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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tom Swift and his War Tank, by Victor Appleton
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Tom Swift and his War Tank
+       or, Doing his Bit for Uncle Sam
+
+Author: Victor Appleton
+
+Posting Date: July 13, 2008 [EBook #954]
+Release Date: June, 1997
+Last updated: May 20, 2012
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOM SWIFT AND HIS WAR TANK ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Anthony Matonac,
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+TOM SWIFT AND HIS WAR TANK
+
+or
+
+Doing His Bit For Uncle Sam
+
+
+By
+
+VICTOR APPLETON
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+     I  Past Memories
+    II  Tom's Indifference
+   III  Ned is Worried
+    IV  Queer Doings
+     V  "Is He a Slacker?"
+    VI  Seeing Things
+   VII  Up a Tree
+  VIII  Detective Rad
+    IX  A Night Test
+     X  A Runaway Giant
+    XI  Tom's Tank
+   XII  Bridging a Gap
+  XIII  Into a Trench
+   XIV  The Ruined Factory
+    XV  Across Country
+   XVI  The Old Barn
+  XVII  Veiled Threats
+ XVIII  Ready for France
+   XIX  Tom Is Missing
+    XX  The Search
+   XXI  A Prisoner
+  XXII  Rescued
+ XXIII  Gone
+  XXIV  Camouflaged
+   XXV  Foiled
+
+
+
+
+Chapter I
+
+Past Memories
+
+
+Ceasing his restless walk up and down the room, Tom Swift strode to the
+window and gazed across the field toward the many buildings, where
+machines were turning out the products evolved from the brains of his
+father and himself. There was a worried look on the face of the young
+inventor, and he seemed preoccupied, as though thinking of something
+far removed from whatever it was his eyes gazed upon.
+
+"Well, I'll do it!" suddenly exclaimed Tom. "I don't want to, but I
+will. It's in the line of 'doing my bit,' I suppose; but I'd rather it
+was something else. I wonder--"
+
+"Ha! Up to your old tricks, I see, Tom!" exclaimed a voice, in which
+energy and friendliness mingled pleasingly.  "Up to your old tricks!"
+
+"Oh, hello, Mr. Damon!" cried Tom, turning to shake hands with an
+elderly gentleman--that is, elderly in appearance but not in action,
+for he crossed the room with the springing step of a lad, and there was
+the enthusiasm of youth on his face. "What do you mean--my old tricks?"
+
+"Talking to yourself, Tom. And when you do that it means there is
+something in the wind. I hope, as a sort of side remark, it isn't rain
+that's in the wind, for the soldiers over at camp have had enough water
+to set up a rival establishment with Mr. Noah. But there's something
+going on, isn't there? Bless my memorandum book, but don't tell me
+there isn't, or I shall begin to believe I have lost all my deductive
+powers of reasoning! I come in here, after knocking two or three times,
+to which you pay not the least attention, and find you mysteriously
+murmuring to yourself.
+
+"The last time that happened, Tom, was just before you started to dig
+the big tunnel--No, I'm wrong. It was just before you started for the
+Land of Wonders, as we decided it ought to be called. You were talking
+to yourself then, when I walked in on you, and--Say, Tom!" suddenly
+exclaimed Mr. Damon eagerly, "don't tell me you're going off on another
+wild journey like that--don't!"
+
+"Why?" asked Tom, smiling at the energy of his caller.
+
+"Because if you are, I'll want to go with you, of course, and if I go
+it means I'll have to start in as soon as I can to bring my wife around
+to my way of thinking. The last time I went it took me two weeks to get
+her to consent, and then she didn't like it. So if--"
+
+"No, Mr. Damon," interrupted Tom, "I don't count on going on any sort
+of a trip--that is, any long one. I was just getting ready to take a
+little spin in the Hawk, and if you'd like to come along--"
+
+"You mean that saucy little airship of yours, Tom, that's always trying
+to sit down on her tail, or tickle herself with one wing?"
+
+"That's the Hawk!" laughed Tom; "though that tickling business you
+speak of is when I spiral. Don't you like it?"
+
+"Can't say I do," observed Mr. Damon dryly.
+
+"Well, I'll promise not to try any stunts if you come along," Tom went
+on.
+
+"Where are you going?" asked his friend.
+
+"Oh, no place in particular. As you surmised, I've been doing a bit of
+thinking, and--"
+
+"Serious thinking, too, Tom!" interrupted Mr. Damon.  "Excuse me, but I
+couldn't help overhearing what you said.  It was something about going
+to do something though you didn't want to, and that it was part of your
+'bit'. That sounds like soldier talk. Are you going to enlist, Tom?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Um! Well, then--"
+
+"It's something I can't talk about, Mr. Damon, even to you, as yet,"
+Tom said, and there was a new quality in his voice, at which his friend
+looked up in some surprise.
+
+"Oh, of course, Tom, if it's a secret--"
+
+"Well, it hasn't even got that far, as yet. It's all up in the air, so
+to speak. I'll tell you in due season. But, speaking of the air, let's
+go for a spin. It may drive some of the cobwebs out of my brain. Did I
+hear you say you thought it would rain?"
+
+"No, it's as clear as a bell. I said I hoped it wouldn't rain for the
+sake of the soldiers in camp. They've had their share of wet weather,
+and, goodness knows, they'll get more when they get to Flanders. It
+seems to do nothing but rain in France."
+
+"It is damp," agreed Tom. "And, come to think of it, they are going to
+have some airship contests over at camp to-day--for the men who are
+being trained to be aviators, you know.  It just occurred to me that we
+might fly over there and watch them."
+
+"Fine!" cried Mr. Damon. "That's the very thing I should like. I'll
+take a chance in your Hawk, Tom, if you'll promise not to try any
+spiral stunts."
+
+"I promise, Mr. Damon. Come on! I'll have Koku run the machine out and
+get her ready for a flight to Camp. It's a good day for a jaunt in the
+air."
+
+"Get out the Hawk, Koku," ordered the young inventor, as he motioned to
+a big man--a veritable giant--who nodded to show he understood. Koku
+was really a giant, one of a race of strange beings, and Tom Swift had
+brought the big man with him when he escaped from captivity, as those
+will remember who have read that book.
+
+"Going far, Tom?" asked an aged man, coming to the door of one of the
+many buildings of which the shed where the airship was kept formed one.
+
+"Not very far, Father," answered the young inventor.  "Mr. Damon and I
+are going for a little spin over to Camp Grant, to see some aircraft
+contests among the army birdmen."
+
+"Oh, all right, Tom. I just wanted to tell you that I think I've gotten
+over that difficulty you found with the big carburetor you were working
+on. You didn't say what you wanted it for, except that it was for a
+heavy duty gasolene engine, and you couldn't get the needle valve to
+work as you'd like. I think I've found a way."
+
+"Good, Dad! I'll look at it when I come back. That carburetor did
+bother me, and if I can get that to work--well, maybe we'll have
+something soon that will--"
+
+But Tom did not finish his sentence, for Koku was getting the aircraft
+in operation and Mr. Damon was already taking his place behind the
+pilot's seat, which would be occupied by Tom.
+
+"All ready, are you, Koku?" asked the young inventor.
+
+"All ready, Master," answered the giant.
+
+There was a roar like that of a machine gun as the Hawk's engine spun
+the propeller, and then, after a little run across the sod, it mounted
+into the air, carrying Tom and Mr. Damon with it.
+
+"Mind you, Tom, no stunts!" called the visitor to the young inventor
+through the speaking tube apparatus, which enabled a conversation to be
+carried on, even above the roar of the powerful engine. "Bless my
+overshoes! if you try, looping the loop with me--"
+
+"I won't do anything like that!" promised Tom.
+
+Away they soared, swift as a veritable hawk, and soon, after there had
+unrolled below their eyes a succession of fields and forest, there came
+into view rows and rows of small brown objects, among which beings,
+like ants, seemed crawling about.
+
+"There's the Camp!" exclaimed Tom.
+
+"I see," and Mr. Damon nodded.
+
+As they approached, they saw, starting up from a green space amid the
+brown tents, what appeared to be big bugs of a dirty white color
+splotched with green.
+
+"The aircraft--and they have camouflage paint on," said Tom. "We can
+watch 'em from up here!"
+
+Mr. Damon nodded, though Tom could not see him, sitting in front of his
+friend as he was.
+
+Up and up circled the army aircraft, and they seemed to bow and nod a
+greeting to the Hawk, which was soon in the midst of them. Tom and Mr.
+Damon, flying high, though at no great speed, looked at the maneuvers
+of the veterans and the learners--many of whom might soon be engaging
+the Boches in far-off France.
+
+"Some of 'em are pretty good!" called Tom, through the tube. "That one
+fellow did the loop as prettily as I've ever seen it done," and Tom
+Swift had a right to speak as one of authority.
+
+Tom and his friend watched the aircraft for some time, and then started
+off in a long flight, attaining a high speed, which, at first, made Mr.
+Damon gasp, until he became used to it. He was no novice at flying, and
+had even operated aeroplanes himself, though at no great height.
+
+Suddenly the Hawk seemed to falter, almost as does a bird stricken by a
+hunter's gun. The craft seemed to hang in the air, losing motion as
+though about to plunge to earth unguided.
+
+"What's the matter?" cried Mr. Damon.
+
+"One of the control wires broken!" was Tom's laconic answer. "I'll have
+to volplane down. Sit tight, there's no danger!"
+
+Mr. Damon knew that with so competent a pilot as Tom Swift in the
+forward seat this was true, but, nevertheless, he was a bit nervous
+until he felt the smooth, gliding motion, with now and then an upward
+tilt, which showed that Tom was coming down from the upper regions in a
+series of long glides. The engine had stopped, and the cessation of the
+thundering noise made it possible for Tom and his passenger to talk
+without the use of the speaking tube.
+
+"All right?" asked Mr. Damon.
+
+"All right," Tom answered, and a little later the machine was rolling
+gently over the turf of a large field, a mile or so from the camp.
+
+Before Tom and Mr. Damon could get out of their seats, a man, seemingly
+springing up from some hollow in the ground, walked toward them.
+
+"Had an accident?" he asked, in what he evidently meant for a friendly
+voice.
+
+"A little one, easily mended," Tom answered.
+
+He was about to take off his goggles, but at sight of the man's face a
+change came over the countenance of Tom Swift, and he replaced the eye
+protectors. Then Tom turned to Mr. Damon, as if to ask a question, but
+the stranger came so close, evidently curious to see the aircraft at
+close quarters, that the young inventor could not speak without being
+overheard.
+
+Tom got out his kit of tools to repair the broken control, and the man
+watched him curiously. As he tinkered away, something was stirring
+among the past memories of the inventor. A question he asked himself
+over and over again was:
+
+"Where have I seen this man before?  His face is familiar, but I can't
+place him. He is associated with something unpleasant. But where have I
+seen this man before?"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter II
+
+Tom's Indifference
+
+
+"Did you make this machine yourself?" asked the stranger of Tom, as the
+young inventor worked at the damaged part of his craft.
+
+Mr. Damon had also alighted, taken off his goggles, and was looking
+aloft, where the army aircraft were going through various evolutions,
+and down below, where the young soldiers were drilling under such
+conditions, as far as possible, as they might meet with when some of
+their number went "over the top." Mr. Damon was murmuring to himself
+such remarks as:
+
+"Bless my fountain pen! look at that chap turning upside down! Bless my
+inkwell!"
+
+"I beg your pardon," remarked Tom Swift, following the remark of the
+man, whose face he was trying to recall. It was not that Tom had not
+heard the question, but he was trying to gain time before answering.
+
+"I asked if you made this machine yourself," went on the man, as he
+peered about at the Hawk. "It isn't like any I've ever seen before, and
+I know something about airships. It has some new wrinkles on it, and I
+thought you might have evolved them yourself. Not that it's an amateur
+affair, by any means!" he added hastily, as if fearing the young
+inventor might resent the implication that his machine was a home-made
+product.
+
+"Yes, I originated this," answered Tom, as he put a new turn-buckle in
+place; "but I didn't actually construct it--that is, except for some
+small parts. It was made in the shop--"
+
+"Over at the army construction plant, I presume," interrupted the man
+quickly, as he motioned toward the big factory, not far from Shopton,
+where aircraft for Uncle Sam's Army were being turned out by the
+hundreds.
+
+"Might as well let him think that," mused Tom; "at least until I can
+figure out who he is and what he wants."
+
+"This is different from most of those up there," and the stranger
+pointed toward the circling craft on high. "A bit more speedy, I guess,
+isn't it?"
+
+"Well, yes, in a way," agreed Tom, who was bending over his craft. He
+stole a side look at the man. The face was becoming more and more
+familiar, yet something about it puzzled Tom Swift.
+
+"I've seen him before, and yet he didn't look like that," thought the
+young inventor. "It's different, somehow. Now why should my memory play
+me a trick like this? Who in the world can he be?"
+
+Tom straightened up, and tossed a monkey wrench into the tool box.
+
+"Get everything fixed?" asked the stranger.
+
+"I think so," and the young inventor tried to make his answer pleasant.
+"It was only a small break, easily fixed."
+
+"Then you'll be on your way again?"
+
+"Yes. Are you ready?" called Tom to Mr. Damon.
+
+"Bless my timetable, yes! I didn't think you'd start back again so
+soon. There's one young fellow up there who has looped the loop three
+times, and I expect him to fall any minute."
+
+"Oh, I guess he knows his business," Tom said easily.  "We'll be
+getting back now."
+
+"One moment!" called the man. "I beg your pardon for troubling you, but
+you seem to be a mechanic, and that's just the sort of man I'm looking
+for. Are you open to an offer to do some inventive and constructive
+work?"
+
+Tom was on his guard instantly.
+
+"Well, I can't say that I am," he answered. "I am pretty busy--"
+
+"This would pay well," went on the man eagerly. "I am a stranger around
+here, but I can furnish satisfactory references. I am in need of a good
+mechanic, an inventor as well, who can do what you seem to have done so
+well. I had hopes of getting some one at the army plant."
+
+"I guess they're not letting any of their men go," said Tom, as Mr.
+Damon climbed to his seat in the Hawk.
+
+"No, I soon found that out. But I thought perhaps you--"
+
+Tom shook his head.
+
+"I'm sorry," he answered, "but I'm otherwise engaged, and very busy."
+
+"One moment!" called the man, as he saw Tom about to start "Is the
+Swift Company plant far from here?"
+
+Tom felt something like a thrill go through him. There was an
+unexpected note in the man's voice. The face of the young inventor
+lightened, and the doubts melted away.
+
+"No, it isn't far," Tom answered, shouting to be heard above the
+crackling bangs of the motor. And then, as the craft soared into the
+air, he cried exultingly:
+
+"I have it! I know who he is! The scoundrel! His beard fooled me, and
+he probably didn't know me with these goggles on. But now I know him!"
+
+"Bless my calendar!" cried Mr. Damon. "What are you talking about?"
+
+But Tom did not answer, for the reason that just then the Hawk fell
+into an "air pocket," and needed all his attention to straighten her
+out and get her on a level course again.
+
+And while Tom Swift is thus engaged in speeding his aircraft along the
+upper regions toward his home, it will take but a few moments to
+acquaint my new readers with something of the history of the young
+inventor. Those who have read the previous books in this series need be
+told nothing about our hero.
+
+Tom Swift was an inventor of note, as was his father. Mr. Swift was now
+quite aged and not in robust health, but he was active at times and
+often aided Tom when some knotty point came up.
+
+Tom and his father lived on the outskirts of the town of Shopton, and
+near their home were various buildings in which the different machines
+and appliances were made. Tom's mother was dead, but Mrs. Baggert, the
+housekeeper, was as careful in looking after Tom and his father as any
+woman could be.
+
+In addition to these three, the household consisted of Eradicate
+Sampson, an aged colored servant, and, it might almost be added, his
+mule Boomerang; but Boomerang had manners that, at times, did not make
+him a welcome addition to any household. Then there was the giant Koku,
+one of two big men Tom had brought back with him from the land where
+the young inventor had been held captive for a time.
+
+The first book of this series is called "Tom Swift and His Motor
+Cycle," and it was in acquiring possession of that machine that Tom met
+his friend Mr. Wakefield Damon, who lived in a neighboring town. Mr.
+Damon owned the motor cycle originally, but when it attempted to climb
+a tree with him he sold it to Tom.
+
+Tom had many adventures on the machine, and it started him on his
+inventive career. From then on he had had a series of surprising
+adventures. He had traveled in his motor boat, in an airship, and then
+had taken to a submarine. In his electric runabout he showed what the
+speediest car on the road could do, and when he sent his wireless
+message, the details of which can be found set down in the volume of
+that name, Tom saved the castaways of Earthquake Island.
+
+Tom Swift had many other thrilling escapes, one from among the diamond
+makers, and another from the caves of ice; and he made the quickest
+flight on record in his sky racer.
+
+Tom's wizard camera, his great searchlight, his giant cannon, his photo
+telephone, his aerial warship and the big tunnel he helped to dig,
+brought him credit, fame, and not a little money. He had not long been
+back from an expedition to Honduras, dubbed "the land of wonders," when
+he was again busy on some of his many ideas. And it was to get some
+relief from his thoughts that he had taken the flight with Mr. Damon on
+the day the present story opens.
+
+"What are you so excited about, Tom?" asked his friend, as the Hawk
+alighted near the shed Back of the young inventor's home. "Bless my
+scarf pin! but any one would think you'd just discovered the true
+method of squaring the circle."
+
+"Well, it's almost as good as that, and more practical," Tom said, with
+a smile, as he motioned to Koku to put away the aircraft "I know who
+that man is, now."
+
+"What man, Tom?"
+
+"The one who was questioning me when I was fixing the airship. I kept
+puzzling and puzzling as to his identity, and, all at once, it came to
+me. Do you know who he is, Mr. Damon?"
+
+"No, I can't say that I do, Tom. But, as you say, there was something
+vaguely familiar about him. It seemed as if I must have seen him
+before, and yet--"
+
+"That's just the way it struck me. What would you say if I told you
+that man was Blakeson, of Blakeson and Grinder, the rival tunnel
+contractors who made such trouble for us?"
+
+"You mean down in Peru, Tom?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+Mr. Damon started in surprise, and then exclaimed:
+
+"Bless my ear mufflers, Tom, but you're right! That was Blakeson! I
+didn't know him with his beard, but that was Blakeson, all right! Bless
+my foot-warmer! What do you suppose he is doing around here?"
+
+"I don't know, Mr. Damon, but I'd give a good deal to know. It isn't
+any good, I'll wager on that. He didn't seem to know me or you,
+either--unless he did and didn't let on.  I suppose it was because of
+my goggles--and you were gazing up in the air most of the time. I don't
+think he knew either of us."
+
+"It didn't seem so, Tom. But what is he doing here? Do you think he is
+working at the army camp, or helping make Liberty Motors for the
+aircraft that are going to beat the Germans?"
+
+"Hardly. He didn't seem to be connected with the camp. He wanted a
+mechanic, and hinted that I might do. Jove! if he really didn't know
+who I was, and finds out, say! won't he be surprised?"
+
+"Rather," agreed Mr Damon. "Well, Tom, I had a nice little ride. And
+now I must be getting back. But if you contemplate a trip anywhere,
+don't forget to let me know."
+
+"I don't count on going anywhere soon," Tom answered. "I have something
+on hand that will occupy all my time, though I don't just like it.
+However, I'm going to do my best," and he waved good-bye to Mr. Damon,
+who went off blessing various parts of his anatomy or clothing, an odd
+habit he had.
+
+As Tom turned to go into the house, the unsettled look still on his
+face, some one hailed him.
+
+"I say, Tom. Hello! Wait a minute! I've got something to show you!"
+
+"Oh, hello, Ned Newton!" Called back the young inventor.  "Well, if
+it's Liberty Bonds, you don't need to show me any, for dad and I will
+buy all we can without seeing them."
+
+"I know that, Tom, and it was a dandy subscription you gave me. I
+didn't come about that, though I may be around the next time Uncle Sam
+wants the people to dig down in their socks. This is something
+different," and Ned Newton, a young banker of Shopton and a lifelong
+friend of Tom's, drew a paper from his pocket as he advanced across the
+lawn.
+
+"There, Tom Swift!" he cried, flipping out an illustrated page,
+evidently from some illustrated newspaper. "There's the very latest
+from the other side. A London banker friend of mine sent it to me, and
+it got past the censor all right.  It's the first authentic photograph
+of the newest and biggest British tank. Isn't that a wonder?"
+
+Ned held up the paper which had in it a fullpage photograph of a
+monster tank--those weird machines traveling on endless steel belts of
+caterpillar construction, armored, riveted and plated, with machine
+guns bristling here and there.
+
+"Isn't that great, Tom? Can you beat it? It's the most wonderful
+machine of the age, even counting some of yours.  Can you beat it?"
+
+Tom took the paper indifferently, and his manner surprised his chum.
+
+"Well, what's the matter, Tom?" asked Ned. "Don't you think that great?
+Why don't you say something? You don't mean to say you've seen that
+picture before?"
+
+"No, Ned."
+
+"Then what's the matter with you? Isn't that wonderful?"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter III
+
+Ned is Worried
+
+
+Tom Swift did not answer for several seconds. He stood holding the
+paper Ned had given him, the sun slanting on the picture of the big
+British tank. But the young inventor did not appear to see it. Instead,
+his eyes were as though contemplating something afar off.
+
+"Well, this gets me!" cried Ned, his voice showing impatience. "Here I
+go and get a picture of the latest machine the British armies are
+smashing up the Boches with, and bring it to you fresh from the mail--I
+even quit my Liberty Bond business to do it, and I know some dandy
+prospects, too--and here you look at it like a--like a fish!" burst out
+Ned.
+
+"Say, old man, I guess that's right!" admitted Tom. "I wasn't thinking
+about it, to tell you the truth."
+
+"Why not?" Ned demanded. "Isn't it great, Tom? Did you ever see
+anything like it?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You did?" Cried Ned, in surprise. "Where? Say, Tom Swift, are you
+keeping something from me?"
+
+"I mean no, Ned. I never have seen a British tank."
+
+"Well, did you ever see a picture like this before?" Ned persisted.
+
+"No, not exactly like that But--"
+
+"Well, what do you think of it?" cried the young banker, who was giving
+much of his time to selling bonds for the Government. "Isn't it great?"
+
+Tom considered a moment before replying. Then he said slowly:
+
+"Well, yes, Ned, it is a pretty good machine. But--"
+
+"'But!' Howling tomcats! Say, what's the 'matter with you, anyhow, Tom?
+This is great! 'But!' 'But me no buts!' This is, without exception, the
+greatest thing out since an airship. It will win the war for us and the
+Allies, too, and don't you forget it! Fritz's barbed wire and dugouts
+and machine gun emplacements can't stand for a minute against these
+tanks! Why, Tom, they can crawl on their back as well as any other way,
+and they don't mind a shower of shrapnel or a burst of machine gun
+lead, any more than an alligator minds a swarm of gnats. The only thing
+that makes 'em hesitate a bit is a Jack Johnson or a Bertha shell, and
+it's got to be a pretty big one, and in the right place, to do much
+damage. These tanks are great, and there's nothing like 'em."
+
+"Oh, yes there is, Ned!"
+
+"There is!" cried Ned. "What do you mean?"
+
+"I mean there may be something like them--soon."
+
+"There may? Say, Tom--"
+
+"Now don't ask me a lot of questions, Ned, for I can't answer them.
+When I say there may be something like them, I mean it isn't beyond the
+realms of possibility that some one--perhaps the Germans--may turn out
+even bigger and better tanks."
+
+"Oh!" And Ned's voice showed his disappointment. "I thought maybe you
+were in on that game yourself, Tom. Say, couldn't you get up something
+almost as good as this?" and he indicated the picture in the paper.
+"Isn't that wonderful?"
+
+"Oh, well, it's good, Ned, but there are others. Yes, Dad, I'm coming,"
+he called, as he saw his father beckoning to him from a distant
+building.
+
+"Well, I've got to get along," said Ned. "But I certainly am
+disappointed, Tom. I thought you'd go into a fit over this
+picture--it's one of the first allowed to get out of England, my London
+friend said. And instead of enthusing you're as cold as a clam;" and
+Ned shook his head in puzzled and disappointed fashion as he walked
+slowly along beside the young inventor.
+
+They passed a new building, one of the largest in the group of the many
+comprising the Swift plant. Ned looked at the door which bore a notice
+to the effect that no one was admitted unless bearing a special permit,
+or accompanied by Mr. Swift or Tom.
+
+"What's this, Tom?" asked Ned. "Some new wrinkle?"
+
+"Yes, an invention I'm working on. It isn't in shape yet to be seen."
+
+"It must be something big, Tom," observed Ned, as he viewed the large
+building.
+
+"It is."
+
+"And say, what a whopping big fence you've got around the back yard!"
+went on the young banker. "Looks like a baseball field, but it would
+take some scrambling on the part of a back-lots kid to get over it."
+
+"That's what it's for--to keep people out."
+
+"I see! Well, I've got to get along. I'm a bit back in my day's quota
+of selling Liberty Bonds, and I've got to hustle. I'm sorry I bothered
+you about that tank picture, Tom."
+
+"Oh, it wasn't a bother--don't think that for a minute, Ned! I was glad
+to see it."
+
+"Well, he didn't seem so, and his manner was certainly queer," mused
+Ned, as he walked away, and turned in time to see Tom enter the new
+building, which had such a high fence all around it. "I never saw him
+more indifferent. I wonder if Tom isn't interested in seeing Uncle Sam
+help win this war?  That's the way it struck me. I thought surely Tom
+would go up in the air, and say this was a dandy," and Ned unfolded the
+paper and took another look at the British tank photograph. "If there's
+anything can beat that I'd like to see it," he mused.
+
+"But I suppose Tom has discovered some new kind of air stabilizer, or a
+different kind of carburetor that will vaporize kerosene as well as
+gasolene. If he has, why doesn't he offer it to Uncle Sam? I wonder if
+Tom is pro-German?  No, of Course he can't be!" and Ned laughed at his
+own idea.
+
+"At the same time, it is queer," he mused on. "There is something wrong
+with Tom Swift."
+
+Once more Ned looked at the picture. It was a representation of one of
+the newest and largest of the British tanks. In appearance these are
+not unlike great tanks, though they are neither round nor square, being
+shaped, in fact, like two wedges with the broad ends put together, and
+the sharper ends sticking out, though there is no sharpness to a tank,
+the "noses" both being blunt.
+
+Around each outer edge runs an endless belt of steel plates, hinged
+together, with ridges at the joints, and these broad belts of steel
+plates, like the platforms of some moving stairways used in department
+stores, moving around, give motion to the tank.
+
+Inside, well protected from the fire of enemy guns by steel plates, are
+the engines for driving the belts, or caterpillar wheels, as they are
+called. There is also the steering apparatus, and the guns that fire on
+the enemy.  There are cramped living and sleeping quarters for the
+tank's crew, more limited than those of a submarine.
+
+The tank is ponderous, the smallest of them, which were those first
+constructed, weighing forty-two tons, or about as much as a good-sized
+railroad freight car. And it is this ponderosity, with its slow but
+resistless movement, that gives the tank its power.
+
+The tank, by means of the endless belts of steel plates, can travel
+over the roughest country. It can butt into a tree, a stone wall, or a
+house, knock over the obstruction, mount it, crawl over it, and slide
+down into a hole on the other side and crawl out again, on the level,
+or at an angle. Even if overturned, the tanks can sometimes right
+themselves and keep on. At the rear are trailer wheels, partly used in
+steering and partly for reaching over gaps or getting out of holes. The
+tanks can turn in their own length, by moving one belt in one direction
+and the other oppositely.
+
+Inside there is nothing much but machinery of the gasolene type, and
+the machine guns. The tank is closed except for small openings out of
+which the guns project, and slots through which the men inside look out
+to guide themselves or direct their fire.
+
+Such, in brief, is a British tank, one of the most powerful and
+effective weapons yet loosed against the Germans. They are useful in
+tearing down the barbed-wire entanglements on the Boche side of No
+Man's Land, and they can clear the way up to and past the trenches,
+which they can straddle and wriggle across like some giant worm.
