or some time! Oh, Tom Swift,
this IS a capture."

"What right have you to use these high-handed methods on us?"
demanded Mr. Foger pompously.

"Yes, dad make 'em let us go; we haven't done anything!" snarled
Andy.

"I guess you won't go yet a while," said the agent. "I'll have a
look inside this craft. Keep 'em covered, Tom."

"I will. I guess Andy knows what this rifle can do. See if Ned is a
prisoner."

There was a few moments of waiting during which Koku and Mr. Damon
securely bound the prisoners. Then Mr. Whitford reappeared. He was
accompanied by some one.

"Hello, Tom!" called the latter. "I'm all right. Much obliged for
the rescue."

"Are you all right, Ned?" asked Tom, of his chum.

"Yes, except that they kept me gagged. The men who captured me took
me for you, and, after the Fogers found out the mistake, they
decided to keep me anyhow. Say, you've made a great haul."

And so it proved, for in the airship was a quantity of valuable
silks and laces, while on the persons of the smugglers, including
Mr. Foger, were several packets of diamonds. These were taken
possession of by Mr. Whitford, who also confiscated the bales and
packages.

Ned was soon aboard the Falcon, while the prisoners, securely tied
were laid in the cabin of their own craft with Koku to stand guard
over them. Mr. Damon went to Shopton, which was the nearest town,
for police aid, and soon the smugglers were safe in jail, though Mr.
Foger protested vigorously against going.

Ned explained how he had been pounced upon by two men when he was
fishing, and told how without a chance to warn his friends, he had
been gagged and bound and taken to the headquarters of the smugglers
in Canada, just over the border. They went by carriages. Then the
Fogers, who, it seemed, were hand in glove with the law violators,
saw him, and identified him. The smugglers had thought they were
capturing Tom.

"It was your coat and hat that did it, Tom," explained Ned. "I
fought against being taken away, but when I happened to think if
they took me for you it might be a trick against them. And it was.
The Fogers didn't discover the mistake until just before we started."

"They planned for a big shipment of goods last night and used two
airships. I don't know what became of the other."

"We've got her, and the men, too," interposed Mr. Whitford, as this
conversation was taking place several hours later in the Swift home.
"I just had a wire from my deputy.