mighty cheer went up. But they were silenced quickly when another moth
appeared. But before this one had gone half way down the light shaft,
two others came. Then came two more, then three or four, until they were
fluttering in the white light like so many scraps of paper. And always
when they reached a point over the opening of the sucker they were
whisked out of sight like a flash, to be carried into the big bag at the
other end of the machine.

The crowd began to press in closer. The men were talking loudly now and
congratulating the young engineers, and as for Nipper and his comrades,
well, they were pleased, and showed it by the smiles they wore.

But just at this moment the sound of an automobile coming from the
direction of headquarters was heard and the next instant Mr. Ford's car
dashed up.

"Hello, boys, how's she working?" he inquired and there was something in
the tone of his voice that disturbed the scouts.

"Why, it's running in great shape. We have nearly half a bag full of
moths now. What's the matter?" queried Nipper.

"Well, I have some bad news for you. I'm sorry, fellows, but your little
machine isn't as original as we thought it was. Here's a telegram I
received this evening from my attorneys in Washington. They say that a
machine like yours was invented in Germany several years ago and patented
in this country, too. They say several stories were printed about it in
German and American magazines at the time. That means that we can't put
it on the market as we had visions of doing and--!"

"Well, well, that's too bad," said deep-voiced Mr. Bassett, who had come
out of the automobile with the other judges to hear what Mr. Ford had to
say. "Too bad they can't get a patent on it. I thought the lads had an
A-1 business proposition here and I was about to make 'em a spot cash
offer for an interest in it. Why, it's the best thing we've seen in all
the tests. No one has had anything anywhere near as good."

"But--but--you don't mean we can't win the contest," stammered Nipper
nervously, looking at Mr. Bassett.

"Win! Win! Why, lads, you've won in a walk. Hasn't he, gentlemen? We
haven't seen anything as good as this, have we?"

"We certainly have not," said Mr. Adams. "Of course, the boys win. They
get the $100 prize, but that's a mighty small amount for such ingenuity.
If it wasn't for that German inventor you could have made thousands of
dollars out--"

"Pshaw, we only want