+
+"And to think that Tom Swift didn't enthuse over these!" murmured Ned.
+"I wonder what's the matter with him!"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter IV
+
+Queer Doings
+
+
+There was a subdued air of activity about the Swift plant.  Subdued,
+owing to the fact that it was mostly confined to one building--the new,
+large one, about which stretched a high and strong fence, made with
+tongue-and-groove boards so that no prying eyes might find a crack,
+even, through which to peer.
+
+In and out of the other buildings the workmen went as they pleased,
+though there were not many of them, for Tom and his father were
+devoting most of their time and energies to what was taking place in
+the big, new structure. But here there was an entirely different
+procedure.
+
+Workmen went in and out, to be sure, but each time they emerged they
+were scrutinized carefully, and when they went in they had to exhibit
+their passes to a man on guard at the single entrance; and the passes
+were not scrutinized perfunctorily, either.
+
+Near the building, about which there seemed to be an air of mystery,
+one day, a week after the events narrated in the opening chapters,
+strolled the giant Koku. Not far away, raking up a pile of refuse, was
+Eradicate Sampson, the aged colored man of all work. Eradicate
+approached nearer and nearer the entrance to the building, pursuing his
+task of gathering up leaves, dirt and sticks with the teeth of his
+rake. Then Koku, who had been lounging on a bench in the shade of a
+tree, Called:
+
+"No more, Eradicate!"
+
+"No mo' whut?" asked the negro quickly.  "I didn't axt yo' fo' nuffin
+yit!"
+
+"No more come here!" said the giant, pointing to the building and
+speaking English with an evident effort.  "Master say no one come too
+close."
+
+"Huh! He didn't go fo' t' mean me!" exclaimed Eradicate.  "I kin go
+anywheres; I kin!"
+
+"Not here!" and Koku interposed his giant frame between the old man and
+the first step leading into the secret building. "You no come in here."
+
+"Who say so?"
+
+"Me--I say so! I on guard. I what you call special
+policeman--detectiff--no let enemies in!"
+
+"Huh! You's a hot deteckertiff, yo' is!" snorted Eradicate. "Anyhow,
+dem orders don't mean me! I kin go anywhere, I kin!"
+
+"Not here!" said Koku firmly. "Master Tom say let nobody come near but
+workmen who have got writing-paper. You no got!"
+
+"No, but I kin git one, an' I's gwine t' hab it soon! I'll see Massa
+Tom, dat's whut I will. I guess yo' ain't de only deteckertiff on de
+place. I kin go on guard, too!" and Eradicate, dropping his rake,
+strolled away in his temper to seek the young inventor.
+
+"Well, Rad, what is it?" asked Tom, as he met the colored man. The
+young inventor was on his way to the mysterious shop. "What is
+troubling you?"
+
+"It's dat dar giant. He done says as how he's on guard--a
+deteckertiff--an' I can't go nigh dat buildin' t' sweep up de refuse."
+
+"Well, that's right, Rad. I'd prefer that you keep away.  I'm doing
+some special work in there and it's--"
+
+"Am it dangerous, Massa Tom? I ain't askeered! Anybody whut kin drive
+mah mule Boomerang--"
+
+"I know, Eradicate, but this isn't so dangerous. It's just secret, and
+I don't want too many people about. You can go anywhere else except
+there. Koku is on guard."
+
+"Den can't I be, Massa Tom?" asked the colored man eagerly. "I kin
+guard an' detect same as dat low-down, good-fo'-nuffin white trash
+Koku!"
+
+Tom hesitated.
+
+"I suppose I could get you a sort of officer's badge," he mused, half
+aloud.
+
+"Dat's whut I want!" eagerly exclaimed Eradicate. "I ain't gwine hab
+dat Koku--dat cocoanut--crowin' ober me! I kin guard an' detect as
+good's anybody!"
+
+And the upshot of it was that Eradicate was given a badge, and put on a
+special post, far enough from Koku to keep the two from quarreling, and
+where, even if he failed in keeping a proper lookout, the old servant
+could do no harm by his oversight.
+
+"It'll please him, and won't hurt us," said Tom to his father. "Koku
+will keep out any prying persons."
+
+"I suppose you are doing well to keep it a secret, Tom," said Mr.
+Swift, "but it seems as if you might announce it soon."
+
+"Perhaps we may, Dad, if all goes well. I've given her a partial
+shop-tryout, and she works well. But there is still plenty to do. Did I
+tell you about meeting Blakeson?"
+
+"Yes, and I can't understand why he should be in this vicinity. Do you
+think he has had any intimation of what you are doing?"
+
+"It's hard to say, and yet I would not be surprised. When Uncle Sam
+couldn't keep secret the fact of our first soldiers sailing for France.
+How can I expect to keep this secret? But they won't get any details
+until I'm ready, I'm sure of that."
+
+"Koku is a good discourager," said Mr. Swift, with a chuckle. "You
+couldn't have a better guard, Tom."
+
+"No, and if I can keep him and Eradicate from trying to pull off rival
+detective stunts, or 'deteckertiff,' as Rad calls it, I'll be all
+right. Now let's have another go at that carburetor. There's our weak
+point, for it's getting harder and harder all the while to get
+high-grade gasolene, and we'll have to come to alcohol of low proof, or
+kerosene, I'm thinking."
+
+"I wouldn't be surprised, Tom. Well, perhaps we can get up a new style
+of carburetor that will do the trick. Now look at this needle valve;
+I've given it a new turn," and father and son went into technical
+details connected with their latest invention.
+
+These were busy days at the Swift plant. Men came and went--men with
+queerly shaped parcels frequently--and they were admitted to the big
+new building after first passing Eradicate and then Koku, and it would
+be hard to say which guard was the more careful. Only, of course, Koku
+had the final decision, and more than one person was turned back after
+Eradicate had passed him, much to the disgust of the negro.
+
+"Pooh! Dat giant don't know a workman when he sees 'im!" snorted
+Eradicate. "He so lazy his own se'f dat he don't know a workman! Ef I
+sees a spy, Massa Tom, or a crook, I's gwine git him, suah pop!"
+
+"I hope you do, Rad. We can't afford to let this secret get out," said
+the young inventor.
+
+It was one evening, when taking a short cut to his home, that Mr.
+Nestor, the father of Mary Nestor, in whom Tom was more than ordinarily
+interested, passed not far from the big enclosure which was guarded, on
+the factory side, day and night. Inside, though out of sight and hidden
+by the high fence, were other guards.
+
+As Mr. Nestor passed along the fence, rather vaguely wondering why it
+was so high, tight and strong, he felt the ground trembling beneath his
+feet. It rumbled and shook as though a distant train were passing, and
+yet there was none due now, for Mr. Nestor had just left one, and
+another would not arrive for an hour.
+
+"That's queer," mused Mary's father. "If I didn't know to the contrary,
+I'd say that sounded like heavy guns being fired from a distance, or
+else blasting. It seems to come from the Swift place," he went on. "I
+wonder what they're up to in there."
+
+Suddenly the rumbling became more pronounced, and mingled with it, in
+the dusk of the evening, were the shouts of men.
+
+"Look out!" some one cried. "She's going for the fence!"
+
+A second later there was a cracking and straining of boards, and the
+fence near Mr. Nestor bulged out as though something big, powerful and
+mighty were pressing it from the inner side.
+
+But the fence held, or else the pressure was removed, for the bulge
+went back into place, though some of the boards were splintered.
+
+"Have to patch that up in the morning," called another voice, and Mr.
+Nestor recognized it as that of Tom Swift.
+
+"What queer doings are going on here?" mused Mary's father. "Have they
+got a wild bull shut up in there, and is he trying to get out? Lucky
+for me he didn't," and he hurried on, the rumbling noise become fainter
+until it died away altogether.
+
+That night, after his supper and while reading the paper and smoking a
+cigar, Mr. Nestor spoke to his daughter.
+
+"Mary, have you seen anything of Tom Swift lately?"
+
+"Why, yes, Father. He was over for a little while the other night, but
+he didn't stay long. Why do you ask?"
+
+"Oh, nothing special. I just came past his place and I heard some queer
+noises, that's all. He's up to some more of his tricks, I guess. Has be
+enlisted yet?"
+
+"No.
+
+"Is he going to?"
+
+"I don't know," and Mary seemed a bit put out by this simple question.
+"What do you mean by his tricks?" she asked, and a close observer might
+have thought she was anxious to get away from the subject of Tom's
+enlistment.
+
+"Oh, like that one when he sent you something in a box labeled
+'dynamite,' and gave us all a scare. You can't tell what Tom Swift is
+going to do next. He's up to something now, I'll wager, and I don't
+believe any good will come of it."
+
+"You didn't think so after he sent his wireless message, and saved us
+from Earthquake Island," said Mary, smiling.
+
+"Hum! Well, that was different," snapped Mr. Nestor. "This time I'm
+sure he's up to some nonsense! The idea of crashing down a fence! Why
+doesn't he enlist like the other chaps, or sell Liberty Bonds like Ned
+Newton?" and Mr. Nestor looked sharply at his daughter. "Ned gave up a
+big salary as the Swifts financial man--a place he had held for a
+year--to go back to the bank for less, just so he could help the
+Government in the financial end of this war. Is Tom doing as much for
+his country?"
+
+"I'm sure I don't know," answered Mary; and soon after, with averted
+face, she left the room.
+
+"Hum! Queer goings on," mused Mr. Nestor. "Tom Swift may be all right,
+but he's got an unbalanced streak in him that will bear looking out
+for, that's what I think!"
+
+And having settled this matter, at least to his own satisfaction, Mr.
+Nestor resumed his smoking and reading.
+
+A little later the bell rang. There was a murmur of voices in the hall,
+and Mr. Nestor, half listening, heard a voice he knew.
+
+"There's Tom Swift now!" he exclaimed. "I'm going to find out why he
+doesn't enlist!"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter V
+
+"Is He a Slacker?"
+
+
+Mr. Nestor, whatever else he was, proved to be a prudent father. He did
+not immediately go into the front room, whither Mary and Tom hastened,
+their voices mingling in talk and laughter.
+
+Mr. Nestor, after leaving the young folks alone for a while, with a
+loud "Ahem!" and a rattling of his paper as he laid it aside, started
+for the parlor.
+
+"Good-evening, Mr. Nestor!" said Tom, rising to shake hands with the
+father of his young and pretty hostess.
+
+"Hello, Tom!" was the cordial greeting, in return. "What's going on up
+at your place?" went on Mr. Nestor, as he took a chair.
+
+"Oh, nothing very special," Tom answered. "We're turning out different
+kinds of machines as usual, and dad and I are experimenting, also as
+usual."
+
+"I suppose so. But what nearly broke the fence to-night?"
+
+Tom started, and looked quickly at his host.
+
+"Were you there?" he asked quickly.
+
+"Well, I happened to be passing--took a short cut home--and I heard
+some queer goings on at your place. I was speaking to Mary about them,
+and wondering--"
+
+"Father, perhaps Tom doesn't want to talk about his inventions,"
+interrupted Mary. "You know some of them are secret--"
+
+"Oh, I wasn't exactly asking for information!" exclaimed Mr. Nestor
+quickly. "I just happened to hear the fence crash, and I was wondering
+if something was coming out at me. Didn't know but what that giant of
+yours was on a rampage, Tom," and he laughed.
+
+"No, it wasn't anything like that," and Tom's voice was more sober than
+the occasion seemed to warrant. "It was one of our new machines, and it
+didn't act just right. No great damage was done, though. How do you
+find business, Mr. Nestor, since the war spirit has grown stronger?"
+asked Tom, and it seemed to both Mary and her father that the young
+inventor deliberately changed the subject.
+
+"Well, it isn't all it might be," said the other. "It's hard to get
+good help. A lot of our boys enlisted, and some were taken in the
+draft. By the way, Tom, have they called on you yet?"
+
+"No. Not yet."
+
+"You didn't enlist?"
+
+"Ned Newton tried to," broke in Mary, "but the quota for this locality
+was filled, and they told him he'd better wait for the draft. He
+wouldn't do that and tried again. Then the bank people heard about it
+and had him exempted. They said he was too valuable to them, and he has
+been doing remarkably well in selling Liberty Bonds!" and Mary's eyes
+sparkled with her emotions.
+
+"Yes, Ned is a crackerjack salesman!" agreed Tom, no less
+enthusiastically. "He's sold more bonds, in proportion, for his bank,
+than any other in this county. Dad and I both took some, and have
+promised him more. I am glad now that we let him go, although we valued
+his services highly. We hope to have him back later."
+
+"He can put me down for more bonds too!" said Mr. Nestor.  "I'm going
+to see Germany beaten if it takes every last dollar I have!"
+
+"That's what I say!" Cried Mary. "I took out all my savings, except a
+little I'm keeping to buy a wedding present for Jennie Morse. Did you
+know she was going to get married, Tom?" she asked.
+
+"I heard so."
+
+"Well, all but what I want for a wedding present to her has gone into
+Liberty Bonds. Isn't this a history-making time, Tom?"
+
+"Indeed it is, Mary!"
+
+"Everybody who has a part in it--whether he fights as a soldier or only
+knits like the Red Cross girls--will be telling about it for years
+after," went on the girl, and she looked at Tom eagerly.
+
+"Yes," he agreed. "These are queer times. We don't know exactly where
+we're at. A lot of our men have been called.  We tried to have some of
+them exempted, and did manage it in a few cases."
+
+"You did?" cried Mr. Nestor, as if in surprise. "You stopped men from
+going to war!"
+
+"Only so they could work on airship motors for the Government," Tom
+quietly explained.
+
+"Oh! Well, of course, that's part of the game," agreed Mary's father.
+"A lot more of our boys are going off next week. Doesn't it make you
+thrill, Tom, when you see them marching off, even if they haven't their
+uniforms yet? Jove, if I wasn't too old, I'd go in a minute!"
+
+"Father!" cried Mary.
+
+"Yes, I would!" he declared. "The German government has got to be
+beaten, and we've got to do our bit; everybody has--man, woman and
+child!"
+
+"Yes," agreed Tom, in a low voice, "that's very true. But every one, in
+a sense, has to judge for himself what the 'bit' is. We can't all do
+the same."
+
+There was a little silence, and then Mary went over to the piano and
+played. It was a rather welcome relief, under the circumstances, from
+the conversation.
+
+"Mary, what do you think of Tom?" asked Mr. Nestor, when the visitor
+had gone.
+
+"What do I think of him?" And she blushed.
+
+"I mean about his not enlisting. Do you think he's a slacker?"
+
+"A slacker? Why, Father!"
+
+"Oh, I don't mean he's afraid. We've seen proof enough of his courage,
+and all that. But I mean don't you think he wants stirring up a bit?"
+
+"He is going to Washington to-morrow, Father. He told me so to-night.
+And it may be--"
+
+"Oh, well, then maybe it's all right," hastily said Mr. Nestor. "He may
+be going to get a commission in the engineer corps. It isn't like Tom
+Swift to hang back, and yet it does begin to look as though he cared
+more for his queer inventions--machines that butt down fences than for
+helping Uncle Sam. But I'll reserve judgment."
+
+"You'd better, Father!" and Mary laughed--a little. Yet there was a
+worried look on her face.
+
+During the next few nights Mr. Nestor made it a habit to take the short
+cut from the railroad station, coming past the big fence that enclosed
+one particular building of the Swift plant.
+
+"I wonder if there's a hole where I could look through," said Mr.
+Nestor to himself. "Of course I don't believe in spying on what another
+man is doing, and yet I'm too good a friend of Tom's to want to see him
+make a fool of himself.  He ought to be in the army, or helping Uncle
+Sam in some way. And yet if he spends all his time on some foolish
+contraption, like a new kind of traction plow, what good is that? If I
+could get a glimpse of it, I might drop a friendly hint in his ear."
+
+But there were no cracks in the fence, or, if there were, it was too
+dark to see them, and also too dark to behold anything on the other
+side of the barrier. So Mr. Nestor, wondering much, kept on his way.
+
+It was a day or so after this that Ned Newton paid a visit to the Swift
+home. Mr. Swift was not in the house, being out in one of the various
+buildings, Mrs. Baggert said.
+
+"Where's Tom?" asked the bond salesman.
+
+"Oh, he hasn't come back from Washington yet," answered the housekeeper.
+
+"He is making a long stay."
+
+"Yes, he went about a week ago on some business. But we expect him back
+to-day."
+
+"Well, then I'll see him. I called to ask if Mr. Swift didn't want to
+take a few more bonds. We want to double our allotment for Shopton, and
+beat out some of the other towns in this section. I'll go to see Mr.
+Swift."
+
+On his way to find Tom's father Ned passed the big building in front of
+which Eradicate and Koku were on guard.  They nodded to Ned, who passed
+them, wondering much as to what it was Tom was so secretive about.
+
+"It's the first time I remember when he worked on an invention without
+telling me something about it," mused Ned.  "Well, I suppose it will
+all come out in good time. Anything new, Rad?"
+
+"No, Massa Ned, nuffin much. I'm detectin' around heah; keepin'
+Dutchmen spies away!"
+
+"And Koku is helping you, I suppose?"
+
+"Whut, him?  Dat big, good-fo'-nuffin white trash? No, sah! I's
+detectin' by mahse'f, dat's whut I is!" and Eradicate strutted proudly
+up and down on his allotted part of the beat, being careful not to
+approach the building too closely, for that was Koku's ground.
+
+Ned smiled, and passed on. He found Mr. Swift, secured his subscription
+to more bonds, and was about to leave when he heard a call down the
+road and saw Tom coming in his small racing car, which had been taken
+to the depot by one of the workmen.
+
+"Hello, old man!" cried Ned affectionately, as his chum alighted with a
+jump. "Where have you been?"
+
+"Down to Washington. Had a bit of a chat with the President and gave
+him some of my views."
+
+"About the war, I suppose?" laughed Ned.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Did you get your commission?"
+
+"Commission?" And there was a wondering look on Tom's face.
+
+"Yes. Mary Nestor said she thought maybe you were going to Washington
+to take an examination for the engineering corps or something like
+that. Did you get made an officer?"
+
+"No," answered Tom slowly. "I went to Washington to get exempted."
+
+"Exempted?" Cried Ned, and his voice sounded strained.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VI
+
+Seeing Things
+
+
+For a moment Tom Swift looked at his chum. Then something of what was
+passing in the mind of the young bond salesman must have been reflected
+to Tom, for he said,
+
+"Look here, old man; I know it may seem a bit strange to go to all that
+trouble to get exempted from the draft, to which I am eligible, but,
+believe me, there's a reason. I can't say anything now, but I'll tell
+you as soon as I can--tell everybody, in fact. Just now it isn't in
+shape to talk about."
+
+"Oh, that's all right, Tom," and Ned tried to make his voice sound
+natural. "I was just wondering, that's all. I wanted to go to the front
+the worst way, but they wouldn't let me. I was sort of hoping you
+could, and come back to tell me about it."
+
+"I may yet, Ned."
+
+"You may? Why, I thought--"
+
+"Oh, I'm only exempted for a time. I've got certain things to do, and I
+couldn't do 'em if I enlisted or was drafted.  So I've been excused for
+a time. Now I've got a pile of work to do. What are you up to Ned? Same
+old story?"
+
+"Liberty Bonds--yes. Your father just took some more."
+
+"And so will I, Ned. I can do that, anyhow, even if I don't enlist. Put
+me down for another two thousand dollars' worth."
+
+"Say, Tom, that's fine! That will make my share bigger than I counted
+on. Shopton will beat the record."
+
+"That's good. We ought to pull strong and hearty for our home town.
+How's everything else?"
+
+"Oh, so-so. I see Koku and Eradicate trying to outdo one another in
+guarding that part of your plant," and Ned nodded toward the big new
+building.
+
+"Yes, I had to let Rad play detective. Not that he can do
+anything--he's too old. But it keeps him and Koku from quarreling all
+the while. I've got to be pretty careful about that shop. It's got a
+secret in it that--Well, the less said about it the better."
+
+"You're getting my curiosity aroused, Tom," remarked Ned.
+
+"It'll have to go unsatisfied for a while. Wait a bit and I'll give you
+a ride. I've got to go over to Sackett on business, and if you're going
+that way I'll take you."
+
+"What in?"
+
+"The Hawk."
+
+"That's me!" cried Ned. "I haven't been in an aircraft for some time."
+
+"Tell Miles to run her out," requested Tom. "I've got to go in and say
+hello to dad a minute, and then I'll be with you."
+
+"Seems like something was in the wind, Tom--big doings?" hinted Ned.
+
+"Yes, maybe there is. It all depends on how she turns out."
+
+"You might be speaking of the Hawk or--Mary Nestor!" said Ned, with a
+sidelong look at his chum.
+
+"As it happens, it's neither one," said Tom, and then he hastened away,
+to return shortly and guide his fleet little airship, the Hawk, on her
+aerial journey.
+
+From then on, at least for some time, neither Tom nor Ned mentioned the
+matters they had been discussing--Tom's failure to enlist, his
+exemption, and what was being built in the closely guarded shop.
+
+Tom's business in Sackett did not take him long, and then he and Ned
+went for a little ride in the air.
+
+"It's like old times!" exclaimed Ned, his eyes shining, though Tom
+could not see them for two reasons. One was that Ned was sitting behind
+him, and the other was that Ned wore heavy goggles, as did the young
+pilot. Also, they had to carry on their talk through the speaking tube
+arrangement.
+
+"Yes, it is a bit like old times," agreed Tom. "We've had some great
+old experiences together, Ned, haven't we?"
+
+"We surely have! I wonder if we'll have any more? When we were in the
+submarine, and in your big airship. Say, that big one is the one I
+always liked! I like big things."
+
+"Do you?" asked Tom. "Well, maybe, when I get--"
+
+But Tom did not finish, for the Hawk unexpectedly poked her nose into
+an empty pocket in the air just then, and needed a firm hand on the
+controls. Furthermore, Tom decided against making the confidence that
+was on the tip of his tongue.
+
+At last the aircraft was straightened out and the pilot guided her on
+toward the army encampment.
+
+"That's the place I'd like to be," called Ned through the tube as the
+faint, sweet notes of a bugle floated up from the parade ground.
+
+"Yes, it would be great," admitted Tom. "But there are other things to
+do for Uncle Sam besides wearing khaki."
+
+"Tom's up to some game," mused Ned. "I mustn't judge him too hastily,
+or I might make a mistake. And Mary mustn't, either. I'll tell her so."
+
+For Mary Nestor had spoken to Ned concerning Tom, and the curiously
+secretive air about certain of his activities. And the girl, moreover,
+had spoken rather coldly of her friend.  Ned did not like this. It was
+not like Mary and Tom to be at odds.
+
+Once more the Hawk came to the ground, this time near the airship sheds
+adjoining the Swift works. Just as Tom and Ned alighted, one of the
+workmen summoned the young inventor toward the shop, which was so
+closely guarded by Koku and Eradicate on the outside.
+
+"I'll have to leave you, Ned," remarked Tom, as he turned away from his
+chum. "There's a conference on about a new invention."
+
+"Oh, that's all right. Business is business, you know.  I've got some
+bond calls to make myself. I'll see you later."
+
+"Oh, by the way, Ned!" exclaimed Tom, turning back for a moment, "I met
+an old friend the other day; or rather an old enemy."
+
+"Hum! When you spoke first, I thought you might mean Professor
+Swyington Bumper, that delightful scientist," remarked Ned. "But he
+surely was no enemy."
+
+"No; but I meant some one I met about the same time. I met Blakeson,
+one of the rival contractors when I helped dig the big tunnel."
+
+"Is that so? Where'd you meet him?"
+
+"Right around here. It was certainly a surprise, and at first I
+couldn't place him. Then the memory of his face came back to me," and
+Tom related the incident which had taken place the day he and Mr. Damon
+were out in the Hawk.
+
+"What's he doing around here?" asked Ned.
+
+"That's more than I can say," Tom answered.
+
+"Up to no good, I'll wager!"
+
+"I agree with you," came from Tom. "But I'm on the watch."
+
+"That's wise, Tom. Well, I'll see you later."
+
+During the week which followed this talk Ned was very busy on Liberty
+Bond work, and, he made no doubt, his chum was engaged also. This
+prevented them from meeting, but finally Ned, one evening, decided to
+walk over to the Swift home.
+
+"I'll pay Tom a bit of a call," he mused. "Maybe he'll feel more like
+talking now. Some of the boys are asking why he doesn't enlist, and
+maybe if I tell him that he'll make some explanation that will quiet
+things down a bit. It's a shame that Tom should be talked about."
+
+With this intention in view, Ned kept on toward his chum's house, and
+he was about to turn in through a small grove of trees, which would
+lead to a path across the fields, when the young bond salesman was
+surprised to hear some one running toward him. He could see no one, for
+the path wound in and out among the trees, but the noise was plain.
+
+"Some one in a hurry," mused Ned.
+
+A moment later he caught sight of a small lad named Harry Telford
+running toward him. The boy had his hat in his hand, and was speeding
+through the fast-gathering darkness as though some one were after him.
+
+"What's the rush?" asked Ned. "Playing cops and robbers?" That was a
+game Tom and Ned had enjoyed in their younger days.
+
+"I--I'm runnin' away!" panted Harry. "I--I seen something!"
+
+"You saw something?" repeated Ned. "What was it--a ghost?" and he
+laughed, thinking the boy would do the same.
+
+"No, it wasn't no ghost!" declared Harry, casting a look over his
+shoulder. "It was a wild elephant that I saw, and it's down in a big
+yard with a fence around it."
+
+"Where's that?" asked Ned. "The circus hasn't come to town this
+evening, has it?"
+
+"No," answered Harry, "it wasn't no circus. I saw this elephant down in
+the big yard back of one of Mr. Swift's factories."
+
+"Oh, down there, was it!" exclaimed Ned. "What was it like?"
+
+"Well, I was walking along the top of the hill," explained Harry, "and
+there's one place where, if you climb a tree, you can look right down
+in the big fenced-in yard. I guess I'm about the only one that knows
+about it."
+
+"I don't believe Tom does," mused Ned, "or he'd have had that tree cut
+down. He doesn't want any spying, I take it.  Well, what'd you see?" he
+asked Harry aloud.
+
+"Saw an elephant, I tell you!", insisted the younger boy.  "I was in
+the tree, looking down, for a lot of us kids has tried to peek through
+the fence and couldn't I wanted to see what was there."
+
+"And did you?" asked Ned.
+
+"I sure did! And it scared me, too," admitted Harry. "All at once, when
+I was lookin', I saw the big doors at the back of the shed open, and
+the elephant waddled out."
+
+"Are you sure you weren't 'seeing things,' like the little boy in the
+story?" asked Ned.
+
+"Well, I sure did see something!" insisted Harry. "It was a great big
+gray thing, bigger'n any elephant I ever saw in any circus. It didn't
+seem to have any tail or trunk, or even legs, but it went slow, just
+like an elephant does, and it shook the ground, it stepped so hard!"
+
+"Nonsense!" cried Ned.
+
+"Sure I saw it!" cried Harry. "Anyhow," he added, after a moment's
+thought, "it was as big as an elephant, though not like any I ever saw."
+
+"What did it do?" asked Ned.
+
+"Well, it moved around and then it started for the fence nearest me,
+where I was up in the tree. I thought it might have seen me, even
+though it was gettin' dark, and it might bust through; so I ran!"
+
+"Hum! Well, you surely were seeing things," murmured Ned, but, while he
+made light of what the boy told him, the young bank clerk was thinking:
+"What is Tom up to now?"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VII
+
+Up a Tree
+
+
+"Want to come and have a look?" asked Harry, as Ned paused in the patch
+of woods, which were in deeper darkness than the rest of the
+countryside, for night was fast falling.
+
+"Have a look at what?" asked Ned, who was thinking many thoughts just
+then.
+
+"At the elephant I saw back of the Swift factory. I wouldn't be skeered
+if you came along."
+
+"Well, I'm going over to see Tom Swift, anyhow," answered Ned, "so I'll
+walk that way. You can come if you like. I don't care about spying on
+other people's property--"
+
+"I wasn't spyin'!" exclaimed Harry quickly. "I just happened to look.
