They found where the big outside fence had been tunneled under and, working from there, came upon several mines that were planted near important buildings in a manner that would have done credit to a wartime mining party. From the mines buried wires led outside the fence to a little gully. There, beneath a clump of bushes, the ends of the wires lay. All that remained was to connect them to a detonating battery. Then the mines could all be set off at once and the Swift plant surely would be terribly damaged, if not wholly destroyed.
“They’re regular fiends!” gasped Ned, when the extent of the vile plot had been laid bare.
“Yes, they could easily have blown us up but for that warning,” Tom admitted. “Yet it may all have been a bluff. They might not have gone to extremes. But I dared not take a chance.”
“No,” agreed his chum. “Well, what’s the next move?”
Tom Swift did not answer immediately.
CHAPTER XVII
USELESS PLEADINGS
Tom Swift was profoundly disturbed by the momentous discoveries that had taken place around the Swift Construction Company’s plant. He did not believe it possible, with all his precautions, that so deep and dangerous a plot could have been brought so near to fruition as it had been.
“Well?” asked Ned remindingly.