Tom Swift And His Electric Runabout by Victor Appleton (page 2)

your accusation?”

“He’s a regular snob, that’s what’s the trouble,” answered Andy Foger, though whether he was “Brother Number One,” did not appear. “He’s too fresh and–and–“

“I’ll make you wish you felt fresh when I get hold of you, Andy,” murmured Tom.

“Quiet!” cried a tall lad. “What’s the next charge?”

“He keeps an old colored man on guard at his place,” was the answer, and Tom had no difficulty in recognizing the voice of Sid Holton. “The coon throws whitewash all over us. I got some of it.”

“You wouldn’t have, if you’d minded your own business,” retorted Tom. “It served you right!”

“What is the verdict on the prisoner?” asked one who seemed to be the leader.

“I say let’s tar and feather him!” cried Andy suddenly. “There’s a barrel of tar back in the woods here, and we can get some feathers from a chicken coop. That would make him so he wouldn’t be so uppish, I guess!”

“That’s right! Tar and feathers!” exclaimed several.

Our hero’s heart sank. He was not afraid, but he did not relish the indignity that was proposed. He resolved to fight to the last ounce of his strength against the masked lads.

“Can we get a kettle to heat the tar in?” asked some one.

“We’ll find one,” answered Sam Snedecker. “Come on, let’s do it. You’ll look pretty, Tom Swift, when we’re through with you,” he exulted.

Tom did not answer, but there was fierce anger in his heart. The tar and feather proposal seemed to meet with general favor.

“Members of the Deep Forest Throng, we will hold a consultation,” proposed the leader, in his assumed deep voice. “Come over here, to one side. Brother Number Six, guard the prisoner well.”

“There ain’t no need to,” answered a lad who had been instructed to mount guard over Tom. “He’s tied so tight he can’t move. I want to hear what you say.”

“Very well then,” assented the leader, “But look to his bonds.”

The lad made a hasty examination of the ropes binding the young inventor to the tree, and Tom was glad that the examination was a hasty one. For he feared the guard might discover that one hand had been worked nearly free. The young inventor had done this while he leered at his captors.

Tom was not going to submit tamely to the nonsense, and from the moment he had been tied, he had been trying to get loose. He had nearly succeeded in freeing one hand when the crowd of masked boys moved off to one side, where they presently began to talk in excited whispers.

“I wonder how they came to catch me,” thought the prisoner, as he worked feverishly to further loosen the ropes. “This looks as if it was a put-up job, with the masks, and everything.” Later he learned that the idea was the outcome of a proposal of one of the new arrivals in town. He had organized the “Deep Forest Throng,” as a sort of secret society, and Andy and his cronies had been induced to join. It was Andy’s proposal to capture Tom, though, and, having seen him depart for Mansburg on his motor- cycle, and knowing that he would return along a road that ran near the woods where the Throng met, suggested that they take Tom captive. The idea was enthusiastically received, and Andy and his cronies thought they saw a chance to be revenged.

Tom, while he picked at the ropes, listened to what the boys were saying. He heard frequent mention of tar and feathers, and began to believe, that unless he could get free, while they were off there consulting, he might be forced to submit to the humiliating ordeal.

He managed to get one hand comparatively free, so that he could move it about, but then he struck several hard knots, and could make no further progress. The conference seemed on the point of breaking up.

“One of you go for a big kettle to boil the tar in,” ordered the leader, “and the rest of you dig up some feathers.”

“I must get loose!” thought Tom desperately. “If they try to tar and feather me it will be a risky business. I’ve got to get loose! They may burn me severely!”

But, though he tried with all his strength, the ropes would not loosen another bit. He had one hand free, and that was all. The crowd was moving back toward him.

“My knife!” thought the captive quickly. “If I can reach that in my pocket I can cut the ropes! Once I get loose I’ll fight the whole crowd!”

He managed to get his free hand into his pocket. His fingers touched something. It was not his knife, and, for a moment he felt a pang of disappointment. Then, as he realized what it was that he had grasped, a new idea came to him.

“This will be better than the knife!” he thought exultantly. The crowd of lads was now surrounding him, some distance from the fire, which burned in front of the captive.

“Sentence has been passed upon you,” remarked the leader. “Prepare to meet thy doom! Get the materials, brothers!”

“One moment!” called Tom, for he wanted the crowd all present to witness what he was about to do. “I’ll give you one chance to let me go peaceably. If you don’t–“

“Well, what will you do?” demanded Andy sneeringly, as he pulled his mask further over his face. “I guess you won’t do anything, Tom Swift.”

“I’ll give you one chance to let me go, and I’ll agree to say nothing about this joke,” went on Tom. “If you don’t I’ll blow this place up!”

For a moment there was a silence.

“Ha! Ha! Ho! Ho!” laughed Sam Snedecker. “Listen to him! He’ll blow the place up! I’d like to see you do it! You can’t get loose in the first place, and you haven’t anything to blow it up with in the second. I’d like to see you do it; hey, fellers?”

“Sure,” came the answering chorus.

“Would you?” asked Tom quickly. “Then watch. Stand back if you don’t want to get hurt, and remember that I gave you a chance to let me go!”

Tom made a rapid motion with the hand he had gotten loose. He threw something to ward the blazing fire, which was now burning well. Something white sailed through the air, and fell amid the hot embers.

There was a moment’s pause, and then a blinding flash of blue fire lighted up the woods, and a dull rumble, as when gun-powder is lighted in the open followed. A great cloud of white smoke arose, as the vivid blue glare died away, and it seemed as if a great wind swept over the place. Several of the masked lads were knocked down by the explosion, and when the rumble died away, and deep blackness succeeded the intense blue light, there came cries of pain and terror. The fire had been scattered, and extinguished by the explosion which Tom, though still bound to the tree had caused to happen in the midst of the Deep Forest Throng. Then, as the smoke rolled away, Andy Foger cried:

“Come on, fellows! Something’s happened. I guess a volcano blew up!”

CHAPTER IX TOM IS RESCUED

The Deep Forest Throng needed no urging to flee from the place of the mysterious explosion. Their prisoner, helpless as he had seemed, had proved too much for them. Slipping and stumbling along in the darkness, the masked lads had but one thought–to get away before they saw more of that blue fire, and the force of the concussion.

“Gee! My eyebrows are all singed off!” cried Sam Snedecker, as he tore loose his mask which had been rent in the explosion, and felt of his face.

“And my hands are burned,” added Pete Bailey. “I stood closer to the fire than any of you.”

“You did not! I got the worst of it!” cried Andy. “I was knocked down by the explosion, and I’ll bet I’m hurt somewhere. I guess–Oh! Help! I’m falling in a mud hole!”

There was a splash, and the bully disappeared from the sight of his companions who, now that the moon had risen, could better see to flee from their prisoner.

“Help me out, somebody!” pleaded Andy. “I’m in a mud hole!”

They pulled him out, a sorry looking sight, and the red-haired lad, whose locks were now black with muck, began to lament his lot.

“Dry up!” commanded Sid Holton. “It’s all your fault, for proposing such a fool trick as capturing Tom Swift. We might have known he would get the best of us.”

“What was that stuff he used, anyhow?” asked Cecil Hedden, the lad responsible for the organization of the Deep Forest Throng. “He must be a wonder. Does he do sleight-of-hand tricks?”

“He does all sorts of tricks,” replied Pete Bailey, feeling of a big lump on his head, caused by falling on a stone in the mad rush. “I guess we were chumps to tackle him. He must have put some kind of chemical in the fire, to make it blow up.”

“Or else he summoned his airship by wireless, and had that balloonist, Mr. Sharp, drop a bomb in the blaze,” suggested another lad.

“But how could he do anything? Wasn’t he tied fast to that tree?” asked Cecil, the leader.

“You never know when you’ve got Tom Swift tied,” declared Jack Reynolds. “You think you’ve got him, and you haven’t. He’s too slick for us. It’s Andy’s fault, for proposing to capture him.”

“That’s right! Blame it all on me,” whined the squint-eyed bully. “You was just as anxious as I was to tar and feather him.”

“Well, we didn’t do it,” commented Pete Bailey, dryly. “I s’pose he’s loose now, laughin’ at us. Gee, but that was an explosion though! It’s a wonder some of us weren’t killed! I guess I’ve had enough of this Deep Forest Throng business. No more for mine.”

“Aw, don’t be afraid,” urged Cecil. “The next time we get him we’ll be on our guard.”

“You’ll never catch Tom Swift again,” predicted Pete.

“I’ll go back now to where he is, if you will,” agreed Cecil, who was older than the others.

“Not much!” cried Pete. “I’ve had enough.”

This seemed to be the sentiment of all. Away they stumbled through the woods, and, emerging on the road, scattered to their several homes, not one but who suffered from slight burns, contusions, torn and muddy clothes or injured feelings as the outcome of the “joke” on the young inventor.

But our hero was not yet free from the bonds of his enemies. When they scattered and ran, after the vivid blue light, and the dull explosion, which, being unconfined, did no real damage, Tom was still fast to the tree. As his eyes became accustomed to the semi-darkness that followed the glare, he remarked:

“Well, I don’t know that I’m much better off. I gave those fellows a good scare, but I’m not loose. But I can work to better advantage now.”