+And then I seen something."
+
+"Well, come on," suggested Ned. "If there's anything there, we'll have
+a peep at it."
+
+His idea was not to try to see what Tom was evidently endeavoring to
+conceal, but it was to observe whence Harry had made his observation,
+and be in a position to tell Tom to guard against unexpected lookers-on
+from that direction.
+
+During the walk back along the course over which Harry had run so
+rapidly a little while before, Ned and the boy talked of what the
+latter had seen.
+
+"Do you think it could be some new kind of elephant?" asked Harry. "You
+know Tom Swift brought back a big giant from one of his trips, and
+maybe he's got a bigger elephant than any one ever saw before."
+
+"Nonsense!" laughed Ned. "In the first place, Tom hasn't been on any
+trip, of late, except to Washington, and the only kind of elephants
+there are white ones."
+
+"Really?" asked Harry.
+
+"No, that was a joke," explained Ned. "Anyhow, Tom hasn't any giant
+elephants concealed up his sleeve, I'm sure of that."
+
+"But what could this be?" asked Harry. "It moved just like some big
+animal."
+
+"Probably some piece of machinery Tom was having carted from one shop
+to another," went on the young bank clerk.  "Most likely he had it
+covered with a big piece of canvas to keep off the dew, and it was that
+you saw."
+
+"No, it wasn't!" insisted Harry, but he could not give any further
+details of what he had seen so that Ned could recognize it. They kept
+on until they reached the hill, at the bottom of which was the Swift
+home and the grounds on which the various shops were erected.
+
+"Here's the place where you can look down right into the yard with the
+high fence around it," explained Harry, as he indicated the spot.
+
+"I can't see anything."
+
+"You have to climb up the tree," Harry went on. "Here, this is the one,
+and he indicated a stunted and gnarled pine, the green branches of
+which would effectually screen any one who once got in it a few feet
+above the ground.
+
+"Well, I may as well have a look," decided Ned. "It can't do Tom any
+harm, and it may be of some service to him. Here goes!"
+
+Up into the tree he scrambled, not without some difficulty, for the
+branches were close together and stiff, and Ned tore his coat in the
+effort. But he finally got a position where, to his surprise, he could
+look down into the very enclosure from which Tom was so particular to
+keep prying eyes.
+
+"You can see right down in it!" Ned exclaimed.
+
+"I told you so," returned Harry. "But do you see--it?"
+
+Ned looked long and carefully. It was lighter, now that they were out
+of the clump of woods, and he had the advantage of having the last glow
+of the sunset at his back.  Even with that it was difficult to make out
+objects on the surface of the enclosed field some hundred or more feet
+below.
+
+"Do you see anything?" asked Harry again.
+
+"No, I can't say I do," Ned answered. "The place seems to be deserted."
+
+"Well, there was something there," insisted Harry. "Maybe you aren't
+lookin' at the right place."
+
+"Have a look yourself, then," suggested Ned, as he got down, a task no
+more to his liking than the climb upward had been.
+
+Harry made easier work of it, being smaller and more used to climbing
+trees, a luxury Ned had, perforce, denied himself since going to work
+in the bank.
+
+Harry peered about, and then, with a sigh that had in it somewhat of
+disappointment, said:
+
+"No; there's nothing there now. But I did see something."
+
+"Are you sure?" asked Ned.
+
+"Positive!" asserted the other.
+
+"Well, whatever it was--some bit of machinery he was moving, I
+fancy--Tom has taken it in now," remarked Ned.  "Better not say
+anything about this, Harry. Tom mightn't like it known."
+
+"No, I won't."
+
+"And don't come here again to look. I know you like to see strange
+things, but if you'll wait I'll ask Tom, as soon as it's ready, to let
+you have a closer view of whatever it was you saw. Better keep away
+from this tree."
+
+"I will," promised the younger lad. "But I'd like to know what it
+was--if it really was a giant elephant  Say! if a fellow had a troop of
+them he could have a lot of fun with 'em, couldn't he?"
+
+"How?" asked Ned, hardly conscious of what his companion was saying.
+
+"Why, he could dress 'em up in coats of mail, like the old knights used
+to wear, and turn 'em loose against the Germans. Think of a regiment of
+elephants, wearin' armor plates like a battleship, carryin' on their
+backs a lot of soldiers with machine guns and chargin' against Fritz!
+Cracky, that would be a sight!"
+
+"I should say so!" agreed Ned, with a laugh. "There's nothing the
+matter with your imagination, Harry, my boy!"
+
+"And maybe that's what Tom's doin'!"
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"I mean maybe he is trainin' elephants to fight in the war. You know he
+made an aerial warship, so why couldn't he have a lot of armor plated
+elephants?"
+
+"Oh, I suppose he could if he wanted to," admitted Ned.  "But I guess
+he isn't doing that. Don't get to going too fast in high speed, Harry,
+or you may have nightmare. Well, I'm going down to see Tom."
+
+"And you won't tell him I was peekin'?"
+
+"Not if you don't do it again. I'll advise him to have that tree cut
+down, though. It's too good a vantage spot."
+
+Harry turned and went in the direction of his home, while Ned kept on
+down the hill toward the house of his chum. The young bond salesman was
+thinking of many things as he tramped, along, and among them was the
+information Harry had just given.
+
+But Ned did not pay a visit to his chum that evening. When he reached
+the house he found that Tom had gone out, leaving no word as to when he
+would be back.
+
+"Oh, well, I can tell him to-morrow," thought Ned.
+
+It was not, however, until two days later that Ned found the time to
+visit Tom again. On this occasion, as before, he took the road through
+the clump of woods where he had seen Harry running.
+
+"And while I'm about it," mused Ned, "I may as well go on to the place
+where the tree stands and make sure, by daylight, what I only partially
+surmised in the evening--that Tom's place can be looked down on from
+that vantage point."
+
+Sauntering slowly along, for he was in no special hurry, having the
+remainder of the day to himself, Ned approached the hill where the tree
+stood from which Harry had said he had seen what he took to be a giant
+elephant, perhaps in armor.
+
+"It's a good clear day," observed Ned, "and fine for seeing. I wonder
+if I'll be able to see anything."
+
+It was necessary first to ascend the hill to a point where it overhung,
+in a measure, the Swift property, though the holdings of Tom and his
+father were some distance beyond the eminence. The tree from which Ned
+and Harry had made their observations was on a knob of the hill, the
+stunted pine standing out from among others like it.
+
+"Well, here goes for another torn coat," grimly observed Ned, as he
+prepared to climb. "But I'll be more careful.  First, though, let's see
+if I can see anything without getting up."
+
+He paused a little way from the pine, and peered down the hill. Nothing
+could be seen of the big enclosed field back of the building about
+which Tom was so careful.
+
+"You have to be up to see anything," mused Ned. "It's up a tree for me!
+Well, here goes!"
+
+As Ned started to work his way up among the thick, green branches, he
+became aware, suddenly and somewhat to his surprise, that he was not
+the only person who knew about the observation spot. For Ned saw, a
+yard above his head, as he started to climb, two feet, encased in
+well-made boots, standing on a limb near the trunk of the tree.
+
+"Oh, ho!" mused Ned. "Some one here before me! Where there are feet
+there must be legs, and where there are legs, most likely a body. And
+it isn't Harry, either! The feet are too big for that. I wonder--"
+
+But Ned's musings were suddenly cut short, for the person up the tree
+ahead of him moved quickly and stepped on Ned's fingers, with no light
+tread.
+
+"Ouch!" exclaimed the young bank clerk involuntarily, and, letting go
+his hold of the limb, he dropped to the ground, while there came a
+startled exclamation from the screen of pine branches above him.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VIII
+
+Detective Rad
+
+
+"Who's there?" came the demand from the unseen person in the tree.
+
+"I might ask you the same thing," was Ned's sharp retort, as he nursed
+his skinned and bruised fingers. "What are you doing up there?"
+
+There was no answer, but a sound among the branches indicated that the
+person up the tree was coming down. In another moment a man leaped to
+the ground lightly and stood beside Ned. The lad observed that the
+stranger was clean shaven, except for a small moustache which curled up
+at the ends slightly.
+
+"For all the world like a small edition of the Kaiser's," Ned described
+it afterward.
+
+"What are you doing here?" demanded the man, and his voice had in it
+the ring of authority. It was this very quality that made Ned bristle
+up and "get on his ear," as he said later. The young clerk did not
+object to being spoken to authoritatively by those who had the right,
+but from a stranger it was different.
+
+"I might ask you the same thing," retorted Ned. "I have as much right
+here as you, I fancy, and I can climb trees, too, but I don't care to
+have my fingers stepped on," and he looked at the scarified members of
+his left hand.
+
+"I beg your pardon. I'm sorry if I hurt you. I didn't mean to. And of
+course this is a public place, in a way, and you have a right here. I
+was just climbing the tree to--er--to get a fishing pole!"
+
+Ned had all he could do to keep from laughing. The idea of getting a
+fishing pole from a gnarled and stunted pine struck him as being
+altogether novel and absurd. Yet it was not time to make fun of the
+man. The latter looked too serious for that.
+
+"Rather a good view to be had from up where you were, eh?" asked Ned
+suggestively.
+
+"A good view?" exclaimed the other. "I don't know what you mean!"
+
+"Oh, then you didn't see anything," Ned went on. "Perhaps it's just as
+well. Are you fond of fishing?"
+
+"Very. I have--But I forget, I do not know you nor you me.  Allow me to
+introduce myself. I am Mr. Walter Simpson, and I am here on a visit I
+just happened to walk out this way, and, seeing a small stream, thought
+I should like to fish. I usually carry lines and hooks, and all I
+needed was the pole. I was looking for it when I heard you, and--"
+
+"I felt you!" interrupted Ned, with a short laugh. He told his own
+name, but that was all, and seemed about to pass on.
+
+"Are there any locomotive shops around here?" asked Mr. Simpson.
+
+"Locomotive shops?" queried Ned. "None that I know of.  Why?"
+
+"Well, I heard heavy machinery being used down there;" and he waved his
+hand toward Tom's shops, "and I thought--"
+
+"Oh, you mean Shopton!" exclaimed Ned. "That's the Swift plant. No,
+they don't make locomotives, though they could if they wanted to, for
+they turn out airships, submarines, tunnel diggers, and I don't know
+what."
+
+"Do they make munitions there--for the Allies?" asked Mr. Simpson, and
+there was an eager look on his face.
+
+"No, I don't believe so," Ned answered; "though, in fact, I don't know
+enough of the place to be in a position to give you any information
+about it," he told the man, not deeming it wise to go into particulars.
+
+Perhaps the man felt this, as he did not press for an answer.
+
+The two stood looking at one another for some little time, and then the
+man, with a bow that had in it something of insolence, as well as
+politeness, turned and went down the path up which Ned had come.
+
+The young bank clerk waited a little while, and then turned his
+attention to the tree which seemed to have suddenly assumed an
+importance altogether out of proportion to its size.
+
+"Well, since I'm here I'll have a look up that tree," decided Ned.
+
+Favoring his bruised hand, Ned essayed the ascent of the tree more
+successfully this time. As he rose up among the branches he found he
+could look down directly into the yard with the high fence about it. He
+Could see only a portion, good as his vantage point was, and that
+portion had in it a few workmen--nothing else.
+
+"No elephants there," said Ned, with a smile, as he remembered Harry's
+excitement. "Still it's just as well for Tom to know that his place can
+be looked down on. I'll go and tell him."
+
+As Ned descended the tree he caught a glimpse, off to one side among
+some bushes, of something moving.
+
+"I wonder if that's my Simp friend, playing I spy?" mused Ned. "Guess
+I'd better have a look."
+
+He worked his way carefully close to the spot where he had seen the
+movement. Proceeding then with more caution, watching each step and
+parting the bushes with a careful hand, Ned beheld what he expected.
+
+There was the late occupant of the pine tree the man who had stepped on
+Ned's fingers, applying a small telescope to his eye and gazing in the
+direction of Tom Swift's home.
+
+The man stood concealed in a screen of bushes with his back toward Ned,
+and seemed oblivious to his surroundings.  He moved the glass to and
+fro, and seemed eagerly intent on discovering something.
+
+"Though what he can see of Tom's place from there isn't much," mused
+Ned. "I've tried it myself, and I know; you have to be on an elevation
+to look down.  Still it shows he's after something, all right. Guess
+I'll throw a little scare into him."
+
+As yet, Ned believed himself unobserved, and that his presence was not
+suspected was proved a moment later when he shouted:
+
+"Hey! What are you doing there?"
+
+He had his eye on the partially concealed man, and the latter, as Ned
+said afterward, jumped fully two feet in the air, dropping his
+telescope as he did so, and turning to face the lad.
+
+"Oh, it's you, is it?" he faltered.
+
+"No one else;" and Ned grinned. "Looking for a good place to fish, I
+presume?"
+
+Then, at least for once, the man's suave manner dropped from him as if
+it had been a mask. He bared his teeth in a snarl as he answered:
+
+"Mind your own business!"
+
+"Something I'd advise you also to do," replied Ned smoothly. "You can't
+see anything from there," he went on.  "Better go back to the tree
+and--cut a fishing pole!"
+
+With this parting shot Ned sauntered down the hill, and swung around to
+make his way toward Tom's home. He paid no further attention to the
+man, save to determine, by listening, that the fellow was searching
+among the bushes for the dropped telescope.
+
+The young inventor was at home, taking a hasty lunch which Mrs. Baggert
+had set out for him, the while he poured over some blueprint drawings
+that, to Ned's unaccustomed eyes, looked like the mazes of some
+intricate puzzle.
+
+"Well, where have you been keeping yourself, old man?" asked Tom Swift,
+after he had greeted his friend.
+
+"I might ask the same of you," retorted Ned, with a smile.  "I've been
+trying to find you to give you some important information, and I made
+up my mind, after what happened to-day, to write it and leave it for
+you if I didn't see you."
+
+"What happened to-day?" asked Tom, and there was a serious look on his
+face.
+
+"You are being spied upon--at least, that part of your works enclosed
+in the new fence is," replied Ned.
+
+"You don't mean it!" Cried Tom. "This accounts for some of it, then."
+
+"For some of what?" asked Ned.
+
+"For some of the actions of that Blakeson. He's been hanging around
+here, I understand, asking too many questions about things that I'm
+trying to keep secret--even from my best friends," and as Tom said this
+Ned fancied there was a note of regret in his voice.
+
+"Yes, you are keeping some things secret, Tom," said Ned, determined
+"to take the bull by the horns," as it were.
+
+"I'm sorry, but it has to be," went on Tom. "In a little while--"
+
+"Oh, don't think that I'm at all anxious to know things!" broke in Ned.
+"I was thinking of some one else, Tom--another of your friends."
+
+"Do you mean Mary?"
+
+Ned nodded.
+
+"She feels rather keenly your lack of explanations," went on the young
+bank clerk. "If you could only give her a hint--"
+
+"I'm sorry, but it can't be done," and Tom spoke firmly.  "But you
+haven't told me all that happened. You say I am being spied upon."
+
+"Yes," and Ned related what had taken place in the tree.
+
+"Whew!" whistled Tom. "That's going some with a vengeance!  I must have
+that tree down in a jiffy. I didn't imagine there was a spot where the
+yard could be overlooked. But I evidently skipped that tree.
+Fortunately it's on land owned by a concern with which I have some
+connection, and I can have it chopped down without any trouble. Much
+obliged to you, Ned. I shan't forget this in a hurry. I'll go right
+away and--"
+
+Tom's further remark was interrupted by the hurried entrance of
+Eradicate Sampson. The old man was smiling in pleased anticipation,
+evidently, at the same time, trying hard not to give way to too much
+emotion.
+
+"I's done it, Massa Tom!" he cried exultingly.
+
+"Done what?" asked the young inventor. "I hope you and Koku haven't had
+another row."
+
+"No, sah! I don't want nuffin t' do wif dat ornery, low-down white
+trash! But I's gone an' done whut I said I'd do!"
+
+"What's that, Rad? Come on, tell us! Don't keep us in suspense."
+
+"I's done some deteckertiff wuk, lest laik I said I'd do, an' I's
+cotched him! By golly, Massa Tom! I's cotched him black-handed, as it
+says!"
+
+"Caught him? Whom have you caught, Rad?" cried Tom. "Do you suppose he
+means he's caught the man you saw up the tree, Ned? The man you think
+is a German spy?"
+
+"It couldn't be. I left him only a little while ago hunting for his
+telescope."
+
+"Then whom have you caught, Rad?" cried Tom. "Come on, I'll give you
+credit for it. Tell us!"
+
+"I's cotched dat Dutch Sauerkrauter, dat's who I's cotched, Massa Tom!
+By golly, I's cotched him!"
+
+"But who, Rad? Who is he?"
+
+"I don't know his name, Massa Tom, but he's a Sauerkrauter, all right.
+Dat's whut he eats for lunch, an' dat's why I calls him dat. I's
+cotched him, an' he's locked up in de stable wif mah mule Boomerang.
+An' ef he tries t' git out Boomerang'll jest natchully kick him into
+little pieces--dat's whut Boomerang will do, by golly!"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter IX
+
+A Night Test
+
+
+"Come on, Ned," said Tom, after a moment or two of silent contemplation
+of Eradicate. "I don't know what this cheerful camouflager of mine is
+talking about, but we'll have to go to see, I suppose. You say you have
+shut some one up in Boomerang's stable, Rad?"
+
+"Yes, sah, Massa Tom, dat's whut I's gone an done."
+
+"And you say he's a German?"
+
+"I don't know as to dat, Massa Tom, but he suah done eat sauerkraut
+'mostest ebery meal. Dat's whut I call him--a Sauerkrauter! An' he suah
+was spyin'."
+
+"How do you know that, Rad?"
+
+"'Cause he done went from his own shop on annuder man's ticket into de
+secret shop, dat's whut he went an' done!"
+
+"Do you mean to tell me, Rad," went on Tom, "that one of the workmen
+from another shop entered Number Thirteen on the pass issued in the
+name of one of the men regularly employed in my new shop?"
+
+"Dat's whut he done, Massa Tom."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"'Cause I detected him doin' it. Yo'-all done made me a deteckertiff,
+an' I detected."
+
+"Go on, Rad."
+
+"Well, sah, Massa Tom, I seen dish yeah Dutchman git a ticket-pass
+offen one ob de reg'lar men. Den he went in de unlucky place an' stayed
+fo' a long time. When he come out I jest natchully nabbed him, dat's
+whut I done, an' I took him to Boomerang's stable."
+
+"How'd you get him to go with you?" asked Ned, for the old colored man
+was feeble, and most of the men employed at Tom's plant were of a
+robust type.
+
+"I done fooled him. I said as how I'd jest brought from town in mah
+mule cart some new sauerkraut, an' he could sample it if he liked. So
+he went wif me, an' when I got him to de stable I pushed him in and
+locked de door!"
+
+"Come on!" cried Tom to his chum. "Rad may be right, after all, and one
+of my workmen may be a German spy, though I've tried to weed them all
+out.
+
+"However, no matter about that, if he was employed in another shop, he
+had no right to go into Number Thirteen.  That's a violation of rules.
+But if he's in Rad's ramshackle stable he can easily get out."
+
+"No, sah, dat's whut he can't do!" insisted the colored man.
+
+"Why not?" asked Tom.
+
+"'Cause Boomerang's on guard, an' yo'-all knows how dat mule of mine
+can use his heels!"
+
+"I know, Rad," went on Tom; "but this fellow will find a way of keeping
+out of their way. We must hurry."
+
+"Oh, he's safe enough," declared the colored man. "I done tole Koku to
+stan' guard, too! Dat low-down white trash ob a giant is all right fo'
+guardin', but he ain't wuff shucks at detectin'!" said Eradicate, with
+pardonable pride. "By golly, maybe I's too old t' put on guard, but I
+kin detect, all right!"
+
+"If this proves true, I'll begin to believe you can," replied Tom. "Hop
+along, Ned!"
+
+Followed by the shuffling and chuckling negro, Tom and Ned went to the
+rather insecure stable where the mule Boomerang was kept. That is, the
+stable was insecure from the standpoint of a jail. But the sight of the
+giant Koku marching up and down in front of the place, armed with a big
+club, reassured Tom.
+
+"Is he in there, Koku?" asked the young inventor.
+
+"Yes, Master! He try once come out, but he approach his head very close
+my defense weapon and he go back again."
+
+"I should think he would," laughed Ned, as he noted the giant's club.
+
+"Well, Rad, let's have a look at your prisoner. Open the door, Koku,"
+commanded Tom.
+
+"Better look out," advised Ned. "He may be armed."
+
+"We'll have to take a chance. Besides, I don't believe he is, or he'd
+have fired at Koku. There isn't much to fear with the giant ready for
+emergencies. Now we'll see who he is. I can't imagine one of my men
+turning traitor."
+
+The door was opened and a rather miserable-looking man shuffled out.
+There was a bloody rag on his head, and he seemed to have made more of
+an effort to escape than Koku described, for he appeared to have
+suffered in the ensuing fight.
+
+"Carl Schwen!" exclaimed Tom. "So it was you, was it?"
+
+The German, for such he was, did not answer for a moment. He appeared
+downcast, and as if suffering. Then a change came over him. He
+straightened up, saluted as a soldier might have done, and a sneering
+look came into his face. It was succeeded by one of pride as the man
+exclaimed:
+
+"Yes, it is I! And I tried to do what I tried to do for the Fatherland!
+I have failed. Now you will have me shot as a spy, I suppose!" he added
+bitterly.
+
+Tom did not answer directly. He looked keenly at the man, and at last
+said:
+
+"I am sorry to see this. I knew you were a German, Schwen, but I kept
+you employed at work that could not, by any possibility, be considered
+as used against your country. You are a good machinist, and I needed
+you. But if what I hear about you is true, it is the end."
+
+"It is the end," said the man simply. "I tried and failed.  If it had
+not been for Eradicate--Well, he's smarter than I gave him credit for,
+that's all!"
+
+The man spoke very good English, with hardly a trace of German accent,
+but there was no doubt as to his character.
+
+"What will you do with him, Tom?" asked Ned.
+
+"I don't know. I'll have to do a little investigating first. But he
+must be locked up. Schwen," went on the young inventor, "I'm sorry
+about this, but I shall have to give you into the custody of a United
+States marshal. You are not a naturalized citizen, are you?"
+
+The man muttered something in German to the effect that he was not
+naturalized and was glad of it.
+
+"Then you come under the head of an enemy alien," decided Tom, who
+understood what was said, "and will have to be interned. I had hoped to
+avoid this, but it seems it cannot be. I am sorry to lose you, but
+there are more important matters. Now let's get at the bottom of this."
+
+Schwen was, after a little delay, taken in charge by the proper
+officer, and then a search was made of his room, for, in common with
+some of the other workmen, he lived in a boarding house not far from
+the plant.
+
+There, by a perusal of his papers, enough was revealed to show Tom the
+danger he had escaped.
+
+"And yet I don't know that I have altogether escaped it," he said to
+Ned, as they talked it over. "There's no telling how long this spy work
+may have been going on. If he has discovered all the secrets of Shop
+Thirteen it may be a bad thing for the Allies and--"
+
+"Look out!" warned Ned, with a laugh. "You'll be saying things you
+don't want to, Tom and not at all in keeping with your former silence."
+
+"That's so," agreed the young inventor, with a sigh. "But if things go
+right I'll not have to keep silent much longer.  I may be able to tell
+you everything."
+
+"Don't tell me--tell Mary," advised his chum. "She feels your silence
+more than I do. I know how such things are."
+
+"Well, I'll be able to tell her, too," decided Tom. "That is, if Schwen
+hasn't spoiled everything. Look here, Ned, these papers show he's been
+in correspondence with Blakeson and Grinder."
+
+"What about, Tom?"
+
+"I can't tell. The letters are evidently written in code, and I can't
+translate it offhand. But I'll make another attempt at it. And here's
+one from a person who signs himself Walter Simpson, but the writing is
+in German."
+
+"Walter Simpson!" cried Ned. "That's my friend of the tree!"
+
+"It is?" cried Tom. "Then things begin to fit themselves together.
+Simpson is a spy, and he was probably trying to communicate with
+Schwen. But the latter didn't get the information he wanted, or, if he
+did get it, he wasn't able to pass it on to the man in the tree.
+Eradicate nipped him just in time."
+
+And, so it seemed, the colored man had done. By accident he had
+discovered that Schwen had prevailed on one of the workmen in Shop 13
+to change passes with him. This enabled the German spy to gain
+admittance to the secret place, which Tom thought was so well guarded.
+The man who let Schwen take the pass was in the game, too, it appeared,
+and he was also placed under arrest. But he was a mere tool in the pay
+of the others, and had no chance to gain valuable information.
+
+A hasty search of Shop 13 did not reveal anything missing, and it was
+surmised (for Schwen would not talk) that he had not found time to go
+about and get all that he was after.
+
+Soon after Schwen's arrest the "Spy Tree," as Tom called it, was cut
+down.
+
+"Eradicate certainly did better than I ever expected he would,"
+declared Tom. "Well, if all goes well, there won't be so much need for
+secrecy after a day or so. We're going to give her a test, and then--"
+
+"Give who a test?" asked Ned, with a smile.
+
+"You'll soon see," answered Tom, with an answering grin.  "I hereby
+invite you and Mr. Damon to come over to Shop Thirteen day after
+to-morrow night and then--Well, you'll see what you'll see."
+
+With this Ned had to be content, and he waited anxiously for the
+appointed time to come.
+
+"I surely will be glad when Tom is more like himself," he mused, as he
+left his chum. "And I guess Mary will be, too.  I wonder if he's going
+to ask her to the exhibition?"
+
+It developed that Tom had done so, a fact which Ned learned on the
+morning of the day set for the test.
+
+"Come over about nine o'clock," Tom said to his chum. "I guess it will
+be dark enough then."
+
+Meanwhile Schwen and Otto Kuhn, the other man involved, had been locked
+up, and all their papers given into the charge of the United States
+authorities. A closer guard than ever was kept over No. 13 shop, and
+some of the workmen, against whom there was a slight suspicion, were
+transferred.
+
+"Well, we'll see what we shall see," mused Ned on the appointed
+evening, when a telephone message from Mr. Damon informed the young
+bank clerk that the eccentric man was coming to call for him before
+going on to the Swift place.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter X
+
+A Runaway Giant
+
+
+"What do you think it's all about, Mr. Damon?"
+
+"I'm sure I don't know, Ned."
+
+The two were at the home of the young bank clerk, preparing to start
+for the Swift place, it being nearly nine o'clock on the evening named
+by the youthful inventor.
+
+"Bless my hat-rack!" went on the eccentric man, "but Tom isn't at all
+like himself of late. He's working on some invention, I know that, but
+it's all I do know. He hasn't given me a hint of it."
+
+"Nor me, nor any of his friends," added Ned. "And he acts so oddly
+about enlisting--doesn't want even to speak of it.  How he got exempted
+I don't know, but I do know one thing, and that is Tom Swift is for
+Uncle Sam first, last and always!"
+
+"Oh, of course!" agreed Mr. Damon. "Well, we'll soon know, I guess.
+We'd better start, Ned."
+
+"It's useless to try to guess what it is Tom is up to. He has kept his
+secret well. The nearest any one has come to it was when Harry figured
+out that Tom had a band of giant elephants which he was fitting with
+coats of steel armor to go against the Germans," observed Ned, when he
+and Mr. Damon were on their way.
+
+"Well, that mightn't be so bad," agreed Mr. Damon.
+"But--um--elephants--and wild giant ones, too!  Bless my circus ticket,
+Ned! do you think we'd better go in that case?"
+
+"Oh, Tom hasn't anything like that!" laughed Ned. "That was only
+Harry's crazy notion after he saw something big and ungainly careening
+about the enclosed yard of Shop Thirteen.  Hello, there go Mary Nestor
+and her father!" and Ned pointed to the opposite side of the street
+where the girl and Mr. Nestor could be seen in the light of a street
+lamp.
+
+"They're going out to see Tom's secret," said Mr. Damon.  "There's
+plenty of room in my car. Let's ask them to go with us."
