CHAPTER III
PLANNING A BIG GUN
"But, Tom, I don't see how in the world yon can ever hope to make a bigger gun than that."
"I think it can be done, Ned," was the quiet answer of the young inventor. He looked up from some drawings on the table in the office of one of his shops. "Now I'll just show you"
"Hold on, Tom. You know I have a very poor head for figures, even if I do help you out once in a while on some of your work. Skip the technical details, and give me the main facts."
The two young men—Ned Newton being Tom's special chum—were talking together over Tom's latest scheme.
It was several days after Tom's accident in the airship, when he had been saved by the prompt action of Mr. Peterson. That fortune-hunter, once he had the promise of Mr. Swift to invest in his somewhat visionary plan of locating a lost opal mine near the Panama Canal, had left the
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