f they stick to the old bank we can stand it even if
some of our smaller customers desert us."

"That's the way to talk," went on the young inventor. "Let Foger start
his bank. It won't hurt yours."

"What are you making now?" asked Ned, a little later, looking with
interest at the machinery over which Tom was bending, and to which he
was making adjustments.

"New electric automobile. I want to beat Andy Foger's car worse than I
did on my motor-cycle, and I also want to win a prize," and the lad
proceeded to relate the incidents leading up to his construction of the
storage battery.

Tom and Ned were in the shop until long past midnight, and then the
bank employee, with a look at his watch, exclaimed:

"Great Scott! I ought to be home."

"I'll run you over in Mr. Damon's car," proposed Tom. "He left it here
the other day, while he and his wife went off on a trip, and he said I
could use it whenever I wanted to."

"Good!" cried Ned.

The two lads came from Tom's particular workshop. As the young inventor
closed the door he started suddenly, as he snapped shut the lock.

"What's the matter?" asked Ned quickly.

"I thought I heard a noise," replied Tom.

They both listened. There was a slight rustling in some bushes near the
shop.

"It's a dog or a cat," declared Ned.

Tom took several cautious steps forward. Then he gave a spring, and
made a grab for some one or something.

"Here! You let me be!" yelled a protesting voice.

"I will when I find out what you mean by sneaking around here,"
retorted Tom, as he came back toward Ned, dragging with him a lad. "It
wasn't a dog or a cat, Ned," spoke the young inventor. "It's Sam
Snedecker," and so it proved.

"You let me alone!" demanded Andy Foger's crony. "I ain't done nothin'
to you," he whined.

"Here, Ned, you hold him a minute, while I make an investigation,"
called Tom, handing his prisoner over to his chum. "Maybe Pete or Andy
are around."

"No, they ain't. I came alone," said Sam quickly, but Tom, not heeding,
opened the shop, and, after turning on the electric lights, procured a
lantern. He began a search of the shrubbery around the shop, while Ned
held to the struggling Sam.

CHAPTER V

A MIDNIGHT ENCOUNTER

The moment Tom disappeared behind his machine shop, Sam Snedecker began
a desperate struggle to escape from Ned Newton. Now Ned was a muscular
lad, but his work in the bank was confining, and he did not have the
chance to get