worried and Tom anxiously hastened forward to meet him.
"What's the matter, dad?" he asked as cheerfully as he could. "Have you been figuring over that gyroscope problem again, against my express orders?" and he laughed a little.
"No, Tom, it's not the gyroscope that's worrying me."
"What is it then?"
"Those scoundrels are around again, Tom!" and Mr. Swift looked apprehensively about him.
"You mean the men who stole the turbine model?"
"Yes. I was walking in the woods near the hotel yesterday and I saw Anson Morse. He did not see me, for I turned aside as quickly as I had a glimpse of him. He was talking to another man."
"What sort of a man?"
"Well, an ordinary enough individual, but I noticed that he had tattooed on the little finger of his left hand a blue ring."
"Happy Harry, the tramp!" exclaimed Tom. "What can he and Morse be doing here?"
"I don't know, Tom, but I'm worried. I wish I was back home. I'm afraid something may happen to some of my inventions. I want to go back to Shopton, Tom."