+
+"Surely," agreed Ned, and a moment later he and Mary were in the rear
+seat while Mr. Damon and Mr. Nestor were in the front, Mr. Damon at the
+wheel, and they were soon speeding down the road.
+
+"I do hope everything will go all right," observed Mary.
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Ned.
+
+"I mean Tom is a little bit anxious about this test."
+
+"Did he tell you what it was to be?"
+
+"No; but when he called to invite father and me to be present he seemed
+worried. I guess it's a big thing, for he never has acted this way
+before--not talking about his work."
+
+"That's right," assented Ned. "But the secret will soon be disclosed, I
+fancy. But how is it you aren't going to the dance with Lieutenant
+Martin? He told me you had half accepted for to-night."
+
+"I had." And if it had been light enough Ned would have seen Mary
+blushing. "I was going with him. It's a dance for the benefit of the
+Red Cross to get money for comfort kits for the soldiers. But when Tom
+sent word that he'd like to have me present to-night, why--"
+
+"Oh, I see!" broke in Ned, with a little laugh. "'Nough said!"
+
+Mary's blushes were deeper, but the kindly night hid them.
+
+Then they conversed on matters connected with the big war--the selling
+of Liberty Bonds, the Red Cross work and the Surgical Dressings
+Committee, in which Mary was the head of a junior league.
+
+"Everybody in Shopton seems to be doing something to help win the war,"
+said Mary, and as there was just then a lull in the talk between her
+father and Mr. Damon her words sounded clearly.
+
+"Yes, everybody--that is, all but a few," said Mr. Nestor, "and they
+ought to get busy. There are some young fellows in this town that ought
+to be wearing khaki, and I don't mean you, Ned Newton. You're doing
+your bit, all right."
+
+"And so is Tom Swift!" exclaimed Mr. Damon, as if there had been an
+implied accusation against the young inventor.  "I heard, only to-day,
+that one of his inventions--a gas helmet that he planned--is in use on
+the Western front in Europe. Tom gave his patents to the government,
+and even made a lot of the helmets free to show other factories how to
+turn them out to advantage."
+
+"He did?" cried Mr. Nestor.
+
+"That's what he did.  Talk about doing your bit--"
+
+"I didn't know that," observed Mary's father slowly. "Do you suppose
+it's a test of another gas helmet that Tom has asked us out to see
+to-night?"
+
+"I hardly think so," said Ned. "He wouldn't wait until after dark for
+that. This is something big, and Tom must intend to have it out in the
+open. He probably waited until after sunset so the neighbors wouldn't
+come out in flocks.  There's been a lot of talk about what is going on
+in Shop Thirteen, especially since the arrest of the German spies, and
+the least hint that a test is under way would bring out a big crowd."
+
+"I suppose so," agreed Mr. Nestor. "Well, I'm glad to know that Tom is
+doing something for Uncle Sam, even if it's only helping with gas
+helmets. Those Germans are barbarians, if ever there were any, and
+we've got to fight them the same way they fight us! That's the only way
+to end the war!  Now if I had my way, I'd take every German I could lay
+my hands on--"
+
+"Father, pretzels!" exclaimed Mary.
+
+"Eh? What's that, my dear?"
+
+"I said pretzels!"
+
+"Oh!" and Mr. Nestor's voice lost its sharpness.
+
+"That's my way of quieting father down when he gets too strenuous in
+his talk about the war," explained Mary. "We agreed that whenever he
+got excited I was to say 'pretzels' to him, and that would make him
+remember. We made up our little scheme after he got into an argument
+with a man on the train and was carried past his station."
+
+"That's right," admitted Mr. Nestor, with a laugh. "But that fellow was
+the most obstinate, pig-headed Dutchman that ever tackled a plate of
+pig's knuckles and sauerkraut, and if he had the least grain of common
+sense he'd--"
+
+"Pretzels!" cried Mary.
+
+"Eh? Oh, yes, my dear. I was forgetting again."
+
+There was a moment of merriment, and then, after the talk had run for a
+while in other and safer channels, Mr. Damon made the announcement:
+
+"I think we're about there. We'll be at Tom's place when we make the
+turn and--"
+
+He was interrupted by a low, heavy rumbling.
+
+"What's that?" asked Mr. Nestor.
+
+"It's getting louder--the noise," remarked Mary. "It sounds as if some
+big body were approaching down the road--the tramp of many feet. Can it
+be that troops are marching away?"
+
+"Bless my spark plug!" suddenly cried Mr. Damon. "Look!"
+
+They gazed ahead, and there, seen in the glare of the automobile
+headlights, was an immense, dark body approaching them from across a
+level field. The rumble and roar became more pronounced and the ground
+shook as though from an earthquake.
+
+A glaring light shone out from the ponderous moving body, and above the
+roar and rattle a voice called:
+
+"Out out of the way! We've lost control! Look out!"
+
+"Bless my steering wheel!" gasped Mr. Damon, "that was Tom Swift's
+voice! But what is he doing in that--thing?"
+
+"It must be his new invention!" exclaimed Ned.
+
+"What is it?" asked Mr. Nestor.
+
+"A giant," ventured Ned. "It's a giant machine of some sort and--"
+
+"And it's running away!" cried Mr. Damon, as he quickly steered his car
+to one side--and not a moment too soon! An instant later in a cloud of
+dust, and with a rumble and a roar as of a dozen express trains fused
+into one, the runaway giant--of what nature they could only
+guess--flashed and lumbered by, Tom Swift leaning from an opening in
+the thick steel side, and shouting something to his friends.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XI
+
+Tom's Tank
+
+
+"What was it?" gasped Mary, and, to her surprise, she found herself
+close to Ned, clutching his arm.
+
+"I have an idea, but I'd rather let Tom tell you," he answered.
+
+"But where's it going?" asked Mr. Nestor. "What in the world does Tom
+Swift mean by inviting us out here to witness a test, and then nearly
+running us down under a Juggernaut?"
+
+"Oh, there must be some mistake, I'm sure," returned his daughter. "Tom
+didn't intend this."
+
+"But, bless my insurance policy, look at that thing go!  What in the
+world is it?" cried Mr. Damon.
+
+The "thing" was certainly going. It had careened from the road, tilted
+itself down into a ditch and gone on across the fields, lights shooting
+from it in eccentric fashion.
+
+"Maybe we'd better take after it," suggested Mr. Nestor.  "If Tom is--"
+
+"There, it's stopping!" cried Ned. "Come on!"
+
+He sprang from the automobile, helped Mary to get out, and then the
+two, followed by Mr. Damon and Mr. Nestor, made their way across the
+fields toward the big object where it had come to a stop, the rumbling
+and roaring ceasing.
+
+Before the little party reached the strange machine--the "runaway
+giant," as they dubbed it in their excitement--a bright light flashed
+from it, a light that illuminated their path right up to the monster.
+And in the glare of this light they saw Tom Swift stepping out through
+a steel door in the side of the affair.
+
+"Are you all right?" he called to his friends, as they approached.
+
+"All right, as nearly as we can be when we've been almost scared to
+death, Tom," said Mr. Nestor.
+
+"I'm surely sorry for what happened," Tom answered, with a relieved
+laugh. "Part of the steering gear broke and I had to guide it by
+operating the two motors alternately. It can be worked that way, but it
+takes a little practice to become expert."
+
+"I should say so!" cried Mr. Damon. "But what in the world does it all
+mean, Tom Swift? You invite us out to see something--"
+
+"And there she is!" interrupted the young inventor. "You saw her a
+little before I meant you to, and not under exactly the circumstances I
+had planned. But there she is!" And he turned as though introducing the
+metallic monster to his friends.
+
+"What is she, Tom?" asked Ned. "Name it!"
+
+"My latest invention, or rather the invention of my father and myself,"
+answered Tom, and his voice showed the love and reverence he felt for
+his parent. "Perhaps I should say adaptation instead of invention," Tom
+went on, "since that is what it is. But, at any rate, it's my
+latest--dad's and mine--and it's the newest, biggest, most improved and
+powerful fighting tank that's been turned out of any shop, as far as I
+can learn.
+
+"Ladies--I mean lady and gentlemen--allow me to present to you War Tank
+A, and may she rumble till the pride of the Boche is brought low and
+humble!" cried Tom.
+
+"Hurray! That's what I say!" cheered Ned.
+
+"That's what I have been at work on lately. I'll give you a little
+history of it, and then you may come inside and have a ride home."
+
+"In that?" cried Mr. Damon.
+
+"Yes. I can't promise to move as speedily as your car, but I can make
+better time than the British tanks. They go about six miles an hour, I
+understand, and I've got mine geared to ten. That's one improvement dad
+and I have made."
+
+"Ride in that!" cried Mr. Nestor. "Tom, I like you, and I'm glad to see
+I've been mistaken about you. You have been doing your bit, after all;
+but--"
+
+"Oh, I've only begun!" laughed Tom Swift.
+
+"Well, no matter about that. However much I like you," went on Mr.
+Nestor, "I'd as soon ride on the wings of a thunderbolt as in Tank A,
+Tom Swift."
+
+"Oh, it isn't as bad as that!" laughed the young scientist. "But
+neither is it a limousine. However, come inside, anyhow, and I'll tell
+you something about it. Then I guess we can guide it back. The men are
+repairing the break."
+
+The visitors entered the great craft through the door by which Tom had
+emerged. At first all they saw was a small compartment, with walls of
+heavy steel, some shelves of the same and a seat which folded up
+against the wall made of like powerful material.
+
+"This is supposed to be the captain's room, where he stays when he
+directs matters." Tom explained. "The machinery is below and beyond
+here."
+
+"How'd you come to evolve this?" asked Ned. "I haven't seen half enough
+of the outside, to say nothing of the inside."
+
+"You'll have time enough," Tom said. "This is my first completed tank.
+There are some improvements to be made before we send it to the other
+side to be copied.
+
+"Then they'll make them in England as well as here, and from here we'll
+ship them in sections."
+
+"I don't see how you ever thought of it!" exclaimed the girl, in wonder.
+
+"Well, I didn't all at once," Tom answered, with a laugh.  "It came by
+degrees. I first got the idea when I heard of the British tanks.
+
+"When I had read how they went into action and what they accomplished
+against the barbed wire entanglements, and how they crossed the
+trenches, I concluded that a bigger tank, one capable of more speed,
+say ten or twelve miles an hour, and one that could cross bigger
+excavations--the English tanks up to this time can cross a ditch of
+twelve feet--I thought that, with one made on such specifications, more
+effective work could be done against the Germans."
+
+"And will yours do that?" asked Ned. "I mean will it do ten miles an
+hour, and straddle over a wider ditch than twelve feet?"
+
+"It'll do both," promptly answered Tom. "We did a little better than
+eleven miles an hour a while ago when I yelled to you to get out of the
+way just now. It's true we weren't under good control, but the speed
+had nothing to do with that. And as for going over a big ditch, I think
+we straddled one about fourteen feet across back there, and we can do
+better when I get my grippers to working."
+
+"Grippers!" exclaimed Mary.
+
+"What kind of trench slang is that, Tom Swift?" asked Mr. Damon.
+
+"Well, that's a new idea I'm going to try out It's something like
+this," and while from a distant part of the interior of Tank A came the
+sound of hammering, the young inventor rapidly drew a rough pencil
+sketch.
+
+It showed the tank in outline, much as appear the pictures of tanks
+already in service--the former simile of two wedge-shaped pieces of
+metal put together broad end to broad end, still holding good. From one
+end of the tank, as Tom drew it, there extended two long arms of
+latticed steel construction.
+
+"The idea is," said Tom, "to lay these down in front of the tank, by
+means of cams and levers operated from inside.  If we get to a ditch
+which we can't climb down into and out again, or bridge with the belt
+caterpillar wheels, we'll use the grippers. They'll be laid down,
+taking a grip on the far side of the trench, and we'll slide across on
+them."
+
+"And leave them there?" asked Mr. Damon.
+
+"No, we won't leave them. We'll pick them up after we have passed over
+them and use them in front again as we need them. A couple of extra
+pairs of grippers may be carried for emergencies, but I plan to use the
+same ones over and over again."
+
+"But what makes it go?" asked Mary. "I don't want all the details,
+Tom," she said, with a smile, "but I'd like to know what makes your
+tank move."
+
+"I'll be able to show you in a little while," he answered.  "But it may
+be enough now if I tell you that the main power consists of two big
+gasolene engines, one on either side.  They can be geared to operate
+together or separately. And these engines turn the endless belts made
+of broad, steel plates, on which the tank travels. The belts pass along
+the outer edges of the tank longitudinally, and go around cogged wheels
+at either end of the blunt noses.
+
+"When both belts travel at the same rate of speed the tank goes in a
+straight line, though it can be steered from side to side by means of a
+trailer wheel in the rear. Making one belt--one set of caterpillar
+wheels, you know--go faster than the other will make the tank travel to
+one side or the other, the turn being in the direction of the slowest
+moving belt. In this way we can steer when the trailer wheels are
+broken."
+
+"And what does your tank do except travel along, not minding a hail of
+bullets?" asked Mr. Nestor.
+
+"Well," answered Tom, "it can do anything any other tank can do, and
+then some more. It can demolish a good-sized house or heavy wall, break
+down big trees, and chew up barbed-wire fences as if they were
+toothpicks. I'll show you all that in due time. Just now, if the
+repairs are finished, we can get back on the road--"
+
+At that moment a door leading into the compartment where Tom and his
+friends were talking opened, and one of the workmen said:
+
+"A man outside asking to see you, Mr. Swift."
+
+"Pardon me, but I won't keep you a moment," interrupted a suave voice.
+"I happened to observe your tank, and I took the liberty of entering to
+see--"
+
+"Simpson!" cried Ned Newton, as he recognized the man who had been up
+the tree. "It's that spy, Simpson, Tom!"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XII
+
+Bridging a Gap
+
+
+Such surprise showed both on the face of Ned Newton and that of the man
+who called himself Walter Simpson that it would be hard to say which
+was in the greater degree. For a moment the newcomer stood as if he had
+received all electric shock, and was incapable of motion. Then, as the
+echoes of Ned's voice died away and the young bank clerk, being the
+first to recover from the shock, made a motion toward the unwelcome and
+uninvited intruder, Simpson exclaimed.
+
+"I will not bother now. Some other time will do as well."
+
+Then, with a haste that could be called nothing less than precipitate,
+he made a turn and fairly shot out of the door by which he had entered
+the tank.
+
+"There he goes!" cried Mr. Damon. "Bless my speedometer, but there he
+goes!"
+
+"I'll stop him!" cried Ned. "We've got to find out more about him! I'll
+get him, Tom!"
+
+Tom Swift was not one to let a friend rush alone into what might be
+danger. He realized immediately what his chum meant when he called out
+the identity of the intruder, and, wishing to clear up some of the
+mystery of which he became aware when Schwen was arrested and the paper
+showing a correspondence with this Simpson were found, Tom darted out
+to try to assist in the capture.
+
+"He went this way!" cried Ned, who was visible in the glare of the
+searchlight that still played its powerful beams over the stern of the
+tank, if such an ungainly machine can be said to have a bow and stern.
+"Over this way!"
+
+"I'm with you!" cried Tom. "See if you can pick up that man who just
+ran out of here!" he cried to the operator of the searchlight in the
+elevated observation section of what corresponded to the conning tower
+of a submarine. This was a sort of lookout box on top of the tank,
+containing, among other machines, the searchlight. "Pick him up!" cried
+Tom.
+
+The operator flashed the intense white beam, like a finger of light,
+around in eccentric circles, but though this brought into vivid relief
+the configuration of the field and road near which the tank was
+stalled, it showed no running fugitive. Tom and Ned were
+observed--shadows of black in the glare--by Mary and her friends in the
+tank, but there was no one else.
+
+"Come on!" cried Ned. "We can find him, Tom!"
+
+But this was easier said than done. Even though they were aided by the
+bright light, they caught no glimpse of the man who called himself
+Simpson.
+
+"Guess he got away," said Tom, when he and Ned had circled about and
+investigated many clumps of bushes, trees, stumps and other barriers
+that might conceal the fugitive.
+
+"I guess so," agreed Ned. "Unless he's hiding in what we might call a
+shell crater."
+
+"Hardly that," and Tom smiled. "Though if all goes well the men who
+operate this tank later may be searching for men in real shell holes."
+
+"Is this one going to the other side?" asked Ned, as the two walked
+back toward the tank.
+
+"I hope it will be the first of my new machines on the Western front,"
+Tom answered. "But I've still got to perfect it in some details and
+then take it apart. After that, if it comes up to expectations, we'll
+begin making them in quantities."
+
+"Did you get him?" asked Mr. Damon eagerly, as the two young men came
+back to join Mary and her friends.
+
+"No, he got away," Tom answered.
+
+"Did he try to blow up the tank?" asked Mr. Nestor, who had an abnormal
+fear of explosives. "Was he a German spy?"
+
+"I think he's that, all right," said Ned grimly. "As to his endeavoring
+to blow up Tom's tank, I believe him capable of it, though he didn't
+try it to-night--unless he's planted a time bomb somewhere about, Tom."
+
+"Hardly, I guess," answered the young inventor. "He didn't have a
+chance to do that. Anyhow we won't remain here long.  Now, Ned, what
+about this chap? Is he really the one you saw up in the tree?"
+
+"I not only saw him but I felt him," answered Ned, with a rueful look
+at his fingers. "He stepped right on me. And when he came inside the
+tank to-night I knew him at once. I guess he was as surprised to see me
+as I was to see him."
+
+"But what was his object?" asked Mr. Nestor.
+
+"He must have some connection with my old enemy, Blakeson," answered
+Tom, "and we know he's mixed up with Schwen. From the looks of him I
+should say that this Simpson, as he calls himself, is the directing
+head of the whole business. He looks to be the moneyed man, and the
+brains of the plotters. Blakeson is smart, in a mechanical way, and
+Schwen is one of the best machinists I've ever employed. But this
+Simpson strikes me as being the slick one of the trio."
+
+"But what made him come here, and what did he want?" asked Mary. "Dear
+me! it's like one of those moving picture plots, only I never saw one
+with a tank in it before--I mean a tank like yours, Tom."
+
+"Yes, it is a bit like moving picture--especially chasing Simpson by
+searchlight," agreed the young inventor. "As to what he wanted, I
+suppose he came to spy out some of my secret inventions--dad's and
+mine. He's probably been hiding and sneaking around the works ever
+since we arrested Schwen.  Some of my men have reported seeing
+strangers about, but I have kept Shop Thirteen well guarded.
+
+"However, this fellow may have been waiting outside, and he may have
+followed the tank when we started off a little while ago for the night
+test. Then, when he saw our mishap and noticed that we were stalled, he
+came in, boldly enough, thinking, I suppose, that, as I had never seen
+him, he would take a chance on getting as much information as he could
+in a hurry."
+
+"But he didn't count on Ned's being here!" chuckled Mr. Damon.
+
+"No; that's where he slipped a cog," remarked Mr. Nestor.  "Well, Tom,
+I like your tank, what I've seen of her, but it's getting late and I
+think Mary and I had better be getting back home."
+
+"We'll be ready to start in a little while," Tom said, after a brief
+consultation with one of his men. "Still, perhaps it would be just as
+well if you didn't ride back with me. She may go all right, and then,
+again, she may not.  And as it's dark, and we're in a rough part of the
+field, you might be a bit shaken up. Not that the tank minds it!" the
+young inventor hastened to add "She's got to do her bit over worse
+places than this--much worse--but I want to get her in a little better
+working shape first. So if you don't mind, Mary, I'll postpone your
+initial trip."
+
+"Oh, I don't mind, Tom! I'm so glad you've made this! I want to see the
+war ended, and I think machines like this will help."
+
+"I'll ride back with you, Tom, if you don't mind," put in Ned. "I guess
+a little shaking up won't hurt me."
+
+"All right--stick. We're going to start very soon."
+
+"Well, I'm coming over to-morrow to have a look at it by daylight,"
+said Mr. Damon, as he started toward his car.
+
+"So am I," added Mary. "Please call for me, Mr. Damon."
+
+"I will," he promised.
+
+Mr. Nestor, his daughter, and Mr. Damon went back to the automobile,
+while Ned remained with Tom. In a little while those in the car heard
+once more the rumbling and roaring sound and felt the earth tremble.
+Then, with a flashing of lights, the big, ungainly shape of the tank
+lifted herself out of the little ditch in which she had come to a halt,
+and began to climb back to the road.
+
+Ned Newton stood beside Tom in the control tower of the great tank as
+she started on her homeward way.
+
+"Isn't it wonderful!" murmured Mary, as she saw Tank A lumbering along
+toward the road. "Oh, and to think that human beings made that. To think
+that Tom should know how to build such a wonderful machine!"
+
+"And run it, too, Mary!  That's the point! Make it run!" cried her
+father. "I tell you, that Tom Swift is a wonder!"
+
+"Bless my dictionary, he sure is!" agreed Mr. Damon.
+
+Along the road, back toward the shop whence it had emerged, rumbled the
+tank. The noise brought to their doors inhabitants along the country
+thoroughfare, and some of them were frightened when they saw Tom
+Swift's latest war machine, the details of which they could only guess
+at in the darkness.
+
+"She'll butt over a house if it gets in her path, knock down trees,
+chew up barbed-wire, and climb down into ravines and out again, and go
+over a good-sized stream without a whimper," said Tom, as he steered
+the great machine.
+
+There was little chance then for Ned to see much of the inside
+mechanism of the tank. He observed that Tom, standing in the forward
+tower, steered it very easily by a small wheel or by a lever,
+alternately, and that he communicated with the engine room by means of
+electric signals.
+
+"And she steers by electricity, too," Tom told his friend.  "That was
+one difficulty with the first tanks. They had to be steered by brute
+force, so to speak, and it was a terrific strain on the man in the
+tower. Now I can guide this in two ways: by the electric mechanism
+which swings the trailer wheels to either side, or by varying the speed
+of the two motors that work the caterpillar belts. So if one breaks
+down, I have the other."
+
+"Got any guns aboard her--I mean machine guns?" asked Ned.
+
+"Not yet.  But I'm going to install some. I wanted to get the tank in
+proper working order first. The guns are only incidental, though of
+course they're vitally necessary when she goes into action. I've got
+'em all ready to put in. But first I'm going to try the grippers."
+
+"Oh, you mean the gap-bridgers?" asked Ned.
+
+"That's it," answered Tom. "Look out, we're going over a rough spot
+now."
+
+And they did. Ned was greatly shaken up, and fairly tossed from side to
+side of the steering tower. For the tank contained no springs, except
+such as were installed around the most delicate machinery, and it was
+like riding in a dump cart over a very rough road.
+
+"However, that's part of the game," Tom observed.
+
+Tank A reached her "harbor" safely--in other words, the machine shop
+enclosed by the high fence, inside of which she had been built.
+
+Tom and Ned made some inquiries of Koku and Eradicate as to whether or
+not there had been any unusual sights or sounds about the place. They
+feared Simpson might have come to the shop to try to get possession of
+important drawings or data.
+
+But all had been quiet, Koku reported. Nor had Eradicate seen or heard
+anything out of the ordinary.
+
+"Then I guess we'll lock up and turn in," decided Tom.  "Come over
+to-morrow, Ned."
+
+"I will," promised the young bank clerk. "I want to see more of what
+makes the wheels go round."  And he laughed at his own ingenuousness.
+
+The next day Tom showed his friends as much as they cared to see about
+the workings of the tank. They inspected the powerful gasolene engines,
+saw how they worked the endless belts made of plates of jointed steel,
+which, running over sprocket wheels, really gave the tank its power by
+providing great tractive force.
+
+Any self-propelled vehicle depends for its power, either to move itself
+or to push or to pull, on its tractive force--that is, the grip it can
+get on the ground.
+
+In the case of a bicycle little tractive power is needed, and this is
+provided by the rubber tires, which grip the ground. A locomotive
+depends for its tractive power on its weight pressing on its driving
+wheels, and the more driving wheels there are and the heavier the
+locomotive, the more it can pull, though in that case speed is lost.
+This is why freight locomotives are so heavy and have so many large
+driving wheels. They pull the engine along, and the cars also, by their
+weight pressing on the rails.
+
+The endless steel belts of a tank are, the same as the wheels of a
+locomotive. And the belts, being very broad, which gives them a large
+surface with which to press on the ground, and the tank being very
+heavy, great power to advance is thus obtained, though at the sacrifice
+of speed.  However, Tom Swift had made his tank so that it would do
+about ten miles and more an hour, nearly double the progress obtained
+up to that time by the British machines.
+
+His visitors saw the great motors, they inspected the compact but not
+very attractive living quarters of the crew, for provision had to be
+made for the men to stay in the tank if, perchance, it became stalled
+in No Man's Land, surrounded by the enemy.
+
+The tank was powerfully armored and would be armed. There were a number
+of machine guns to be installed, quick-firers of various types, and in
+addition the tank could carry a number of riflemen.
+
+It was upon the crushing power of the tank, though, that most reliance
+was placed. Thus it could lead the way for an infantry advance through
+the enemy's lines, making nothing of barbed wire that would take an
+artillery fire of several days to cut to pieces.
+
+"And now, Ned," said Tom, about a week after the night test of the
+tank, "I'm going to try what she'll do in bridging a gap."
+
+"Have you got her in shape again?"
+
+"Yes, everything is all right. I've taken out the weak part in the
+steering gear that nearly caused us to run you down, and we're safe in
+that respect now. And I've got the grippers made. It only remains to
+see whether they're strong enough to bear the weight of my little
+baby," and Tom affectionately patted the steel sides of Tank A.
+
+While his men were getting the machine ready for a test out on the
+road, and for a journey across a small stream not far away, Tom told
+his chum about conceiving the idea for the tank and carrying it out
+secretly with the aid of his father and certain workmen.
+
+"That's the reason the government exempted me from enlisting," Tom
+said. "They wanted me to finish this tank. I didn't exactly want to,
+but I considered it my 'bit.' After this I'm going into the army, Ned."
+
+"Glad to hear it, old man. Maybe by that time I'll have this Liberty
+Bond work finished, and I'll go with you. We'll have great times
+together! Have you heard anything more of Simpson, Blakeson and
+Scoundrels?" And Ned laughed as he named this "firm."
+
+"No," answered Tom. "I guess we scared off that slick German spy."
+
+Once more the tank lumbered out along the road. It was a mighty engine
+of war, and inside her rode Tom and Ned. Mary and her father had been
+invited, but the girl could not quite get her courage to the point of
+accepting, nor did Mr. Nestor care to go. Mr. Damon, however, as might
+be guessed, was there.
+
+"Bless my monkey wrench, Tom!" cried the eccentric man, as he noted
+their advance over some rough ground, "are you really going to make
+this machine cross Tinkle Creek on a bridge of steel you carry with
+you?"
+
+"I'm going to try, Mr. Damon."
+
+A little later, after a successful test up and down a small gully, Tank
+A arrived at the edge of Tinkle Creek, a small stream about twenty feet
+wide, not far from Tom's home. At the point selected for the test the
+banks were high and steep.
+
+"If she bridges that gap she'll do anything," murmured Ned, as the tank
+came to a stop on the edge.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIII
+
+Into a Trench
+
+
+Tom cast a hasty glance over the mechanism of the machine before he
+started to cross the stream by the additional aid of the grippers, or
+spanners, as he sometimes called this latest device.
+
+Along each side, in a row of sockets, were two long girders of steel,
+latticed like the main supports of a bridge. They were of peculiar
+triangular construction, designed to support heavy weights, and each
+end was broadly flanged to prevent its sinking too deeply into the
+earth on either side of a gully or a stream.
+
+The grippers also had a sort of clawlike arrangement on either end,
+working on the principle of an "orange-peel" shovel, and these claws
+were designed to grip the earth to prevent slipping.
+
+The spanners would be pulled out from their sockets on the side of the
+tank by means of steel cables, which were operated from within. They
+would be run out across the gap and fastened in place. The tank was
+designed to travel along them to the other side of the gap, and, once
+there, to pick up the girders, slip them back into place on the sides,
+and the engine of war would travel on.
+
+"You are mightily excited, Tom.
