON A LIVE WIRE

"Now, see here, Mr. Swift, you may think it all a sort of dream, and
imagine that I don't know what I'm talking about; but I do! If you'll
consent to finance this expedition to the extent of, say, ten thousand
dollars, I'll practically guarantee to give you back five times that
sum."

"I don't know, Alec, I don't know," slowly responded the aged inventor.
"I've heard those stories before, and in my experience nothing ever
came of them. Buried treasure, and lost vessels filled with gold, are
all well and good, but hunting for an opal mine on some little-heard-of
island goes them one better."

"Then you don't feel like backing me up in this matter, Mr. Swift?"

"No, Alec, I can't say I do. Why, just stop and think for a minute.
You're asking me to put ten thousand dollars into a company, to fit out
an expedition to go to this island--somewhere down near Panama, you say
it is