Once more he resumed the effort to free himself, but in spite of the crude manner in which the knots had been made, the lad could not get loose. The more he pulled and tugged the tighter they seemed to become.

“This is getting serious,” Tom mused. “If I could only reach my knife I could cut them, but it’s in my pocket on the other side, and that bond’s fast. Guess I’ll have to stay here all night. Maybe I’d better call for help, but–“

His words, spoken half aloud, were suddenly interrupted by a crash in the underbrush. Somebody was approaching. At first Tom thought it was Andy and his cronies coming back, but a voice that called a moment later proved that this was not so.

“Is any one here?” shouted a man. “Any one hurt? What was that fire and explosion?”

“I’m here,” replied Tom. “I’m not hurt exactly, but I’m tied to a tree. I’ll be much obliged if you’ll loosen me.”

“Who are you?”

“Tom Swift. Is that you, Mr. Mason?”

“Yes. By jinks! I never expected to find you here, Tom. Over this way, men,” he added calling aloud. “I’ve found him; it’s Tom Swift.”

There was the flicker of several lanterns amid the trees, and soon a number of men had joined Mr. Mason, and surrounded Tom. They were farmers living in the neighborhood.

“What in the name o’ Tunket happened?” asked one. “Did you get hit by a meteor or a comet? Who tied you up; highwaymen?”

“Cut him loose first, and ask questions afterward,” suggested Mr. Mason.

“Yes,” added Tom, with a laugh, “I wish you would. I’m beginning to feel cramped.”

With their knives, the farmers quickly cut the ropes, and some of them rubbed the arms of the lad to restore the circulation.

“What was it–highwaymen?” asked a man, unable to longer restrain his curiosity. “Did they rob you?”

“No, it wasn’t highwaymen,” replied the youth. “It was a trick of some boys I know,” and to Tom’s credit be it said that he did not mention their names. “They did it for a joke,” he added.

“Boys’ trick? Joke?” queried Mr. Mason. “Pretty queer sort of a joke, I think. They ought to be arrested.”

“Oh, I fancy I gave them what was coming to them,” went on the young inventor.

“Did they try to blow ye up, too?” asked Mr. Hertford. “What in th’ name of Tunket was that blue light, and that explosion? I heard it an’ saw it way over to my house.”

“So did I,” remarked Mr. Mason, and several others said the same thing. “We thought a meteor had fallen,” he continued, “and we got together to make an investigation.”

“It’s a good thing for me you did,” admitted Tom, “or I might have had to stay here all night.”

“But was it a meteor?” insisted Mr. Hertford.

“No,” replied the lad, “I did it.”

“You?”

“Yes. You see after they tied me I found I could get one hand free. I reached in my pocket for my knife, but instead of it I managed to get hold of a package of powder I had.”

“Gunpowder?” asked Mr. Mason.

“No, a chemical powder I use in an electrical battery. The powder explodes in fire, and makes quite a blue flash, and a lot of smoke, but it isn’t very dangerous, otherwise I wouldn’t have used it. When the boys were some distance away from the fire, I threw the powder in the blaze. It went off in a moment, and–“

“I guess they run some; didn’t they?” asked Mr. Mason with a laugh.

“They certainly did,” agreed Tom.

CHAPTER X TOM HAS A FALL

The young inventor told more details of his adventure in the woods, but, though the farmers questioned him closely, he would not give a single name of his assailants.

“But I should think you’d want to have them punished,” remarked Mr. Mason.

“I’ll attend to that part later,” answered Tom. “Besides, most of them didn’t know what they were doing. They were led on by one or two. No, I’ll fight my own battles. But I wish you’d lend me a lantern long enough to find my motor-cycle. The moon doesn’t give much light in the woods, and those fellows may have hidden my machine.”

Mr. Mason and his companions readily agreed to accompany Tom on a search for his wheel. It was found just where he had dismounted from it in the road. Andy and his cronies had evidently had enough of their encounter with our hero, and did not dare to annoy him further.

“Do you think you can ride home?” asked one of the farmers of the lad, when he had ascertained that his machine was in running order.

“Well, it’s risky without my lantern,” answered Tom. “They smashed that for me. But I guess I can manage.”

“No, you can’t!” insisted Mr. Mason. “You’re stiff from being tied up; and you can’t ride. Now you just wheel that contraption over to my place, and I’ll hitch up and take you home. It isn’t far.”

“Oh, I couldn’t think of troubling you,” declared Tom. At the same time he felt that he was in no condition to ride.

“It’s no trouble at all,” insisted Mr. Mason. “I guess your father and I are good enough friends to allow me to have my way. You can come over and get your choo-choo bicycle in the morning.”

A little later Tom was being rapidly driven toward his home, where he found his father and Mrs. Baggert, to say nothing of Mr. Sharp, somewhat alarmed over his absence, as it was getting late. The youth told as much of his adventure as he thought would not alarm his father, making a sort of joke of it, and, later, related all the details to the balloonist.

“We’ll have to get after Andy again,” declared the aeronaut. “He needs another toning down.”

“Yes, similar to the one he got when we nearly ran away with his automobile, by catching the airship anchor on it,” added Tom with a laugh. “But I fancy Andy will steer clear of me for a while. I’m sorry I had to use up that chemical powder, though. Now I can’t start my battery until to-morrow.” But the next day Tom made up for lost time, by working from early until late. He went over to Mr. Mason’s, got his motor-cycle, procured some more of the chemical, and soon had his storage battery in running order. Then he arranged for a more severe test, and while that was going on he worked at completing the body of the electric runabout. The vehicle was beginning to look like a car, though it was not of the regulation pattern.

For the next week Tom was very busy, so occupied, in fact, that he scarcely took time for his meals, which caused Mrs. Baggert no little worriment, for she was a housekeeper who liked to see others enjoy her cooking.

“Well, Tom, how are you coming on?” asked his father one night, as they sat on the porch, Mr. Sharp with them.

“Pretty well, Dad,” was the answer of the young inventor. “I’ll put the wheels on tomorrow, and then set the batteries. I’ve got the motor all finished; and all I’ll have to do will be to connect it up, and then I’ll be ready for a trial on the road.”

“And you still think you’ll beat all records?”

“I’m pretty sure of it, Dad. You see the amperage will be exceptionally high, and my batteries will have a large amount of reserve, with little internal resistance. But do you know I’m so tired I can hardly think. It’s more of a job than I thought it would be.”

Tom, a little later, strolled down the road. As he turned back toward the house and walked up the shrubbery lined path he heard a noise.

“Some one’s hiding in there!” thought the lad, and he darted to an opening in the hedge to reach the other side. As he did so he saw a figure running away. Whether it was a man or a boy he could not tell in the darkness.

“Hold on there!” cried the young inventor, but, naturally, the fleeing one did not stop. Tom began to sprint, and as it was slightly down hill, he made good time. The figure ahead of him was running well, too, but Tom who could see better, now that he was out from under the trees, noticed that he was gaining. The fleeing one came to a little brook, and hesitated a moment before leaping across. This enabled Tom to catch up, and he made a grab for the figure, just as the man or boy sprang across the little stream.

Tom missed his grip, but he was not going to give up. He scarcely slackened his speed, but, with the momentum he had acquired in racing down the hill, he, too, leaped across the brook. As he landed on the other side he made another grab for the figure, a man, as Tom could now see, but he could make out no features, as the person’s hat was pulled down over his face.

“I’ve got you now!” cried Tom exultantly, reaching out his hand. His fingers clutched something, but the next instant the young inventor went sprawling. The other had put out his foot, and tripped him neatly and, Tom throwing out his hands to save himself in the fall that was inevitable, went splashing into the brook at full length. The unknown, pausing a moment to view what he had done, turned quickly and raced off in the darkness.

CHAPTER XI CROSSED WIRES

More surprised than hurt, and with a feeling of chagrin and anger at the trick which had been played on him, Tom managed to scramble out of the brook. The water was not deep, but he had splashed in with such force that he was wet all over. And, as he got up, the water drip-ping from his clothes, the lad was conscious of a pain in his head. He put up his hand, and found that contact with a stone had raised a large lump on his forehead. It was as big as a hen’s egg.

“Humph! I’ll be a pretty sight to-morrow,” murmured Tom. “I wonder who that fellow was, anyhow, and what he wanted? He tripped me neatly enough, whoever he was. I’ve a good notion to keep on after him.”

Then, as he realized what a start the fleeing one had, the young inventor knew that it would be fruitless to renew the chase. Slowly he ascended the sloping bank, and started for home. As he did so he realized that he had, clasped in his fingers, something he had grabbed from the person he was pursuing just before his unlucky tumble.

“It’s part of his watch chain!” exclaimed Tom, as he felt of the article. “I must have ripped it loose when I fell. Wonder what it is? Evidently some sort of a charm. Maybe it will be a clue.” He tried to discern of what style it was, but in the dark woods this was impossible. Then the lad tried to strike a match, but those in his pocket had become wet from his unexpected bath. “I’ll have to wait until I get home,” he went on, and he hastened his steps, for he was anxious to see what he had torn loose from the person who appeared to be spying on him.

