umphantly, moving his king. "Got you
again, Damon!"

"Bless my pawns and castles!" exclaimed the eccentric gentleman. "You've
won three straight games!"

[Illustration: Mr. Swift, Tom's Father]

"Hello, Dad!" said Tom suddenly. "I see you're up to your old tricks!"
In spite of his bantering tone the young inventor was pleased that his
father was relaxing in a friendly game.

"Your father shouldn't be in the amateur class any more, Tom!" Mr. Damon
grumbled playfully. "Bless my trophy cup, but I'm afraid to play with
him!"

"Better luck next time," consoled Mr. Swift, a twinkle in his eye.

Mr. Damon left, refusing an invitation to dinner and saying that he
had to take his car to a garage for a minor repair job before starting
for his home in Waterford, a near-by town.

[Illustration: "Hello, Dad," Said Tom]

"How goes it with you, son?" asked Mr. Swift when Tom returned from
seeing his guest to the door. "Your new space eye, as you call it--is it
working out?"

"I think so, Dad, but wait until I get the big model built!"

[Illustration: Tom Saw Mr. Damon to the Door]

"Genmens, dinnah am serbed!" An old negro thrust his white-fringed
head through the library door. "An' it sho' am good!" Eradicate Sampson,
so-called for his work in younger days of eradicating dirt from the
homes of Shopton, had been attached to the Swift household for many
years and now regarded himself as one of the family.

As they sat at table the conversation of the three turned naturally to
Tom's latest invention. Mr. Swift had not heard yet all Tom's ideas of
the proposed telescope and was full of eager questions.

[Illustration: Eradicate Sampson]

"Just how long do you think it will take to make your big disk, son?"
asked Mr. Swift. "That is, if you find any more of the new material."

"The meteorite is already on board a north-bound freight steamer,"
answered Tom, "and ought to get here within the next ten days. It'll
require at least three weeks to extract all the X and cast it into
shape. Taking everything into consideration, I should say it will be
at least six weeks before we can test the device. The matter depends
entirely on finding a lot of X in the planet stone. But I'm sure I
shall."

[Illustration: "The Meteorite Is Northbound!"]

After dinner the boys went over to the main office of the Swift
Construction Company to clear up a number of routine business matters
which required Tom's personal attention. He had postp