, and Koku, taking a tight grip on the
man by the slack of his garments behind, walked him along toward the
office, the mud and water splashing and oozing from his shoes at every
step.

"Now you look here!" the gold-toothed man cried, as he was forced
along, "you ain't got any right to detain me. I ain't done nothin'!"
And each time he spoke the bright tooth in his mouth glittered in the
sun.

"I don't know whether you've done anything or not," said Tom. "I'm
going to take you back and see what you and Bower have to say. He may
know something about this."

"If he does I don't believe he'll tell," said Jackson.

"Why not?" asked Tom, quickly.

"Because he's gone."

"Gone! Bower gone?"

"Yes," answered Jackson. "I saw him running out of the experiment shop
as we raced along to help you. I didn't think, at the time, that he was
doing more than go for aid, perhaps. But I see the game now."

"Oh, you mean--him?" and Tom pointed to the dripping figure.

"Yes," said Jackson in a low voice, as Koku went on ahead with his
prisoner. "If, as you say, this man was in league with Bower, the
latter has smelled a rat and skipped. He has run away, and I only hope
he hasn't done any damage or got hold of any of your plans."

"We'll soon know about that," said Tom. "I wonder who is at the bottom
of this?"

"Maybe those men you wouldn't work for," suggested the machinist.

"You mean Gale and Ware of the Universal Flying Machine Company?"

"Yes."

"Oh, I don't believe they'd stoop to any such measures as this--sending
spies around," replied Tom. "But I can't be too careful. We'll
investigate."

The first result of the investigation was to disclose the fact that
Bower was gone. He had taken his few possessions and left the Swift
plant while Tom was racing after the stranger. A hasty examination of
the safe did not reveal anything missing, as Tom's plans and papers
were intact. But they showed evidences of having been looked over, for
they were out of the regular order in which the young inventor kept
them.

"I begin to see it," said Tom, musingly. "Bower must have managed to
open the safe while I was gone, and he must have made a hasty copy of
some of the drawings of the silent motor, and passed them out of the
window to this gold-tooth man, who tried to make off with them. Did you
find anything on him?" he asked, as one of the men who had been
instructed to search the stranger came into the office just then.

"Not