m Swift they can't bother me!"

Andy was dancing about in a rage. His two cronies crowded behind him
to the window just as the ladder on which Tom and Ned were standing
slipped along the fence.

"Jump, Ned!" yelled Tom Swift, as he leaped away to escape being
entangled in the rungs.

The young inventor came to the ground with a jar that shook him up
considerably, while Ned, who had grasped the top board of the fence,
remained hanging there by his hands, his feet dangling in the air.

"Whack his fingers, Andy!" yelled Pete Bailey. "Get a long stick and
whack Ned's fingers! That will make him drop off!"

Tom Swift heard, and labored desperately to raise the ladder to
enable Ned to get down, for his chum seemed to be afraid to drop.

CHAPTER III

ABE IS DECEIVED

Raising a ladder alone is rather an awkward job. Tom found this so
when he tried to aid his friend Ned. But, being a muscular lad, the
young inventor did finally succeed in getting the ladder up against
the fence where the bank clerk could reach it.

Whack! Down upon the top board came a stick wielded by Andy Foger
from the rear window of his shop.

"Wow!" cried Ned, for the blow had been close to his fingers. "Hurry
up with that ladder, Tom."

"There it is! But why don't you drop?"

"Too far. I can't reach the ladder now!"

"Yes, you can. Stretch a bit!"

"Whack!" Once more the stick descended on the fence, this time still
closer to Ned's clinging hands.

"Hit him good, Andy!" cried Sam Snedecker, "Give me a shot at him!"

"I will not. I want to attend to him myself. You go tell my father,
and he'll have Tom Swift arrested for trying to sneak in and get
some of my airship ideas!"

By this time Ned's wiggling feet had found the topmost rung of the
ladder. The next moment he was rapidly descending it, and, when on
the ground, he and Tom carried it away, to prevent its use by the
enemy.

"Whew!" exclaimed the young inventor. "I had no idea they would kick
up such a row!"

"Me either. Did you hurt yourself when you jumped, as the ladder
fell?"

"No. Did they hit your hands?"

"Came mighty near it. Well, I s'pose it serves us right, yet if I
can't look over my own back fence it's a pity!"

"Of course we can, only I'd just as soon they hadn't seen us.
However--hello! there's Andy looking over here, now."

The mean face of the bully now topped the fence. It was evident that
he had crawled from the window of his shop.

"What are