Tom, Ned,
and Mr. Damon, with Mrs. Baggert in the background, stood
looking at the great empty machine shop.
"Well, they got her," went on Tom, with a sigh. "I was
afraid of this as soon as they left me alone at the
factory."
"Is anything wrong?" faltered the housekeeper. "Didn't you
send for the tank, Tom?"
"No, Mrs. Baggert, I didn't," Tom answered.
"But I don't understand," the housekeeper said. "A man
came with a note from you, Tom, and in it you said to have
him take the tank, with Koku and the men who know how to run
it. We were so glad to hear from you, and know that you were
all right, that we didn't think of anything else, your
father and I. So he went out and saw that the tank got off
all right. Koku was glad, for it's the first chance he'd had
to ride in it."
"Who was the man who brought the note?" asked Tom, and he
was striving to be calm. "To think of poor old dad playing
right into the hands of the plotters!" he added, in an aside
to Ned.
"Well, I don't know who the man was," said Mrs. Baggert.
"He seemed all right, and of course having a note from you--"
"Who has that note now?" asked Tom quickly.
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