"
"One thing more," went on Tom's chum, "and then we'll look
farther. Weren't you induced by a man named Simpson, or one
named Blakeson, to make the demand of three thousand
dollars' damage for your barn?"
"No, it wasn't anybody of either of those names," admitted
Mr. Kanker, evidently a bit put out by the question.
"It was some one, though, wasn't it?" insisted Ned.
"Waal, a man did come to me the day the barn was smashed,
and just afore it happened, and said an all-fired big
traction engine was headed this way, and that a young feller
who was half crazy was running it. This man--I don't know
who he was, being a stranger to me--said if the engine ran
into any of my property and did damages I should collect for
it on the spot, or hold the machine.
"Sure enough, that's what happened, and I did it. That
man had an auto, and he brought me and some of my men out to
the smashed barn. That's all I know about it."
"I thought some one put you up to it," commented Ned.
"This was some of the gang's work," he went on to Mr. Damon.
"They hoped to get possession of Tom's tank long enough to
find out some of the secrets.
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