“To Denmark and Iceland?” he said. “Places I have never seen! I shall like it. You give me a chance for life, I do believe, Brother Damon.” “Never mind the sugar-plums,” replied Mr. Damon. “We’ve got to go in a hurry, for there is a certain steamship I want to take. Bless my seven-league boots! but we have got to do some tall traveling.” * * * * * It was all over and the invalid had been carried off by the boisterous Wakefield Damon. Tom Swift stood with Mary and her mother on the porch of their house and watched the two taxicabs, with the travelers and the baggage, disappear toward the railroad station. Mr. Nestor would not hear to any of them following him to the train. “I hope everything will be all right with him,” sighed Mrs. Nestor. “Well, everything will be all right with us here!” cried Mary, smiling at Tom. “We have Tom to look out for us.” “Ah, Tom is such a help,” agreed the anxious woman. “But I hope Dr. Raddiker was right. It is a long way to Iceland, and the cold sea voyage may do him more harm than good.” CHAPTER IX THE KEEL IS LAID “You have convinced yourself that this amount will finance the great scheme, have you, Tom?” asked Ned Newton, leaning back in his chair in the private office of the Swift Construction Company at Shopton. “We can’t be too particular about the financial end of it.” “All right, Old Cerberus,” laughed Tom Swift, who called his friend everything from the “Watchdog of the Treasury” to “Tightwad, the Penny Squeezer.” “I’ve told you how far I have gone. I have O.K.’d several contracts for parts of the _Winged Arrow_——” “Is that going to be the name of the boat?” “I think so. We have to call her something. I am going to lay her keel—the keel of her boat-cabin—within the fortnight, if circumstances permit. If I don’t fall down on it, Ned, she is going to be a worthy craft!” “Naturally,” Ned rejoined loyally. “You would not waste your time on anything mediocre, I am sure.” “Many, many thanks,” returned Tom, getting up to bow to his treasurer. “But tell me more about it. Let’s have the particulars,” said Ned, with interest. “I will give you a few figures to consider,” Tom said promptly, picking up a paper from his desk and reading from it. “The boat will be sixty feet long. That is about the length of the keel. She will have cabin space for ten or twelve people. I plan to have the wings spread at least one hundred and ten feet. She will be driven by two Liberty motors, each of four hundred horsepower. If I can’t get a hundred miles an hour speed out of her I shall be gravely disappointed.” “Whew! Some boat!” muttered Ned. “But if it is practical, we may make some money out of it.” “Miser!” chuckled Tom. “That’s all right. Just spending money for the fun of it will get you nowhere,” said Ned soberly. “It is going to cost a pretty penny. But if you can sell it to the Government, for instance; or some government——”