Project Gutenberg's Tom Swift and his Photo Telephone, by Victor Appleton

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: Tom Swift and his Photo Telephone

Author: Victor Appleton

Posting Date: January 16, 2009 [EBook #4532]
Release Date: October, 2003
[This file last updated on August 29, 2010]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOM SWIFT AND HIS PHOTO TELEPHONE ***

Produced by Robert Rowe, Charles Franks and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team

TOM SWIFT AND HIS PHOTO TELEPHONE

OR THE PICTURE THAT SAVED A FORTUNE

BY VICTOR APPLETON

AUTHOR OF "TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR CYCLE," "TOM SWIFT AND HIS
GIANT CANNON," "THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS," "THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS
IN THE JUNGLE," "THE MOTION PICTURE CHUMS' FIRST VENTURE," ETC.

CONTENTS

I. A MAN ON THE ROOF
II. BAD NEWS
III. TOM'S FAILURE
IV. RUN DOWN
V. SHARP WORDS
VI. A WARNING
VII. SOFT WORDS
VIII. TOM IS BAFFLED
IX. A GLEAM OF HOPE
X. MIDNIGHT VISITORS
XI. THE AIRSHIP IS TAKEN
XII. A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE
XIII. THE TELEPHONE PICTURE
XIV. MAKING IMPROVEMENTS
XV. THE AIRSHIP CLUE
XVI. SUCCESS
XVII. THE MYSTERIOUS MESSAGE
XVIII. ANOTHER CALL
XIX. THE BUZZING SOUND
XX. SETTING THE TRAP
XXI. THE PHOTO TELEPHONE
XXII. THE ESCAPE
XXIII. ON THE TRAIL
XXIV. THE LONELY HOUSE
XXV. THE AIRSHIP CAPTURE

TOM SWIFT AND HIS PHOTO TELEPHONE

CHAPTER I

A MAN ON THE ROOF

"Tom, I don't believe it can be done!"

"But, Dad, I'm sure it can!"

Tom Swift looked over at his father, who was seated in an easy
chair in the library. The elderly gentleman--his hair was quite
white now--slowly shook his head, as he murmured again:

"It can't be done, Tom! It can't be done! I admit that you've made
a lot of wonderful things--things I never dreamed of--but this is
too much. To transmit pictures over a telephone wire, so that
persons cannot only see to whom they are talking, as well as hear
them--well, to be frank with you, Tom, I should be sorry to see
you waste your time trying to invent such a thing."

"I don't agree with you. Not only do I think i