"Look for clews," replied Tom. "We'll begin at the top of the house and
work down. It's lucky we came when we did, for every minute counts."

Then the two plucky lads began their search for the kidnapped Russian
exile. Had those who took him away seen the mere youths who thus devoted
themselves to the task, they might have laughed in contempt, but those
who know Tom Swift and his sturdy chum, know that two more resourceful
and brave lads would be hard to find.




CHAPTER V

A CLEW FROM RUSSIA


"Nothing much up here," remarked Tom, when he and Ned had gone all over
the second floor twice. "That scrap of paper, which put me on to the
fact that some one from the Russian government had been here, is about
all. They must have taken all the documents Mr. Petrofsky had."

"Maybe he didn't have any," suggested Ned.

"If he was wise he'd get rid of them when he knew he was being shadowed,
as he told us. Perhaps that was why they broke up the furniture,
searching for hidden papers, or they may have done it out of spite
because they didn't find anything. But we might as well go downstairs
and look there."