“Mebbe the jinx is finished,” said Carney, the old workman, in confidence when the launching was over. “Anyway, we got the thing out of the shops without killing anybody. And that’s a good thing.”
Tom Swift was not thinking about Carney’s “jinx” on this day. He was much too deeply absorbed in the fact of the boat’s being in the water. Then, too, he had a small puzzle in his mind while the ceremony of launching was taking place.
In the crowd of spectators was a man whose face he knew. The man watched proceedings with an exceedingly keen scrutiny. His interest in the huge flying boat was professional, Tom was sure. He began to have some uneasiness about the man, for, although he was sure he had seen him before, Tom Swift could not remember where he had seen him or what his name was.
CHAPTER XI
THE TRIAL
Ned Newton took dinner at the Swift house that evening, and in the course of the meal he asked Tom:
“Did you chance to see a man in a frock coat, a gardenia in his buttonhole, and wearing a top hat at the lake to-day? Little peaked black mustache and a whisp of goatee? Rather Frenchy looking.”
“He is just the chap I have been worrying about!” exclaimed the young inventor.
“Why worry about him?” demanded Ned, while even Mr. Swift looked at his son in some surprise.
“Because it worries me to know that I’ve seen a man but am unable to place him. Do you have any idea, Ned, who he is?”
“That is what I was asking you—or attempting to,” returned Ned.