“Why Tom, what’s the matter?” exclaimed Mrs. Baggert, when he entered the kitchen, dripping water at every step. “Is it raining outside? I didn’t hear any storm.”

“It was raining where I was,” replied Tom angrily. “I fell in the brook. It was so hot I thought I’d cool off.”

“With your best suit on!” ejaculated the housekeeper.

“It isn’t my best,” retorted the lad. “But I went in before I thought. It was an accident; I fell,” he added, lest Mrs. Baggert take his joking remarks seriously. He did not want to tell her of the chase.

The chief concern of the lad now was to look at the charm and, as soon as Mrs. Baggert’s attention was attracted elsewhere, Tom glanced at the object he still held tightly clenched in his hand. As the light from the kitchen fell upon it he could hardly repress an exclamation of astonishment.

For the charm that he held in his hand was one he had seen before dangling from the watch chain of Addison Berg, the agent for Bentley & Eagert, submarine boat builders, which firm had, as told in “Tom Swift and His Submarine,” tried unsuccessfully to secure the gold treasure from the sunken wreck. Berg and his associates had even gone so far as to try to disable the Advance, the boat of Tom and his father, by ramming her when deep down under the ocean, but Mr. Swift’s use of an electric cannon had broken the steering gear of the Wonder, the rival craft, and from that time on Tom and his friends had a clear field to search for the bullion held fast in the hold of the Boldero. “Addison Berg,” murmured Tom, as he looked at the watch charm. “What can he be doing in this neighborhood? Hiding, too, as if he wanted to overhear something. That’s the way he did when we were building our submarine, and now he’s up to the same trick when I’m constructing my electric car. I’m sure this charm is his. It is such a peculiar design that I’m positive I can’t be mistaken. I thought, when I was chasing after him, that it would turn out to be Andy Foger, or some of the boys, but it was too big for them. Addison Berg, eh? What can he be doing around here? I must not tell Dad, or he’d worry himself sick. But I must be on my guard.”

Tom examined the charm closely. It was a compass, but made in an odd form, and was much ornamented.

The young inventor had noticed it on several occasions when he had been in conversation with Mr. Berg previous to the attempt on the part of the owners of the rival submarine to wreck Tom’s boat. He felt that he could not be mistaken in identifying the charm.

“Berg was afraid I’d catch him, and ask for an explanation that would have been awkward to make,” thought the lad, as he turned the charm over in his hand. “That’s why he tripped me up. But I’ll get at the bottom of this yet. Maybe he wants to steal my ideas for an electric car.”

Tom’s musings were suddenly interrupted by Mrs. Baggert.

“I hope you’re not going to stand there all night,” she said, with a laugh. “You’re in the middle of a puddle now, but when you get over dreaming I’d like to mop it up.”

“All right,” agreed the young inventor, coming to himself suddenly. “Guess I’d better go get some dry clothes on.”

“You’d better go to bed,” advised Mrs. Baggert. “That’s where your father and Mr. Sharp are. It’s late.”

The more Tom thought over the strange occurrence the more it puzzled him. He mused over the presence of Berg as he went about his work the next day, for that it was the agent whom he had pursued he felt positive.

“But I can’t figure out why he was hanging around here,” mused Tom.

Then, as he found that his thoughts over the matter were interfering with his work, he resolutely put them from him, and threw himself energetically into the labor of completing his electric car. The new batteries, he found, were working well, and in the next two days he had constructed several more, joining them so as to get the combined effect.

It was the afternoon of the third day from Tom’s unexpected fall into the brook that the young inventor decided on the first important test of his new device. He was going to try the motor, running it with his storage battery. Some of the connections were already in place, the wires being fastened to the side of the shop, where they were attached to switches. Tom did not go over these, taking it for granted that they were all right. He soon had the motor, which he was to install in his car, wired to the battery, and then he attached a gauge, to ascertain, by comparison, how many miles he could hope to travel on one charging of the storage battery.

“Guess I’ll call Dad and Mr. Sharp in to see how it works, before I turn on the current,” he said to himself. He was about to summon his parent and the aeronaut from an adjoining shop, where they were working over a new form of dynamo, when the lad caught sight of the watch charm he had left on his desk, in plain sight.

“Better put that away,” he remarked. “Dad or Mr. Sharp might see it, and ask questions. Then I’d have to explain, and I don’t want to, not until I get further toward the bottom of this thing.”

He put the charm away, and then summoned his father and the balloonist.

“You’re going to see a fine experiment,” declared Tom. “I’m going to turn on the full strength of my battery.”

“Are you sure it’s all right, Tom?” asked his father. “You can’t be too careful when you’re dealing with electricity of high voltage, and great ampere strength.

“Oh, it’s all right, Dad,” his son assured him “Now watch my motor hum.”

He walked over to a big copper switch, and grasped the black rubber handle to pull it over which would send the current from the storage battery into the combination of wheels and gears that he hoped, ultimately, would propel his electric automobile along the highways, or on a track, at the rate of a hundred miles an hour.

“Here she goes!” cried Tom. For an instant he hesitated and then pulled the switch. At the same time his hand rested on another wire, stretched across a bench.

No sooner had the switch closed than there was a blinding flash, a report as of a gun being fired, and Tom’s body seemed to straighten out. Then a blue flame appeared to encircle him and he dropped to the floor of the shop, an inert mass.

“He’s killed!” cried Mr. Swift, springing forward.

“Careful!” cautioned the balloonist. “He’s been shocked! Don’t touch him until I turn off the current!” As he pulled out the switch, the aeronaut gave a glance at the apparatus.

“There’s something wrong here!” he cried. “The wires have been crossed! That’s what shocked Tom, but he never made the wrong connections! He’s too good an electrician! There’s been some one in this shop, changing the wires!”

CHAPTER XII THE TRY OUT

Once the current was cut off it was safe to approach the body of the young inventor. Mr Sharp stooped over and lifted Tom’s form from the floor, for Mr. Swift was too excited and trembled too much to be of any service. Our hero was as one dead. His body was limp, after that first rigid stretching out, as the current ran through him; his eyes were closed, and his face was very pale.

“Is–is there any hope?” faltered Mr. Swift.

“I think so,” replied the balloonist. “He is still breathing- faintly. We must summon a doctor at once. Will you telephone for one, while I carry him in the house?”

As Mr. Sharp emerged from the shop, bearing Tom’s body, an automobile drew up in front of the place.

“Bless my soul!” exclaimed a voice. “Tom’s hurt! How did it happen? Bless my very existence!”

“Oh, Mr. Damon, you’re just in time!” exclaimed Mr. Sharp, “Tom’s had a bad shock. Will you go for a doctor in your auto?”

“Better than that! Let me take Tom in the car to Dr. Whiteside’s office,” proposed the eccentric man. “It will be better that way.”

“Yes, yes,” agreed Mr. Swift eagerly. “Put Tom in the auto!”

“If only it doesn’t break down,” added Mr. Damon fervently. “Bless my spark plug, but it would be just my luck!”

But they started off all right, Mr. Swift riding in front with Mr. Damon, and Mr. Sharp supporting Tom in the tonneau. Only a little fluttering of the eyelids, and a slow, faint breathing told that Tom Swift still lived.

Mr. Damon never guided a car better than he did his auto that day. Several speed laws were broken, but no one appeared to stop them, and, in record time they had the young inventor at the physician’s house. Fortunately Dr. Whiteside was at home, and, under his skillful treatment Tom was soon out of danger. His heart action was properly started, and then it was only a question of time. As the doctor had plenty of room it was decided to let the lad remain that night, and Tom was soon installed in a spare bedroom, with the doctor’s pretty daughter to wait on him occasionally.

“Oh, I’m all right,” the youth insisted, when Miss Whiteside told him it was time for his medicine. “I’m all right.”

“You’re not!” she declared. “I ought to know, for I’m going to be a nurse, some day, and help papa. Now take this or I’ll have to hold your nose, as they do the baby’s,” and she held out a spoonful of unpleasant looking mixture, extending her dainty forefinger and thumb of her other hand, as if to administer dire punishment to Tom, if he did not obey.

“Well, I give in to superior strength,” he said with a laugh, as he noted, with approval, the laughing face of his nurse.

Then he fell into a deep sleep, and was so much better the next morning that he could be taken home in Mr. Damon’s auto.

“But mind, no hard work for three or four days,” insisted the physician. “I want your heart to get in shape for that big race you were telling me about. The shock was a severe strain to it.”

Tom promised, reluctantly, and, though he did no work, his first act, on reaching home, was to go out to the shop, to inspect the battery and motor. To his surprise the motor was running for the lad had established the connection, in spite of his shock and his father and Mr. Sharp had decided to let the machinery run until he came back.

“And look at the record it’s made!” cried Tom delightedly as he glanced at the gauge “Better than I figured on. That battery is a wonder. I’ll have the fastest electric runabout you ever saw.”

