CHAPTER II — A MAN IN THE SNOW BANK

Tom Swift looked somewhat in surprise at his strange visitor.  It had all happened so suddenly, the offer had been such a strange one, the man himself—­Mr. Period—­was so odd, that our hero hardly knew what to think.  The moving picture agent continued pacing up and down the room now and then looking at his watch as if to note when the five minutes had passed.

“No,” said Tom to himself.  “I’m not going to take this offer.  There’s too much work and risk attached to it.  I want to stay at home and work on my noiseless motor for the airship.  After that—­ well—­I don’t know what I’ll do.  I’ll tell Mr. Period that he needn’t wait the five minutes.  My mind is made up now!”

But as Tom was about to make this announcement, and dismiss his caller, he looked again at the visitor.  There was something attractive about him—­about his hasty way of talking, about his manner of interrupting, about the way he proposed matters.  Tom was interested in spite of himself.

“Well,” he reflected, “I may as well wait until the five minutes are up, anyhow.”

Koku, the giant servant, glanced at his young master, as if to ask if there was anything that he could do.  Tom shook his head, and then the big man strolled over to the other side of the machine shop, at the same time keeping a careful eye on Mr. Period.

While Tom is waiting for the time to expire, I will take a few minutes to tell you something more about him.  Those of my friends who have read the previous books in this series need no introduction to my hero, but those who may chance upon this as their first book in the Tom Swift series, will like to be more formally introduced.

Tom, whose mother had been dead some years, lived with his father, Barton Swift, in the town of Shopton.  Mr. Swift was an inventor of prominence, and his son was fast following in his footsteps.  A Mrs. Baggert kept house for the Swifts, and another member of the household was Eradicate Sampson, an aged colored man, who said he used to “eradicate” the dirt.  He had been with Tom on many trips, but of late was getting old and feeble.  Then there was Garret Jackson, an engineer employed by the Swifts.  These were all the immediate members of the household.

Tom had a chum, Ned Newton, who used to work in a bank, and there was a girl, Mary Nestor, a daughter of Amos Nestor, in which young lady Tom was much interested.

Eradicate Sampson had a mule, Boomerang, of whom he thought almost as much as he did of Tom.  Eradicate was a faithful friend and servant, but, of late, Koku, or August, the giant, had rather supplanted him.  I must not forget Mr. Wakefield Damon, of Waterfield, a village near Shopton.  Mr. Damon was an odd man, always blessing everything.  He and Tom were good friends, and had been on many trips together.

The first book of the series was called “Tom Swift and His Motor-Cycle,” and related how Tom bought the cycle from Mr. Damon, after the latter had met with an accident on it, and it was in this way that our hero became acquainted with the odd man.