CHAPTER II
A MAN IN THE SNOW BANK
Tom Swift looked somewhat in surprise at his strange visitor. It had all happened so suddenly, the offer had been such a strange one, the man himself—Mr. Period—was so odd, that our hero hardly knew what to think. The moving picture agent continued pacing up and down the room, now and then looking at his watch as if to note when the five minutes had passed.
"No," said Tom to himself. "I'm not going to take this offer. There's too much work and risk attached to it. I want to stay at home and work on my noiseless motor for the airship. After that—well—I don't know what I'll do. I'll tell Mr. Period that he needn't wait the five minutes. My mind is made up now!"
But as Tom was about to make this announcement, and dismiss his caller, he looked again at the visitor. There was something attractive about him—about his hasty way of talking, about his manner of interrupting, about the way he pro-
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