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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75322 ***
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                   TOM SWIFT AND HIS HOUSE ON WHEELS
+
+                                  OR
+
+                   A Trip to the Mountain of Mystery
+
+                          By VICTOR APPLETON
+
+                               AUTHOR OF
+                    "TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTORCYCLE,"
+                 "TOM SWIFT AMONG THE DIAMOND MAKERS,"
+                 "TOM SWIFT AND HIS TALKING PICTURES,"
+                       "THE DON STURDY SERIES,"
+                                 ETC.
+
+                             _ILLUSTRATED_
+
+                               NEW YORK
+                           GROSSET & DUNLAP
+                              PUBLISHERS
+
+                 Made in the United States of America
+
+                          COPYRIGHT, 1929, BY
+                         GROSSET & DUNLAP, INC.
+
+                  _Tom Swift and His House on Wheels_
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: "A RACE! WE'LL SEE WHAT YOU CAN DO AGAINST THE HOUSE ON
+WHEELS!"]
+
+
+
+
+                               CONTENTS
+
+
+                         I. STRONG WORDS
+
+                        II. THE NEW INVENTION
+
+                       III. NED'S SUSPICIONS
+
+                        IV. SURPRISING NEWS
+
+                         V. WORK AND WORRY
+
+                        VI. THE TRYOUT
+
+                       VII. THE RACE
+
+                      VIII. CUNNINGHAM ON THE WIRE
+
+                        IX. DISMAL MOUNTAIN
+
+                         X. JEALOUSY
+
+                        XI. TRAILING THE MYSTERY
+
+                       XII. THE WARNING
+
+                      XIII. THE DESERTED HOUSE
+
+                       XIV. A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE
+
+                        XV. ON THE TRAIL
+
+                       XVI. TWO STRANGE MEN
+
+                      XVII. THE CAPTIVE ESCAPES
+
+                     XVIII. SHOTS FROM AMBUSH
+
+                       XIX. PRISONERS
+
+                        XX. IN THE CASTLE
+
+                       XXI. PLOTS AND PLANS
+
+                      XXII. THE ESCAPE
+
+                     XXIII. SETTING THE TRAP
+
+                      XXIV. JUST IN TIME
+
+                       XXV. WEDDING BELLS
+
+
+
+
+                   TOM SWIFT AND HIS HOUSE ON WHEELS
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER I
+
+                             STRONG WORDS
+
+
+Tom Swift, with a negative shake of his head, shoved several papers
+across the table that separated him from a burly, red-faced man whose
+eyes narrowly observed the young inventor.
+
+"Then you refuse this contract, Mr. Swift--a contract for constructing
+over one hundred thousand dollars' worth of machinery on which you can
+make a handsome profit? You absolutely refuse it?"
+
+The red-faced man in his eagerness was leaning forward now.
+
+"Yes, Mr. Cunningham, I refuse!" was Tom's crisp answer. "The Swift
+Construction Company does not care to handle it."
+
+Mr. Barton Swift, father of the young man who thus calmly turned down
+what seemed like a good business proposition, nodded in affirmation of
+what his son had said.
+
+"Is that your last word?" asked Basil Cunningham, who plainly showed
+his English ancestry, not only in his face and figure but in his
+general bearing and manner. "This refusal is final?" he inquired.
+
+"Quite final and complete," answered Tom, as he added another document
+to the pile of those he had pushed toward his visitor. They were blue
+prints, specifications, and contract forms, but they all went across
+the table. "The matter is closed."
+
+"But, look here! I say, now!" and Mr. Cunningham began to wax excited,
+not to say wroth. "I can't understand----"
+
+"Do you mean to say you don't understand English?" asked Mr. Swift, and
+the smile on the face of the aged inventor took away whatever sting
+there might otherwise have been in the words. "I thought my son spoke
+very plainly. He said 'no,' and that's what he means."
+
+"But look here, Mr. Swift! Do you agree with him?"
+
+"Absolutely!"
+
+"And you won't consider the contracts further?"
+
+"The matter is closed, I told you!" and Tom Swift's voice was a bit
+sharp now.
+
+With an imperious gesture the burly Englishman gathered up his papers
+and began to stuff them into a leather brief case bulging with other
+documents. If possible the red of his face deepened.
+
+"Well," he began, "of all the----"
+
+Tom Swift looked up sharply. He was on the verge of saying something
+that, he himself admitted, he might later have been sorry for when the
+door of the private office opened and a veritable giant of a man fairly
+squeezed his way through the doorway.
