one side. The road was wide, and he made the turn skilfully. A
moment later the car was speeding back the way it had come, leaving
Tom standing on the highway, alone in the mud and darkness, with the
rain pouring down in torrents.




CHAPTER VII.

OFF ON A SPIN


Tom's first impulse was to run after the automobile, the red tail-
light of which glowed through the blackness like a ruby eye. Then he
realized that it was going from him at such a swift pace that it
would be impossible to get near it, even if his bicycle was in
working order.

"But if I had my motor-cycle I'd catch up to them," he murmured. "As
it is, I must hurry home and tell dad. This is another link in the
queer chain that seems to be winding around us. I wonder who that
man was, and what he wanted by asking so many personal questions
about dad?"

Trundling his wheel before him, with the chain dangling from the
handle-bar, Tom splashed on through the mud and rain. It was a
lonesome, weary walk, tired as he was with the happenings of the
day, and the young inventor breathed a sigh of thankfulness as the
lights of his home shone out in the mist of the storm. As he tramped