d. In a small secret chamber beneath his private
laboratory he had set up a sort of miniature glass works which would
have astonished any ordinary glass worker, for the young inventor had
devised an entirely new method of procedure. As to its outcome, well,
even to its inventor that feature remained in doubt.

[Illustration: A Miniature Glass Works]

"Do you think it'll work, Tom?" asked Ned Newton anxiously as he
followed the youthful scientist down the stairs. "Your experiments have
cost a mint of money already--"

"Don't croak," chuckled Tom. "I've a few pennies left, haven't I?"

"You won't have so very many after you finish with your new telescope
idea," declared Ned grimly. "And THAT certainly won't bring in any
dividends."

[Illustration: Ned Followed Tom]

"Nor is it intended to," said Tom a bit sharply. "There is, you know,
such a thing as pursuing knowledge for its own sake."

"I'm sorry. You ought to know, though, that I'm thinking only of your
interests, not of mine," he said as they reached the room below.

"Forgive me, old man!" Tom clapped Ned warmly on the back. "Don't feel
for a minute that I don't appreciate everything you've done for me. To
tell you the truth, I'm as worried about this new glass as you are.
That's why I jumped on you. Let's forget it!"

[Illustration: "Forgive Me, Old Man!"]

"Right!"

The two were standing now before the cylindrical furnace containing the
mixture of silicates and other ingredients from which Tom Swift hoped
would emerge a glass as flexible as rubber and as strong as steel. The
thermometer on the front stood at twenty-one degrees Centigrade.

[Illustration: They Looked at the Thermometer]

"She's just right," muttered the inventor, consulting a complicated
chart hanging on the wall. "Now we'll see!"

The asbestos-coated door clanged open. Tom drew out a shallow tray, the
contents of which were buried in a black powder.

"Charcoal!" he explained, setting the pan on a table. "It prevents any
rapid temperature change. Even common glass must be cooled slowly or it
becomes as brittle as peanut candy."

[Illustration: Tom Drew out a Shallow Tray]

With the aid of a wooden rod Tom pulled out a glass bar about ten
inches long and an inch thick. After picking it up carefully he examined
it closely. In no way did the object appear different from ordinary
glass.

"Well, here goes!" said the inventor and forthwith bent the bar into the
shape of a horseshoe!