“Only a sprained ankle,” explained Tom, who was hobbling about. “I had to jump out of a window. But is Dad all right? What was that explosion?”
“One of the bombs you warned us about. We found four—this was the fifth and just about to go off. I fired it away not a second too soon. It chewed up some of your spare lumber. I guess it’s the last. But where have you been? After the first message of yours we didn’t know what to think until you telephoned again that you were on your way in. What’s it all about?”
“Trouble, I guess,” answered Tom. “Some gang is after me and the new airline ideas and patents. They’re desperate. Wait until I ’phone to the house to let Dad and Mary know I’m all right, and then I’ll explain. Why, hello, Mr. Damon!” Tom exclaimed as he saw his eccentric friend. “Did they get you over here to hunt bombs?”
“He overheard some talk which gave us an idea of the desperate men who were after you,” stated Ned. “He came over in a hurry, and——”
“Too much of a hurry, I guess,” broke in Mr. Damon, in rather crestfallen tones. “I smashed up your mooring mast, Tom.”
“That’s a small matter—easily mended. I’m glad you weren’t hurt. I’ll tell you everything in a few minutes.”
Tom limped into his office and soon was conversing with his father and then, at more length, with Mary. They were rejoiced to learn that he had escaped and was safe. Then began the telling of the two-sided story—the events leading up to the explosion of the bomb Ned had hurled away just as Tom arrived.
Tom related how he had seen the strange man disappear behind the bush, how he had followed, had gone down the secret steps, and how he awoke out of a doped stupor to find himself a prisoner. Then he told of being taken to the lonely house and how he had escaped.
Ned, in turn, related their anxiety when Tom did not come home, and told how they had searched for him before and after the arrival of Mr. Damon.
“We sure were glad to hear your voice over the wire,” Ned stated. “But somebody cut us off.”