Tom Swift and his house on wheels

by Victor Appleton

CHAPTER XXIII

SETTING THE TRAP

Just for an instant Ned Newton hesitated. It was a critical moment.

"Go on! Go on!" Tom Swift frantically yelled to his chum. "Don't stop now!"

"He may shoot!" objected Ned, who was in no position to assume the offensive, though both he and Tom were now armed.

"No, he won't!" Tom exclaimed. "He's only bluffing! A coward! Go on! I'm right with you!"

"Here goes then!" and Ned, ignoring the frantic shouts of Basil Cunningham, leaped from the window. It was a little higher up from the ground than he had thought and his fall rather jarred him. But he rolled over to be out of the way when Tom jumped.

The young inventor, after a glance back over his shoulder, which showed that Cunningham was without a visible weapon, leaped over the window sill and joined his chum below. Tom managed to keep his feet in his leap. In the old castle, and as he leaned out of the window, Cunningham continued to shout:

"The prisoners! They're escaping! Where are those confounded guards?"

The whole place was aroused now and other voices could be heard mingling with those of the Englishman in excited shouts. Evidently, those who had been present at the conference of which Tom and Ned had overheard so much, were now joining, or getting ready to join, the pursuit.