"I can just about figure out what happened," said Ned Newton to
Tom, when told of the circumstances. "These Universal people were
provoked because you wouldn't give them the benefit of your
experience on their flying machines, and so they sent a spy to
get work with you. They, perhaps, hoped to secure some of your
ideas for their own, or they may have had a deeper motive."

"What deeper motive could they have, Ned?" "They might have
hoped to disable you, or some of your machines, so that you
couldn't compete with them. They're unscrupulous, I hear, and
will do anything to succeed and make money. So be on your guard
against them."

"I will," Tom promised. "But I don't believe there's any more
danger now. Anyhow, I have to take some chances."

"Yes, but be as careful as you can. How is the silent motor
coming on?"

"Pretty good. I've had a lot of failures, and the thing isn't
so easy as I at first imagined it would be. Noise is a funny
thing, and I'm just beginning to understand some of the laws of
acoustics we learned at high school. But I think I'm on the right
track with the muffler and the cutting down of the noise of the
explosions in the cylinders. I'm working both ends, you see--
making a motor that doesn't cause as much racket as those now in
use, and also providing means to take care of the noise that is
made. It isn't possible to make a completely silent motor of an
explosive gas type. The only thing that can be done is to kill
the noise after it is made."