inder, "and here is
one for me from my New York brokers. Let me see--ah-h-h-h!"

The last was a sharp exclamation, as if Mr. Chadwick had received a
sudden shock. It was followed by silence. Again and again Jack flashed
the red signaling lamp but there was no reply.

He was seriously worried. The sudden sharp intake of breath, almost
like an outcry, that he had heard, oppressed him with a sense of
apprehension. What could have happened? Turning to Tom he called for
full speed ahead for the trip back.

Tom was not slow in responding. He speeded the motors up to their top
capacity. In the air there were no speed laws to look out for, or
other motorists or pedestrians to avoid. It was a clear road. The
steel stays and stanchions of the stanch Wonder ship fairly hummed as
she shot forward, while an indefinable fear clutched at Jack's heart.

He knew that his father was subject to fainting spells and he had been
overworking recently. Fast as the Wondership was cutting through the
air it felt like an eternity to Jack before the gray walls and the
well-laid-out grounds of High Towers came into view.

The boys lost no time in landing, and not waiting to place the
Wondership in her shed, set out to look for Mr. Chadwick. Jupe came
shuffling by on his way from the cornpatch.

"Where's dad, Jupe?" asked Jack.

"In his labveroratory, ah reckons," answered the old colored man.
"Leastways ah ain't obfustucated any obserwations ob him round der
contagiois atmosferics."

"Come on, Tom," said Jack. "Let's get to dad's workshop as quick as we
can."

"Why, Jack, you--you don't think that anything has happened to him, do
you?" asked Tom.

"I don't know. He was talking quite cheerfully to me and then,
without any warning, he gave a sort of gasp and then everything was
silent."

The next minute the boys entered the workshop of the inventor.

Jack's worst fears were realized as they gazed at the scene before
them. On the floor, stretched out inanimate before the radio telephone
apparatus, lay Mr. Chadwick. His right hand grasped a letter.

His head lay in a pool of blood, oozing from a cut at the back of his
head.

"Dad! dad! What has happened?" cried Jack, in an agony of alarm, as he
fell to his knees at his father's side.

But Mr. Chadwick did not answer. The next moment Tom's shout for help
brought everybody about the place running toward the workshop where
the alarming discovery had been made.

CHAPTER XVIII.