r-cycle in a clump of bushes,
he made his way through the underbrush and stood on the shore of
Lake Carlopa. Cautiously Tom looked about him. It was getting well
on in the afternoon, and the sun was striking across the broad sheet
of water. Tom glanced up along the shore. Something amid a clump of
trees caught his eyes. It was the chimney of a house. The young
inventor walked a little distance along the lake shore. Suddenly he
saw, looming up in the forest, a large building. It needed but a
glance to show that it was falling into ruins, and had no signs of
life about it. Nor, for that matter, was there any life in the
forest around him, or on the lake that stretched out before him.

"I wonder if that can be the place?" whispered Tom, for, somehow,
the silence of the place was getting on his nerves. "It must be it,"
he went on. "It's just as Rad described it."

He stood looking at it, the sun striking full on the mysterious
mansion, hidden there amid the trees. Suddenly, as Tom looked, he
heard the "put-put" of a motor-boat. He turned to one side, and saw,
putting out from a little dock that he had not noticed before, a
small craft. It contained one man, and no sooner had the young
inventor caught a glimpse of him than he cried out:

"That's the man who jumped over our fence and escaped!"

Then, before the occupant of the boat could catch sight of him, Tom
turned and fled back into the bushes, out of view.

CHAPTER XXIII.

TOM IS PURSUED

Tom was so excited that he hardly knew what to do. His first thought
was to keep out of sight of the man in the boat, for the young
inventor did not want the criminals to suspect that he was on their
trail. To that end he ran back until he knew he could not be seen
from the lake. There he paused and peered through the bushes. He
caught a glimpse of the man in the motor-boat. The craft was making
fast time across the water.

"He didn't see me," murmured Tom. "Lucky I saw him first. Now what
had I better do?"

It was a hard question to answer. If he only had some one with whom
to consult he would have felt better, but he knew he had to rely on
himself. Tom was a resourceful lad, and he had often before been
obliged to depend on his wits. But this time very much was at stake,
and a false move might ruin everything.

"This is certainly the house," went on Tom, "and that man in the
boat is one of the fellows who helped rob me. Now the next thing to
do is to find out if