“If the wires don’t get crossed again,” put in Mr. Sharp. “You’d better make an examination, Tom,” and, for the first time, the young inventor learned how he had been shocked.

“Crossed wires! I should say they were crossed!” he exclaimed as he looked at the switches and copper conductors. “Somebody has been tampering with them. No wonder I was shocked!”

“Who did it?” asked Mr. Sharp.

Tom considered for a moment, before answering. Then he said:

“I believe it was Addison Berg. He must have wanted to do some damage, to get even with us for getting that treasure away from him.”

“Berg?” questioned the balloonist, and Tom told of the night he had been tripped into the brook, and exhibited the watch charm he had secured. Mr. Sharp recognized it at once. A further examination confirmed the belief that the submarine agent had sneaked into Tom’s workshop, and had altered the wires.

“They were all right when I came out of the shop that night,” declared Tom. “I left the old connections just as I thought I had arranged them, and only added the new ones, when I went to try my battery. The old connections were crossed, but I didn’t notice it. Then when I turned on the current I got the shock. I don’t s’pose Berg thought I’d be so nearly killed. Probably he wanted to burn out my motor, and spoil it. If it was Andy Foger I could understand it, but a man like Berg–“

“He’s probably wild with anger because his submarine got the worst of it in the race for the gold,” interrupted the balloonist. “Well, we’ll have to be on our guard, that’s all. What was the matter with Eradicate, that he didn’t see him enter the shop?”

“Rad went to a colored dance that night,” said Tom. “I let him off. But after this I’ll have the shop guarded night and day. My motor might have been ruined, if that first charge hadn’t gone through my body instead of into the machinery.” The improper connections were soon removed and others substituted.

It was agreed between Tom and Mr. Sharp that they would say nothing regarding Mr. Berg to Mr. Swift. The aeronaut caused cautious inquiries to be made, and learned that the agent had been discharged by the submarine firm, because of some wrong- doing in connection with the craft Wonder, and it was surmised that the agent believed Tom to be at the bottom of his troubles.

In a few days the young inventor was himself again, and as further trials of his battery showed it to be even better than its owner hoped, arrangements were made for testing it in the car on the road.

The runabout was nearly finished, but it lacked a coat of varnish, and some minor details, when Tom, assisted by his father, Mr Sharp and Mr. Jackson, one morning, about a week later, installed the motor and battery units. It did not take long to gear up the machinery, connect the battery and, though the car was rather a crude looking affair, Tom decided to give it a try-out

“Want to come along, Dad?” he asked, as he tightened up some binding posts, and looked to see that the steering wheel, starting and reverse levers worked properly, and that the side chains were well lubricated.

“Not the first time,” replied his father. “Let’s see how it runs with you, first.”

“Oh, I want some sort of a load in it,” went on the lad. “It won’t be a good test unless I have a couple of others besides myself. How about you, Mr. Damon?” for the old gentleman was spending a few days at the Swift homestead.

“Bless my shoe buttons! I’ll come!” was the ready answer. “After the experience I’ve been through in the airship and submarine, nothing can scare me. Lead on, I’ll follow!”

“I don’t suppose you’ll hang back after that; will you, Mr. Sharp?” asked the lad, with a laugh.

“I don’t dare to, for the sake of my reputation,” was the reply, for the balloonist who had made many ascensions, and dropped thousands of feet in parachutes, was naturally a brave man.

So he and Mr. Damon climbed into the rear seats of the odd- looking electric car, while Tom took his place at the steering wheel.

“Are you all ready?” he asked.

“Let her go!” fired back Mr. Sharp.

“Bless my galvanometer, don’t go too fast on the start,” cautioned Mr. Damon, nervously.

“I’ll not,” agreed the young inventor. “I want to get it warmed up before I try any speeding.”

He turned on the current. There was a low, humming purr, which gradually increased to a whine, and the car moved slowly forward. It rolled along the gravel driveway to the road, Tom listening to every sound of the machinery, as a mother listens to the breathing of a child.

“She’s moving!” he cried.

“But not much faster than a wheelbarrow,” said his father, who sometimes teased his son.

“Wait!” cried the youth.

Tom turned more current into the motor. The purring and humming increased, and the car seemed to leap forward. It was in the road now, and, once assured that the steering apparatus was working well, Tom suddenly turned on much more speed.

So quickly did the electric auto shoot forward that Mr. Damon and Mr. Sharp were jerked back against the cushions of the rear seats.

“Here! What are you doing?” inquired Mr. Sharp.

“I’m going to show you a little speed,” answered Tom.

The car was now moving rapidly, and there was a smoothness and lightness to its progress that was absent from a gasolene auto. There was no vibration from the motor. Faster and faster it ran, until it was moving at a speed scarcely less than that of Mr. Damon’s car, when it was doing its best. Of course that was not saying much, for the car owned by the odd gentleman was not a very powerful one, but it could make fast time occasionally.

“Is this the best you can do?” asked Mr. Damon. “Not that it isn’t fast,” he hastened to add, “and I was wondering if it was your limit.”

“Not half!” cried Tom, as he turned on a little more power. “I’m not trying for a record to-day. I just want to see how the battery and motor behaves.”

“Pretty well, I should say,” commented Mr. Sharp.

“I’m satisfied–so far,” agreed the lad.

They were now moving along the highway at a good speed–moving almost silently, too, for the motor, save for a low hum, made no noise. So quiet was the car, in fact, that it was nearly the cause of a disaster. Tom was so interested in the performance of his latest invention, that, before he knew it, he had come up behind a farmer, driving a team of skittish horses. As the big machine went past them, giving no warning of its approach, the steeds reared up, and would have bolted, but for the prompt action of the driver.

“Hey!” he cried, angrily, as Tom speeded past, “don’t you know you got to give warnin’ when you’re comin’ with one of them ther gol-swizzled things! By Jehossephat I’ll have th’ law on ye ef ye do thet ag’in!”

“I forgot to ring the bell,” apologized Tom, as he sent out a peal from the gong, and then, he let out a few more amperes, and the speed increased.

“Hold on! I guess this is fast enough!” cried Mr. Damon, as his hat blew off.

“Fast?” answered Tom. “This is nothing to what I’ll do when I use the full power. Then I’ll–“

He was interrupted by a sharp report, and a vivid flash of fire on a switch board near the steering wheel. The motor gave a sort of groan, and stopped, the car rolling on a little way, and then becoming stationary.

“Bless my collar button!” ejaculated Mr. Damon.

“What’s the matter?” inquired Mr. Sharp.

“Some sort of a blow-out,” answered Tom ruefully, as he shoved the starting handle over, trying to move the car. But it would not budge. The new auto had “gone dead” on her first tryout. The young inventor was grievously disappointed.

CHAPTER XIII TOWED BY A MULE

“Bless my gizzard! Is it anything serious?” asked Mr. Damon. “Will it blow up, or anything like that?”

“No,” replied the lad, as he leaped out of the car, and began to make an examination. Mr. Sharp assisted him.

“The motor seems to be all right,” remarked the balloonist, as he inspected it.

“Yes,” agreed our hero, “and the batteries have plenty of power left in them yet. The gauge shows that. I can’t understand what the trouble can be, unless–” He paused in his remark and uttered an exclamation. “I’ve found it!” he cried.

“What?” demanded the aeronaut.

“Some of the fuses blew out. I turned on too much current, and the fuses wouldn’t carry it. I put them in to save the motor from being burned out, but I didn’t use heavy enough ones. I see where my mistake was.”

“But what does it mean?” inquired Mr. Damon.

“It means that we’ve got to walk back home,” was Tom’s sorrowful answer. “The car is stalled, for I haven’t any extra fuses with me.”

“Can’t you connect up the battery by using some extra wire?” asked Mr. Sharp. “I have some,” and he drew a coil of it from his pocket.

“I wouldn’t dare to. It might be so heavy that it would carry more current than the motor could stand. I don’t want to burn that out. No, I guess we’ll have to walk home, or rather I will. You two can stay here until I come back with heavier fuses. I’m sorry.”

Tom had hardly ceased speaking, when, from around the turn in the road proceeded a voice, and, at the sound of it all three started, for the voice was saying:

“Now it ain’t no use fer yo’ to act dat-a-way, Boomerang. Yo’ all ain’t got no call t’ git contrary now, jest when I wants t’ git home t’ mah dinner. I should t’ink you’d want t’ git t’ de stable, too. But ef yo’ all ain’t mighty keerful I’ll cut down yo’ rations, dat’s what I’se goin’ to do. G’lang, now, dat’s a good feller. Ho! Ho! I knowed dat’d fetch yo’ all. When yo’ all wiggles yo’ ears dat-a-way, dat’s a suah sign yo’ all is gwine t’ move.”

Then followed the sound of a rattletrap of a wagon approaching.

“Eradicate! It’s Eradicate!” exclaimed Tom.

“And his mule, Boomerang!” added Mr. Sharp. “He’s just in time!” commented Mr. Damon with a sigh of relief, as the ancient outfit, in charge of the aged colored man, came along. Eradicate had been sent to Shopton to get a load of wood for Mr. Swift, and was now returning. At the sight of the stalled auto the mule pricked up his long ears, and threw them forward.