+
+"I admit it, Ned. You see, I have not tried the grippers out except on
+a small model. They worked there, but whether they will work in
+practice remains to be seen. Of course, at this stage, I'm willing to
+stake my all on the results, but there is always a half-question until
+the final try-out under practical conditions."
+
+"Well, we'll soon see," said one of the workmen. "Are you ready, Mr.
+Swift?"
+
+"All ready," answered Tom.
+
+Tank A, as she was officially known, had come to a stop, as has been
+said, on the very edge of Tinkle Creek. The banks were fairly solid
+here, and descended precipitously to the water ten feet below. The
+shores were about twenty feet apart.
+
+"Suppose the spanners break when you're halfway over, Tom?" asked his
+chum.
+
+"I don't like to suppose anything of the sort. But if they do, we're
+going down!"
+
+"Can you get up again?"
+
+"That remains to be seen," was the non-committal reply.  "Well, here
+goes, anyhow!"
+
+Going up into the observation tower, which was only slightly raised
+above the roof of the highest part of the tank, Tom gave the signal for
+the motors to start. There was a trembling throughout the whole of the
+vast structure. Tom threw back a lever and Ned, peering from a side
+observation slot, beheld a strange sight.
+
+Like the main arm of some great steam shovel, two long, latticed
+girders of steel shot out from the sides of the tank. They gave a half
+turn, as they were pulled forward by the steel ropes, so that they lay
+with their broader surfaces uppermost.
+
+Straight across the stream they were pulled, their clawlike ends coming
+to a rest on the opposite bank. Then they were tightened into place by
+a backward pull on the operating cables, and Tom, with a sigh of
+relief, announced:
+
+"Well, so far so good!"
+
+"Do we go over now?" inquired Ned.
+
+"Over the top--yes, I hope," answered Tom, with a laugh.  "How about
+you down there?" he called to the engine room through a telephone which
+could only be used when the machinery was not in action, there being
+too much noise to permit the use of any but visual signals after that.
+
+"All right," came back the answer. "We're ready when you are."
+
+"Then here we go!" said Tom. "Hold fast, Ned! Of course there's no real
+telling what will happen, though I believe we'll come out of it alive."
+
+"Cheerful prospect," murmured Ned.
+
+The grippers were now in place. It only remained for the tank to propel
+herself over them, pick them up on the other side of Tinkle Creek, and
+proceed on her course.
+
+Tom Swift hesitated a moment, one hand on the starting lever and the
+other on the steering wheel. Then, with a glance at Ned, half whimsical
+and half resolute, Tom started Tank A on what might prove to be her
+last journey.
+
+Slowly the ponderous caterpillar belts moved around on the sprocket
+wheels. They ground with a clash of steel on the surface of the
+spanners. So long was the tank that the forward end, or the "nose," was
+halfway across the stream before the bottom part of the endless belts
+gripped the latticed bridge.
+
+"If we fall, we'll span the creek, not fall into it," murmured Ned, as
+he looked from the observation slot.
+
+"That's what I counted on," Tom said. "We'll get out, even if we do
+fall."
+
+But Tank A was not destined to fall. In another moment her entire
+weight rested on the novel and transportable bridge Tom Swift had
+evolved. Then, as the gripping ends of the girders sank farther into
+the soil, the tank went on her way.
+
+Slowly, at half speed, she crawled over the steel beams, making
+progress over the creek and as safely above the water as though on a
+regularly constructed bridge.
+
+On and on she went. Now her entire weight was over the middle of the
+temporary structures. If they were going to give way at all, it would
+be at this point. But they did not give. The latticed and triangular
+steel, than which there is no stronger form of construction, held up
+the immense weight of Tank A, and on this novel bridge she propelled
+herself across Tinkle Creek.
+
+"Well, the worst is over," remarked Ned, as he saw the nose of the tank
+project beyond the farthermost bank.
+
+"Yes, even if they collapse now nothing much can happen," Tom answered.
+"It won't be any worse than wallowing down into a trench and out again.
+But I think the spanners will hold."
+
+And hold they did! They held, giving way not a fraction of an inch,
+until the tank was safely across, and then, after a little delay, due
+to a jamming of one of the recovery cables, the spanners were picked
+up, slid into the receiving sockets, and the great war engine was ready
+to proceed again.
+
+"Hurrah!" cried Ned. "She did it, Tom, old man!" and he clapped his
+chum resoundingly on the back.
+
+"She certainly did!" was the answer. "But you needn't knock me apart
+telling me that. Go easy!"
+
+"Bless my apple pie!" cried Mr. Damon, who was as much pleased as
+either of the boys, "this is what I call great!"
+
+"Yes, she did all that I could have hoped for," said Tom.  "Now for the
+next test."
+
+"Bless my collar button! is there another?"
+
+"Just down into a trench and out again." Tom said. "This is
+comparatively simple. It's only what she'll have to do every day in
+Flanders."
+
+The tank waddled on. A duck's sidewise walk is about the only kind of
+motion that can be compared to it. The going was easier now, for it was
+across a big field, and Tom told his friends that at the other end was
+a deep, steep and rocky ravine in which he had decided to give the tank
+another test.
+
+"We'll imagine that ravine is a trench," he said, "and that we've got
+to get on the other side of it. Of course, we won't be under fire, as
+the tanks will be at the front, but aside from that the test will be
+just as severe."
+
+A little later Tank A brought her occupants to the edge of the "trench."
+
+"Now, little girl," cried Tom exultingly, patting the rough steel side
+of his tank, "show them what you can do!"
+
+"Bless my plum pudding!" cried Mr. Damon, "are you really going down
+there, Tom Swift?"
+
+"I am," answered the young inventor. "It won't be dangerous. We'll
+crawl down and crawl out. Hold fast!"
+
+He steered the machine straight for the edge of the ravine, and as the
+nose slipped over and the broad steel belts bit into the earth the tank
+tilted downward at a sickening angle.
+
+She appeared to be making the descent safely, when there was a sudden
+change. The earth seemed to slip out from under the broad caterpillar
+belts, and then the tank moved more rapidly.
+
+"Tom, we're turning over!" shouted Ned. "We're capsizing!"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIV
+
+The Ruined Factory
+
+
+Only too true were the words Ned Newton shouted to his chum. Tank A was
+really capsizing. She had advanced to the edge of the gully and started
+down it, moving slowly on the caterpillar bands of steel. Then had come
+a sudden lurch, caused, as they learned afterward, by the slipping off
+of a great quantity of shale from an underlying shelf of rock.
+
+This made unstable footing for the tank. One side sank lower than the
+other, and before Tom could neutralize this by speeding up one motor
+and slowing down the other the tank slowly turned over on its side.
+
+"But she isn't going to stop here!" cried Ned, as he found himself
+thrown about like a pill in a box. "We're going all the way over!"
+
+"Let her go over!" cried Tom, not that he could stop the tank now. "It
+won't hurt her. She's built for just this sort of thing!"
+
+And over Tank A did go. Over and over she rolled, sidewise, tumbling
+and sliding down the shale sides of the great gully.
+
+"Hold fast! Grab the rings!" cried Tom to his two companions in the
+tower with him. "That's what they're for!"
+
+Ned and Mr. Damon understood. In fact, the latter had already done as
+Tom suggested. The young inventor had read that the British tanks
+frequently turned turtle, and he had this in mind when he made
+provision in his own for the safety of passengers and crew.
+
+As soon as he felt the tank careening, Tom had pressed the signal
+ordering the motors stopped, and now only the force of gravity was
+operating. But that was sufficient to carry the big machine to the
+bottom of the gulch, whither she slid with a great cloud of sand, shale
+and dust.
+
+"Bless my--bless my--" Mr. Damon was murmuring, but he was so flopped
+about, tossed from one side to the other, and it took so much of his
+attention and strength to hold on to the safety ring, that he could not
+properly give vent; to one of his favorite expressions.
+
+But there comes an end to all things, even to the descent of a tank,
+and Tom's big machine soon stopped rolling, sliding, and turning
+improvised somersaults, and rested in a pile of soft shale at the
+bottom of the gully. And the tank was resting on her back!
+
+"We've turned turtle!" cried Ned, as he noted that he was standing on
+what, before, had been the ceiling of the observation tower. But as
+everything was of steel, and as there was no movable furniture, no
+great harm was done. In fact, one could as well walk on the ceiling of
+the tank as on the floor.
+
+"But how are you going to get her right side up?" asked Mr. Damon.
+
+"Oh, turning upside down is only one of the stunts of the game. I can
+right her," was the answer.
+
+"How?" asked Ned.
+
+"Well, she'll right herself if there's ground enough for the steel
+belts to get a grip on.
+
+"But can the motors work upside down?"
+
+"They surely can!" responded Tom. "I made 'em that way on purpose. The
+gasolene feeds by air pressure, and that works standing on its head, as
+well as any other way. It's going to be a bit awkward for the men to
+operate the controls, but we won't be this way long. Before I start to
+right her, though, I want to make sure nothing is broken."
+
+Tom signaled to the engine room, and, as the power was off and the
+speaking tube could be used, he called through it:
+
+"How are you down there?"
+
+"Right-o!" came back the answer from a little Englishman Tom had hired
+because he knew something about the British tanks. "'Twas a bit of
+nastiness for a while, but it won't take us long to get up ag'in."
+
+"That's good!" commented Tom. "I'll come down and have a look at you."
+
+It was no easy matter, with the tank capsized, to get to the main
+engine room, but Tom Swift managed it. To his delight, aside from a
+small break in one of the minor machines, which would not interfere
+with the operation or motive force of the monster war engine,
+everything was in good shape. There was no leak from the gasolene
+tanks, which was one of the contingencies Tom feared, and, as he had
+said, the motors would work upside down as well as right side up, a
+fact he had proved more than once in his Hawk.
+
+"Well, we'll make a start," he told his chief engineer.  "Stand by when
+I give the signal, and we'll try to crawl out of this right side up."
+
+"How are you going to do it?" asked Ned, as his chum crawled back into
+the observation tower.
+
+"Well, I'm going to run her part way up the very steepest part of the
+ravine I can find--the side of a house would do as well if it could
+stand the strain. I'm going to stand the tank right up on her nose, so
+to speak, and tip her over so she'll come right again."
+
+Slowly the tank started off, while Tom and his friends in the
+observation tower anxiously awaited the result of the novel progress.
+Ned and Mr. Damon clung to the safety rings.  Tom put his arm through
+one and hung on grimly, while he used both hands on the steering
+apparatus and the controls.
+
+Of course the trailer wheels were useless in a case of this kind, and
+the tank had to be guided by the two belts run at varying speeds.
+
+"Here we go!" cried Tom, and the tank started. It was a queer sensation
+to be moving upside down, but it did not last very long. Tom steered
+the tank straight at the opposite wall of the ravine, where it rose
+steeply.  One of the broad belts ran up on that side. The other was
+revolved in the opposite direction. Up and up, at a sickening angle,
+went Tank A.
+
+Slowly the tank careened, turning completely over on her longer axis,
+until, as Tom shut off the power, he and his friends once more found
+themselves standing where they belonged--on the floor of the
+observation tower.
+
+"Right side up with care!" quoted Ned, with a laugh. "Well, that was
+some stunt--believe me!"
+
+"Bless my corn plaster, I should say so!" cried Mr. Damon.
+
+"Well, I'm glad it happened," commented Tom. "It showed what she can do
+when she's put to it. Now we'll get out of this ditch."
+
+Slowly the tank lumbered along, proper side up now, the men in the
+motor room reporting that everything was all right, and that with the
+exception of a slight unimportant break, no damage had been done.
+
+Straight for the opposite steep side of the gully Tom directed his
+strange craft, and at a point where the wall of the gulch gave a good
+footing for the steel belts, Tank A pulled herself out and up to level
+ground.
+
+"Well, I'm glad that's over," remarked Ned, with a sigh of relief, as
+the tank waddled along a straight stretch. "And to think of having to
+do that same thing under heavy fire!"
+
+"That's part of the game," remarked Tom. "And don't forget that we can
+fire, too--or we'll be able to when I get the guns in place. They'll
+help to balance the machine better, too, and render her less likely to
+overturn."
+
+Tom considered the test a satisfactory one and, a little later, guided
+his tank back to the shop, where men were set to work repairing the
+little damage done and making some adjustments.
+
+"What's next on the program?" asked Ned of his chum one day about a
+week later. "Any more tests in view?"
+
+"Yes," answered Tom. "I've got the machine guns in place now. We are
+going to try them out and also endeavor to demolish a building and some
+barbed wire. Like to come along?"
+
+"I would!" cried Ned.
+
+A little later the tank was making her way over a field.  Tom pointed
+toward a deserted factory, which had long been partly in ruins, but
+some of the walls of which still stood.
+
+"I'm going to bombard that," he announced, and then try to batter it
+down and roll over it like a Juggernaut. Are you game?"
+
+"Do your worst!" laughed Ned. "Let me man one of the machine guns!"
+
+"All right," agreed Tom. "Concentrate your fire. Make believe you're
+going against the Germans!"
+
+Slowly, but with resistless energy, the tank approached the ruined
+factory.
+
+"Are you sure there's no one in it, Tom?"
+
+"Sure! Blaze away!"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XV
+
+Across Country
+
+
+Ned Newton sighted his machine gun. Tom had showed him how to work it,
+and indeed the young bank clerk had had some practice with a weapon
+like this, erected on a stationary tripod. But this was the first time
+Ned had attempted to fire from the tank while it was moving, and he
+found it an altogether different matter.
+
+"Say, it sure is hard to aim where you want to!" he shouted across to
+Tom, it being necessary, even in the conning tower, where this one gun
+was mounted, to speak loudly to make one's self heard above the hum,
+the roar and rattle of the machinery in the interior of Tank A, and
+below and to the rear of the two young men.
+
+"Well, that's part of the game," Tom answered. "I'm sending her along
+over as smooth ground as I can pick out, but it's rough at best. Still
+this is nothing to what you'll get in Flanders."
+
+"If I get there!" exclaimed Ned grimly. "Well, here goes!" and once
+more he tried to aim the machine gun at the middle of the brick wall of
+the ruined factory.
+
+A moment later there was a rattle and a roar as the quick-firing
+mechanism started, and a veritable hail of bullets swept out at the
+masonry. Tom and Ned could see where they struck, knocking off bits of
+stone, brick and cement.
+
+"Sweep it, Ned! Sweep it!" cried Tom. "Imagine a crowd of Germans are
+charging out at you, and sweep 'em out of the way!"
+
+Obeying this command, the young man moved the barrel of the machine gun
+from side to side and slightly up and down.  The effect was at once
+apparent. The wall showed spatter-marks of the bullets over a wider
+area, and had a body of Teutons been before the factory, or even inside
+it, many of them would have been accounted for, since there were
+several holes in the wall through which Ned's bullets sped, carrying
+potential death with them.
+
+"That's better!" shouted Tom. "That'll do the business!  Now I'm going
+to open her up, Ned!"
+
+"Open her up?" cried the young bank clerk, as he ceased firing.
+
+"Yes; crack the wall of that factory as I would a nut!  Watch me take
+it on high--that is, if the old tank doesn't go back on me!"
+
+"You mean you're going to ride right over that building, Tom?"
+
+"I mean I'm going to try! If Tank A does as I expect her to, she'll
+butt into that wall, crush it down by force and weight, and then waddle
+over the ruins. Watch!"
+
+Tom sent some signals to the motor room. At once there was noticed an
+increase in the vibrations of the ponderous machine.
+
+"They're giving her more speed," said Tom. "And I guess we'll need it."
+
+Straight for the old factory went Tank A. In spite of its ruined
+condition, some of the walls were still firm, and seemed to offer a big
+obstacle to even so powerful an engine of war as this monstrous tank.
+
+"Get ready now, Ned," Tom advised. "And when I crack her open for you
+cut loose with the machine gun again. This gun is supposed to fire
+straight ahead and a little to either side. There are other guns at
+left and right, amidships, as I might say, and there's also one in the
+stern, to take care of any attack from that direction.
+
+"The men in charge of them will fire at the same time you do, and it
+will be as near like a real attack as we can make it--with the
+exception of not being fired back at. And I wouldn't mind if such were
+the case, for I don't believe anything, outside of heavy artillery,
+will have any effect on this tank."
+
+Tank A was now almost at her maximum speed as she approached closer to
+the deserted factory. Ned and Tom, in the conning tower, saw the
+largest of the remaining walls looming before them. Straight at it
+rushed the ponderous machine, and the next moment there came a shock
+which almost threw Ned away from his gun and back against the steel
+wall behind him.
+
+"Hold fast!" cried Tom. "Here we go! Fire. Ned! Fire!"
+
+There was a crash as the blunt nose of the great war tank hit the wall
+and crumpled it up.
+
+A great hole was made in the masonry, and what was not crushed under
+the caterpillar belts of the tank fell in a shower of bricks, stone and
+cement on top of the machine.
+
+Like a great hail storm the broken masonry pelted the steel sides and
+top of the tank. But she felt them no more than does an alligator the
+attacks of a colony of ants.  Right on through the dust the tank
+crushed her way. Added to the noise of the falling walls was that of
+the machine guns, which were barking away like a kennel of angry hounds
+eager to be unleashed at the quarry.
+
+Ned kept his gun going until the heat of it warned him to stop and let
+the barrel cool, or he knew he would jam some of the mechanism. The
+other guns were firing, too, and the bullets sent up little spatter
+points of dust as they hit.
+
+"Great jumping hoptoads!" yelled Ned above the riot of racket outside
+and inside. "Feel her go, Tom!"
+
+"Yes, she's just chewing it up, all right!" cried the young inventor,
+his eyes shining with delight.
+
+The tank had actually burst her way through the solid wall of the old
+factory, permission to complete the demolition of which Tom had secured
+from the owners. Then the great machine kept right on. She fairly
+"walked" over the piles of masonry, dipped down into what had been a
+basement, now partly filled with debris, and kept on toward another
+wall.
+
+"I'm going through that, too!" cried Tom.
+
+And he did, knocking it down and sending his tank over the piled-up
+ruins, while the machine guns barked, coughed and spluttered, as Ned
+and the others inside the tank held back the firing levers.
+
+Right through the opposite wall, as through the one she had already
+demolished, the tank careened on her way, to emerge, rather battered
+and dust-covered, on the other side of what was left of the factory.
+And there was not much of it left. Tank A had well-nigh completed its
+demolition.
+
+"If there'd been a nest of Germans in there," said Tom, as he brought
+the machine to a stop in a field beyond the factory, "they'd have
+gotten out in a hurry."
+
+"Or taken the consequences," added Ned, as he wiped the sweat from his
+powder-blackened and oil-smeared face. "I certainly kept my gun going."
+
+"Yes, and so did the others," reported one of the mechanics, as he
+emerged from the "cubby hole," where the great motors had now ceased
+their hum and roar.
+
+"How'd she stand it?" asked Tom.
+
+"All right inside," answered the man. "I was wondering how she looks
+from the outside."
+
+"Oh, it would take more than that to damage her," said Tom, with
+pardonable pride. "That was pie for her! Solid concrete, which she may
+have to chew up on the Western front, may present another kind of
+problem, but I guess she'll be able to master that too. Well, let's
+have a look."
+
+He and Ned, with some of the crew and gunners, went outside the tank.
+She was a sorry-looking sight, very different from the trim appearance
+she had presented when she first left the shop. Bricks, bits of stone,
+and piles of broken cement in chunks and dust lay thick on her broad
+back. But no real damage had been done, as a hasty examination showed.
+
+"Well, are you satisfied, Tom?" asked his chum.
+
+"Yes, and more," was the answer. "Of course this wasn't the hardest
+test to which she could have been submitted, but it will do to show
+what punishment she can stand. Being shot at from big guns is another
+matter. I'll have to wait until she gets to Flanders to see what effect
+that will have. But I know the kind of armor skin she has, and that
+doesn't worry me. There's one thing more I want to do while I have her
+out now."
+
+"What's that?" asked Ned.
+
+"Take her for a long trip cross country, and then shove her through
+some extra heavy barbed wire. I'm certain she'll chew that up, but I
+want to see it actually done. So now, if you want to come along, Ned,
+we'll go cross country."
+
+"I'm with you!"
+
+"Get inside then. We'll let the dust and masonry blow and rattle off as
+we go along."
+
+The tank started off across the fields, which stretched for many miles
+on either side of the deserted factory, when suddenly Ned, who was
+again at his post in the observation tower, called:
+
+"Look, Tom!"
+
+"What at?"
+
+"That corner of the factory which is still standing. Look at those men
+coming out and running away!"
+
+Ned pointed, and his chum, leaning over from the steering wheel and
+controls, gave a start of surprise as he saw three figures clambering
+down over the broken debris and making their way out of what had once
+been a doorway.
+
+"Did they come out of the factory, Ned?"
+
+"They surely did! And unless I miss my guess they were in it, or around
+it, when we went through like a fellow carrying the football over the
+line for a touchdown."
+
+"In there when the tank broke open things?"
+
+"I think so. I didn't see them before, but they certainly ran out as we
+started away."
+
+"This has got to be looked into!" decided Tom. "Come on, Ned! It may be
+more of that spy business!"
+
+Tom Swift stopped the tank and prepared to get out.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVI
+
+The Old Barn
+
+
+"There's no use chasing after 'em, Tom," observed Ned, as the two chums
+stood side by side outside the tank and gazed after the three men
+running off across the fields as fast as they could go. "They've got
+too much a start of us."
+
+"I guess you're right, Ned," agreed Tom. "And we can't very well pursue
+them in the tank. She goes a bit faster than anything of her build, but
+a running man is more than a match for her in a short distance. If I
+had the Hawk here, there'd be a different story to tell."
+
+"Well, seeing that you haven't," replied Ned, "suppose we let them
+go--which we'll have to, whether we want to or not--and see where they
+were hiding and if they left any traces behind."
+
+"That's a good idea," returned Tom.
+
+The place whence the men had emerged was a portion of the old factory
+farthest removed from the walls the tank had crunched its way through.
+Consequently, that part was the least damaged.
+
+Tom and Ned came to what seemed to have been the office of the building
+when the factory was in operation. A door, from which most of the glass
+had been broken, hung on one hinge, and, pushing this open, the two
+chums found themselves in a room that bore evidences of having been the
+bookkeeper's department. There were the remains of cabinet files, and a
+broken letter press, while in one corner stood a safe.
+
+"Maybe they were cracking that," said Ned.
+
+"They were wasting their time if they were," observed Tom, "for the
+combination is broken--any one can open it," and he demonstrated this
+by swinging back one of the heavy doors.
+
+A quantity of papers fell out, or what had been papers, for they were
+now torn and the edges charred, as if by some recent fire.
+
+"They were burning these!" cried Ned. "You can smell the smoke yet.
+They came here to destroy some papers, and we surprised them!"
+
+"I believe you're right," agreed Tom. "The ashes are still warm." And
+he tested them with his hand. "They wanted to destroy something, and
+when they found we were here they clapped the blazing stuff into the
+safe, thinking it would burn there.
+
+"But the closing of the doors cut off the supply of air and the fire
+smouldered and went out. It burned enough so that it didn't leave us
+very much in the way of evidence, though," went on Tom ruefully, as he
+poked among the charred scraps.
+
+"Maybe you can read some of 'em," suggested Ned.
+
+"Part of the writing is in German," Tom said, as he looked over the
+mass.  "I don't believe it would be worth while to try it.  Still, I
+can save it.  Here, I'll sweep the stuff into a box, and if we get a
+chance we can try to patch it together," and finding a broken box in
+what had been the factory office the young inventor managed to get into
+it the charred remains of the papers.
+
+A further search failed to reveal anything that would be useful in the
+way of evidence to determine what object the three men could have had
+in hiding in the ruins, and Tom and Ned returned to the tank.
+
+"What do you think about them, Tom?" asked Ned, as they were about to
+start off once more for the cross-country test.
+
+"Well, it seems like a silly thing to say--as if I imagined my tank was
+all there was in this part of the country to make trouble--but I
+believe those men had some connection with Simpson and with that spy
+Schwen!"
+
+"I agree with you!" exclaimed Ned. "And I think if we could get head or
+tail of those burned papers we'd find that there was some
+correspondence there between the man I saw up the tree and the workman
+you had arrested."
+
+"Too bad we weren't a bit quicker," commented Tom. "They must have been
+in the factory when we charged it--probably came there to be in
+seclusion while they talked, plotted and planned. They must have been
+afraid to go out when the tank was walking through the walls."
+
+"I guess that's it," agreed Ned. "Did you recognize any of the men,
+Tom?"
+
+"No, I didn't see 'em as soon as you did, and when they were running
+they had their backs toward me. Was Simpson one?"
+
+"I can't be sure. If one was, I guess he'll think we are keeping pretty
+closely after him, and he may give this part of the country a wide
+berth."
+
+"I hope he does," returned Tom. "Do you know, Ned, I have an idea that
+these fellows--Schwen Simpson, and those back of them, including
+Blakeson--are trying to get hold of the secret of my tank for the
+Germans."
+
+"I shouldn't be surprised. But you've got it finished now, haven't you?
+They can't get your patents away from you."
+
+"No, it isn't that," said Tom. "There are certain secrets about the
+mechanism of the tank--the way I've increased the speed and power, the
+use of the spanners, and things like that--which would be useful for
+the Germans to know. I wouldn't want them to find out these secrets,
+and they could do that if they were in the tank a while, or had her in
+their possession."
+
+"They couldn't do that, Tom--get possession of her--could they?"
+
+"There's no telling. I'm going to be doubly on the watch.  That fellow
+Blakeson is in the pay of the plotters, I believe. He has a big machine
+shop, and he might try to duplicate my tank if he knew how she was made
+inside."
+
+"I see! That's why he was inquiring about a good machinist, I suppose,
+though he'll be mightily surprised when he learns it was you he was
+talking to the time your Hawk met with the little mishap."
+
+"Yes, I guess maybe he will be a bit startled," agreed Tom. "But I
+haven't seen him around lately, and maybe he has given up."
+
+"Don't trust to that!" warned Ned.
+
+The tank was now progressing easily along over fields, hesitating not
+at small or big ditches, flow going uphill and now down, across a
+stretch of country thinly settled, where even fences were a rarity.
+When they came to wooden ones Tom had the workmen get out and take down
+the bars. Of course the tank could have crushed them like toothpicks,
+but Tom was mindful of the rights of farmers, and a broken fence might
+mean strayed cows, or the letting of cattle into a field of grain or
+corn, to the damage of both cattle and fodder.
+
+"There's a barbed-wire fence," observed Ned, as he pointed to one off
+some distance across the field. "Why don't you try demolishing that?"
+
+"Oh, it would be too easy!  Besides, I don't want the bother of putting
+it up again. When I make the barbed-wire test I want some set up on
+heavy posts, and with many strands, as it is in Flanders. Even that
+won't stop the tank, but I'm anxious to see how she breaks up the wire
+and supports--just what sort of a breach she makes. But I have a
+different plan in mind now.
+
+"I'm going to try to find a wooden building we can charge as we did the
+masonry factory. I want to smash up a barn, and I'll have to pick out
+an old one for choice, for in these war days we must conserve all we
+can, even old barns."
+
+"What's the idea of using a barn, Tom?"
+
+"Well, I want to test the tank under all sorts of conditions--the same
+conditions she'll meet with on the Western front. We've proved that a
+brick and stone factory is no obstacle."
+
+"Then how could a flimsy wooden barn be?"
+
+"Well, that's just it. I don't think that it will, but it may be that a
+barn when smashed will get tangled up in the endless steel belts, and
+clog them so they'll jam. That's the reason I want to try a wooden
+structure next."
+
+"Do you know where to find one?"
+
+"Yes; about a mile from here is one I've had my eyes on ever since I
+began constructing the tank. I don't know who owns it, but it's such a
+ramshackle affair that he can't object to having it knocked into
+kindling wood for him. If he does holler, I can pay him for the damage
+done. So now for a barn, Ned, unless you're getting tired and want to
+go back?"
+
+"I should say not! Speaking of barns, I'm with you till the cows come
+home! Want any more machine gun work?"
