"Would you really, Tom?"
"Of course. Consider that you have the first invitation."
"That's awfully nice of you. But you do look worried, Tom. Has anything troubled you?"
"No, not much. Everything is going all right now. We did have a little trouble at a fire in one of my buildings—"
"A fire! Oh, Tom! You never told me!"
"Well, it didn't amount to much—the only suspicious fact about it was that it seemed to have been of incendiary origin."
Mary seemed much alarmed, and again begged Tom to be on his guard, which he promised to do. Had Mary known the warnings uttered by Lieutenant Marbury she might have had more occasion for worry.
"Do you suppose that hammer man of yours came to these woods to meet that Frenchman and talk about you, Tom?" asked his companion, when the two men had strolled out of sight, and the young people were on their way back to the launch.
"Well, it's possible. I have been warned that foreign spies are trying to get hold of some of my patents, and also to hamper the government in the use of some others I have sold. But they'll have their own troubles to get away with anything. The works are pretty well guarded, and you forget I have the giant, Koku, who is almost a personal bodyguard."
"Yes, but he can't be everywhere at once. Oh, you will be careful, won't you, Tom?"