CHAPTER II – Tom Swift and His Elec­tric Loco­mo­tive con­tin­ues with ten­sion sim­mer­ing beneath the sur­face, as Tom finds him­self con­front­ed by a masked thug under the shad­ow of an arch­way. The moment is brief but intense—Tom is held at gun­point, forcibly searched, and has his wal­let stolen. Despite the dan­ger, he remains unnerved, sus­pect­ing the act was tied not to pet­ty theft but to larg­er indus­tri­al inter­ests. This cal­cu­lat­ed rob­bery aligns with the warn­ing giv­en by Mr. Richard Bartholomew about a West­ern spy poten­tial­ly sent by Mon­tagne Lewis. The link becomes clear­er when Tom real­izes the thief was specif­i­cal­ly look­ing for something—his design notes, perhaps—rather than valu­ables. This reveals an ear­ly thread of cor­po­rate espi­onage, rais­ing the stakes of the loco­mo­tive project he’s about to under­take.

Tom’s reac­tion is ground­ed in the expe­ri­ence gained from past inven­tions and adven­tures. Reflect­ing on his ear­li­est exploits—from build­ing motor cycles to submarines—Tom now rec­og­nizes threats not just as per­son­al dan­ger but as chal­lenges to tech­no­log­i­cal progress. He under­stands that true inno­va­tion often invites sab­o­tage, espe­cial­ly when it dis­rupts estab­lished indus­tries. The H. & P. A. Railroad’s finan­cial trou­bles have made Bartholomew des­per­ate for a break­through, and Tom’s pro­pos­al for a high-speed elec­tric loco­mo­tive offers exact­ly that. The eco­nom­ic bur­den of steam engines, dri­ven by the volatile cost of coal and oil, makes elec­tri­fi­ca­tion a bold but nec­es­sary leap. Though shak­en, Tom’s atten­tion quick­ly returns to this mis­sion, rec­og­niz­ing its urgency not only for the railroad’s sur­vival but for set­ting a new stan­dard in rail­way trans­port.

The rob­bery, though unset­tling, also brings clar­i­ty. Tom con­cludes that the spy’s mis­sion is not about per­son­al harm, but about halt­ing progress. That’s why noth­ing else was taken—only what might be mis­tak­en as tech­ni­cal doc­u­men­ta­tion. Unbe­knownst to the thief, Tom uses a com­plex short­hand under­stood by very few, ren­der­ing the stolen papers prac­ti­cal­ly use­less. This moment high­lights not just Tom’s fore­sight, but also the intel­lec­tu­al pro­tec­tion he instinc­tive­ly prac­tices. In mod­ern terms, it’s equiv­a­lent to encrypt­ing sen­si­tive data to pre­vent cor­po­rate leaks—an idea as rel­e­vant today as it was in Tom’s world. His dis­ci­pline in safe­guard­ing ideas ensures the real val­ue of his work remains secure.

As Tom process­es the event, his mind returns to the pos­si­bil­i­ties ahead. The elec­tric loco­mo­tive, designed for two miles a minute, would rev­o­lu­tion­ize not just speed but the entire eco­nom­ics of rail­roads. If suc­cess­ful, the Swift Con­struc­tion Com­pa­ny could set the bench­mark for elec­tri­fied trans­port in rugged envi­ron­ments like the Pas Alos Range. Cur­rent elec­tric locomotives—such as the wide­ly ref­er­enced Jan­del patent—have proven insuf­fi­cient in per­for­mance. Tom’s vision goes beyond mere mechan­i­cal improve­ment; he wants to devel­op a sys­tem that adapts to ter­rain, min­i­mizes pow­er loss, and opti­mizes bat­tery life or dynam­ic grid usage. It’s a for­ward-think­ing approach that hints at con­cepts resem­bling regen­er­a­tive brak­ing or pow­er redun­dan­cy, long before such sys­tems became main­stream.

With the thief gone and the threat still lin­ger­ing, Tom resolves to dis­cuss his next steps with Ned New­ton and his father. It’s not just about secur­ing a contract—it’s about cre­at­ing the pro­to­type that will prove the doubters wrong. He con­sid­ers con­sult­ing engi­neers, acquir­ing test­ing grounds, and prepar­ing for a secure work­space, shield­ed from pry­ing eyes. Tom knows this project won’t just be mea­sured in speed or design specs; its real suc­cess will depend on stay­ing one step ahead of those who wish to sup­press inno­va­tion. That real­iza­tion strength­ens his deter­mi­na­tion. Even dan­ger becomes just anoth­er chal­lenge to over­come with inge­nu­ity and strate­gic think­ing.

Through­out the chap­ter, there’s a notice­able shift in tone. Adven­ture gives way to indus­tri­al espi­onage, and youth­ful curios­i­ty trans­forms into mature resolve. Tom isn’t just an inven­tor anymore—he’s a guardian of inno­va­tion against forces that thrive on dis­rup­tion. What he builds has the poten­tial to change how nations move and con­nect. The elec­tric loco­mo­tive becomes not just a machine, but a sym­bol of transformation—of clean ener­gy, effi­cient trans­port, and tech­no­log­i­cal vision. For read­ers, this chap­ter sets the foun­da­tion for a thrilling nar­ra­tive that blends mechan­i­cal genius with sus­pense, high­light­ing the price—and the power—of progress.