caught you!" cried the diamond merchant, shaking the small chap,
while Tom looked on, more mystified than ever.




CHAPTER II--A MIDNIGHT VISIT


While Mr. Track, the jeweler, and several citizens, attracted
by the chase after the supposed thief, are crowded into the
store, anxious to hear explanations of the strange affair, I will
take the opportunity to tell you something of Tom Swift, the lad
who is to figure in this story.

Many of you have already made his acquaintance, when he has
been speeding about in his airship or fast electric runabout, and
to others we will state that our hero first made his bow to the
public in the book called "Tom Swift and His Motor-Cycle," the
initial volume of this series.

In that story there was related how Tom made the acquaintance
of an odd individual, named Mr. Wakefield Damon, who was
continually blessing himself, some part of his anatomy, or his
possessions. Mr. Damon was riding a motor-cycle, and it started
to climb a tree, to his pain and fright. Afterward Tom purchased
the machine, and had many adventures on it, including a chase
after a gang of men who had stolen a valuable patent model
belonging to Mr. Swift.