“Whoa dar, now, Boomerang!” cried Eradicate. “Doan’t yo’ all commence t’ gittin’ skittish. Dat machine ain’t gwine t’ hurt yo’. Why good land a’ massy! Ef ’tain’t Mistah Swift!” cried the colored man, as he caught sight of Tom. “What’s de trouble?” he asked.

“Broke down,” answered the young inventor briefly. “You always seem to come along when I’m in trouble, Rad.”

“Dat’s right,” assented the darkey, with a grin. “Me an’ trouble am ole acquaintances. Sometimes she hits me a clip on de haid, den, ag’in Boomerang, mah mule, gits it. He jest had his trouble. Got a stone under his shoe, an’ didn’t want t’ move. Den when I did git him started he balked on me. But I’se all right now. But I suah am sorry fo’ you. Can’t I help yo’ all, Mistah Swift?”

“Yes, you can, Rad,” answered Tom. “Drive home as fast as you can, and ask Dad to send back with you some of those fuses he’ll find on my work bench. He knows what I want. Hurry there and hurry back.”

Eradicate shook his head doubtfully.

“What’s the matter? Don’t you want to go?” asked Mr. Sharp, a trifle nettled. “We can’t get the car started until we have some new fuses..”

“Oh, I wants t’ go all right ’nuff, Mistah Sharp,” was Eradicate’s prompt answer. “Yo’ all knows I’d do anyt’ing t’ ‘blige yo’ or Mistah Swift. But hits dish yeah mule, Boomerang. I jest done promised him dat we were gwine home t’ dinnah, an’ he ‘spects a manger full ob oats. Ef I got to Mistah Swift’s house wid him, I couldn’t no mo’ git him t’ come back widout his dinnah, dan yo’ all kin git dat ‘ar car t’ move widout dem fusin’ t’ings yo’ all talked about.”

“Bless my necktie!” exclaimed Mr. Damon. “That’s all nonsense! You don’t suppose that mule understands what you say to him, do you? How does he know you promised him his dinner?”

“I doan’t know how he know, Mistah Damon,” replied Eradicate, “but he do know, jest de same. I know hit would be laik pullin’ teeth an’ wuss too, t’ git Boomerang t’ start back wid dem foosd t’ings until after he’s had his dinner. Wouldn’t it, Boomerang?”

The mule waved his long ears as if in answer.

“Bless my soul, I believe he does understand!” cried Mr. Damon.

“Of course he do,” put in the colored man. “I’se awful sorry. Now if it were afternoon I could bring back dem what-d’ye-call- ’ems in a jiffy, ’cause Boomerang allers feels good arter he has his dinnah, but befo’ dat–” and Eradicate shook his head, as if there was no more to be said on the subject.

“Well,” remarked Tom, sadly, “I guess there’s no help for it. We’ll have to walk home, unless you two want to wait until I can ride back with Eradicate, and come back on my motor cycle. Then I’ll have to leave the cycle here, for I can’t get it in the car.”

“Bless my collar button!” cried Mr. Damon. “It’s like the puzzle of the fox, the goose and the bag of corn on the banks of a stream. I guess we’d better all walk.”

“Hold on!” exclaimed Mr. Sharp. “Is your mule good and strong, Eradicate?”

“Strong? Why dish yeah mule could pull a house ober–dat is when he’s got a mind to. An’ he’d do most anyt’ing now, ‘ca’se he’s anxious t’ git home t’ his dinnah; ain’t yo’ all, Boomerang?”

Once more the mule waved his ears, like signal flags.

“Then I have a proposition to make,” went on the balloonist. “Unhitch the mule from the load of wood, and hitch him to the auto. We’ve got some rope along, I noticed. Then the mule can pull us and the runabout home.”

“Good idea!” cried Mr. Damon.

“Dat’s de racket!” ejaculated Eradicate. “I’ll jest sequesterate dish year load ob wood side ob de road, an’ hitch Boomerang to de auto.”

Tom said nothing for a few seconds. He gazed sadly at his auto, which he hoped would win the touring club’s prize. It was a bitter pill for him to swallow.

“Towed by a mule!” he exclaimed, shaking his head, and smiling ruefully. “The fastest car in this country towed by a mule! It’s tough luck!”

“‘Tain’t half so bad as goin’ widout yo’ dinnah, Mistah Swift!” remarked Eradicate, as he began to harness the mule to the electric runabout.

Boomerang made no objection to the transfer. He looked around once or twice as he was being made fast to the auto and, when the word was given he stepped out as if pulling home stalled cars was his regular business. Tom sat beside Eradicate on the front seat, and steered, while the colored man drove the mule, and Mr. Sharp and Mr. Damon were in the “tonneau” seats as Tom called them.

“I hope no one sees us,” thought Tom, but he was doomed to disappointment. When nearly home he heard an auto approaching, and in it were Andy Foger, Sam Snedecker and Pete Bailey. The three cronies stared at the odd sight of Boomerang ambling along, with his great ears flapping, drawing Tom’s speedy new car.

“Ha! Ha!” laughed Andy. “So that’s the motive power he’s going to use! Look at him, fellows. I thought his new electric, that was going to beat my car, and win the prize, was to be two hundred horse power. Instead it’s one mule power! That’s rich!” and Andy’s chums joined in the laugh at poor Tom.

The young imventor said nothing, for there was nothing he could say. In dignified silence he passed the car containing his enemies, they, meanwhile, jeering at him.

“Dat’s all right,” spoke Eradicate, sympathizing with his young employer. “Maybe dey’ll ‘want a tow derselves some day, an’ when dey does, I’ll make Boomerang pull ’em in a ditch.”

But this was small comfort to Tom. He made up his mind, though, that he would demonstrate that his car could do all that he had claimed for it, and that very soon.

CHAPTER XIV A GREAT RUN

Boomerang did not belie the reputation Eradicate had given him as a beast of strength. Though the electric runabout was heavy, the mule managed to move it along the road at a fair speed, with the four occupants. Perhaps the animal knew that at the end of his journey a good feed awaited him. At any rate they were soon within sight of the Swift home.

Mr. Damon and Mr. Sharp refrained from making any comments that might hurt Tom’s feelings, for they realized the chagrin felt by the young inventor in having his apparatus go back on him at the first trial. But our hero was not the kind of a lad who is disheartened by one failure, or even half a dozen.

The humor of the situation appealed to him, and, as he turned the auto into the driveway, and noticed Boomerang’s long ears waving to and fro, he laughed.

The lad insisted on putting new fuses in the car before he ate his dinner, and then, satisfied that the motor was once more in running order, he partook of a hasty meal, and began making several changes which he had decided were desirable. He finished them in time to go for a little run in the car all alone on a secluded road late that afternoon.

Tom returned, with eyes shining, and cheeks flushed with elation.

“Well, how did it go? asked his father.

“Fine! Better than I expected,” responded his son enthusiastically. “When it gets to running smoothly I’ll pass anything on the road.”

“Don’t be too sure,” cautioned Mr. Swift, but Tom only smiled.

There was still much to do on the electric runabout, and Tom spent the next few days in adjusting the light steel wind-shield, that was to come down over the driver’s seat. He also put in a powerful electric search-light, which was run by current from the battery, and installed a new speedometer and an instrument to tell how much current he was using, and how much longer the battery would run without being exhausted. This was to enable him to know when to begin re-charging it. When the current was all consumed it was necessary to store more in the battery. This could be done by attaching wires from a dynamo, or, in an emergency by tapping an electric light wire in the street. But as the battery would enable the car to run many miles on one charging, Tom did not think he would ever have to resort to the emergency charging apparatus. He had a new system for this, one that enabled him to do the work in much less than the usual time.

With his new car still unpainted, and rather rough and crude in appearance, the lad started out alone one morning, his father and Mr. Sharp having declined to accompany him, on the plea of business to attend to, and Mr. Damon not being at the Swift house.

Tom rode about for several hours, giving his car several severe tests in the way of going up hills, and speeding on the level. He was proceeding along a quiet country road, in a small town about fifteen miles from Shopton, when, as he flashed past the small railroad station, he saw a familiar figure standing on the platform.

“Why, Ned!” called Tom, “what are you doing over here?”

“I might ask the same thing of you. Is that your new car? It doesn’t look very new.”

“Yes, this is it. I haven’t had a chance to paint and varnish it yet. But you ought to see it go. What are doing here, though?”

“I came over on some bank business. A customer here had some bonds he wanted to dispose of and I came for them. You see we’re enlarging our business since the new bank started.”

“Has it hurt your bank any?”

“Not yet, but Foger and his associates are trying hard to make us lose money. Say, did you ever see such a place as this? I’ve got to wait two hours for a train back to Shopton.”

“No you haven’t.”

“Why not? Have they changed the timetable since I came over this morning?”

“No, but you can ride back with me. I’m going, and I’ll show you what my new electric car can do.”

