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+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 lending 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 en 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 hack 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 bad 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 he 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, be 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 lest 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 be 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
+tip 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 lust 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 wail 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 be 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 were 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 high
+way.
+
+"Well, what are we going to do?" asked Mr. Damon, after
+they had traveled some distance and had obtained no dews.
+
+"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 hack 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 tis
+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 Koka 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 he 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? What'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 Louse. 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 bands 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 he 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 Etext of Tom Swift And His War Tank
+