plated, with machine
guns bristling here and there.

"Isn't that great, Tom? Can you beat it? It's the most wonderful
machine of the age, even counting some of yours. Can you beat it?"

Tom took the paper indifferently, and his manner surprised his chum.

"Well, what's the matter, Tom?" asked Ned. "Don't you think that great?
Why don't you say something? You don't mean to say you've seen that
picture before?"

"No, Ned."

"Then what's the matter with you? Isn't that wonderful?"

Chapter III

Ned is Worried

Tom Swift did not answer for several seconds. He stood holding the
paper Ned had given him, the sun slanting on the picture of the big
British tank. But the young inventor did not appear to see it. Instead,
his eyes were as though contemplating something afar off.

"Well, this gets me!" cried Ned, his voice showing impatience. "Here I
go and get a picture of the latest machine the British armies are
smashing up the Boches with, and bring it to you fresh from the mail--I
even quit my Liberty Bond business to do it, and I know some dandy
prospects, too--and here you look at it like a--like a fish!" burst out
Ned.

"Say, old man, I guess that's right!" admitted Tom. "I wasn't thinking
about it, to tell you the truth."

"Why not?" Ned demanded. "Isn't it great, Tom? Did you ever see
anything like it?"

"Yes."

"You did?" Cried Ned, in surprise. "Where? Say, Tom Swift, are you
keeping something from me?"

"I mean no, Ned. I never have seen a British tank."

"Well, did you ever see a picture like this before?" Ned persisted.

"No, not exactly like that But--"

"Well, what do you think of it?" cried the young banker, who was giving
much of his time to selling bonds for the Government. "Isn't it great?"

Tom considered a moment before replying. Then he said slowly:

"Well, yes, Ned, it is a pretty good machine. But--"

"'But!' Howling tomcats! Say, what's the 'matter with you, anyhow, Tom?
This is great! 'But!' 'But me no buts!' This is, without exception, the
greatest thing out since an airship. It will win the war for us and the
Allies, too, and don't you forget it! Fritz's barbed wire and dugouts
and machine gun emplacements can't stand for a minute against these
tanks! Why, Tom, they can crawl on their back as well as any other way,
and they don't mind a shower of shrapnel or a burst of machine gun
lead, any more than an alligator minds a swarm of gnats. The only thing
that makes 'em h