“Good!” cried the young bank cashier. “You’re just in time. I was wondering how I could kill two hours, but now I’ll get in your new car and–“

“And maybe we’ll kill a few chickens, or a dog or two when we get her speeded up,” put in Tom, with a laugh in which Ned joined.

The two lads, seated in the front part of the auto, were soon moving down the hard highway. Suddenly Tom pulled a lever and the steel wind-shield came sliding down from the top case, meeting the forward battery compartment, and forming a sort of slanting roof over the heads of the two occupants.

“Here! What’s this?” cried Ned.

“We’re going to hit it up in a few minutes,” replied the young inventor, “and I want to reduce the wind resistance.”

“Oh, I thought maybe we were going through a bombardment. It’s all right, go ahead, don’t mind me. I’m game.”

There was a celluloid window in the steel wind-shield, and through this the lads could observe the road ahead of them.

As they swung along it, the speed increasing, Ned saw an auto ahead of them.

“Whose car is that?” he asked.

“Don’t know,” replied Tom. “We’ll be up to it in about half a minute, though.”

As the electric runabout, more dilapidated looking than ever from the layer of dust that covered it, passed the other auto, which was a powerful car, the solitary occupant of it, a middle- aged man, looked to one side, and, seeing the queer machine, remarked:

“You fellows are going the wrong way to the junk heap. Turn around.”

“Is that so?” asked Tom, his eyes flashing at the cheap wit of the man. “Why we came out here to show you the way!”

“Do you want to race?” asked the man eagerly, too eagerly, Ned thought. “I’ll give you a brush, if you do, and a handicap into the bargain.”

“We don’t need it,” replied the young inventor quickly.

“I’ll wager fifty dollars I can beat you bad on this three-mile stretch,” went on the autoist. “How about it?”

“I’ll race you, but I don’t bet,” answered Tom, a bit stiffly.

“Oh, be a sport,” urged the man.

Tom shook his head. He had slowed down his machine, and was running even with the gasolene car now. He noticed that it was a new one, of six cylinders, and looked speedy. Perhaps he was foolish to pit his untried car against it. Yet he had confidence in his battery and motor.

“Well, we’ll race for the fun of it then,” went on the man. “Do you want a handicap?”

Tom shook his head again, and there came around his mouth a grim look.

“All right,” assented the other. “Only you’re going to be beat badly. I never saw an electric car yet that could do anything except to crawl along.”

“You’re going to see one now,” was all the retort Tom permitted himself.

“Here we go then!” cried the man, and he gave his gear handle a yank, and shoved over the sparking and gasolene levers.

His car instantly shot ahead, and went “chug chugging” down the road in a cloud of dust. At the same moment Tom, in answer to a look from Ned, who feared his friend was going to be left behind, turned more power into the motor. The humming, purring sound increased and the electric car forged ahead.

“Can you catch him?” asked Ned.

“Watch,” was all Tom said.

The hum of the motor became a sort of whine, and the electric rapidly acquired speed. It crept up on the gasolene car, as an express train overtakes a freight, and the man, looking back, and expecting to see his rival far behind was surprised to note the queer looking vehicle lapping his rear wheels.

“Well, you are coming on, aren’t you?” he asked. “Maybe you’ll keep up now!” He shifted the gears, using a little more gasolene. For a moment his car opened a wide gap between it and Tom’s, but the young inventor had only begun to race. Still louder purred the motor, and in a few minutes Tom was running on even terms with his competitor. The man looked annoyed, and tried, by the skilful use of gasolene and sparking levers, to leave Tom behind. But the electric held her own.

“I’ve got to go the limit I see,” remarked the man at last, glancing sideways at the other car. “I’ll tell ’em you’re coming,” he added, “though I must say your electric does better than any of its kind I ever came across.”

“I’m not done yet,” was the comment of our hero. But the man did not hear him, for he was yanking into place the lever that enabled him to run on direct drive for fourth speed.

Forward shot his car, and, for perhaps a quarter of a mile it led. The racers were almost at the end of the three-mile level stretch of road, and if Tom was going to win the impromptu contest it seemed high time he began.

“Can you catch him?” asked Ned anxiously.

“Watch,” was his chum’s reply. “I haven’t used my high speed gear yet. I’m afraid the fuses won’t stand it, but here goes for a try, anyhow.”

He threw over a switch, changed a lever and then, having pushed into place the last gear, he grasped the steering wheel more firmly.

There was need of it, for, in an instant, the electric runabout, with the motors fairly roaring, swept up the road, after the gasolene car that was almost hidden from sight in a cloud of dust. Faster and faster went Tom’s car. The young inventor was listening with critical ear to the song of the machinery. He wanted to learn if it was running sweet and true, for that is how a careful mechanic tests his apparatus. Foot by foot the distance between the two cars lessened. Now the electric was lapping the rear wheels of the gasolene machine, but the driver did not know it. His whole attention was on the road ahead of him.

“Half a mile more!” cried Ned, naming the distance which yet remained of the straight stretch. “Can you do it, Tom?”

His chum nodded. He shoved the controller handle over to the last notch, and then waited an anxious second. Would the fuse carry the extra load? It seemed so, for there was a slight increase of power.

An instant later Tom gave a sudden twist to the steering wheel. It was well that he did, for he was passing the gasolene car dangerously close. Then he was ahead of it, and in a second he was three lengths in advance.

Desperately the man opened his muffler, and sought to gain by this advantage, but though his car gave off explosions like a battery of guns in action, he could not gain on Tom. The electric shot around a curve in the road, winner of the impromptu race by an eighth of a mile.

“Well,” asked Tom of his chum, as he slowed down, for the road now was not so good, “did I do it?”

“You certainly did. Whew! But we did scoot along?”

“Eighty miles an hour there one spell,” went on the young inventor, glancing at a gauge. “But I’ve got to do better than that to win the big race.”

CHAPTER XV ANDY FOGER’S BLACK EYE

Around the bend came the six-cylinder touring car. The driver, with a surprised look on his face, was slacking up. He ran his machine up alongside of Tom’s.

“Say,” he asked, in dazed tones, “did you take a short cut, or anything like that to get ahead of me?”

“No,” answered the youth.

“And you didn’t jump me in the air?”

“No,” was Tom’s answer, smilingly given.

“Well, all I’ve got to say is that you’ve got a wonderful car there, Mr.–er–er–” He paused suggestively.

“Swift is my name,” our hero answered. “Thomas Swift, of Shopton.”

“Ah, I’ve heard of you. My name is Layton –Paul Layton. I’m from Netherton. Let’s see, you built an airship, didn’t you?”

“I helped,” Tom admitted modestly.

“Well, you beat me fair and square, and if I do say it myself I’ve got a fairly speedy car. Took two firsts at the Indianapolis meet last month. But you certainly scooted ahead of me. Where did you buy that electric, if I may ask?”

“I made it.”

“I might have known,” admitted the man. “But are you going to put them on the market? If you are I’d like to get one. I want the fastest car going, and you seem to have it.”

“I hadn’t thought of manufacturing them for sale,” said the young inventor. “If I do, I’ll let you know.”

“I wish you would. My! I had no idea you could beat me, but you did–fair and square.”

There was some more talk, and then Mr. Layton started on, after exacting from Tom a further promise to let him know if any electrics were to be made for sale.

“You certainly have a wonderful car,” complimented Ned, as he and his chum took a short cut to Shopton.

“Well, I’m not quite satisfied with it,” declared Tom.

“Why not?”

“Well, I’ve set a hundred miles an hour as my limit. I didn’t make but eighty to-day. I’ve got to have more speed if I go up against the crowd that will race for the touring club’s prize.”

“Can you make a hundred miles?”

“I think so. I’ve got to change my gears, though, and use heavier fuses. I was afraid every second that one of the fuses would melt, and leave me stranded. But they stood pretty well. Of course, when the car, geared as it is now, has been run a little longer it will go faster, but it won’t come up to a hundred miles an hour. That’s what I want, and that’s what I’m going to get,” and the lad looked very determined.

Ned was taken to the bank, and, as Tom turned his machine around, to go home, he saw, standing on the steps of the new bank, which was almost across the street from the old one, Andy Foger, and the bully’s father. The red-haired lad laughed at Tom’s rough looking car, and said something to his parent, but Mr. Foger did not notice Tom. Not that this caused our hero any uneasiness, however.

But, as he swung away from the bank, he saw, coming up the street a figure that instantly attracted his attention. It was that of Mr. Berg, and Tom at once recalled the night he had pursued the submarine agent, and torn loose his watch charm. Mr. Berg was evidently going to enter the new bank, for, at the sight of the former agent, Mr. Foger descended the steps, and went to meet him.

Tom, however, had decided upon a plan of action. He steered his machine in toward the curb, ran up the steel wind-shield, and called:

“Mr. Berg!”

“Eh? What’s that?” asked the agent, in some surprise. Then, as he caught sight of Tom, and recognized him, he added: “I’m very busy now, my young friend. You’ll have to excuse me.”

“I won’t detain you a moment,” went on Tom, casually. “I have something of yours that I wish to return to you.”

