were holding something back and grinning over it.

In a few minutes Tom's feeling was proven correct, for the formula
dealing with the flexible glass was gone! Koku, when questioned,
admitted that he had seen some papers drop from Anton's pocket when he
had seized him just outside the laboratory, but the simple giant had
paid no attention to them. There followed a frantic search with a
flashlight by Tom but there was no trace of the missing documents.

[Illustration: The Formula Was Gone]

"They couldn't have blown away!" he declared. "They were clipped
together by a special heavy binder. Somebody must have picked them up!"

[Illustration: He Made a Frantic Search]

When Tom visited Anton in jail the next day, the fellow denied loudly
that he had taken anything. The police promised to redouble their
efforts to capture Hammer. With that assurance the inventor was forced
to content himself.

The next few days Tom was so busy that he gave only an occasional
thought to his loss. Analysis of the sample cut from the meteorite
showed that it was even richer than he had hoped in the new substance,
X. Immediately he telegraphed a large science supply house for huge
flasks, beakers, retorts and other paraphernalia necessary to extract
and refine the material.

[Illustration: The Sample Was Rich in X]

This done, he arranged for the loan of a large refracting telescope from
a near-by observatory to be used in conjunction with the big green disk
he proposed to make. Professor Standish of the college was so interested
in the project that Tom invited him to the forthcoming test.

Work was begun on an improvised observatory to be erected on a mountain
in the Adirondacks. This would place the telescope above most of the
blurring effects of the dense, lower atmosphere, filled as it is with
smoke and dust.

[Illustration: Work Was Begun on the Observatory]

Ned Newton wired that the meteorite had been safely placed on a fast
freight train. He added that he was traveling in the caboose of the same
train by special arrangement with the road officials. Tom met his chum
at the station.

"How do you like riding in style?" he teased.

[Illustration: Ned Traveled in the Caboose]

"Humph!" grunted Ned. "I'll take a plane next time."

A huge truck transported the planet stone to the shops of the Swift
Construction Company. One of the buildings had been cleared of all other
work, and in it a very large furnace had been erected to