of chance yet."

"And you're working on something new?" asked Ned, as he looked
around the shop where he and Tom were sitting. As the young bank
employee had said, he had come away from the institution that
afternoon to have a little holiday with his chum, but Tom, seated
in the midst of his inventions, seemed little inclined to jollity.

Through the open windows came the hum of distant machinery, for
Tom Swift and his father were the heads of a company founded to
manufacture and market their many inventions, and about their
home were grouped several buildings. From a small plant the
business had grown to be a great tree, under the direction of Tom
and his father.

"Yes, I'm working on something new," admitted Tom, after a
moment of silence.

"And, Ned," he went on, "there's no reason why you shouldn't
see it. I've been keeping it a bit secret, until I had it a
little further advanced, but I've got to a point now where I'm
stuck, and perhaps it will do me good to talk to someone about
it."

"Not to talk to me, though, I'm afraid. What I don't know about
machinery, Tom, would fill a great many books. I don't see how I
can help you," and Ned laughed.

"Well, perhaps you can, just the same, though you may not know
a lot of technical things about machines. It sometimes helps me