X BAD LUCK 73 XI THE TRIAL 82 XII IN PERIL 92 XIII A SECOND TEST 100 XIV AMAZING NEWS 109 XV ON THE WINGS OF THE WIND 118 XVI THE TRANSATLANTIC VOYAGE 125 XVII “SOMETHING ROTTEN IN DENMARK” 140 XVIII THE GIANT BERG 148 XIX THE DESERT OF ICE 160 XX IMPRISONED IN THE ICE 165 XXI A SILVER LINING 173 XXII BACK TO THE FLYING BOAT 181 XXIII STILL CRIPPLED 188 XXIV UNEXPECTED GOOD FORTUNE 195 XXV BACK FROM THE ARCTIC 203 TOM SWIFT AND HIS FLYING BOAT CHAPTER I AN IDEA AND A FORTUNE “I am sure we can build such a flying boat, father.” “Humph! I wish I had your confidence, Tom,” chuckled Mr. Barton Swift, the old inventor. His son laughed, too. “It isn’t confidence you lack,” he said. “It is just that you are too cautious to seem optimistic.” “Have it your own way,” rejoined his father. “Just the same, a speed boat for the air, land, and sea that will do all you suggest is something to consider fearfully. Nothing to compare to it has ever yet been launched.” “But it will be launched,” cried Tom Swift eagerly. “Somebody will put it into the air before we know it. Why not get ahead of the rest of the smart folks? Why not put out a flying boat that will make all their eyes bug out?” “Even your slang gets ahead of me, Tom,” said his father mildly. “Just why do you wish to strain the optic nerves of your competitors?” But Tom Swift only laughed. He knew just how young his father’s mind remained, even if he was a semi-invalid at times and his body was weakened by age and hard work. “There is a bunch of rich men, I understand, who mean to build a flying boat to go hunting in up toward the Arctic Circle next summer. There are others that believe the mystery of the Antarctic can only be revealed through the use of such a craft. The interior of Africa, around Lake Tanganyika and the other great lakes can be properly explored only by the use of some such machine. Central South America can be reached more easily from the Amazon and its great branches than by any other means. Without a flying boat, how may one fly over the falls and escape the dangers of the rapids?”