bully staggered and went down in the
dust.

"There!" cried Tom, righteously angry. "That will teach you not to try
to damage my car, and then hit me into the bargain! Now clear out,
before I give you some more!"

Whining and blubbering Andy arose to his feet.

"You just wait. I'll get square with you for this," he threatened.

"You can accept part of that as pay for what you did in the tar and
feathering game," added Tom. Then, as Andy moved in front of one of the
electric side lamps on the car, Tom uttered a whistle of surprise. For
both of Andy's eyes were bruised and swollen, though Tom had only hit
him once.

"Look at me!" cried the bully, more squint-eyed than ever. "Look at
me! You hit me in one eye, and that explosion hit me in the other! My
father will sue you for this."

As he hurried off down the road Tom understood. Andy coming along, had
seen Tom's car standing there, and, thinking to do some mischief, had
climbed in, and turned on the power. Perhaps he hoped it would run into
the roadside ditch and be smashed. But as the gear was out, turning on
the electric current had a different effect. As the bully pulled the
handle over too quickly, throwing almost the entire force of the
battery into the wires at once, the load was too heavy for them. A
safety fuse blew out, causing the flare and the explosion, and a piece
of the soft lead-like metal had hit the red-haired lad in the eye.
Tom's fist had completed the work on the other optic, and for several
days thereafter Andy Foger remained in seclusion. When he did go out
there were many embarrassing questions put to him, as to when he had
had the fight. Andy didn't care to answer. As for Tom, it did not take
long to put a new fuse in his car, and he greatly enjoyed his ride with
Miss Nestor that night.

CHAPTER XVI

TROUBLE AT THE BANK

Coming in rather late from his trip to Mansburg, and thinking of some
things he and Miss Nestor had talked about, Tom was rather surprised,
on reaching the house, to see a light in his father's particular room,
where the aged inventor did his reading and his planning of new devices.

"Dad's up rather late," said Tom to himself. "I wonder if he's studying
over some new machine."

The lad ran his auto into the temporary garage he had built for it, and
connected the wires of a burglar alarm he had arranged, to give warning
in case any of his enemies should seek to damage the car.

Tom encountered Garret Jacks