"That"s so. Andy is a pretty slippery customer. Say, Mr. Jackson, you go around and get Eradicate, and have him bring a club. We can"t trust him with a gun. Tell him to get at the back door, and I"ll wait for you to join me, and we"ll go in the front door. Then we"ll have "em between two fires. They can"t get away."
"How about the windows?"
"They"re high up, and hard to open since I put the new catches on them.
Whoever got in must have forced the lock of the door. There goes the light again!"
As Tom spoke there was seen the faint glimmer of a light. It moved slowly about the interior of the shed, and with a peculiar bobbing motion, which indicated that some one was carrying it.
"Go for Eradicate, and don"t make any more noise than you can help in waking him up," whispered Tom, for they were now close to the shed, and might be heard.
Mr. Jackson slipped off in the darkness, and Tom drew nearer to the building that housed his Humming-Bird. There was one window lower than the others, and near it was a box, that Tom remembered having seen that afternoon. He planned to get up on that and look in, before making a raid to capture the intruder.
Tom raised himself up to the window. The light had been visible a moment before he placed the box in position, but an instant later it seemed to go out, and the place was in darkness.
"I wonder if they"ve gone away?" thought Tom. "I can"t hear any noise."
He listened intently. It was dark and silent in the shop. Suddenly the light flashed up brighter than before, and the young inventor caught sight of a man walking around the new aeroplane, examining it carefully. He carried, as Tom could see, a large-sized electric flash-lamp, with a brilliant tungsten filament, which gave a powerful light.
As the youth watched, he saw the intruder place the light on a bench, in such a position that the rays fell full upon the Humming-Bird. Then, adjusting the spring switch so that the light would continue to glow, the man stepped back and drew something from an inner pocket.
"I wonder what he"s up to?" mused Tom. "I wish Eradicate and Mr.
Jackson would hurry back. Who can that fellow be, I wonder? I"ve never seen him before, as far as I know. I thought sure it was going to turn out to be Andy Foger!"
Tom turned around to look into the dark yard surrounding the shed. He was anxious to hear the approach of his two allies, but there was no sound of their footsteps.
As he turned back to watch the man he could not repress a cry of alarm, for what the intruder had drawn from his pocket was a small hatchet, and he was advancing with it toward the Humming-Bird!
"He"s going to destroy my aeroplane!" gasped Tom, and he raised his revolver to fire.
He did not intend to shoot at the man, but only to fire to scare him, and thus hasten the coming of Mr. Jackson and the colored man. But there was no need of this, for an instant later the two came running up silently, Eradicate with a big club.
"Whar am he?" he asked in a hoa.r.s.e whisper. "Let me git at him, Ma.s.sa Tom!"
"Hush!" exclaimed the young inventor. "We have no time to lose! He"s in there, getting ready to chop my aeroplane to bits! Go to the back door, Rad, and if he tries to come out don"t let him get away."
"I won"t!" declared the colored man emphatically, and he shook his club suggestively.
"Come on! We"ll go in the front door," whispered Tom to the engineer.
"I have the key. We"ll catch him red-handed, and hand him over to the police."
Waiting a few seconds, to enable Eradicate to get to his place, Tom and the engineer stole softly toward the big double doors. Every moment the youth expected to hear the crash of the hatchet on his prize machine.
He shivered in antic.i.p.ation, but the blows did not fall.
Tom pushed open the door and stepped inside, followed by Mr. Jackson.
As they did so they saw the man standing in front of the Humming-Bird.
He again raised the little hatchet, which was like an Indian tomahawk, and poised it for an instant over the delicate framework and planes of the air craft. Then his arm began to descend.
"Stop!" yelled Tom, and at the same time he fired in the air.
The man turned as suddenly as though a bullet had struck him, and for a moment Tom was afraid lest he had hit him by accident; but an instant later the intruder grabbed up his flashlight, and holding it before him, so that its rays shone full on Tom and Mr. Jackson, while it left him in the shadow, sprang toward them, the hatchet still in his hand.
"Look out, Tom!" cried Mr. Jackson.
"Out of my way!" shouted the man.
Bravely Tom stood his ground. He wished now that he had a club instead of his revolver. The would-be vandal was almost upon him. Mr. Jackson clubbed his rifle and swung it at the fellow. The latter dodged, and came straight at Tom.
"Look out!" yelled the engineer again, but it was too late. There was the sound of a blow, and Tom went down like a log. Then the place was in darkness, and the sound of footsteps in rapid flight could be heard outside the shed.
The intruder, after wounding the young inventor, had made his escape.
Chapter Twelve
Miss Nestor Calls
"What"s de mattah? Shall I come in? Am anybody hurted?" yelled Eradicate Sampson as he pounded on the rear door of the aeroplane shed.
"Let me in, Ma.s.sa Tom!"
"All right! Wait a minute! I"m coming!" called Mr. Jackson. He tried to peer through the darkness, to where a huddled heap indicated the presence of Tom. Then he thought of the electric lights, which were run by a storage battery when the dynamo was shut down, and a moment later the engineer had switched on the incandescents, filling the big shed with radiance.
"Tom, are you badly hurt?" gasped Mr. Jackson.
There was no answer, for Tom was unconscious.
"Let me in! Let me git at dat robber wif mah club!" cried the colored man eagerly.
Knowing that he would need help in carrying Tom to the house, Mr.
Jackson hurried to the back door. He had a key to it, and it was quicker to open it than to send Eradicate away around the shed to the front portals.
"Whar am he?" gasped the faithful darky, as he took a firmer grasp of his club and looked around the place. "Let me git mah hands on him!
I"ll feed him t" Boomerang, when I gits froo wif him!"
"He"s gone," said the engineer. "Help me look after Tom. I"m afraid he"s badly hurt."
They hastened to the unconscious lad. On one side of his head was a bad cut, which was bleeding freely.
"Oh! he"s daid! I know he"s daid!" wailed Eradicate.
"Not a bit of it. He isn"t dead, but he may die, if we don"t get him into the house, and have a doctor here soon," said Mr. Jackson sternly.
"Catch hold of him, Rad, and, mind, don"t carry on, and get excited, and scare Mr. Swift. Just pretend it isn"t very bad, or we"ll have two patients on our hands instead of only Tom."
They managed to get the youth into the house, and, contrary to their fears, Mr. Swift was not nearly so nervous as they had expected. Calmly he took charge of matters, and even telephoned for Dr. Gladby himself, while Mr. Jackson and Eradicate undressed Tom and got him to bed. Mrs.
Baggert busied herself heating water and getting things in readiness for the doctor, who had promised to come at once.
Tom was just regaining consciousness when the physician came in, having driven over at top speed.