+
+"No, I guess not. This barn isn't particularly isolated, and the
+shooting might scare horses and cattle. We can smash things up without
+the guns."
+
+The tank was going on smoothly when suddenly there was a lurch to one
+side, and the great machine quickly swung about in a circle.
+
+"Hello!" cried Ned. "What's up now? Some new stunt?"
+
+"Must be something wrong," answered the young inventor.  "One of the
+belts has stopped working. That's why we're going in a circle."
+
+He shut off the power and hastened down to the motor room.  There he
+found his men gathered about one of the machines.
+
+"What's wrong?" asked Tom quickly.
+
+"Just a little accident," replied the head machinist. "One of the boys
+dropped his monkey wrench and it smashed some spark plugs. That caused
+a short circuit and the left hand motor went out of business. We'll
+have her fixed in a jiffy."
+
+Tom looked relieved, and the machinist was as good as his word. In a
+few minutes the tank was moving forward again. It crossed out to the
+road, to the great astonishment of some farmers, and the fright of
+their horses, and then Tom once more swung her into the fields.
+
+"There's the old barn I spoke of," he remarked to Ned.  "It's almost as
+bad a ruin as the factory was. But we'll have a go at it."
+
+"Going to smash it?" asked Ned.
+
+"I'm going right through it!" Tom cried.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVII
+
+Veiled Threats
+
+
+Like some prehistoric monster about to charge down upon another of its
+kind, Tank A, under the guidance of Tom Swift, reeled and bumped her
+way over the uneven fields toward the old barn. Within the monster of
+steel and iron were raucous noises: the clang and clatter of the
+powerful gasolene motors; the rattle of the wheels and gears; all
+making so much noise that, in the engine room proper, not a word could
+be heard. Every order had to be given by signs, and Tom sent his
+electric signals from the conning tower in the same way. When running
+at full speed, it was almost impossible, even in the tower, which was
+some distance removed from the engine room, to hear voices unless the
+words were shouted.
+
+"Why don't you go at it?" cried Ned to his "friend, who was peering
+through the observation slot in the tower."
+
+"I'm getting in good position," Tom answered. "Or rather, the worst
+position I can find. I want to give the tank a good try-out, and I'm
+going at the barn on the assumption that this is in enemy country and
+that I can't pick and choose my advance.
+
+"So I want to come up through that gully, and go at the barn from the
+long way. That will be the worst possible way I could do it, and if old
+Tank A stands the gaff I'll know she's a little bit nearer all right."
+
+"I think she's all right as she is!" asserted Ned in a yell, for just
+then Tom signaled for more speed, and the consequent increase in the
+rattling and banging noises made it correspondingly difficult for talk
+to be heard.
+
+The big machine now tipped into the little gully spoken of by Tom. This
+meant a dip downward, and then a climb out again and an attack on the
+barn going uphill and at an angle. But, as the young inventor had said,
+it would make a severe test and that was what he wanted to give his
+ponderous machine.
+
+Ned grasped one of the safety rings, as, with a reel to one side,
+almost as if it were going to capsize, the tank rumbled on. Tom cast a
+half-amused smile at his chum, and then threw over the guiding lever.
+
+The tank rolled down into the gully. It was rough and filled with
+stones and boulders, some of considerable size.  But Tank A made less
+than nothing even of the largest rocks.  Some she crushed beneath her
+steel belts. Others she simply "walked" over, smashing them down into
+the soil.
+
+Now the big machine reached the bottom of the gulch and started up the
+sides, which, though not as steep as the trench in which she had
+capsized, still were not easy going.
+
+"Now for it!" cried Tom, as he signaled for full speed.
+
+Up climbed the tank. Now she was halfway. A moment later, and she was
+at the top, and then a forward careening motion told that she had
+passed over the summit and was ready for the attack proper.
+
+Ned gave a quick glance through the slot nearest him. He had a glimpse
+of the barn, and then he saw something else.  This was the sight of a
+man running away from the dilapidated structure--a man who glanced
+toward the tank with a face that showed great fright.
+
+"Stop! Stop!" yelled Ned. "There may be folks in there, Tom! I just saw
+a man run out!"
+
+"All right!" Tom cried, though Ned could hardly hear him.  "Tell me
+when we get on the other side! We're going through now!"
+
+"But," shouted Ned, "don't you understand? I saw a man come out of
+there! Maybe there's more inside! Wait, Tom, and--"
+
+But it was too late. The next instant there was a smashing, grinding,
+splintering crash, a noise as of a thunder-clap, and Tank A fairly ate
+her way through the old barn as a rat might eat his way into a soft
+cheese, only infinitely more quickly.
+
+On and on and through and through went the tank, knocking beams,
+boards, rafters and timbers hither and thither.  Minding not at all the
+weight of great beams on her back, caring nothing for those that got in
+the way of her steel belts, heeding not the wall of wood that reared
+itself before her in a barrier of splinters and slivers, Tank A went on
+and on until finally, with another grinding crash, as she smashed her
+way through the farthermost wall, the great engine of war emerged on
+the other side and came panting into the field, dragging with her a
+part of the structure clinging to her steel sides.
+
+"Well," cried Tom, with a laugh, as he signaled for the power to be
+shut off, thereby making it possible for ordinary conversation to be
+heard, "I guess we didn't do a thing to that barn!"
+
+"Not much left of it, for a fact, Tom," agreed Ned, as he looked
+through the after observation slots at the ruin in the rear. "But
+didn't you hear what I was saying?"
+
+"I heard you yelling something to me, but I was too anxious to go at it
+as fast as I could. I didn't want to stop then. What was the trouble?"
+
+"That's what I'm afraid of, Tom--there may be trouble.  Just before you
+tackled the barn for a knockdown, instead of a touchdown, as we might
+say, I saw a man running out of it.  I thought if there was one there,
+perhaps there might be more. That's why I yelled to you."
+
+"A man running from the old barn!" cried Tom. "Whew!" he whistled. "I
+wish I had seen him. But, Ned, if one ran out of harm's way, any others
+who might possibly be in there would do the same thing, wouldn't they?"
+
+"I hope so," returned Ned doubtfully.
+
+"Great Scott!" cried Tom, as the possibility was borne home to him. "If
+anything has happened--"
+
+He sprang for the door of the tower and threw over the catch, springing
+out, followed by Ned. From the engine room of the armored tank the men
+came, smiles of gratification on their faces.
+
+"We certainly busted her wide open, Mr. Swift!" called the chief
+mechanician.
+
+"Yes," assented the young inventor; but there was not as much
+gratification in his voice as there should have been.  "There isn't
+much of a barn left, but Ned thinks he saw some one run out, and if
+there was one man there may have been more. We'd better have a look
+around, I guess."
+
+The engineering force exchanged glances. Then Hank Baldwin, who was in
+charge of the motors, said:
+
+"Well, if there was anybody in that barn when we chewed her up I
+wouldn't give much for his hide, German or not."
+
+"Let us hope no one was in there," murmured Tom.
+
+They turned to go back to the demolished structure, fear and worry in
+their hearts. No more complete ruin could be imagined. If a cyclone had
+swept over the barn it could not have more certainly leveled it. And,
+not only was it leveled, crushed down in the center by the great weight
+of the tank, but the boards and beams were broken into small pieces.
+Parts of them clung in long, grotesque splinters to the endless steel
+belts.
+
+"I don't see how we're going to find anybody if he's in there,"
+remarked Hank.
+
+"We'll have to," insisted Tom. "We can look about and call. If any one
+is there he may have been off to one side or to one end, and be
+protected under the debris. I wish I had heard you call, Ned."
+
+"I wish you had, Tom. I yelled for all I was worth."
+
+"I know you did. I was too eager to go on, and, at the same time, I
+really couldn't stop well on that hill. I had to keep on going. Well,
+now to learn the worst!"
+
+They walked back toward the demolished barn. But they had not reached
+it when from around the corner swung a big automobile. In it were
+several men, but chief, in vision at least, among them, was a burly
+farmer who had a long, old-fashioned gun in his hands. On his bearded
+face was a grim look as he leaped out before the machine had fairly
+stopped, and called:
+
+"Hold on, there! I guess you've done damage enough! Now you can pay for
+it or take the consequences!" And he motioned to Tom, Ned, and the
+others to halt.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVIII
+
+Ready for France
+
+
+Such was the reaction following the crashing through of the barn,
+coupled with the sudden appearance of the men in the automobile and the
+threat of the farmer, that, for the moment, Tom, Ned, or their
+companions from the tank could say nothing. They just stood staring at
+the farmer with the gun, while he grimly regarded them. It was Tom who
+spoke first.
+
+"What's the idea?" asked the young inventor. "Why don't you want us to
+look through the ruins?"
+
+"You'll learn soon enough!" was the grim answer.
+
+But Tom was not to be put off with undecided talk.
+
+"If there's been an accident," he said, "we're sorry for it. But delay
+may be dangerous. If some one is hurt--"
+
+"You'll be hurt, if I have my way about it!" snapped the farmer, "and
+hurt in a place where it always tells. I mean your pocketbook! That's
+the kind of a man I am--practical."
+
+"He means if we've killed or injured any one we'll have to pay
+damages," whispered Ned to Tom. "But don't agree to anything until you
+see your lawyer. That's a hot one, though, trying to claim damages
+before he knows who's hurt!"
+
+"I've got to find out more about this," Tom answered. He started to
+walk on.
+
+"No you don't!" cried the farmer, with a snarl. "As I said, you folks
+has done damage enough with your threshing machine, or whatever you
+call it. Now you've got to pay!"
+
+"We are willing to," said Tom, as courteously as he could.  "But first
+we want to know who has been hurt, or possibly killed. Don't you think
+it best to get them to a doctor, and then talk about money damages
+later?"
+
+"Doctor? Hurt?" cried the farmer, the other men in the auto saying
+nothing. "Who said anything about that?"
+
+"I thought," began Tom, "that you--"
+
+"I'm talkin' about damages to my barn!" cried the farmer.  "You had no
+right to go smashing it up this way, and you've got to pay for it, or
+my name ain't Amos Kanker!"
+
+"Oh!" and there was great relief in Tom's voice. "Then we haven't
+killed any one?"
+
+"I don't know what you've done," answered the farmer, and his voice was
+not a pleasant one. "I'm sure I can't keep track of all your ructions.
+All I know is that you've ruined my barn, and you've got to pay for it,
+and pay good, too!"
+
+"For that old ramshackle?" cried Ned.
+
+"Hush!" begged Tom, in a low voice. "I'm willing to pay, Ned, for the
+sake of having proved what my tank could do.  I'm only too glad to
+learn no one was hurt. Was there?" he asked, turning to the farmer.
+
+"Was there what?"
+
+"Was there anybody in your barn?"
+
+"Not as I knows on," was the grouchy answer. "A man who saw your
+machine coming thought she was headed for my building, and he run and
+told me. Then some friends of mine brought me here in their machine. I
+tell you I've got all the evidence I need ag'in you, an' I'm going to
+have damages! That barn was worth three thousand dollars if it was
+worth a cent, and--"
+
+"This matter can easily be settled," said Tom, trying to keep his
+temper. "My name is Swift, and--"
+
+"Don't get swift with me, that's all I ask!" and the farmer laughed
+grimly at his clumsy joke.
+
+"I'll do whatever is right," Tom said, with dignity. "I live over near
+Shopton, and if you want to send your lawyer to see mine, why--"
+
+"I don't believe in lawyers!" broke in the farmer. "All they think of
+is to get what they can for theirselves. And I can do that myself. I'll
+get it out of you before you leave, or, anyhow, before you take your
+contraption away," and he glanced at the tank.
+
+The same suspicion came at once to Tom and Ned, and the latter gave
+voice to it when he murmured in a low voice to his chum:
+
+"This is a frame-up--a scheme, Tom.  He doesn't care a rap for the
+barn. It's some of that Blakeson's doing, to make trouble for you."
+
+"I believe you!" agreed Tom. "Now I know what to do."
+
+He looked toward the collapsed barn, as if making a mental computation
+of its value, and then turned toward the farmer.
+
+"I'm very sorry," said Tom, "if I have caused any trouble.  I wanted to
+test my machine out on a wooden structure, and I picked your barn. I
+suppose I should have come to you first, but I did not want to waste
+time. I saw the barn was of practically no value."
+
+"No value!" broke in the farmer. "Well, I'll show you, young man, that
+you can't play fast and loose with other people's property and not
+settle!"
+
+"I'm perfectly willing to, Mr. Kanker. I could see that the barn was
+almost ready to fall, and I had already determined, before sending my
+tank through it, to pay the owner any reasonable sum. I am willing to
+do that now."
+
+"Well, of course if you're so ready to do that," replied the farmer,
+and Ned thought he caught a glance pass between him and one of the men
+in the auto, "if you're ready to do that, just hand over three thousand
+dollars, and we'll call it a day's work. It's really worth more, but
+I'll say three thousand for a quick settlement."
+
+"Why, this barn," cried Ned, "isn't worth half that! I know something
+about real estate values, for our bank makes loans on farms around
+here--"
+
+"Your bank ain't made me no loans, young man!" snapped Mr. Kanker. "I
+don't need none. My place is free and clear! And three thousand dollars
+is the price of my barn you've knocked to smithereens. If you don't
+want to pay, I'll find a way to make you. And I'll hold you, or your
+tank, as you call it, security for my damages! You can take your choice
+about that."
+
+"You can't hold us!" cried Tom. "Such things aren't done here!"
+
+"Well, then, I'll hold your tank!" cried the farmer. "I guess it'll
+sell for pretty nigh onto what you owe me, though what it's good for I
+can't see. So you pay me three thousand dollars or leave your machine
+here as security."
+
+"That's the game!" whispered Ned. "There's some plot here.  They want
+to get possession of your tank, Tom, and they've seized on this chance
+to do it."
+
+"I believe you," agreed the young inventor. "Well, they'll find that
+two can play at that game. Mr. Kanker," he went on, "it is out of the
+question to claim your barn is worth three thousand dollars."
+
+"Oh, is it?" sneered the farmer. "Well, I didn't ask you to come here
+and make kindling wood of it! That was your doings, and you've had your
+fun out of it. Now you can pay the piper, and I'm here to make you
+pay!" And he brought the gun around in a menacing manner.
+
+"He's right, in a way," said Ned to his chum. "We should have secured
+his permission first. He's got us in a corner, and almost any jury of
+farmers around here, after they heard the story of the smashed barn,
+would give him heavy damages.  It isn't so much that the barn is worth
+that as it is his property rights that we've violated. A farmer's barn
+is his castle, so to speak."
+
+"I guess you're right," agreed Tom, with a rather rueful face. "But I'm
+not going to hand him over three thousand dollars. In fact, I haven't
+that much with me."
+
+"Oh, well, I don't suppose he'd want it all in cash."
+
+But, it appeared, that was just what the farmer wanted. He went over
+all his arguments again, and it could not be denied that he had the law
+on his side. As he rightly said, Tom could not expect to go about the
+country, "smashing up barns and such like," without being willing to
+pay.
+
+"Well, what you going to do?" asked the farmer at last. "I can't stay
+here all day. I've got work to do. I can't go around smashing barns. I
+want three thousand dollars, or I'll hold your contraption for
+security."
+
+This last he announced with more conviction after he had had a talk
+with one of the men in the automobile. And it was this consultation
+that confirmed Tom and Ned in their belief that the whole thing was a
+plot, growing out of Tom's rather reckless destruction of the barn; a
+plot on the part of Blakeson and his gang. That they had so speedily
+taken advantage of this situation carelessly given them was only
+another evidence of how closely they were on Tom's trail.
+
+"That man who ran out of the barn must have been the same one who was
+in the factory," whispered Ned to his chum. "He probably saw us coming
+this way and ran on ahead to have the farmer all primed in readiness.
+Maybe he knew you had planned to ram the barn."
+
+"Maybe he did. I've had it in mind for some time, and spoken to some of
+my men about it."
+
+"More traitors in camp, then, I'm afraid, Tom. We'll have to do some
+more detective work. But let's get this thing settled. He only wants to
+hold your tank, and that will give the man, into whose hands he's
+playing, a chance to inspect her."
+
+"I believe you. But if I have to leave her here I'll leave some men on
+guard inside. It won't be any worse than being stalled in No Man's
+Land. In fact, it won't be so bad. But I'll do that rather than be
+gouged."
+
+"No, Tom, you won't. If you did leave some one on guard, there'd be too
+much chance of their getting the best of him.  You must take your tank
+away with you."
+
+"But how can I? I can't put up three thousand dollars in cash, and he
+says he won't take a check for fear I'll stop payment. I see his game,
+but I don't see how to block it."
+
+"But I do!" cried Ned.
+
+"What!" exclaimed Tom. "You don't mean to say, even if you do work in a
+bank, that you've got three thousand in cash concealed about your
+person, do you?"
+
+"Pretty nearly, Tom, or what is just as good. I have that amount in
+Liberty Bonds. I was going to deliver them to a customer who has
+ordered them but not paid for them. They are charged up against me at
+the bank, but I'm good for that, I guess. Now I'll loan you these
+bonds, and you can give them to this cranky old farmer as security for
+damages.  Mind, don't make them as a payment. They're simply
+security--the same as when an autoist leaves his car as bail. Only we
+don't want to leave our car, we'd rather have it with us," and he
+looked over at the tank, bristling with splinters from the demolished
+barn.
+
+"Well, I guess that's the only way out," said Tom. "Lucky you had those
+bonds with you. I'll take them, and give you a receipt for them. In
+fact, I'll buy them from you and let the farmer hold them as security."
+
+And this, eventually, was done. After much hemming and hawing and
+consultation with the men in the automobile, Mr. Kanker said he would
+accept the bonds. It was made clear that they were not in payment of
+any damages, though Tom admitted he was liable for some, but that Uncle
+Sam's war securities were only a sort of bail, given to indicate that,
+some time later, when a jury had passed on the matter, the young
+inventor would pay Mr. Kanker whatever sum was agreed upon as just.
+
+"And now," said Tom, as politely as he could under the circumstances,
+"I suppose we will be allowed to depart."
+
+"Yes, take your old shebang offen my property!" ordered Mr. Kanker,
+with no very good grace. "And if you go knocking down any more barns,
+I'll double the price on you!"
+
+"I guess he's a bit roiled because he couldn't hold the tank," observed
+Ned to Tom, as they walked together to the big machine. "His
+friends--our enemies--evidently hoped that was what could be done. They
+want to get at some of the secrets."
+
+"I suppose so," conceded Tom. "Well, we're out of that, and I've proved
+all I want to."
+
+"But I haven't--quite," said Ned.
+
+"What's missing?" asked his chum, as they got back in the tank.
+
+"Well, I'd like to make sure that the fellow who ran from the factory
+was the same one I saw sneaking out of the barn.  I believe he was, and
+I believe that Simpson's crowd engineered this whole thing."
+
+"I believe so, too," Tom agreed. "The next thing is to prove it. But
+that will keep until later. The main thing is we've got our tank, and
+now I'm going to get her ready for France."
+
+"Will she be in shape to ship soon?" asked Ned.
+
+"Yes, if nothing more happens. I've got a few little changes and
+adjustments to make, and then she'll be ready for the last test--one of
+long distance endurance mainly.  After that, apart she comes to go to
+the front, and we'll begin making 'em in quantities here and on the
+other side."
+
+"Good!" cried Ned. "Down with the Huns!"
+
+Without further incident of moment they went back to the headquarters
+of the tank, and soon the great machine was safe in the shop where she
+had been made.
+
+The next two weeks were busy ones for Tom, and in them he put the
+finishing touches on his machine, gave it a long test over fields and
+through woods, until finally he announced:
+
+"She's as complete as I can make her!  She's ready for France!"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIX
+
+Tom is Missing
+
+
+With Tom Swift's announcement, that his tank was at last ready for real
+action, came the end of the long nights and days given over on the part
+of his father, himself, and his men to the development and refinement
+of the machine, to getting plans and specifications ready so that the
+tanks could be made quickly and in large numbers in this country and
+abroad and to the actual building of Tank A. Now all this was done at
+last, and the first completed tank was ready to be shipped.
+
+Meanwhile the matter of the demolished barn had been left for legal
+action. Tom and Ned, it developed, had done the proper thing under the
+circumstances, and they were sure they had foiled at least one plan of
+the plotters.
+
+"But they won't stop there," declared Ned, who had constituted himself
+a sort of detective. "They're lying back and waiting for another
+chance, Tom."
+
+"Well, they won't get it at my tank!" declared the young inventor, with
+a smile. "I've finished testing her on the road. All I need do now is
+to run her around this place if I have to; and there won't be much need
+of that before she's taken apart for shipment. Did you get any trace of
+Simpson or the men who are with him--Blakeson and the others?"
+
+"No," Ned answered. "I've been nosing around about that farmer, Kanker,
+but I can't get anything out of him. For all that, I'm sure he was
+egged on to his hold-up game by some of your enemies. Everything points
+that way."
+
+"I think you're right," agreed Tom. "Well, we won't bother any more
+about him. When the trial comes on, I'll pay what the jury says is
+right. It'll be worth it, for I proved that Tank A can eat up brick,
+stone or wooden buildings and not get indigestion. That's what I set
+out to do. So don't worry any more about it, Ned."
+
+"I'm not worrying, but I'd like to get the best of those fellows. The
+idea of asking three thousand dollars for a shell of a barn!"
+
+"Never mind," replied Tom. "We'll come out all right."
+
+Now that the Liberty Loan drive had somewhat slackened, Ned had more
+leisure time, and he spent parts of his days and not a few of his
+evenings at Tom Swift's. Mr. Damon was also a frequent visitor, and he
+never tired of viewing the tank. Every chance he got, when they tested
+the big machine in the large field, so well fenced in, the eccentric
+man was on hand, with his "bless my--!" whatever happened to come most
+readily to his mind.
+
+Tom, now that his invention was well-nigh perfected, was not so worried
+about not having the tank seen, even at close range, and the enclosure
+was not so strictly guarded.
+
+This in a measure was disappointing to Eradicate, who liked the
+importance of strutting about with a nickel shield pinned to his coat,
+to show that he was a member of the Swift & Company plant. As for the
+giant Koku, he really cared little what he did, so long as he pleased
+Tom, for whom he had an affection that never changed. Koku would as
+soon sit under a shady tree doing nothing as watch for spies or
+traitors, of whose identity he was never sure.
+
+So it came that there was not so strict a guard about the place, and
+Tom and Ned had more time to themselves. Not that the young inventor
+was not busy, for the details of shipping Tank A to France came to him,
+as did also the arrangements for making others in this country and
+planning for the manufacture abroad.
+
+It was one evening, after a particularly hard day's work, when Tom had
+been making a test in turning the tank in a small space in the enclosed
+yard, that the two young men were sitting in the machine shop,
+discussing various matters.
+
+The telephone bell rang, and Ned, being nearest, answered.
+
+"It's for you, Tom," he said, and there was a smile on the face of the
+young bank clerk.
+
+"Um!" murmured Tom, and he smiled also.
+
+Ned could not repress more smiles as Tom took up the conversation over
+the wire, and it did not take long for the chum of the youthful
+inventor to verify his guess that Mary Nestor was at the other end of
+the instrument.
+
+"Yes, yes," Tom was heard to say. "Why, of course, I'll be glad to come
+over. Yes, he's here. What? Bring him along? I will if he'll come. Oh,
+tell him Helen is there! 'Nough said! He'll come, all right!"
+
+And Tom, without troubling to consult his friend, hung up the receiver.
+
+"What's that you're committing me to?" asked Ned.
+
+"Oh, Mary wants us to come over and spend the evening.  Helen Sever is
+there, and they say we can take them downtown if we like."
+
+"I guess we like," laughed Ned. "Come along! We've had enough of musty
+old problems," for he had been helping Tom in some calculations
+regarding strength of materials and the weight-bearing power of
+triangularly constructed girders as compared to the arched variety.
+
+"Yes, I guess it will do us good to get out," and the two friends were
+soon on their way.
+
+"What's this?" asked Mary, with a laugh, as Tom held out a package tied
+with pink string. "More dynamite?" she added, referring to an incident
+which had once greatly perturbed the excitable Mr. Nestor.
+
+"If she doesn't want it, perhaps Helen will take it," suggested Ned,
+with a twinkle in his eyes. "Halloran said they were just in fresh--"
+
+"Oh, you delightful boy!" cried Helen. "I'm just dying for some
+chocolates! Let me open them, Mary, if you're afraid of dynamite."
+
+"The only powder in them," said Tom, "is the powdered sugar. That can't
+blow you up."
+
+And then the young people made merry, Tom, for the time being,
+forgetting all about his tank.
+
+It was rather late when the two young men strolled back toward the
+Swift home, Ned walking that way with his chum.  Tom started out in the
+direction of the building where the tank was housed.
+
+"Going to have a good-night look at her?" asked Ned.
+
+"Well, I want to make sure the watchman is on guard. We'll begin taking
+her apart in a few days, and I don't want anything to happen between
+now and then."
+
+They walked on toward the big structure, and, as they approached from
+the side, they were both startled to see a dark shadow--at least so it
+seemed to the youths--dart away from one of the windows.
+
+"Look!" gasped Ned.
+
+"Hello, there!" cried Tom sharply. "Who's that? Who are you?"
+
+There was no answer, and then the fleeing shadow was merged in the
+other blackness of the night.
+
+"Maybe it was the watchman making his rounds," suggested Ned.
+
+"No," answered Tom, as he broke into a run. "If it was, he'd have
+answered. There's something wrong here!"
+
+But he could find nothing when he reached the window from which he and
+Ned had seen the shadow dart. An examination by means of a pocket
+electric light betrayed nothing wrong with the sash, and if there were
+footprints beneath the casement they indicated nothing, for that side
+of the factory was one frequently used by the workmen.
+
+Tom went into the building, and, for a time, could not find the
+watchman. When he did come upon the man, he found him rubbing his eyes
+sleepily, and acting as though he had just awakened from a nap.
+
+"This isn't any way to be on duty!" said Tom sharply.  "You're not paid
+for sleeping!"
+
+"I know it, Mr. Swift," was the apologetic answer. "I don't know what's
+come over me to-night. I never felt so sleepy in all my life. I had my
+usual sleep this afternoon, too, and I've drunk strong coffee to keep
+awake."
+
+"Are you sure you didn't drink anything else?"
+
+"You know I'm a strict temperance man."
+
+"I know you are," said Tom; "but I thought maybe you might have a cold,
+or something like that."
+
+"No, I haven't taken a thing. I did have a drink of soda water before I
+came on duty, but that's all."
+
+"Where'd you get it?" asked Tom.
+
+"Well, a man treated me."
+
+"Who?"
+
+"I don't know his name. He met me on the street and asked me how to get
+to Plowden's hardware store. I showed him--walked part of the way, in
+fact--and when I left he said he was going to have some soda, and asked
+me to have some. I did, and it tasted good."
+
+"Well, don't go to sleep again," suggested Tom good-naturedly.  "Did
+you hear anything at the side window a while ago?"
+
+"Not a thing, Mr. Swift. I'll be all right now. I'll take a turn
+outside in the air."
+
+"All right," assented the young inventor.
+
+Then, as he turned to go into the house and was bidding Ned good-night,
+Tom said:
+
+"I don't like this."
+
+"What?" asked his chum.
+
+"My sleepy watchman and the figure at the window. I more than half
+suspect that one of Blakeson's tools followed Kent for the purpose of
+buying him soda, only I think they might have put a drop or two of
+chloral in it before he got it.  That would make him sleep."
+
+"What are you going to do, Tom?"
+
+"Put another man on guard. If they think they can get into the factory
+at night, and steal my plans, or get ideas from my tank, I'll fool 'em.
+I'll have another man on guard."
+
+This Tom did, also telling Koku to sleep in the place, to be ready if
+called. But there was no disturbance that night, and the next day the
+work of completing the tank went on with a rush.
+
+It was a day or so after this, and Tom had fixed on it as the time for
+taking the big machine apart for shipment, that Ned received a
+telephone message at the bank from Mr. Damon.
+
+"Is Tom Swift over with you?" inquired the eccentric man.
+
+"No. Why?" Ned answered.
