"Appleton, Victor - Tom Swift Jr 10 - And His Ultrasonic Cycloplane" - читать интересную книгу автора (Appleton Victor)

"Sure hope we don't meet up with any cannibals," Slim remarked jokingly.
"Hey, what's-1"
He broke off with a gasp as he stumbled over a grassy hummock-a
hummock which came to life! Rearing up on long, ostrichlike legs, it turned into a
bird about five feet tall.
"Good night! What is it?" Slim goggled.
"Cassowary, I think." Tom chuckled, adding, "Look out! They're dangerous if
they've been wounded!"
Evidently Slim had injured the cassowary. Shaking its wattles like an angry
turkey cock, the big bird glared at the man. The creature's head was crested with
a large, black horny helmet, and its unfeathered face and wrinkled neck were of
scarlet, yellow, and purplish blue.
Suddenly the cassowary hurled itself at Slim!
RESCUE FLIGHT 37
With a yelp, he shinned up the nearest tree, while Tom, to be on the safe
side, climbed another. Below the treed pair, the bird, beside itself with rage,
stalked rapidly back and forth.
"Guess we'd better sit this one out," Tom called to Slim.
"You bet. Lucky thing that species sticks to the ground!"
Finally, with another vigorous shake of its wattles, the cassowary
disappeared into the jungle. Tom and Slim sighed in relief and slid down from
their perches. They continued the search, and when they reached higher ground,
looked around hopefully. Still they detected no trace of the missing fliers.
"If Bud and Hank were nearby," said Tom, "we'd have spotted some sign of
them from this point. Guess we'd better head back," he added, discouraged.
When they reached the ship, Tom and Slim found that the other searching
teams had returned, with no better luck to report.
"Come on. Let's take off!" the young inventor decided. "We'll fly to the
position Bud gave just before the crash."
With all hands aboard, Tom seated himself at the controls. He switched on
the atomic engine and fed power to the jet lifters.
But the huge ship refused to rise off the ground!
CHAPTER V
JUNGLE ESCAPE
AS TOM pumped the throttle and checked all the instruments, Chow Winkler
popped his bald head into the flight cabin.
"What's wrong?" the Texan queried. "Ain't we goin' to take off like you said,
Tom?"
"We can't. For some reason the jet lifters aren't getting any power."
Unhooking his seat belt, Tom added, "I'll go below and check."
Accompanied by Slim Davis and armed with a kit of tools, he hurried down a
winding steel ladder to the first deck. Here the two trouble-shooters opened an
inspection port and squeezed into the engine compartment.
"That Tomasite plastic your dad invented is sure a big help in this close-
quarter work," Slim remarked, applying a wrench to a regulator nut.
Tom nodded. "It shields the reactor without wasting an inch of space."
This amazing plastic, besides being a good radiation shield, also had certain
electromagnetic
38
JUNGLE ESCAPE 39