nk from ruin, bringing gold in time to stave off a
panic.

"Tom Swift and His Wireless Message" told of the young inventor's plan
to save the castaways of Earthquake Island, and how he accomplished it
by constructing a wireless plant from the remains of the wrecked
airship Whizzer. After Tom got back from Earthquake Island he went with
Mr. Barcoe Jenks, whom he met on the ill-fated bit of land, to discover
the secret of the diamond makers. They found the mysterious men, but
the trip was not entirely successful, for the mountain containing the
cave where the diamonds were made was destroyed by a lightning shock,
just as Mr. Parker, a celebrated scientist, who accompanied the party,
said it would be.

But his adventure in seeking to discover the secret of making precious
stones did not satisfy Tom Swift, and when he and his friends got back
from the mountains they prepared to go to Alaska to search for gold in
the caves of ice. They were almost defeated in their purpose by the
actions of Andy Foger and his father, who in an under-hand manner, got
possession of a valuable map, showing the location of the gold, and
made a copy of the drawing.

Then, when Tom and his friends set off in the Red Cloud, as related in
"Tom Swift in the Caves of Ice," the Fogers, in another airship, did
likewise. But Tom and his party were first on the scene, and
accomplished their purpose, though they had to fight the savage
Indians. The airship was wrecked in a cave of ice, that collapsed on
it, and the survivors had desperate work getting away from the frozen
North.

Tom had been home all the following winter and spring, and he had done
little more than work on some small inventions, when a new turn was
given his thoughts and energies by a visit from Mr. Gunmore, as
narrated in the first chapter of the present volume.

"Well, I guess no one is here," remarked the young inventor as he
completed the circuit of the grounds and walked slowly back toward the
house. "I think I scared Andy so that he won't come back right away. He
had the laugh on me, though, when I stumbled and fell."

As Tom proceeded he heard some one approaching, around the path at the
side of the house.

"Who's there?" he called quickly, taking a firmer grasp of his stick,

"It's me, Massa Swift," was the response. "I jest come back from town.
I got some peppermint fo' mah mule, Boomerang, dat's what I got."

"Oh! It's you, is it, Rad?" asked the youth in easier tone