+
+"Well, I'm at his shop, and he isn't here. His father says he received
+a message from you a little while ago, saying to come over in a hurry,
+and he went. Says you told him to meet you out at that farmer Kanker's
+place. I thought maybe--"
+
+"At Kanker's place!" cried Ned. "Say, something's wrong, Mr. Damon!
+Isn't Tom there?"
+
+"No; I'm at his home, and he's been gone for some time.  His father
+supposed he was with you. I thought I would telephone to make sure."
+
+"Whew!" whistled Ned. "There's something doing here, all right, and
+something wrong! I'll be right over!" he added, as he hung up the
+receiver.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XX
+
+The Search
+
+
+"Haven't you seen anything of him?" asked Mr. Damon, as Ned jumped out
+of his small runabout at the Swift home as soon as possible after
+receiving the telephone message that seemed to presage something wrong.
+
+"Seen him? No, certainly not!" answered the young bank clerk. "I'm as
+much surprised as you are over it. What happened, anyhow?"
+
+"Bless my memorandum pad, but I hardly know!" answered the eccentric
+man. "I arrived here a little while ago, stopping in merely to pay Tom
+a visit, as I often do, and he wasn't here. His father was anxiously
+waiting for him, too, wishing to consult him about some shop matters.
+Mr. Swift said Tom had gone out with you, or over to your house--I
+wasn't quite sure which at first--and was expected back any minute.
+
+"Then I called you up," went on Mr. Damon, "and I was surprised to
+learn you hadn't seen Tom. There must be something wrong, I think."
+
+"I'm sure of it!" exclaimed Ned. "Let's find Mr. Swift.  And what's
+this about his going to meet me over at the place of that farmer, Mr.
+Kanker, where we had the trouble about the barn Tom demolished?"
+
+"I hardly know, myself. Perhaps Mr. Swift can tell us."
+
+But Mr. Swift was able to throw but little light on Tom's
+disappearance--whether a natural or forced disappearance remained to be
+seen.
+
+"No matter where he is, we'll get him," declared Ned. "He hasn't been
+away a great while, and it may turn out that his absence is perfectly
+natural."
+
+"And if it's due to the plots of any of his rivals," said Mr. Damon,
+"I'll denounce them all as traitors, bless my insurance policy, if I
+don't! And that's what they are!  They're playing into the hands of the
+enemy!"
+
+"All right," said Ned. "But the thing to do now is to get Tom. Perhaps
+Mrs. Baggert can help us."
+
+It developed that the housekeeper was of more assistance in giving
+information than was Mr. Swift.
+
+"It was several hours ago," she said, "that the telephone rang and some
+one asked for Tom. The operator shifted the call to the phone out in
+the tank shop where he was, and Tom began to talk. The operator, as Tom
+had instructed her, listened in, as Tom wants always a witness to most
+matters that go on over his wires of late."
+
+"What did she hear?" asked Ned eagerly.
+
+"She heard what she thought was your voice, I believe," the housekeeper
+said.
+
+"Me!" cried the young bank clerk. "I haven't talked to Tom to-day, over
+the phone or any other way. But what next?"
+
+"Well, the operator didn't listen much after that, knowing that any
+talk between Tom and you was of a nature not to need a witness. Tom
+hung up and then he came in here, quite excited, and began to get ready
+to go out."
+
+"What was he excited about?" asked Mr. Damon. "Bless my unlucky stars,
+but a person ought to keep calm under such circumstances! That's the
+only way to do! Keep calm! Great Scott! But if I had my way, all those
+German spies would be--Oh, pshaw! Nothing is too bad for them! It makes
+my blood boil when I think of what they've done! Tom should have kept
+cool!"
+
+"Go on. What was Tom excited about?" Ned turned to the housekeeper.
+
+"Well, he said you had called him to tell him to meet you over at that
+farmer's place," went on Mrs. Baggert. "He said you had some news for
+him about the men who had tried to get hold of some of his tank
+secrets, and he was quite worked up over the chance of catching the
+rascals."
+
+"Whew!" whistled Ned. "This is getting more complicated every minute.
+There's something deep here, Mr. Damon."
+
+"I agree with you, Ned. And the sooner we find Tom Swift the better.
+What next, Mrs. Baggert?"
+
+"Well, Tom got ready and went away in his small automobile. He said
+he'd be back as soon as he could after meeting you."
+
+"And I never said a word to him!" cried Ned. "It's all a plot--a scheme
+of that Blakeson gang to get him into their power. Oh, how could Tom be
+so fooled? He knows my voice, over the phone as well as otherwise. I
+don't see how he could be taken in."
+
+"Let's ask the telephone operator," suggested Mr. Damon.  "She knows
+your voice, too. Perhaps she can give us a clew."
+
+A talk with the young woman at the telephone switchboard in the Swift
+plant brought out a new point. This was that the speaker, in response
+to whose information Tom Swift had left home, had not said he was Ned
+Newton.
+
+"He said," reported Miss Blair, "that he was speaking for you, Mr.
+Newton, as you were busy in the bank. Whoever it was, said you wanted
+Tom to meet you at the Kanker farm. I heard that much over the wire,
+and naturally supposed the message came from you."
+
+"Well, that puts a little different face on it," said Mr. Damon. "Tom
+wasn't deceived by the voice, then, for he must have thought it was
+some one speaking for you, Ned."
+
+"But the situation is serious, just the same," declared Ned. "Tom has
+gone to keep an appointment I never made, and the question is with whom
+will he keep it?"
+
+"That's it!" cried the eccentric man. "Probably some of those
+scoundrels were waiting at the farm for him, and they've got him no one
+knows where by this time!"
+
+"Oh, hardly as bad as that," suggested Ned. "Tom is able to look out
+for himself. He'd put up a big fight before he'd permit himself to be
+carried off."
+
+"Well, what do you think did happen?" asked Mr. Damon.
+
+"I think they wanted to get him out to the farm to see if they couldn't
+squeeze some more money out of him," was the answer. "Tom was pretty
+easy in that barn business, and I guess Kanker was sore because he
+haven't asked a larger sum.  They knew Tom wouldn't come out on their
+own invitation, so they forged my name, so to speak."
+
+"Can you get Tom back?" asked Mrs. Baggert anxiously.
+
+"Of course!" declared Ned, though it must be admitted he spoke with
+more confidence than he really felt. "We'll begin the search right
+away."
+
+"And if I can get my hands on any of those villains--" spluttered Mr.
+Damon, dancing around, as Mrs. Baggert said, "like a hen on a hot
+griddle," which seemed to describe him very well, "if I can get hold of
+any of those scoundrels, I'll--I'll--Bless my collar button, I don't
+know what I will do! Come on, Ned!"
+
+"Yes, I guess we'd better get busy," agreed the young bank clerk. "Tom
+has gone somewhere, that's certain, and under a misapprehension. It may
+be that we are needlessly alarmed, or they may mean bad business. At
+any rate, it's up to us to find Tom."
+
+In Ned's runabout, which was a speedier car than that of the eccentric
+man, the two set off for Kanker's farm. On the way they stopped at
+various places in town, where Tom was in the habit of doing business,
+to inquire if he had been seen.
+
+But there was no trace of him. The next thing to do was to learn if he
+had really started for the Kanker farm.
+
+"For if he didn't go there," suggested Ned, "it will look funny for us
+to go out there making inquiries about him. And it may be that after he
+got that message Tom decided not to go."
+
+Accordingly they made enough inquiries to establish the fact that Tom
+had started for the farm of the rascally Kanker, who had been so
+insistent in the matter of his almost worthless barn.
+
+A number of people who knew Tom well had seen him pass in the direction
+of Kanker's place, and some had spoken to him, for the young inventor
+was well known in the vicinity of Shopton and the neighboring towns.
+
+"Well, out to Kanker's we'll go!" decided Ned. "And if anything has
+happened to Tom there--well, we'll make whoever is responsible wish it
+hadn't!"
+
+"Bless my fountain pen, but that's what we will!" chimed in Mr. Damon.
+
+And so the two began the search for the missing youth.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXI
+
+A Prisoner
+
+
+Amos Kanker came to the door of his farmhouse as Ned and Mr. Damon
+drove up in the runabout. There was an unpleasant grin on the not very
+prepossessing face of the farmer, and what Ned thought was a cunning
+look, as he slouched out and asked:
+
+"Well, what do you want? Come to smash up any more of my barns at three
+thousand dollars a smash?"
+
+"Hardly," answered Ned shortly. "Your prices are too high for such
+ramshackle barns as you have. Where's Tom Swift?" he asked sharply.
+
+"Huh! Do you mean that young whipper-snapper with his big traction
+engine?" demanded Mr. Kanker.
+
+"Look here!" blustered Mr. Damon, "Tom Swift is neither a
+whipper-snapper nor is his machine a traction engine. It's a war tank."
+
+"That doesn't matter much to me," said the farmer, with a grating
+laugh. "It looks like a traction engine, though it smashes things up
+more'n any one I ever saw."
+
+"That isn't the point," broke in Ned. "Where is my friend, Tom Swift?
+That's what we want to know."
+
+"Huh! What makes you think I can tell you?" demanded Kanker.
+
+"Didn't he come out here?" asked Mr. Damon.
+
+"Not as I knows of," was the surly answer.
+
+"Look here!" exclaimed Ned, and his tones were firm, with no bluster
+nor bluff in them, "we came out here to find Tom Swift, and we're going
+to find him! We have reason to believe he's here--at least, he started
+for here," he substituted, as he wished to make no statement he could
+not prove. "Now we don't claim we have any right to be on your
+property, and we don't intend to stay here any longer than we can help.
+But we do claim the right, in common decency, to ask if you have seen
+anything of Tom. There may have been an accident; there may have been
+foul play; and there may be international complications in this
+business. If there are, those involved won't get off as easily as they
+think.  I'd advise you to keep a civil tongue in your head and answer
+our questions. If we have to get the police and detectives out here, as
+well as the governmental department of justice, you may have to answer
+their questions, and they won't be as decent to you as we are!"
+
+"Hurray!" whispered Mr Damon to Ned. "That's the way to talk!"
+
+And indeed the forceful remarks of the young bank clerk did appear to
+have a salutary effect on the surly farmer.  His manner changed at once
+and his grin faded.
+
+"I don't know nothing about Tom Swift or any of your friends," he said.
+"I've got my farm work to do, and I do it. It's hard enough to earn a
+living these war times without taking part in plots. I haven't seen Tom
+Swift since the trouble he made about my barn."
+
+"Then he hasn't been here to-day?" asked Ned.
+
+"No; and not for a good many days."
+
+Ned looked at Mr. Damon, and the two exchanged uneasy glances. Tom had
+certainly started for the Kanker farm, and indeed had come to within a
+few miles of it. That much was certain, as testified to by a number of
+residents along the route from Shopton, who had seen the young inventor
+passing in his car.
+
+Now it appeared he had not arrived. The changed air of the farmer
+seemed to indicate that he was speaking the truth.  Mr. Damon and Ned
+were inclined to believe him. If they had any last, lingering doubts in
+the matter, they were dispelled when Mr. Kanker said:
+
+"You can search the place if you like. I haven't any reason to feel
+friendly toward you, but I certainly don't want to get into trouble
+with the Government. Look around all you like."
+
+"No, we'll take your word for it," said Ned, quickly concluding that
+now they had got the farmer where they wanted him, they could gain more
+by an appearance of friendliness than by threats or harsh words. "Then
+you haven't seen him, either?"
+
+"Not a sign of him."
+
+"One thing more," went on Tom's chum, "and then we'll look farther.
+Weren't you induced by a man named Simpson, or one named Blakeson, to
+make the demand of three thousand dollars' damage for your barn?"
+
+"No, it wasn't anybody of either of those names," admitted Mr. Kanker,
+evidently a bit put out by the question.
+
+"It was some one, though, wasn't it?" insisted Ned.
+
+"Waal, a man did come to me the day the barn was smashed, and just
+afore it happened, and said an all-fired big traction engine was headed
+this way, and that a young feller who was half crazy was running it.
+This man--I don't know who he was, being a stranger to me--said if the
+engine ran into any of my property and did damages I should collect for
+it on the spot, or hold the machine.
+
+"Sure enough, that's what happened, and I did it. That man had an auto,
+and he brought me and some of my men out to the smashed barn. That's
+all I know about it."
+
+"I thought some one put you up to it," commented Ned.  "This was some
+of the gang's work," he went on to Mr. Damon.  "They hoped to get
+possession of Tom's tank long enough to find out some of the secrets.
+By having the Liberty Bonds, I fooled 'em."
+
+"That's what you did!" said Mr. Damon. "But what can we do now?"
+
+"I don't know," Ned was forced to admit. "But I should think we'd
+better go back to the last place where he was seen to pass in his auto,
+and try to get on his trail."
+
+Mr. Damon agreed that this was a wise plan, and, after a casual look
+around the farmhouse and other buildings on Kanker's place and finding
+nothing to arouse their suspicions, the two left in Ned's speedy little
+machine.
+
+"It is mighty queer!" remarked the young bank clerk, as they shot along
+the country road. "It isn't like Tom to get caught this way."
+
+"Maybe he isn't caught," suggested the other. "Tom has been in many a
+tight place and gotten out, as you and I well know.  Maybe it will be
+the same now, though it does look suspicious, that fake message coming
+from you."
+
+"Not coming from me, you mean," corrected Ned. "Well, we'll do the best
+we can."
+
+They proceeded back to where they had last had a trace of Tom in his
+machine, and there could only confirm what they had learned at first,
+namely, that the young inventor had departed in the direction of the
+Kanker farm, after having filled his radiator with water, and chatting
+with a farmer he knew.
+
+"Then this is where the trail divides," said Ned, as they went back
+over the road, coming to a point where the highway branched off. "If he
+went this way, he went to Kanker's place, or he would be in the way of
+going. He isn't there, it seems, and didn't go there."
+
+"If he took the other road, where would he go?" asked Mr. Damon.
+
+"Any one of a dozen places. I guess we'll have to follow the trail and
+make all the inquiries we can."
+
+But from the point where the two roads branched, all trace of Tom Swift
+was lost. No one had seen him in his machine, though he was known to
+more than one resident along the highway.
+
+"Well, what are we going to do?" asked Mr. Damon, after they had
+traveled some distance and had obtained no news.
+
+"Suppose we call up his home," suggested Ned, as they came to a country
+store where there was a telephone. "It may be he has returned. In that
+case, all our worry has gone for nothing."
+
+"I don't believe it has," said Mr. Damon. "But if we call up and ask if
+Tom is back it will show we haven't found him, and his father will be
+more worried than ever."
+
+"We can ask the telephone girl, and tell her to keep quiet about it,"
+decided Ned; and this they did.
+
+But the answer that came back over the wire was discouraging. For Tom
+had not returned, and there was no word from him. There was an urgent
+message for him, too, from government officials regarding the tank, the
+girl reported.
+
+"Well, we've just got to find him--that's all!" declared Ned. "I guess
+we'll have to make a regular search of it. I did hope we'd find him out
+at the Kanker farm. But since he isn't there, nor anywhere about, as
+far as we can tell, we've got to try some other plan."
+
+"You mean notify the authorities?"--asked Mr. Damon.
+
+"Hardly that--yet. But I'll get some of Tom's friends who have
+machines, and we'll start them out on the trail. In that way we can
+cover a lot of ground."
+
+Late that afternoon, and far into the night, a number of the friends of
+Tom and Ned went about the country in automobiles, seeking news of the
+young inventor. Mr. Swift became very anxious over the non-return of
+his son, and felt the authorities should be notified; but as all agreed
+that the local police could not handle the matter and that it would
+have to be put into the hands of the United States Secret Service, he
+consented to wait for a while before doing this.
+
+All the next day the search was kept up, and Ned and Mr. Damon were
+getting discouraged, not to say alarmed, when, most unexpectedly, they
+received a clew.
+
+They had been traveling around the country on little-frequented roads
+in the hope that perhaps Tom might have taken one and disabled his
+machine so that he was unable to proceed.
+
+"Though in that case he could, and would, have sent word," said Ned.
+
+"Unless he's hurt," suggested Mr. Damon.
+
+"Well, maybe that is what's happened," Ned was saying, when they
+noticed coming toward them a very much dilapidated automobile, driven
+by a farmer, and on the seat beside him was a small, barefoot boy.
+
+"Which is the nearest road to Shopton?" asked the man, bringing his
+wheezing machine to a stop.
+
+"Who are you looking for in Shopton?" asked Ned, while a strange
+feeling came over him that, somehow or other, Tom was concerned in the
+question.
+
+"I'm looking for friends of a Tom Swift," was the answer.
+
+"Tom Swift? Where is he? What's happened to him?" cried Ned.
+
+"Bless my dyspepsia tablets!" exclaimed Mr. Damon. "Do you know where
+he is?"
+
+"Not exactly," answered the farmer; "but here's a note from some one
+that signs himself 'Tom Swift,' and it says he's a prisoner!"
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXII
+
+Rescued
+
+
+For a moment Ned and Mr. Damon gazed at the farmer in his rattletrap of
+an auto, and then they looked at the fluttering piece of paper in his
+hand. Thence their gaze traveled to the ragged and barefoot lad sitting
+beside the farmer.
+
+"I found it!" announced the boy.
+
+"Found what?" asked Ned.
+
+"That there note!"
+
+Without asking any more questions, reserving them until they knew more
+about the matter, Mr. Damon and Ned each reached out a hand for the
+paper the farmer held. The latter handed it to Ned, being nearest him,
+and at a sight of the handwriting the young bank clerk exclaimed:
+
+"It's from Tom, all right!"
+
+"What happened to him?" cried Mr. Damon. "Where is he? Is he a
+prisoner?"
+
+"So it seems," answered Ned. "Wait, I'll read it to you," and he read:
+
+
+"'Whoever picks this up please send word at once to Mr. Swift or to Ned
+Newton in Shopton, or to Mr. Damon of Waterfield. I am a prisoner,
+locked in the old factory. Tom Swift'."
+
+
+"Bless my quinine pills!" cried Mr Damon. "What in the world does it
+mean?  What factory?"
+
+"That's just what we've got to find out," decided Ned.  "Where did you
+get this?" he asked the farmer's boy.
+
+"Way off over there," and he pointed across miles of fields. "I was
+lookin' for a lost cow, and I went past an old factory. There wasn't
+nobody in the place, as far as I knowed, but all at once I heard some
+one yell, and then I seen something white, like a bird, sail out of a
+high window. I was scared for a minute, thinkin' it might be tramps
+after me."
+
+"And what did you do, Sonny?" asked Mr. Damon, as the boy paused.
+
+"Well, after a while I went to where the white thing lay, and I picked
+it up. I seen it was a piece of paper, with writin' on it, and it was
+wrapped around part of a brick."
+
+"And did you go near the factory to find out who called or who threw
+the paper out?" Ned queried.
+
+"I didn't," the boy answered. "I was scared. I went home, and didn't
+even start to find the lost cow.
+
+"No more he did," chimed in the farmer. "He come runnin' in like a
+whitehead, and as soon as I saw the paper and heard what Bub had to
+say, I thought maybe I'd better do somethin'."
+
+"Did you go to the factory?" asked Ned eagerly.
+
+"No. I thought the best thing to do would be to find this Mr. Swift, or
+the other folks mentioned in this letter. I knowed, in a general way,
+where Shopton was, but I'd never been there, doing my tradin' in the
+other direction, and so I had to stop and ask the road. If you can tell
+me--"
+
+"We're two of the persons spoken of in that note," said Mr. Damon, as
+he mentioned his name and introduced Ned. "We have been looking for our
+friend Tom Swift for two days now.  We must find him at once, as there
+is no telling what he may be suffering."
+
+"Where is this old factory you speak of," continued Mr. Damon, "and how
+can we get there? It's too bad one of you didn't go back, after finding
+the note, to tell Tom he was soon to be rescued."
+
+"Waal, maybe it is," said the farmer, a bit put out by the criticism.
+"But I figgered it would be better to look up this young man's friends
+and let them do the rescuin', and not lose no time, 'specially as it's
+about as far from my place to the factory as it is to Shopton."
+
+"Well, I suppose that's so," agreed Ned. "But what is this factory?"
+
+"It's an old one where they started to make beet sugar, but it didn't
+pan out," the farmer said. "The place is in ruins, and I did hear, not
+long ago, that somebody run a threshin' machine through it, an' busted
+it up worse than before."
+
+"Great horned toads!" cried Ned. "That must be the very factory Tom ran
+his tank through. And to think he should be a prisoner there!"
+
+"Held by whom, do you suppose?" asked Mr. Damon.
+
+"By that Blakeson gang, I imagine," Ned answered. "There's no time to
+lose. We must go to his rescue!"
+
+"Of course!" agreed Mr. Damon. "We're much obliged to you for bringing
+this note," he went on to the farmer. "And here is something to repay
+you for your trouble," and he took out his wallet.
+
+"Shucks! I didn't do this for pay!" objected the farmer.  "It's a pity
+I wouldn't help anybody what's in trouble!  If I'd a-knowed what it
+meant, me and Bub here would have gone to the factory ourselves, maybe,
+and done the work quicker.  But I didn't know--what with war times and
+such-like--but that it would be better to deliver the note."
+
+"It turns out as well, perhaps," agreed Ned. "We'll look after Tom now."
+
+"And I'll come along and help," said the farmer. "If there's a gang of
+tramps in that factory, you may need some reinforcements. I've got a
+couple of new axe handles in my machine, and they'll come in mighty
+handy as clubs."
+
+"That's so," said Mr. Damon. "But I fancy Tom is simply locked in the
+deserted factory office, with no one on guard.  We can get him out once
+we get there, and we'll be glad to have you come with us. So if you
+won't take any reward, maybe your boy will, as he found the note," and
+Mr. Damon pressed some bills into the hands of the boy, who, it is
+needless to say, was glad to get them.
+
+It was a run of several miles back to the deserted factory, and though
+they passed houses on the way, it was decided that no addition to their
+force was necessary, though they did stop at a blacksmith shop, where
+they borrowed a heavy sledge to batter down a door if such action
+should be needed.
+
+The farmer's rattletrap of a car, in spite of its appearance, was not
+far behind Ned's runabout, and in a comparatively short time all were
+within sight of the ruined place--a ruin made more complete by the
+passage through it of Tom Swift's war tank.
+
+"And to think of his being there all this while!" exclaimed Mr. Damon,
+as he and Ned leaped from their machine.
+
+"If he only is there!" murmured the young bank clerk.
+
+"What do you mean? Didn't the note he threw out say he was there?"
+
+"Yes, but something may have happened in the meanwhile.  Those
+plotters, if they'd do a thing like this, are capable of anything. They
+may have kidnapped Tom again."
+
+"Anyway, we'll soon find out," murmured Ned, as they advanced toward
+the ruin, Mr. Damon and the farmer each armed with an axe helve, while
+Ned carried the blacksmith's sledge.
+
+They went into the end of the factory that was less ruined than the
+central part, where the tank had crashed through, and made their way
+into what had been the office--the place where they had found the
+burned scraps of paper.
+
+"Hark!" exclaimed Ned, as they climbed up the broken steps. "I heard a
+noise."
+
+"It's him yellin'--like he did afore he threw out the note," said the
+boy. Then, as they listened, they heard a distant voice calling:
+
+"Hello! Hello, there! If that is any friend of mine, let me out, or
+send word to Mr. Damon or Ned Newton! Hello!"
+
+"Hello yourself, Tom Swift!" yelled Ned, too delighted to wait for any
+other confirmation that it was his friend who was shouting. "We've come
+to rescue you, Tom!"
+
+There was a moment of silence, and then a voice asked:
+
+"Who is there?"
+
+"Ned Newton, Mr. Damon, and some other friends of yours!" answered the
+young bank clerk, for surely the farmer and his son could be called
+Tom's friends.
+
+An indistinguishable answer came back, and then Ned cried:
+
+"Where are you, Tom? Tell us, so we can get you out!"
+
+They all listened, and faintly heard:
+
+"I'm in some sort of an old vault, partly underground.  It's below what
+used to be the office. There's a flight of steps, but be careful, as
+they're rotten."
+
+Eagerly they looked around  Mr. Damon saw a door in one corner of the
+office, and tried to open it. It was locked, but a few blows from the
+sledge smashed it, and then some steps were revealed.
+
+Down these, using due caution, went Ned and the others, and at the
+bottom they came upon another door. This was of sheet iron and was
+fastened on the outside by a big padlock.
+
+"Stand back!" cried Ned, as he swung the sledge, and with a few blows
+broke the lock to pieces.
+
+Then they pulled open the door, and into the light staggered Tom Swift,
+a most woe-begone figure, and showing the effects of his imprisonment.
+But he was safe and unharmed, though much disheveled from his attempts
+to escape.
+
+"Thank Heaven, you've come!" he murmured, as he clasped Ned's hand. "Is
+the tank all right?"
+
+"All right!" cried Ned. "And now tell us about yourself.  How in the
+world did you get here?"
+
+"It's quite a yarn," answered Tom. "I've got to pull myself together
+before I answer," and he sank wearily down on a step, looking very
+haggard and worn.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIII
+
+Gone
+
+
+"Here, eat some of this," and Ned held something out to his chum.
+"It'll bring you up quicker than anything else, except a cup of hot
+tea, and we'll get that as soon as you can get away from here," went on
+the young bank clerk.
+
+"What is it?" Tom asked, and his voice was very weary.
+
+"It's a mixture of chocolate and nuts," replied Ned. "It's a new form
+of emergency ration issued to soldiers before they go over the top. Our
+Y.M.C.A. is sending a lot to the boys from around here who are in
+France. I was helping pack the boxes ready for shipment, and I kept out
+some to show you. Lucky I had it with me. Eat it, and you'll feel a lot
+better in a few minutes. You haven't had much to eat, have you?"
+
+"Very little," answered Tom, as he nibbled half-heartedly at the
+confection Ned gave him, while Mr. Damon went out to the automobile and
+came back with a thermos bottle filled with cool water. He always
+provided himself with this on taking an automobile trip.
+
+Tom managed to eat some of the chocolate, and then took a drink of the
+cool water. In a little while he declared that he felt better.
+
+"Then come out of here!" exclaimed Ned. "You can tell us how it all
+happened and what they did to you. But I can see that last--they
+treated you like a dog, didn't they?"
+
+"Pretty nearly," answered Tom; "but they didn't have things all their
+own way. I think I made one or two of them remember me," and he glanced
+at his swollen and bruised hands. Indeed, he bore the marks of having
+been in a fierce fight.
+
+"Are you sure the tank's all right?" he asked Ned again.  "That has
+been worrying me more than my own condition. I could think of only one
+reason why they got me here and held me prisoner, and that was to get
+me out of the way while they captured my tank. Then they haven't got
+her?" he asked eagerly.
+
+"Not a look at her," Ned answered. "She was safe in the shop when we
+set out this morning."
+
+"And now it's late afternoon," murmured Tom. "Well, I hope nothing has
+happened since," and there was vague alarm in his voice, an alarm at
+which Ned and Mr. Damon wondered.
+
+"Couldn't you stop at some farmhouse and get fixed up a little?" asked
+Mr. Kimball, the farmer who had brought the note to Ned and Mr. Damon.
+
+"I need to get fixed up somewhere," replied Tom, with a rueful look at
+himself--his hands, his torn clothes, and his general dilapidated
+appearance. "But I don't want to lose any time. I'm afraid something
+has happened at home, Ned."
+
+"Nonsense! How could there, with Koko on guard, to say nothing of
+Eradicate!"
+
+"Well, maybe you're right," agreed Tom; "but I'll feel better when I
+see my tank in her shed. Let's have some more of that concentrated
+porterhouse steak of yours, Ned. It is good, and it fills out my
+stomach, which was getting more intimate with my backbone than I liked
+to feel."
+
+More of the really good confection and another drink of refreshing
+water made Tom feel better, and he was soon able to walk along without
+staggering from weakness.
+
+"And now let's get out of here," advised Ned, "unless you've left
+something back in that vault you want, Tom," and he motioned to his
+chum's late prison.
+
+"Nothing there but bad memories," was the reply, with a rueful smile.
