"Then aren't you friendly with the other man?" asked Mary.

"I don't especially care for him," the young inventor admitted.
"He isn't just my style--too fond of himself, and all that. Still
I may be misjudging him. However, I'm in the game now, and I'm
going to stick. I'll have to be traveling on," he said. "Mr.
Damon and his friend are at my house, and they've been
telephoning all over to find me. I guess this was one of the
first places they tried," he said with a smile, referring to the
fact that he spent considerable time at Mary's home.

"Well, I'm glad they found you, but I'm sorry you have to go,"
Mary said with a smile.

A little later Tom Swift, with Ned, for whom he called, was on
his way back home in his Air Scout, having said goodbye to Mary
and her mother and expressing the hope that Mr. Keith would soon
be over his business troubles.

"Oil wells are queer, anyhow," mused Tom.

Then Tom got to thinking about Dixwell Hardley: "I don't like
the man, and the more I see of him the less I like him. But I'm
in for it now, and I'll stick to the finish. I only wish I could
locate the treasure ship, give him his share, and get back to my
work. I'm going to try to turn out an airship that a man can use
as handily as he does a flivver now."

Musing on the possibilities in this field, Tom, having left Ned