“Just gone. Couldn’t stand us any longer. We don’t know how to make coffee as they make it in some place he called Vienna. There’s no Vienna in this state.”
“He means Vienna, Austria. Did he start for that place before breakfast?”
“Well, maybe. Anyway, he got the boy to cart all his truck over to the garage. He is going to leave town at once.”
“Not much he won’t, if he’s the man I think he is!” exclaimed Tom, under his breath, and he started for the garage. “I ought to have guessed it last night.”
The motor-car Tom had rescued on the road had been repaired and was now standing by the curb. Its owner had hired another driver to take him on his way. Big spectacles and all, the stranger was planted in the back seat with his goods and chattels around him. He welcomed Tom Swift with a sort of sour smile.
“They tell me you are an inventor and a young man of property, yes—no?” began the peculiar man. “So it would be to insult you to offer you pay for what you did for me last evening. Yes?”
“You can insult me by offering money, all right,” answered Tom. “But I mean to exact payment for helping you.”
“Ach! Yes? Indeed? And how shall I pay you?”
“You are Dr. Raddiker!” exclaimed the young fellow.
“For sure. Dr. Simon Raddiker. Undt I mean to get away from this place soon. What is your bill?”