+"I'm as ready to go as you are, Ned. It was good of you and Mr. Damon
+to come for me, and you"--and he looked questioningly at Mr. Kimball.
+
+"If it hadn't been for Mr. Kimball and his boy, we wouldn't have found
+you--at least so soon," said Ned, and he told of the finding of the
+note and what had followed.
+
+"That's the only way I could think of for getting help," said Tom.
+"They took every scrap of paper from me, but I found some in the lining
+of my hat--some I'd stuffed in after I had a hair cut and my hat was
+too large. For a pencil I used burnt matches. Oh, but I'm glad to be
+out!" and he breathed deep of the fresh air.
+
+"How did you get in there?" asked Ned wonderingly.
+
+"Those fellows--of course. The German plotters, I'm going to call them,
+for I believe that Blakeson and his gang--though I didn't see him--are
+really working in the interests of Germany to get the secret of my
+tank."
+
+"Well, they haven't got her yet," said Ned, "and they're not likely to
+now. Go on, Tom, if you feel able tell us in a few words what happened.
+We've been trying to think, but can't."
+
+"Well, it all happened because I didn't think enough," said Tom, who
+was rapidly recovering his strength and nerve.  "When I got that
+message that seemed to come from you, Ned, I should have known better
+than to take a chance. But it seemed genuine, and as I had no reason to
+suspect a trap, I started off at once. I thought maybe Kanker had
+repented and was going to make amends for all the trouble he caused.
+
+"Anyhow, I started off in my machine, and I hadn't got more than to the
+crossroads when I saw a fellow out tinkering with his auto. Of course I
+stopped to ask if I could help, for I can't bear to see any machinery
+out of order, and as I was stooping over the engine to see what was
+wrong I was pounced on from behind, bound and tied, and before I could
+do a thing I was bundled into the car--a big limousine, and taken away.
+
+"The crossroads was as far as we could trace you," remarked Ned.
+
+"Well, it wasn't as far as they took me, by any means," Tom said. "They
+brought me here, took me out of the machine--and I noticed that they'd
+brought mine along--and then they carted me into the vault.
+
+"But they didn't have it all their own way," said Tom grimly. "I
+managed to get the ropes loose, and I had a regular knock down and drag
+out with them for a while. But they were too many for me, and locked me
+up in that place after taking away everything I had in my pockets."
+
+"Were they highwaymen?" asked Mr. Kimtall.
+
+"No, for they tossed back my money, watch and some trifles like that,"
+Tom answered. "I didn't recognize any of the men, though one of them
+must have known me, for when they had me tied I heard one of them ask
+if I was the right party, and another said I was. I know they must
+belong to the same gang that Simpson, Blakeson, and Schwen are members
+of--the German spies."
+
+"But what was their object?" asked Ned. "Did they try to force you to
+tell them the secrets of the tank?"
+
+"No; and that's the funny part which makes me so suspicious," Tom
+answered. "If they'd tried to force something out of me, I would
+understand it better. But they just kept me a prisoner after taking
+away what papers I had."
+
+"Were they of any value?" asked Mr. Damon.
+
+"Not as regards the tank. That is, there was nothing of my plans of
+construction, control or anything like that, though there was some
+foreign correspondence that I am sorry fell into their hands. However,
+that can't be helped."
+
+"And did they just keep you locked up?" asked Ned.
+
+"That's about all they did. After the fight--and it was some fight!"
+declared Tom, as he recalled it with a shake of his head--"they left me
+here with the door shut. There must have been some one on guard, for I
+could faintly hear somebody moving about.
+
+"I tried to get out, of course, but I couldn't. That vault must have
+been made to hold something very valuable, for it was almost as strong
+and solid as one in your bank, Ned.  The only window was placed so high
+that I couldn't reach it, and it was barred at that.
+
+"They opened the door a little, several times, to toss in once some old
+bags that I made into a bed, and next they gave me a little water and
+some sandwiches--German bologna sausage sandwiches, Ned! What do you
+think of that--adding insult to injury?"
+
+"That was tough!" Ned admitted.
+
+"Well, I had to put up with it, for I was half starved, and as sore as
+a boil from the fight. I didn't know what to do. I knew that you'd miss
+me sooner or later, and set out to find me, but I hardly thought you'd
+think of this place.  They couldn't have picked out a much better
+prison to hold me, for, naturally, you wouldn't suppose enough of it
+was left standing, after my tank had walked through it, to make a
+hiding place.
+
+"However, there was, and here I've been kept. At last I thought of the
+plan of sending out a message on the scrap of paper I could tear out of
+my hat. So I wrote it, and after several trials I managed to toss it
+out of the window. Then I just had to wait, and that was the hardest of
+all. The last twelve hours I've been without food, and I haven't heard
+any one around, so I guess they've skipped out and don't intend to come
+back."
+
+"We didn't see any one," Ned reported. "Maybe they became frightened,
+Tom."
+
+"I wish I could think that," was the answer. "What is more likely to be
+the case is that they're up to some new tricks.  I must get back home
+quickly."
+
+And after a stop had been made at a farmhouse belonging to a business
+acquaintance of Ned's, where Tom was able to wash and get a cup of hot
+tea, which added to his recuperative powers, the young inventor, with
+Ned and Mr. Damon, set out for Shopton.
+
+Before Mr. Kimball started for his home, renewed thanks had been made
+to the farmer and his son for the part they had played in the rescue,
+and the young inventor, learning that the boy had a liking for things
+mechanical, promised to aid him in his intention to become a machinist.
+
+"But first get a good education," Tom advised. "Keep on with your
+school work, and when the time comes I'll take you into my shop."
+
+"And maybe he'll make a tank that will rival yours, Tom," said Ned.
+
+"Maybe he will! I hope he does. If he comes along fast enough, he can
+help with something else I'm going to start soon."
+
+"Whats that?" asked Mr. Damon.
+
+"Oh, it's something on the same order, designed to help batter down the
+German lines," Tom answered. "I haven't quite made up my mind what to
+call it yet. But let's get home. I want to see that my tank is safe.
+The absence of the plotters from the factory makes me suspicious."
+
+On the way back Tom told more of the details of the attack.
+
+"But we'll forget about it all, now you're out," remarked Ned.
+
+"And the sooner we get home, the better," added Tom. "Can't you get a
+little more speed out of this machine?" he asked.
+
+"Well, it isn't the Hawk," replied Ned, "but we'll see what we can do,"
+and he made the runabout fairly fly.
+
+Mrs. Baggert was the first to greet Tom as they arrived at his home.
+She did not seem as surprised as either Tom, Ned or Mr. Damon expected
+her to be.
+
+"Well, I'm glad you're all right," she said. "And it's a good thing you
+sent that note, for your father was so excited and worried I was
+getting apprehensive about him."
+
+"What note?" asked Tom, while a queer look came into his face.
+
+"Why, the one you sent saying you were detained on business and would
+probably not be home for a week, and to have Koku and the men bring the
+tank to you."
+
+"Bring the tank! A note from me!" exclaimed Tom. "The plotters again!
+And they've got the tank!"
+
+He ran to the big shop followed by the others. Throwing open the doors,
+they went inside. A glance sufficed to disclose the worst.
+
+The place where the great tank had stood was empty.
+
+"Gone!" gasped Tom.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIV
+
+Camouflaged
+
+
+Two utterances Tom Swift made when the fact of the disappearance of the
+tank became known to him were characteristic of the young inventor. The
+first was:
+
+"How did they get it away?"
+
+And the second was:
+
+"Come on, let's get after 'em!"
+
+Then, for a few moments, no one said anything. Tom, Ned, and Mr. Damon,
+with Mrs. Baggert in the background, stood looking at the great empty
+machine shop.
+
+"Well, they got her," went on Tom, with a sigh. "I was afraid of this
+as soon as they left me alone at the factory."
+
+"Is anything wrong?" faltered the housekeeper. "Didn't you send for the
+tank, Tom?"
+
+"No, Mrs. Baggert, I didn't," Tom answered.
+
+"But I don't understand," the housekeeper said. "A man came with a note
+from you, Tom, and in it you said to have him take the tank, with Koku
+and the men who know how to run it. We were so glad to hear from you,
+and know that you were all right, that we didn't think of anything
+else, your father and I. So he went out and saw that the tank got off
+all right. Koku was glad, for it's the first chance he'd had to ride in
+it."
+
+"Who was the man who brought the note?" asked Tom, and he was striving
+to be calm. "To think of poor old dad playing right into the hands of
+the plotters!" he added, in an aside to Ned.
+
+"Well, I don't know who the man was," said Mrs. Baggert.  "He seemed
+all right, and of course having a note from you--"
+
+"Who has that note now?" asked Tom quickly.
+
+"Your father."
+
+"Come on," and Tom led the way back to the house. "I'll have a look at
+that document, which of course I never wrote, and then we'll get after
+the plotters and the tank."
+
+"She ought to be easy to trace," observed Mr. Damon.  "Bless my
+fountain pen, but she ought to be easy to trace!  She will leave a
+track like a giant boa constrictor crawling along."
+
+"Yes, I guess we can trace her, all right," assented Tom Swift; "but
+the point is, will there be anything left of her? That's what I'm
+afraid of now."
+
+Mr. Swift was still excited, but his worry had subsided as soon as he
+knew Tom was safe.
+
+"The whole thing is a forgery, but fairly well done," Tom said, as he
+looked at the paper his father gave him--a brief note stating that Tom
+was well, but detained on business, and that the tank was to be brought
+to him, just where the bearer of the note would indicate. Koku, the
+giant, and several of the machinists, who knew how to operate the big
+machine, were to go with it, the note said.
+
+"That made me sure everything was all right," said Mr. Swift. "I knew,
+of course, Tom, that plotters might try to get hold of your war secret,
+but I didn't see how they could if Koku and some of your own men were
+in possession."
+
+"They couldn't--as long as they remained in possession," Tom said. "But
+that's the trouble. I'm afraid they haven't.  What has probably
+happened is that under the direction of this man, who brought the
+forged note from me, Koku and the others took the tank where he
+directed them, thinking to meet me. Then, reaching the place where the
+rest of the plotters were concealed, they overpowered Koku and the
+others and took possession of the machine."
+
+"They'd have trouble with Koku," suggested Ned.
+
+"Yes, but even a giant can't fight too big a crowd, especially if he is
+taken by surprise, and that's probably what happened," remarked Tom.
+"Now the question is where is the tank, and how can we get her back?
+Every minute counts.  If those German spies and their helpers remain in
+possession long, they'll find out enough of my secrets to enable them
+to duplicate the machine, and especially some of the most exclusive
+features. We've got to get after 'em!"
+
+"They imitated your writing pretty well, Tom," Observed Ned, as he
+looked at the forged note.
+
+"Yes; that's why they took all my papers away from me--to get specimens
+of my handwriting. I half suspected that, but I didn't quite figure out
+what their game was. Well, we know the worst now, and that's better
+than working in the dark.  Now I'm going to have a bath and get into
+some decent clothes, and we'll see what we can do."
+
+"Count on me, Tom!" exclaimed Ned. "I'll go the limit with you!"
+
+"I knew you would, old man!"
+
+"And me, too!" cried Mr. Damon. "Bless my open fireplace, but I'll send
+word to my wife that I'm not coming home to-night, and we can start the
+first thing in the morning, Tom."
+
+"Yes; there isn't much use in going now, as it will soon be dark."
+
+"How are you going to trace the tank, Tom?" asked Ned, when his chum
+had bathed and gotten into fresh clothes.
+
+"I'm going to tour the country around here in an auto. The tank can
+make ten miles an hour, but that's nothing to what an auto can do. And
+we oughtn't to have much trouble in tracing her. No one whose house she
+passed would forget her in a hurry."
+
+"That's so," agreed Ned. "But if they took her across country--"
+
+"A different story," agreed Tom. "Come to think of it, maybe we'd
+better start to-night, Ned. We can make inquiries after dark as well as
+by daylight and get ready for an early morning hunt."
+
+"Let's do it, then!" suggested his chum. "I'm ready. I'll send word
+that I'll not be home to-night."
+
+"Good!" cried the young inventor. "We'll have an old-fashioned hunt
+after our enemies, Ned!"
+
+"And don't leave me out!" begged Mr. Damon. Hurried preparations were
+made for the night trip. Tom ordered out one of his speediest, though
+not largest, automobiles, and told his helper to get the Hawk ready, to
+have her so she could start at a moment's notice if needed.
+
+"You're not going in her, are you, Tom?" asked Ned.
+
+"I may need her to-morrow for daylight hunting. If the tank's hidden
+somewhere, I can spot her from above more easily than from the ground.
+So if we get any trace of my machine, I can phone in and have the
+aeroplane brought to me."
+
+"That's a good idea!"
+
+Inquiry at the shop where the tank had been built and kept disclosed
+the fact that, in addition to Koku, three of Tom's men had gone in her
+to help manage the machine under the direction of the man who bore the
+forged note. That he was one of the plotters not hitherto observed by
+either Ned or Tom seemed certain.
+
+"And they took Koku and some of the men merely to make it look natural
+and as if it were all right," Tom said.  "Naturally that deceived my
+father, who thought, of course, that I was waiting for the machine.
+Well, it was a slick trick, Ned, but we may fool them yet."
+
+"I hope so, Tom."
+
+Night had fully fallen when Tom, Ned, and Mr. Damon started away in the
+touring car.
+
+Out onto the road rolled the automobile. During the little daylight
+that had remained after his arrival at home and following the discovery
+of the loss of the tank Tom and Ned had traced it, by the marks of the
+big steel caterpillar belts, to the main road. It had gone along that
+some distance, just how far could not be said.
+
+"But by using the searchlight of the auto we can trace her as long as
+they keep her on the road," said Tom. "After that we'll have to trust
+to luck, and to what inquiries we can make."
+
+The touring car carried a powerful lamp, and by its gleams it was easy
+to trace for a time the progress of the ponderous tank. There was no
+need to make inquiries of persons living along the way, though once or
+twice Tom did get out to ask, confirming the fact that the big machine
+had rumbled past in a direction away from the Swift home.
+
+"I had an idea they might have doubled on their tracks for a time, and
+backed her up just to fool us," Tom said. "They might do that, keeping
+her in the same tracks."
+
+But this, evidently, had not been done, and the tank was making good
+speed away from the Swift house. They kept up the search until about
+midnight, and then a heavy rain began just before they reached a point
+where several roads branched.
+
+"Luck's with them!" exclaimed Tom. "This will wash away the marks, and
+we'll have to go it blind. Might as well put up here for the night," he
+added, as they came to a village hotel.
+
+It was evident that little more could be done in the rain and darkness,
+and there was danger of over-running the trail of the tank if they kept
+on. So they turned in at the hotel and got what little rest they could
+in their anxious state of minds.
+
+Tom tried to be cheerful and to look for the best, but it was hard
+work. The tank was his pet invention, and, moreover, that her secrets
+should fall into the hands of the enemy and be used for Germany and
+against the United States eventually, made the young inventor feel that
+everything was going wrong.
+
+The rain kept up all night, and this would make it correspondingly hard
+for them to pick up the trail in the morning.
+
+"The only thing we can do is to make inquiries," decided Tom.
+"Fortunately, the tank can't easily be hidden."
+
+They started off after an early breakfast. The roads were so muddy and
+wet that traveling was difficult and dangerous for the automobile, and
+they were disappointed in finding no one who had seen or heard the tank
+pass up to a point not far from the hotel where they had stayed
+overnight. From then on the big machine seemed to have disappeared.
+
+"I know what they've done," Tom said, when noon came and they had found
+no trace of the ponderous war machine.  "They've left the road and
+taken her cross country, and we can't find the spot where they did this
+because the rain has washed out the marks. Well, there's only one thing
+left to do."
+
+"What's that?" asked Ned.
+
+"Get the Hawk! In that we can look down and over a big extent of
+country. That's what I'll do--I'll phone for the airship. The rain is
+stopping, I think."
+
+The rain did cease by the time one of Tom's men brought the speedy
+aircraft to the place named by the young inventor in his telephone
+message. There were still several hours of daylight left, and Tom
+counted on them to allow him to rise in the air and look down on the
+tanks possible hiding place.
+
+"One thing's sure," he told Ned: "I know the limit of her speed, and
+she can't be farther off than at some place within a circle of about
+one hundred and twenty-five miles from my house. And it's in the
+direction we're in. So if I circle around up above, I may spot her."
+
+"I hope so," murmured Ned.
+
+It was arranged that Mr. Damon should take the automobile back, with
+Tom's mechanician in it, and Tom and Ned would scout around in the
+aircraft, which carried only two.
+
+"You ought to have a machine gun with you, Tom, if you plan to attack
+those fellows to get back the tank," Ned said.
+
+"Oh, I don't imagine I'll need it," he said. "Anyhow, a machine gun
+wouldn't be of much effect against the tank. And they can't fire on us,
+for there wasn't any ammunition for the guns in Tank A, unless they got
+some of their own, and I hardly believe they'd do that. I'll take a
+chance, anyhow."
+
+And so the search from the air began. It was disappointing at first.
+Around and around circled Tom and Ned, their eyes peering eagerly down
+from the heights for a sight of the tank, possibly hidden in some
+little-known ravine or gully.
+
+Back and forth, like a speck in the sky, Tom guided the Hawk, while Ned
+took observation after observation with the binoculars.
+
+At last, when the low-sinking sun gave warning that night would soon be
+upon them, Ned's glasses picked up something on the ground far below
+that made him sit suddenly straighter in his seat.
+
+"What is it?" asked Tom through the speaking apparatus, feeling the
+movement on the part of his chum.
+
+"I see something down there, Tom," was the answer. "It doesn't look
+like the tank, and yet it doesn't look as a clump of trees and bushes
+ought to look. Have a peep yourself. It's just beyond that river,
+against the side of the hill--a lonesome place, too."
+
+Tom took the glasses while Ned assumed control of the Hawk, there being
+a dual system for operating and steering her.
+
+No sooner had the young inventor got the focus on what Ned had
+indicated than he gave a cry.
+
+"What is it?" asked the young bank clerk.
+
+"Camouflaged!" cried Tom, and without stopping to explain what he
+meant, he handed the binoculars back to Ned and began to guide the Hawk
+down toward the earth at high speed.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXV
+
+Foiled
+
+
+"Is it really Tank A, Tom?" cried Ned, through the tube, as soon as he
+became aware of his companion's intention.  "Are you sure?"
+
+"That's the girl, and just where you spotted her with the glasses--in
+that clump of bushes. But they've daubed her with green and brown
+paint--camouflaged her, so to speak--until she looks like part of the
+landscape. What made you suspicious of that particular place?"
+
+"The green was such a bright one in contrast to the rest of the foliage
+around it.'
+
+"That's what struck me," Tom answered, as he continued to drive the
+Hawk earthward. "They thought they were doing a smart trick--imitating
+the tactics of the Allies with their tanks--but they must be color
+blind."
+
+Ned took another observation through the glasses. He could see the tank
+more easily now. There she was, fairly well hidden in a clump of bushes
+and small trees on the banks of a river, about a hundred miles away
+from Shopton. It was in a wild and desolate country, and only with the
+airship could the trail have thus been followed.
+
+Ned saw that the tank had been daubed with green, yellow, and brown
+paint, in fantastic blotches, to make the big machine blend with the
+foliage; and, to a certain extent, this had been accomplished.
+
+But, as Ned had remarked, the green used was of too vivid a hue. No
+natural tree put forth leaves like that, and the glass had further
+revealed the error.
+
+"Look, Tom!" suddenly cried Ned. "She's moving!"
+
+"You're right!" answered the young inventor. "They've seen us and are
+trying to get away."
+
+"But they can't beat your airship, Tom."
+
+"I know that. But their game--Oh, Ned, they're going to wreck her!"
+cried Tom, and there was anguish in his voice.
+
+As the two looked down from their seats In the Hawk they saw the tank,
+in its fantastic dress of splotchy paint, leave her lair amid the
+bushes and trees, and head toward the river. Like some ponderous
+prehistoric monster about to take a drink, she careened her way toward
+the stream, which, at this point, ran between high banks.
+
+"What's the game?" cried Ned.
+
+"They're going to send her to smash!" cried Tom. "She's pretty tough,
+Tom, but she'll never stand a tumble down into the river without
+breaking a lot of machinery inside her."
+
+"But if they demolish the tank they'll kill themselves, won't they?
+And Koku and your men, too, who must be prisoners in her!"
+
+"They won't risk their own worthless hides, you may be sure of that!"
+exclaimed Tom.
+
+"There they go, but they must have left Koku and the others to their
+fate!"
+
+"Oh, if they could only get loose and take control now, Tom, they'd
+save your tank for you!" shouted Ned.
+
+"Yes; but they can't, I'm afraid. They may be killed, or so securely
+bound that they can't get loose!"
+
+"Can't you get the Hawk there in time to stop her?"
+
+"I'm afraid not. By that time she'll have attained top speed and it
+would be taking our lives in our hands to try to make a flying jump,
+get inside, and shut off the motors."
+
+"Then the tank's got to smash!" said Ned gloomily.
+
+Tom did not answer for a moment. He and his chum watched the fleeing
+figures running away from the war engine. What the plotters had done,
+as soon as they saw the aircraft and realized that Tom had discovered
+them, was to start the motors and leap from the tank, closing the doors
+after them.  Whether or not they had left Koku and the others prisoners
+inside remained to be seen.
+
+But the tank was plunging her way toward the steep bank of the river,
+doomed, it seemed, to great damage, if not to destruction.
+
+"Oh, if we could only halt her!" murmured Ned.
+
+Tom Swift was busy with some apparatus on the Hawk. Ned heard the hum
+of an electric motor which was connected with the engine, and there
+soon sounded the crackle of the wireless.
+
+"What are you doing? Signaling for help from those inside the tank?"
+asked Ned, for the big machine was fitted to receive and send messages
+of this sort.
+
+"I'm trying something more desperate than that," Tom answered.
+
+Again the wireless crackled, Tom working it with one hand while, with
+the other, he guided the aircraft. Ned looked downward with wondering
+eyes.
+
+The tank was still plunging her way toward the steep bank of the river.
+If she tumbled down this, there would be little left of the expensive
+and complicated machinery inside.
+
+"The rascals did their work well," mused Ned. "They've probably gotten
+all the secrets they want and now they're going to spoil all Tom's hard
+work. It's a shame! If only--"
+
+Ned ceased his musing. Something was taking place down below that he
+could not explain. The tank seemed to be slackening her progress. More
+and more slowly she approached the edge of the cliff.
+
+"Tom! Tom!" yelled Ned. "You must have waked some of them up inside and
+they've thrown the motors out of gear! Hurrah!  She's stopping!"
+
+"I believe she is!" yelled Tom. "Oh, if it only works!"
+
+The tank was still moving, though more slowly. Still the crackle of the
+wireless was heard.
+
+And then, just as Tom shut off his own motor and let the Hawk glide on
+her downward way in a volplane to earth, the great, ponderous tank came
+to a stop, on the very edge of the precipice at the foot of which
+rolled the river.
+
+"Whew!" whistled Ned, as the aircraft rolled along the ground near the
+war machine. "That was touch and go, Tom!  They stopped her just in
+time."
+
+"You mean the wireless stopped her," said Tom quietly.  "I'm very much
+afraid that if Koku and the others are alive they're still prisoners in
+the craft."
+
+"The wireless!" gasped Ned, as he and his chum got out of the Hawk. "Do
+you mean that you stopped her by wireless, Tom?"
+
+"That's what I did. It was a desperate chance, but I took it. I had
+just installed in the tank a system of wireless control, so she could
+be guided as some torpedos and submarines are, by wireless impulses
+from the shore.
+
+"Only I'd never given the tank system a tryout. It was all installed,
+and had worked perfectly on the small model I constructed. And when I
+saw her running away, out of control as she was, I realized the
+wireless was the only thing that would stop her, if that would. It
+might operate just opposite to what I wanted, though, and increase her
+speed."
+
+"But I took the chance. I set the airship wireless current to working,
+and tuned it in to coincide with the control of the tank. Then, by
+means of the wireless impulse I shut off the motors, which can be
+stopped or started by hand or by electricity. I shut 'em off."
+
+"And only just in time!" cried Ned. "Whew, Tom Swift, but that was a
+close call!"
+
+"I realize that myself!" said the young inventor. "This is a new idea
+and has to be worked out further for our newer tanks."
+
+"Gee!" ejaculated Ned. "Out of date before got into use!  Now let's see
+about our friends!"
+
+It was the work of but a moment to enter the tank, and, after making
+sure that the machinery was all right, Tom and Ned made their way to
+the interior. In one of the smallest rooms they found Koku and the
+others bound with ropes, and in a bad way. Koku was so tied with cords
+and hemp as to resemble a bale of Manilla cable.
+
+"Cut 'em loose, Ned!" cried Tom, and the bonds were soon severed. Then
+came explanations.
+
+As has been told, one of the plotters, whose identity was not learned
+until later, came with the forged note. The giant and Tom's men set out
+in the tank, and the machine was stopped at a certain place where the
+plotter, who gave the name of Crossleigh, told them Tom was to meet his
+men.
+
+Out of ambush leaped Simpson and others, who overpowered the mechanics,
+even subduing Koku after a fierce fight, and then they took possession
+of the tank, making the others prisoners.
+
+What happened after that could only be conjectured by Tom's men, for
+they were shut up in an inner room. It seemed certain, though, that the
+tank was taken to some secret place and there painted to resemble the
+verdure. Then she went on again, coming to rest where Tom and Ned saw
+her.
+
+Meanwhile the plotters were gradually getting at the secrets of
+construction, and they were in the midst of this work when one of them
+saw the aeroplane. Rightly guessing what it portended, they left
+hurriedly, still leaving the hapless men bound, and started the tank on
+what they thought would be her last trip.
+
+"But you saved her, Tom!" cried Ned. "You saved her with the wireless."
+
+And word was sent back to Shopton by the same means to tell Mr. Swift,
+Mr. Damon, and the others that Tom and his tank were safe. And then, a
+little later, when the bound men had recovered the use of their cramped
+limbs, the tank was backed away from the ledge and started on her
+homeward way, Tom and Ned preceding her in the Hawk.
+
+Without further incident, save a slight break which was soon repaired,
+Tank A soon reached her harbor again, and a double guard was posted
+about the shop.
+
+"And they won't get much more chance to steal her secrets," said Tom
+that night, when the stories had been told.
+
+"Why?" asked Ned.
+
+"We start to dismantle her at once," Tom answered, "and she goes to
+England to be reproduced for France."
+
+"If only those plotters haven't stolen the secrets," mused Ned.
+
+But if they had they got little good of them. For shortly afterward
+government secret service agents rounded up the chief members of the
+gang, including Simpson and Blakeson.  They, with Schwen, were sent to
+an internment camp for the period of the war, and enough information
+was obtained from them to disclose all the workings of the plot.
+
+"It was just like lots of other stunts the German spies tried to put
+over on the good old U.S.A.," said Tom to Ned, the day after the
+dismantled tank was shipped to Great Britain. "In some way the spies
+found out what I was making, and then they got hold of Blakeson and
+Grinder. Those fellows, who so nearly queered me in the big tunnel game
+promised to make a tank that would beat those the British at first put
+out, and they took some German money in advance for doing it.
+
+"When they found they couldn't make good, the German spies agreed to
+help them get possession of my secrets. They worked hard enough at it,
+too, but, thanks to you, Ned, and to Eradicate, who gave us the tip on
+Schwen, we beat 'em out."
+
+"And so it's all over, Tom?"
+
+"Yes, practically all over. I've given all my interests in the tank to
+Uncle Sam. It was the only way I could do my bit, at this time. But
+I've something else up my sleeve."
+
+And those of you who care to learn what the young inventor next did may
+do so by reading the next volume of this series.
+
+It was about a week after Tank A, as she was still officially called,
+had been shipped in sections that Ned Newton called at Tom's home. He
+found his chum, with a flower in his buttonhole, about to leave in his
+small runabout.
+
+"Oh, excuse me!" exclaimed Ned. "This is Wednesday night.  I might have
+known. Give Mary my regards."
+
+"I will," promised Tom, with a smile.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Tom Swift and his War Tank, by Victor Appleton
+
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