The two physicians, who had been consulting together, summoned the youth
from another room, where, with Mrs. Baggert and Mr. Jackson he had been
anxiously awaiting the verdict.

"What is it?" the young inventor asked Dr. Gladby.

The medical man told him to what conclusion he and his colleague had
arrived, adding:

"We advise that Dr. Hendrix be sent for at once. But I need hardly tell
you, Tom, that he is a noted specialist, and his services are in great
demand. He is hard to get."

"I'll pay him any sum he asks!" burst out the youth. "I'll spend all my
fortune--and I have made considerable money of late--I'll spend every
cent to get my father well! Money need not stand in the way, Dr.
Gladby."

"I knew that, Tom. Still Dr. Hendrix is a very busy man, and it is hard
to induce him to come a long distance. It is over a hundred miles to
Kirkville, and it is an out-of-the-way place. I never could understand
why Dr. Hendrix settled there. But there he is, and if we want him he
will have to come from there. The worst of it is that there are few
trains, and only a single railroad line from there to Shopton."

"Then I'll telegraph," decided Tom. "I'll offer him his own price, and
ask him to rush here as soon as he can."

"You had better let Dr. Kurtz and me attend to that part of it,"