"You're thinking too much of that." Ned warned him. "You're as bad as the time you went for your first flight."
"I suppose I am," admitted Tom. "But the success of the Mars means a whole lot to me. And that's something I nearly forgot. I've got to go out to the shop now. Want to come along, Ned?"
"Sure, though I tell you that you're working too hard—burning the electric light at both ends."
"This is just something simple," Tom said. "It won't take long."
He went out, followed by his chum.
"But this isn't the way to the airship shed," objected the young bank clerk, as he noted in which direction Tom was leading him.
"I know it isn't," Tom replied. "But I want to look at one of the trip-hammers in the forge shop when none of the men is around. I've been having a little trouble there."
"Trouble!" exclaimed his chum. "Has that plot Lieutenant Marbury spoke of developed?"
"Not exactly. This is something else," and Tom told of the trouble with the big hammer.
"I had an idea," the young inventor said, "that the man at the machine let it get out of order purposely, so I'd change him. I want to see if my suspicions are correct."