Toward what?
Still Tom did not budge.
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick—it went; heedless, cheerful, like a clock on a mantelpiece.
And still Tom Slade remained just where he was, stark-still and trembling.
CHAPTER XVII
ONE OF THE BLOND BEAST'S WEAPONS
Then, of a sudden, Tom Slade, ship's boy, disappeared, and there in his place was Tom Slade, scout; calm, undismayed—the same Tom Slade who had looked about him, calm and resourceful, when he was lost in the great woods, and who had kept his nerve when menaced by a savage beast.
He cautiously removed the encircling wire, lifted the object out with both hands, finding it surprisingly heavy, and laid it carefully upon the stationary table where cans were usually assorted and opened.