"Appleton, Victor - Tom Swift Jr 07 - And His Diving Seacopter" - читать интересную книгу автора (Appleton Victor)

As Tom panned the camera to keep the cook centered on the screen, Chow
paused every few
32 DIVING SEACOPTER
steps to sample the food from various containers. After each taste, he stuck
out his tongue and made a horrible face. The boys shook with laughter at the
spectacle.
"It's not Chow's own cooking, that's for sure," Bud commented.
"In any case, I hope the food isn't for us," said Tom. "Chow acts as if it were
poison!"
After the Texan had delivered the food to the metallurgy department next
door, Tom went outside and called him into the photographic lab. Pretending to
be stern, he said:
"What's the big idea of sampling food from that lunch cart, Chow? Don't you
get enough to eat in your own kitchen?"
The cook's sun-bronzed face wrinkled in dismay. "Brand my galley pans," he
said, "I was only checkin' up on that new fry-cook what was hired in the main
kitchen. He claims he used to rustle grub at some big New York hotel, but the old
fourflusher can't even-"
Suddenly Chow's jaw dropped open in a look of dumfounded amazement.
"Say, how come you-all knew I was tastin' them vittles? Wasn't no one else out
there but me. I'm dead sure o' that!"
Tom laughed. "You really want to know, Chow?"
"More o' your newfangled contraptions?" demanded the cook with a sidewise
glance.
"Here, take a look at yourself," Tom ordered.
A BLAST FROM SPACE 33
After reversing the film track, he pushed a button and the sequence flashed
back on the screen.
Chow stared, goggle-eyed. "Brand my motor scooter an' rope me fer a two-
headed calf! Where'd them pictures come from?"
When Tom explained, the grizzled old Westerner shook his head sadly.
"From now on, a critter won't have no privacy 'round here nohow. How am I goin'
to cook up any fancy surprise dishes fer you with that camera snoopin' at me?"
Bud chuckled. "If you're dreaming up any more surprises like that sagebrush
stew and pickled rattlesnake, maybe we're just as well off!"
The boys' fun was suddenly cut off by a voice over the public-address
system. "Tom Swift, please report at the master oscilloscope at once! Message
coming through!"
Tom dashed out of the lab and hurried to an adjoining room where the
oscilloscope was housed. He saw his father jotting down symbols at high speed.
For several moments unusual mathematical designs continued to appear on the
scope. Then the screen went blank.
"What does it say, Dad? Can you translate it?" Tom asked breathlessly.
"Not yet, son." Mr. Swift thumbed through his notebook and wrote down
several words, then looked up with a worried frown. "Decoding this will take some
hard work. See if you can remember any of these symbols."
34
DIVING SEACOPTER
Between them, Tom and his father struggled with the message for over an
hour, covering sheet after sheet in their computations. Finally they worked out