"If he took the other road, where would he go?" asked Mr. Damon.
"Any one of a dozen places. I guess we'll have to follow the trail and make all the inquiries we can."
But from the point where the two roads branched, all trace of Tom Swift was lost. No one had seen him in his machine, though he was known to more than one resident along the highway.
"Well, what are we going to do?" asked Mr. Damon, after they had traveled some distance and had obtained no news.
"Suppose we call up his home," suggested Ned, as they came to a country store where there was a telephone. "It may be he has returned. In that case, all our worry has gone for nothing."
"I don't believe it has," said Mr. Damon. "But if we call up and ask if Tom is back it will show we haven't found him, and his father will be more worried than ever."
"We can ask the telephone girl, and tell her to keep quiet about it," decided Ned; and this they did.
But the answer that came back over the wire was discouraging. For Tom had not returned, and there was no word from him. There was an urgent message for him, too, from government officials regarding the tank, the girl reported.
"Well, we've just got to find him—that's all!" declared Ned. "I guess we'll have to make a regular search of it. I did hope we'd find him out at the Kanker farm. But since he isn't there, nor anywhere about, as far as we can tell, we've got to try some other plan."
"You mean notify the authorities?"—asked Mr. Damon.