"No, the deflecting rudder got jammed, and I couldn't move it. I must look and see what's the matter."
"I thought it was all up with you," commented Mr. Damon, as he followed Tom and Ned to the front end of the craft, where the deflecting mechanism was located.
Tom glanced quickly over it. His quick eye caught something, and he uttered an exclamation.
"Look!" the young inventor cried. "No wonder it jammed!" and from a copper sleeve, through which ran the wire that worked the rudder, he pulled a small iron bolt. "That got between the sleeve and the wire, and I couldn't move it," he explained. "But when I pulled hard I loosened it."
"How did it fall in there?" asked Ned.
"It didn't fall there." spoke Tom quietly. "It was put there."
"Put there! Bless my insurance policy! Who did such a dastardly trick?" cried Mr. Damon.
"I don't know," answered Tom still quietly, "but I suspect it was Andy Foger, and he was never any nearer to putting us out of business than a little while ago, Ned."
"Do you mean to say that he deliberately tried to injure you?" asked Mr. Damon.
"Well, he may not have intended to hurt us, but that's what would have happened if I hadn't been able to throw her up into the wind when I did," replied Tom. Then he told of Mr. Swift having seen the red-haired bully near the aeroplane. "Andy may have only intended to put my machine out of working order," went on the young inventor, "but it might have been worse than that," and he could not repress a shudder.