g out of Tom's rather reckless destruction of the barn; a
plot on the part of Blakeson and his gang. That they had so speedily
taken advantage of this situation carelessly given them was only
another evidence of how closely they were on Tom's trail.

"That man who ran out of the barn must have been the same one who was
in the factory," whispered Ned to his chum. "He probably saw us coming
this way and ran on ahead to have the farmer all primed in readiness.
Maybe he knew you had planned to ram the barn."

"Maybe he did. I've had it in mind for some time, and spoken to some of
my men about it."

"More traitors in camp, then, I'm afraid, Tom. We'll have to do some
more detective work. But let's get this thing settled. He only wants to
hold your tank, and that will give the man, into whose hands he's
playing, a chance to inspect her."

"I believe you. But if I have to leave her here I'll leave some men on
guard inside. It won't be any worse than being stalled in No Man's
Land. In fact, it won't be so bad. But I'll do that rather than be
gouged."

"No, Tom, you won't. If you did leave some one on guard, there'd be too
much chance of their getting the best of him. You must take your tank
away with you."

"But how can I? I can't put up three thousand dollars in cash, and he
says he won't take a check for fear I'll stop payment. I see his game,
but I don't see how to block it."

"But I do!" cried Ned.

"What!" exclaimed Tom. "You don't mean to say, even if you do work in a
bank, that you've got three thousand in cash concealed about your
person, do you?"

"Pretty nearly, Tom, or what is just as good. I have that amount in
Liberty Bonds. I was going to deliver them to a customer who has
ordered them but not paid for them. They are charged up against me at
the bank, but I'm good for that, I guess. Now I'll loan you these
bonds, and you can give them to this cranky old farmer as security for
damages. Mind, don't make them as a payment. They're simply
security--the same as when an autoist leaves his car as bail. Only we
don't want to leave our car, we'd rather have it with us," and he
looked over at the tank, bristling with splinters from the demolished
barn.

"Well, I guess that's the only way out," said Tom. "Lucky you had those
bonds with you. I'll take them, and give you a receipt for them. In
fact, I'll buy them from you and let the farmer hold them as security."

And this, eventually, was done. After much he