e two men had jumped to
escape, and he was just in time to see one of them run past the open
door. The face of this one was under a powerful electric light, and Tom
at once recognized the man as Feldman, the worker who had had so much
trouble with the trip-hammer.

"This sure is a puzzle," marveled Tom. "My own men in the plot! But
why did they attack Koku?"

The giant, bending over the men he had knocked unconscious by beating
their heads together, seemed little worse for the attack.

"We tie 'em up," he said grimly, as he brought over the rope that had
been intended for himself.

CHAPTER XIV

THE FIRST FLIGHT

Little time was lost in securing the two men who bad been so
effectively rendered helpless by Koku's ready, if rough, measures. One
of them was showing signs of returning consciousness now, and Tom, not
willing to inflict needless pain, even on an enemy, told one of his
men, summoned by the alarm, to bring water. Soon the two men opened
their eyes, and looked about them in dazed fashion.

"Did--did anything hit me?" asked one meekly.

"It must have been a thunderbolt," spoke the other dreamily. "But it
didn't look like a storm."

"Oh, dere was a storm, all right," chuckled Eradicate, who, having left
his mule, Boomerang outside, came into the shed. "It was a giant storm
all right."

The men put their hands to their heads, and seemed to comprehend. They
looked at the rope that bound their feet. Their forearms had been
loosened to allow them to take a drink of water.

"What does this mean--Ransom--Kurdy?" asked Tom sternly, when the men
seemed able to talk. "Did you attack Koku?"

"It looks as though he had the best of us, whether we did or not," said
the man Tom knew as Kurdy. "Whew, how my head aches!"

"Me sorry," said Koku simply.

"Not half as sorry as we are," returned Ransom ruefully.

"What does it mean?" asked Tom sternly. "There were four of you.
Feldman and one other got away."

"Oh, trust Feldman for getting away," sneered Kurdy. "He always leaves
his friends in the lurch."

"Was this a conspiracy?" demanded Tom.

The two captives looked at one another, sitting bound on the floor of
the shop, their backs against some boxes.

"I guess it's all up, and we might as well make a clean breast of it,"
admitted Kurdy.

"Perhaps it would be better," said Tom quietly. "Eradicate," he went
on, to the colored man, "go to the house and tell Mrs. Baggert that
everything is all