“Something of mine?” Mr. Berg was evidently puzzled. He approached the electric car, in spite of the fact that Mr. Foger was calling him. “Something of mine? What is it?”

“This!” exclaimed Tom suddenly, extending the compass watch charm, which he always carried with him of late.

“That! Where did you get that. I lost it–“

Mr. Berg paused in some confusion.

“I grabbed it off your watch chain the night you were hiding in our shrubbery, and tripped me into the brook,” answered the lad, looking the man squarely in the eye.

“Hiding? Tripped you? Grabbed that off my chain–” stammered Mr. Berg. He had taken the charm up in his fingers, but now he quickly dropped it back into Tom’s hand. “I guess you’re mistaken,” he added quickly. “That’s not mine. I never had one– I–er–that’s not mine–at least–Oh, you’ll have to excuse me, young man, I’m in a hurry, and I have an important engagement!” and with that Mr. Berg wheeled off, and joined Mr. Foger, who stood on the sidewalk, waiting for him.

“I thought sure it was yours,” said Tom, easily. “Perhaps Mr. Foger will keep it in one of the safety-deposit boxes of his bank, until the owner claims it,” and he looked at the banker.

“What’s that?” asked Andy’s father.

“This watch charm which I grabbed off Mr. Berg’s chain the night he was sneaking around our house, and crossed the electric wires,” went on the lad.

“Don’t listen to him. He doesn’t know what he is saying!” exclaimed the former submarine boat agent. “It’s not my charm. He’s crazy!”

“Oh, am I?” thought Tom, with a grim look on his face. “Well, we’ll see about that, Mr. Berg,” and, putting the charm back in his pocket, Tom swung his machine toward home, while the agent and the banker entered the new institution.

“So they’re getting chummy,” mused Tom. “Andy and Berg were friends when Andy shut me up in the submarine tank, and now Berg comes here to do business, and Foger and his associates are trying to put the old bank out of business. I wonder if there’s any connection there? I must keep my eyes open. Berg is an unscrupulous man, and so is Andy’s father, to say nothing of the red-haired bully himself. He had nerve to deny that was his charm. Well, maybe I’ll catch him some day.”

Tom spent a busy week making new adjustments to his electric car, changing the gear and providing for heavier fuses. He was planning for another trip on the road, as the time for the great race was drawing near, and he wanted the mechanism to be in perfect shape.

One evening, as he was preparing for a short night trip to Mansburg, where he had promised to call for Miss Nestor, Tom left his machine standing in the road in front of the house, while he went back to get a robe, as it threatened to be chilly.

As he came back to enter the car, he saw some one standing near it.

“Is that you, Ned?” he called. “Come, take a spin.”

Hardly had he spoken than there sounded from the machine a whirr that told of the current being turned on.

“Don’t do that!” cried Tom, knowing at once that it could not be Ned, who never meddled with the machinery.

A blinding flash and a loud report followed, and Tom saw some one leap from his car, and try to run away. But the figure stumbled, and, a moment later the young inventor was upon him, grappling with him.

“Here! Let me go!” cried a voice, and Tom uttered an exclamation of surprise.

“Andy Foger!” he cried. “I’ve caught you! You tried to damage my car!”

“Yes, and I’m hurt, too!” whined Andy. “My father will sue you for damages if I die.”

“No danger of that; you’re too mean,” murmured Tom, as he maintained a tight grip on the bully.

“You let me go!” demanded Andy, squirming to get away.

“Wait until I see what damage you’ve done,’~ retorted the young inventor. “The worst, though, would be the blowing out of a fuse, for I had the gear disconnected. You wait a minute now. Maybe it’s you who’ll have to pay damages.”

“You let me go!” fairly screamed Andy, and he aimed a blow at Tom. It caught our hero on the chest and Tom’s fighting blood was up in an instant. He drew back his left hand, and delivered a blow that landed fairly on Andy’s right eye. The bully staggered and went down in the dust.

“There!” cried Tom, righteously angry. “That will teach you not to try to damage my car, and then hit me into the bargain! Now clear out, before I give you some more!”

Whining and blubbering Andy arose to his feet.

“You just wait. I’ll get square with you for this,” he threatened.

“You can accept part of that as pay for what you did in the tar and feathering game,” added Tom. Then, as Andy moved in front of one of the electric side lamps on the car, Tom uttered a whistle of surprise. For both of Andy’s eyes were bruised and swollen, though Tom had only hit him once.

“Look at me!” cried the bully, more squint-eyed than ever. “Look at me! You hit me in one eye, and that explosion hit me in the other! My father will sue you for this.”

As he hurried off down the road Tom understood. Andy coming along, had seen Tom’s car standing there, and, thinking to do some mischief, had climbed in, and turned on the power. Perhaps he hoped it would run into the roadside ditch and be smashed. But as the gear was out, turning on the electric current had a different effect. As the bully pulled the handle over too quickly, throwing almost the entire force of the battery into the wires at once, the load was too heavy for them. A safety fuse blew out, causing the flare and the explosion, and a piece of the soft lead-like metal had hit the red-haired lad in the eye. Tom’s fist had completed the work on the other optic, and for several days thereafter Andy Foger remained in seclusion. When he did go out there were many embarrassing questions put to him, as to when he had had the fight. Andy didn’t care to answer. As for Tom, it did not take long to put a new fuse in his car, and he greatly enjoyed his ride with Miss Nestor that night.

CHAPTER XVI TROUBLE AT THE BANK

Coming in rather late from his trip to Mansburg, and thinking of some things he and Miss Nestor had talked about, Tom was rather surprised, on reaching the house, to see a light in his father’s particular room, where the aged inventor did his reading and his planning of new devices.

“Dad’s up rather late,” said Tom to himself. “I wonder if he’s studying over some new machine.”

The lad ran his auto into the temporary garage he had built for it, and connected the wires of a burglar alarm he had arranged, to give warning in case any of his enemies should seek to damage the car.

Tom encountered Garret Jackson, the aged inventor who was going his rounds, seeing that everything was all right about the various shops.

“Anybody with my father, Garret?” asked the lad. “I see he’s still up.”

“Yes,” was the rather unexpected reply. “Mr. Damon is with him. They’ve been in your father’s room all the evening–ever since you went away in the car.”

“Anything the matter?” inquired the young inventor, a bit anxious, as he thought of the Happy Harry gang.

“Well, I don’t know,” and the engineer seemed puzzled. “They called me in once to know if everything was all right outside, and to inquire if you were back. I saw, then, that they were busy figuring over something, but I didn’t take much notice. Only I heard Mr. Damon say: ‘There’s going to be trouble if we can’t realize on those bonds,’ and then I came away.”

“Is that all he said?” asked Tom.

“No, he said ‘Bless my buttons,’ or something like that; but he blesses so many things I didn’t pay much attention.”

“That’s right,” agreed the lad. “But I wonder what the trouble is about? I must go see.”

As he passed along the hall, out of which his father’s combined study and library opened, the aged inventor came to the door.

“Is that you, Tom?” he asked.

“Yes, Dad.”

“Come in here, if you haven’t anything else to do. Mr. Damon is here.”

Tom needed but a single glance at the faces of his father and Mr. Damon to see that something was troubling the two. The table in front of them was littered with papers covered with rows of figures.

“What’s the matter?” asked Tom.

“Well, I suppose I ought not to let it bother me, but it does,” replied his father.

“Something wrong with your patents, Dad? Has the crowd of bad men been bothering you again?”

“No, it isn’t that. It’s trouble at the bank, Tom.”

“Has it been robbed again?” asked the lad quickly. “If it has I can prove an alibi,” and he smiled at the recollection of the time he and Mr. Damon had been accused of looting the vault, as told in “Tom Swift and His Airship.”

“No, it hasn’t been robbed in just that way,” put in Mr. Damon. “But, bless my shoe laces, it’s almost as bad! You see, Tom, since Mr. Foger started the new bank he’s done his best to cripple the one in which your father and I are interested. I may say we are very vitally interested in it, for, since the withdrawal of Foger and his associates, your father and I have been elected directors.”

“I didn’t know that,” remarked the lad.

“No, I didn’t tell you, because you were so busy on your electric car,” rejoined Mr. Swift. “But Mr. Damon and I, being both large depositors, were asked to assume office, and, as I was not very busy on patent affairs, I consented.”

“But what is the trouble?” inquired Tom.

“I’m coming to it,” resumed Mr. Damon. “Bless my check book, I’m coming to it! You see we have lost several good customers, by reason of Foger opening the new bank. That wouldn’t have mattered so much, as between your father and myself, and one or two others, we have enough capital to carry on the business of the bank. But there is a more serious matter. We hold a number of very good securities, but they are of a class hard to realize cash for, on short notice. In other words they are not active bonds, though they are issued by reliable concerns. Then, too, the bank has lost considerable money by not doing as much business as it formerly did. In short we don’t know just what to do, Tom, and your father and I were discussing it, when you came in.”

“Do you need more money?” asked Tom. “I have some, that is my share from the submarine treasure, and some I have allowed to accumulate as royalties from my patents. It’s about ten thousand dollars, and you’re welcome to it.”

