“I hardly thought you would—it was just a chance,” Tom retorted.
“But we’re not going to give up,” declared Corrigan. “We’ll catch ’em yet!”
Tom had his doubts on this subject, but he did not express them.
“Wish you lots of luck!” he called over the wire.
He was sure, however, that Snogg, Janner and Torpy were but the tools in the hands of more powerful men, men who would keep themselves well hidden, and that though the ruffians might be apprehended in time, little or nothing would be learned from them. They would take the blame and say nothing of the men who had hired them, probably being well paid for any punishment they might suffer.
“Well, so much for that,” said Tom when he had ruminated over what Corrigan had reported. “Now about Greenbaum. That’s more serious. I can’t let him get away with threatening me like that.”
However, when Tom hurried out to intercept Greenbaum he found that the fellow had packed his belongings and hurried away.
“That was quick work,” reflected Tom. Then, as he thought the matter over, he was pretty sure that Greenbaum had anticipated what was coming to him and had accordingly made his arrangements for a speedy departure. “I only hope he didn’t get into the laboratory to do more damage to my talking-picture machine before he lighted out.”
He was reassured, however, when he found Koku on guard at the door of the laboratory which still needed a bit of work to restore it to the spick-and-span condition it was in before the explosion.
“Did anybody try to get in here just now, Koku?” asked Tom, thinking the giant might have prevented Greenbaum from a last and dangerous call.