There was but one conclusion. Hankinshaw had acted on a probability. He could not have been hanging around Shopton so long without having heard of the marvelous inventive genius of Tom, and he had jumped to the conclusion that this would have been turned in the direction of oil-well machinery while he was working to fulfill his contract. He had acted on the guess, and it was by the merest chance that he had been thwarted. If Koku had not happened to see that flash of light! Good old Koku!
One thing was certain. Hankinshaw, already an enemy, was now a deadly one. He would never forget or forgive the humiliation he had suffered that night. Tom must be on his guard.
CHAPTER XII
THE NEW DRILL
Tom did not mention the matter of Hankinshaw’s behavior to his father the next day, because he did not want to worry him. He had also put Koku under a strict injunction not to speak of the events of the night. But to Ned, when he turned up at the office, he narrated the whole affair.
The latter was boiling over with indignation.
“It was a pity that you didn’t give him all that was coming to him,” he declared. “There isn’t a doubt but what you could have sent him to prison. Still, I suppose you were right in not giving the matter publicity. I tell you, Tom, we’re dealing with a shady crowd, and I wish we’d never taken the contract.”
“So do I,” agreed Tom. “And I’ll be heartily glad when the whole matter’s off our hands. Of course, this special thing was probably done by Hankinshaw without the knowledge of the others. He was playing a lone hand, and if he’d got hold of the invention he’d have got all the profit from it.”
“Maybe,” assented Ned. “But Thompson and Bragden, although more polished, are probably just as crooked at heart. It’s my opinion the whole gang are tarred with the same brush. All I want now is to see the last of them. When we’ve once delivered the last shipment and have got our money for it, I’ll feel like celebrating.”
“Well, we’ll only have to be patient for about two weeks more,” Tom consoled him. “Jackson agreed with me yesterday that it will take only that time to finish up the contract. By the way, how about that third check for five thousand? It’s due now, isn’t it?”
“Was due three days ago,” answered Ned. “Late, as usual. I’ve had to draw on them. Like pulling teeth to get anything out of them. We have to do our work twice over—once in actually doing it and the second time in getting our money for it. But we’ve got them on the hip now. They’ve paid so much that it will be more profitable for them now to pay the rest than to cheat us out of it.”