"In any case, every attempt he made to bother us
turned out a fizzle. I am not, however, forgetting precautions, my boy."

Ned Newton realized that his chum had determined to make this night
test of the electric locomotive the pivotal trial of the whole affair.
He came back to the works after dinner and was let in by the office
watchman at about nine o'clock.

"Mr. Tom here yet?" he asked the man.

"Yes, Mr. Newton. The young boss didn't go home to supper, even. That
colored man brought something down for him, and he's in the shed yet."

"Rad is here, you mean?"

"Yes, sir. At least, he didn't go out this way, and we watchmen have
instructions to let nobody in or out by the yard gates at night."

"I'll say Tom is being careful," thought Ned, as he stepped out through
the runway toward the erection shed.

Before he reached the entrance to the huge shed, however, Ned chanced
to look down the enclosure. There were several arc lights burning, but
even these only furnished a dim illumination for the whole yard.

He supposed that four watchmen were tramping their several beats along
the inside of the stockade and close to the trolley-track. But when he
saw an instant gleam of light down there, close to the ground, Ned did
not believe that it was the flash of a torch in the hand of any sentry.

"Funny," he muttered. "That's outside the fence, or I'm much mistaken.
I wonder now--"

He turned from the door of the shed, left the runway, and began walking
toward the distant point at which he had seen the mysterious flash of
light.

Chapter XV

The Enemy Still Active

Ned was dressed in a dark business suit, so he was not likely to be
observed from a distance, for it was a starless night. Half way to the
end of the great yard he began to wonder if the light he had seen might
not have been an hallucination.

He doubted very much if anybody was creeping about outside the fence.
The boards were close together, with scarcely a crack half an inch wide
anywhere. A light out there--

It flashed again. He was positive of it this time, and of its locality
as well. It could be nobody who had any honest business about the Swift
Construction Company's premises. It was not Koku, for ordinarily the
giant would not use an electric torch.

Ned did not know where any of the watchmen were who were acting as
sentinels. In fact, as it appeared later, three of them had been called
off their beats by Tom himself to help in so