That afternoon Tom put some new style spark plugs in the cylinders
of his motor and found that he had considerably increased the
revolutions of the engine, due to a better explosion being
obtained. He also made some minor adjustments and the next day he
went out alone for a long run.

Heading up the lake, Tom was soon in sight of a popular excursion
resort that was frequently visited by church and Sunday-school
organizations in the vicinity of Shopton. The lad saw a number of
rowing craft and a small motor-boat circling around opposite the
resort and remarked: "There must be a picnic at the grove to-day.
Guess I'll run up and take a look."

The lad was soon in the midst of quite a flotilla of rowboats,
most of them manned by pretty girls or in charge of boys who were
giving sisters (their own or some other chap's) a trip on the
water. Tom throttled his boat down to slow speed and looked with
pleasure on the pretty scene. His boat attracted considerable
attention, for motor craft were not numerous on Lake Carlopa.

As our hero passed a boat, containing three very pretty young
ladies, Tom heard one of them exclaim:

"There he is now! That's Tom Swift."

Something in the tones of the voice attracted his attention. He
turned and saw a brown-eyed girl smiling at him. She bowed and
asked, blushing the while: