good! I'll be right over. Ned is here with me, and I'll have him
telephone to your father and mother."

With that Tom hung up the receiver and joined his chum.

"Mary had a slight automobile accident about five miles from
here," Tom told his chum. "Some green driver ran into her and
dished one of her wheels. No one hurt, but she hasn't a spare
wheel and can't navigate. She called me up at the house, not
wishing to alarm her father, and Mrs. Baggert told her you and I
had come down to the dock, so she reached me here. I'll go in the
small aeroplane and get her. Luckily I left it here the last time
I made a trip. Will you call up Mary's home and let them know
she's all right and that I'll soon be home with her? They might
hear an exaggerated account of the accident."

Ned promised to do this, and at once put in a call for the home
of his chum's fiancee, while Tom had one of his men run out the
Air Scout. This was an aeroplane recently perfected by the young
inventor which slipped through space with scarcely a sound. So
silent was it that the craft had been dubbed "Silent Sam," and it
stood Tom in good stead as those of you know who have read the
volume just before the present book. This sky glider Tom would
now use in going to the rescue of Mary Nestor was not, however,
the same large craft that figured in the previous story. That
airship had been given to the United States government for war
purposes. But Tom had built himself a smaller one for his own
use. It had the advantage of enabling him to carry on a
conversation with his passenger when he took one aloft.