“Thank you, Tom,” spoke his father. “We may use your cash, but we’ll need a great deal more than that.”

“But why?” asked the lad. “I don’t understand. If you have good bonds, can’t you dispose of them, and get the money?”

“We could, Tom, yes, if we had time,” replied Mr. Damon. “But to throw the bonds on the market at short notice would mean that we would not get a good price for them. We would lose considerable.”

“But why do it in a hurry?”

“Because there is need of hurry,” responded Mr. Swift.

“That’s it,” joined in Mr. Damon. “We have to have cash in a hurry, Tom, to meet pressing demands, and we don’t just see our way clear to get it. I am trying to raise it on some private securities I own, but I can’t get an answer within several days. Meanwhile the bank may fail, because of lack of funds. Of course no one would lose anything, ultimately, as we could go into the hands of a receiver, and, eventually pay dollar for dollar. Your father and I, and some of the other directors, might lose a little, but the depositors would not. But your father and I don’t like the idea of failing. It’s something I’ve never done, and I’m too old to start in now, bless my cash ledger if I’m not!”

“And for the sake of my reputation in this community I don’t want to see the bank close its doors,” added Mr. Swift. “It would give Foger too good a chance to crow over us.”

“And you need cash in a hurry,” went on Tom. “How much?”

“Fifty thousand dollars at least,” replied Mr. Damon.

“And if you don’t get it?”

The eccentric man shrugged his shoulders.

“Well,” remarked Mr. Swift musingly, “I don’t see that we need worry you about it, Tom. Perhaps–“

Mr. Swift was interrupted by a ring at the front door. The three looked at each other. It was late for a caller, and Mrs. Baggert had gone to bed.

“I’ll answer it,” volunteered Tom. He switched on the electric light in the hall, and opened the door. He was confronted by Mr. Pendergast, the president of the bank.

“Is your father in?” asked Mr. Pendergast, and he seemed to be much agitated.

“Yes, he is,” replied the lad. “Come this way, please.”

“I want to see him on important business,” went on the president, as he followed the young inventor. “I’m afraid I have bad news for him and Mr. Damon. Bad news, Tom, bad news,” and the aged banker’s voice trembled. Tom, with a chill of apprehension seeming to clutch his heart, threw open the library door.

CHAPTER XVII A RUN ON THE BANK

“Why, Mr. Pendergast!” exclaimed Mr. Damon, rising quickly as Tom ushered in the aged president. “Whatever is the matter? You here at this hour? Bless my trial balance! Is anything wrong?

“I’m afraid there is,” answered the bank head. “I have just received word which made it necessary for me to see you both at once. I’m glad you’re here, Mr. Damon.”

He sank wearily into a chair which Tom placed for him, and Mr. Swift asked:

“Have you been able to raise any cash, Mr. Pendergast?”

“No, I am sorry to say I have not, but I did not come here to tell you that. I have bad news for you. As soon as we open our doors in the morning, there will be a run on the bank.” “A run on the bank?” repeated Mr. Swift.

“The moment we begin business in the morning,” went on Mr. Pendergast.

“Bless my soul, then don’t begin business!” cried Mr. Damon.

“We must,” insisted Mr. Pendergast. “To keep the doors closed would be a confession at once that we have failed. No, it is better to open them, and stand the run as long as we can. When we have exhausted our cash–” he paused.

“Well?” asked Mr. Damon.

“Then we’ll fail–that’s all.”

“But we mustn’t let the bank fail!” cried Mr. Swift. “I am willing to put some of my personal fortune into the bank capital in order to save it. So is my son here.”

“That’s right,” chimed in Tom heartily. “All I’ve got. I’m not going to let Andy Foger get ahead of us; nor his father either.”

“I’ll help to the limit of my ability,” added Mr. Damon.

“I appreciate all that,” continued the president. “But the unfortunate part of it is that we need cash. You gentlemen, like myself, probably, have your money tied up in stocks and bonds. It is hard to get cash quickly, and we must have cash as soon as we open in the morning, to pay the depositors who will come flocking to the doors. We must prepare for a run on the bank.”

“How do you know there will be a run?” asked the young inventor.

“I received word this evening, just before I came here,” replied Mr. Pendergast. “A poor widow, who has a small amount in the bank, called on me and said she had been advised to withdraw all her cash. She said she preferred to see me about it first, as she did not like to lose her interest. She said a number of her acquaintances, some of whom are quite heavy depositors, had also been warned that the bank was unsound, and that they ought to take out their savings and deposits at once.”

“Did she say who had thus warned her?” inquired Mr. Swift.

“She did,” was the reply, “and that shows me that there is a conspiracy on foot to ruin our bank. She stated that Mr. Foger had told her our institution was unsound.”

“Mr. Foger!” cried Mr. Damon. “So this is one of his tricks to bolster up his new bank! He hopes the people who withdraw their money from our bank will deposit with him. I see his game. He’s a scoundrel, and if it’s possible I’m going to sue him for damages after this thing is over.”

“Did he warn the others?” inquired the aged inventor.

“Not all of them,” answered the president. “Some received letters from a man signing himself Addison Berg, warning them that our bank, was likely to fail any day.”

“Addison Berg!” exclaimed Tom. “That must have been the important business he had with Mr. Foger, the day I showed him the watch charm! They were plotting the ruin of our bank then,” and he told his father about his disastrous pursuit of the submarine agent.

“Very likely Foger is working with Berg,” admitted Mr. Damon. “We will attend to them later. The question is, what can we do to save the bank?”

“Get cash, and plenty of it,” advised Mr. Pendergast. “Suppose we go over the whole situation again?” and they fell to talking stocks: bonds, securities, mortgages and interest, until the youth, interested as he was in the situation, could follow it no longer.

“Better go to bed, Tom,” advised his father. “You can’t help us any, and we have many details to go over.”

The lad reluctantly consented, and he was soon dreaming that he was in his electric auto, trying to pull up a thousand pound lump of gold from the bottom of the sea. He awoke to find the bedclothes in a lump on his chest, and, removing them, fell into a deep slumber.

When the young inventor awoke the next morning, Mrs. Baggert told him that his father and Mr. Damon had risen nearly an hour before, had partaken of a hearty breakfast, and departed.

“They told me to tell you they were at the bank,” said the housekeeper.

“Did Mr. Pendergast stay all night?” inquired Tom.

“I heard some one go away about two o’clock this morning,” replied the housekeeper. “I don’t know who it was.”

“They must have had a long session,” thought Tom, as he began on his bacon, eggs and coffee. “I’ll take a run down to the bank in my electric in a little while.”

The car was still in rather crude shape, outwardly, but the mechanism was now almost perfect. Tom charged the batteries well before starting put.

The youth had no sooner come in sight of the old Shopton bank, to distinguish it from the Second National, which Mr. Foger had started, than he was aware that something unusual had occurred. There was quite a crowd about it, and more persons were constantly arriving to swell the throng.

“What’s the matter?” asked Tom, of one of the few police officers of which Shopton boasted, though the lad did not need to be told.

“Run on the bank,” was the brief answer. “It’s failed.”

Tom felt a pang of disappointment. Somehow, he had hoped that his father and his friends might have been able to stave off ruin. As he approached nearer Tom was made aware that the crowd was in an ugly mood.

“Why don’t they open the doors and give us our money?” cried one excited woman. “It’s ours! I worked hard for mine, an’ now they want to keep it from us. I wish I’d put it in the new bank.”

“Yes, that’s the best place,” added another. “That Mr. Foger has lots of money.”

“I can see the hand of Andy’s father, and that of Mr. Berg, at work here,” thought Tom, “They have spread rumors of the bank’s trouble, and hope to profit by it. I wish I could find a way to beat them at their own game.”

As the minutes passed, and the bank was not opened, the ugly temper of the crowd increased. The few police could do nothing with the mob, and several, bolder than the rest, advocated battering down the doors. Some went up the steps and began to pound on the portals. Tom looked for a sight of his father or Mr. Damon, but could not see either.

It was not the regular hour for opening the bank, but when the police reminded the people of this they only laughed.

“I guess they ain’t going to open anyhow!” shouted a man. “They’ve got our money, and they’re going to keep it. What difference is an hour, anyway?”

“Yes, if they have the money, why don’t they open, and not wait until ten o’clock?” cried another. “I’ve got a hundred and five dollars in there, and I want it!”

More excited persons were arriving every minute. The crowd surged this way, and that. Many looked anxiously at the clock in the tower of the town hall. The gilded hands pointed to a few minutes of ten. Would the bank open its doors when the hour boomed out? Many were anxiously asking this question.

Tom sat in his electric car, near the front of the bank. The interest of the crowd, which under ordinary circumstances would have been centered in the queer vehicle, was not drawn toward it. The people were all thinking of their money.

Suddenly one of the two doors of the bank slowly opened. There was a yell from the crowd, and a rush to get in. But the police managed to hold the leaders back, and then Tom saw that it was Ned Newton, who stood in the partly-opened portal. He held up his hand to indicate silence, and a hush fell over the mob.

“The bank is open for business,” Ned announced, “but there must