ristening 92
12 Exman Takes Orders 99
13 Disaster Strikes 106
14 Air-borne Hijackers 115
15 Kidnaped! 125
16 A Unique Experiment 137
17 An Urgent Warning 145
18 Earthquake Island 155
19 A Fiendish Machine 166
20 The Robot Spy's Story 177

CHAPTER I

THE EARTHQUAKE

"Tom, we're having a problem with the gyro-stabilizer," said Mark Faber,
gray-haired president of the Faber Electronics Company. "Hope you can
find out what's wrong."

The eighteen-year-old inventor accepted the challenge with a smile.
"I'll be glad to try, sir," he replied.

Bud Barclay, a dark-haired young flier and Tom Swift Jr.'s closest
friend, chuckled. "If anyone can get the bugs out of your new invention,
genius boy here will do it!"

The two boys followed Mr. Faber and his engineers to a wooden building
which was tightly guarded. Inside, a secret rocket-telemetering device
was mounted on its test stand.

"As you know, Tom," Mr. Faber began, "the usual conditions of rocket
flight will be--"

He broke off with a gasp of astonishment as the whole building suddenly
began to shake.

"Good grief!" Bud exclaimed. "This isn't part of your testing routine,
is it?"

His question was drowned out by cries of alarm and the sound of cracking
glass. The walls and roof were shuddering and creaking, and the concrete
floor was heaving under their feet.

[Illustration (earthquake in the lab)]

"Look out! The test stand's breaking loose!" Tom warned.

Mr. Faber and two of his men tried frantically to brace the heavy test
stand which held the telemetering device. Another engineer rushed toward
the door to see what was happening outside. Before he reached it,
another shock knocked all of them off their feet.

Electronic equipment cascaded from the wall shelves, and a heavy-duty
chain hoist came loose from its overhead track, plunging to the floor
with a terrifying crash.

"An earthquake!" Tom gasped.

Bud, meanwhile, clawed a handhold on a wire screen enclosing an air
compressor and pulled himself to his feet. But the next moment a third,
more violent tremor rocked the building, knocking him over. "The roof!
It's caving in!" he heard someone scream.

As his eyes flashed upward in panic, Bud caught a brief glimpse of the
ponderous test stand with the priceless telemeter tilting to one sid