"Hit him good, Andy!" cried Sam Snedecker. "Give me a shot at him!"
"I will not. I want to attend to him myself. You go tell my father, and he'll have Tom Swift arrested for trying to sneak in and get some of my airship ideas!"
By this time Ned's wiggling feet had found the topmost rung of the ladder. The next moment he was rapidly descending it, and, when on the ground, he and Tom carried it away, to prevent its use by the enemy.
"Whew!" exclaimed the young inventor. "I had no idea they would kick up such a row!"
"Me either. Did you hurt yourself when you jumped, as the ladder fell?"
"No. Did they hit your hands?"
"Came mighty near it. Well, I s'pose it serves us right, yet if I can't look over my own back fence it's a pity!"
"Of course we can, only I'd just as soon they hadn't seen us. However—hello! there's Andy looking over here, now."
The mean face of the bully now topped the fence. It was evident that he had crawled from the window of his shop.
"What are you trying to get into my place for, Tom Swift?" he demanded.
"I wasn't trying to get in, Andy Foger."
