INTO THE STORM.

"Carry him into the house and get him to bed," cried Mrs. Bagley, the
housekeeper, wringing her hands distractedly. "Oh dear! poor
gentleman, he's bin a-workin' too hard, that's what's the matter."

Jupe and Hank Hawkins, the handy man, picked the unconscious man up
and carried him to bed, where he was made comfortable.

Jack and Tom made an investigation of the workshop. At first the cut
on Mr. Chadwick's head had given Jack the impression that he might
have been the victim of foul play.

But a brief survey of the place soon dispelled these conclusions. When
he fell, the inventor struck his head against the sharp corner of a
table right behind him, Jack concluded, and in this way inflicted the
wound.

The letter that his father had been reading when he was stricken
still lay on the floor. Jack picked it up. It was from the brokers in
New York, the same missive Mr. Chadwick had referred to over the radio
'phone just before the silence that so alarmed Jack.

Glancing over it Jack's eyes widened. He perceived at once that the
cause of his father's sudden attack no doubt lay in the shock he had
received when he opened the envelope. The letter was curt and to the
point.

"Your securities wiped out in panic," it said. "Wire us and advise
what to do."

That was all, but it was enough. Jack knew that most of his father's
money was invested with the firm that had written the letter, and now
they had been wiped out in a money panic. Jack had no idea how much of
his father's fortune was affected, but it was evident from Mr.
Chadwick's collapse that he had been dealt a heavy blow.

He was in the midst of talking to Tom about the letter when the
housekeeper came running from the house.

"Oh, here you boys are!" she exclaimed. "You must get Dr. Mays at
once. Those red drops he gave your father are finished and I can't
find any more."

"I'll telephone," said Jack promptly, stuffing the letter into his
pocket.

"I've already tried that," said Mrs. Bagley, "but the line is out of
order."

"Can't we get some other doctor?" asked Tom.

Mrs. Bagley shook her head.

"Dr. Mays is the only one who understands your father's case," she
said. "You must get him as soon as possible."

"Is dad conscious yet?" asked Jack anxiously.

"Yes, he has been trying to tell me something but I won't let him
talk."

"We'll get Dr. Mays right away," said Jack, but then he suddenly
recollected that the electric car