went on, looking at his
eccentric friend for confirmation, and finding it in a nod. "But I
doubt if we could tow you, as we are in a hurry, and--"

"Oh, thank you, we'll look over our machine before we leave it," said
Melling. "It may be that we can get it to go."

Tom doubted this, after a look at the charred section, but he easily
understood the dislike of the men, upon whose heads he had heaped coals
of fire, to ride with him and Mr. Damon.

So Field and Melling were left standing in the road near their stranded
car, which, but for Tom Swift's prompt action, would have been only a
heap of ruins.

Tom first visited the man who had a candy machine, in which the owner
wanted to interest Mr. Damon. After seeing a demonstration and giving
his opinion, he attended to his own affairs, in which his hand
extinguisher played a part. Then he called on Mary Nestor at her
relative's home.

"Oh, but it's good to see you again, Tom!" cried Mary, after the first
greeting. "What have you been doing, and what's all that white stuff on
your coat?"

"Fire extinguisher chemical," Tom answered, and he related what had
happened.

"What's the matter with your aunt, Mary? She seems worried about
something," he said, after the aunt with whom Mary was staying had come
in, greeted Tom briefly, and gone out again.

"Oh, she and Uncle Jasper are worried over money matters, I believe,"
Mary said. "Uncle Jasper invested heavily in the Landmark Building
here, and now, I understand, it is discovered that it was put up in
violation of the building laws--something about not being fire-proof.
Uncle Jasper is likely to lose considerable money.

"It isn't that it will make him so very poor," Mary went on. "But
Uncle Barton Keith--you remember you went on the undersea search with
him--Uncle Barton warned Uncle Jasper not to go into the Landmark
Building scheme."

"And Uncle Jasper did, I take it," said Tom.

"Yes. And now he's sorry, for not only may he lose money, but Uncle
Barton will laugh at him, and Uncle Jasper hates that worse than losing
a lot. But tell me about yourself, Tom. What have you been doing? And
is Eradicate going to get better?"

"I hope so," Tom said. "As for me--"

But he was interrupted by loud voices in the hall. He recognized the
tones of Mary's Uncle Jasper saying:

"They're scoundrels, that's what they are! Just plain scoundrels! When
I accuse them of swindling me and others in that Landmark Building deal
the