+
+"What is it, Koku?" asked Tom, not quite pleased with such an
+interruption at this time.
+
+"Excuse, Master," murmured the foreign giant, whose struggle with a
+strange tongue sometimes got the best of him. "But new engine him have
+come an' Mr. Jackson say him got to be lift up--so I lift if you want."
+
+As if to demonstrate his strength, the giant put one finger under the
+edge of the heavy table around which the three men sat and, with as
+much ease as if he were lifting a feather, tilted it.
+
+"My word, man! Don't do that!" cried Mr. Cunningham, for one of his
+feet was close to the leg of the table and he evidently feared the
+weight would come down on his toes when Koku let go.
+
+"Don't worry," said Tom, with a smile. "Koku won't drop it."
+
+Fascinated by this remarkable exhibition of strength, by which the
+giant raised several hundred pounds on one finger, the Englishman
+started to move from his proximity to Koku. But there was no need of
+alarm, though the timely entrance of Tom Swift's gigantic henchman had
+evidently stopped a tirade that was on the lips of the visitor.
+
+"That will do, Koku," said Tom, in a low voice. "I will see Mr. Jackson
+shortly and look at the new engine."
+
+"Yes, Master," murmured the giant, whose whisper, however, was a hoarse
+bellow in contrast with others.
+
+Koku took himself out and Cunningham, staring at the closed door as
+though he could not believe what he had seen, continued to stuff his
+rejected contracts into his case.
+
+"I'm sorry about this," said the Englishman in more subdued tones than
+he had used before the advent of Koku. "I'm not only sorry, but I'm
+disappointed and I think I haven't been fairly treated." His anger was
+rising again, that was evident.
+
+"How do you mean--not fairly treated?" asked Tom sharply.
+
+"Why, dash it all, when I first broached this matter to you I was as
+much as given to understand that your firm would go ahead and make the
+apparatus for me."
+
+"You were given to understand nothing of the sort," replied Tom quietly.
+
+"I say I was!" and the Englishman banged his fist hard on the heavy
+table that Koku had raised with one finger. "I tell you I have been
+shamefully treated here, and I'm not going to stand it. I----"
+
+Again the door suddenly opened and Basil Cunningham made a move as if
+to hide beneath the table he had so lately pounded. But instead of
+Koku, this time the intruder was an aged and decrepit colored man whose
+whitening, curly hair made a pathetic frame for his black, wizened
+face. No gentler creature, as a man, could well have been visioned, and
+Mr. Cunningham, who had evidently been expecting a return of the giant,
+looked a bit foolish.
+
+"Did yo' all call me, Massa Swift?" asked the negro gently.
+
+"No, Rad, we didn't call," said Tom, with a kind smile at the aged
+servant who often claimed, regarding the young inventor: "I done
+nussed him from a baby, dat's whut I done!"
+
+"'Scuse me, Massa Tom," went on Eradicate. "But I thought I done heard
+a noise in here, an'----"
+
+"We were just talking, Rad, that was all. We have about finished," and
+Tom looked significantly at the red-faced Briton. "I'll call you if I
+need you, Rad."
+
+"Yes, sah," and Eradicate shuffled out.
+
+"There is no use in further wasting your time or my own, Mr.
+Cunningham," proceeded Tom Swift, when the three again faced each
+other. "My mind is fully made up, and you see that my father agrees."
+
+"I agree fully with my son," added aged Mr. Swift.
+
+"Then I'll have to get somebody else to carry out this contract!"
+snapped Mr. Cunningham. "I'll go to some firm that knows how to take a
+big profit when it's offered."
+
+"That's your privilege," replied Tom, smiling. "We don't want it."
+
+There was something so final in his words that Mr. Cunningham knew
+better than to try other arguments. The last paper was thrust into the
+case, and the way in which the Englishman snapped the lock showed his
+anger. He caught up his hat, muttered a "good-day," and hurried out.
+
+"Well, that's that," said Tom Swift, with something between a sigh of
+relief and regret.
+
+"Tom, you did just right!" exclaimed his father. "I didn't want to
+interfere, but you gave him the right answer. We want nothing to do
+with his sort, even though we may have to close down the plant on
+account of lack of orders."
+
+"We are running a bit short," Tom admitted. "And with all I spent on
+the talking pictures, with no prospect of any substantial revenue from
+them for some time, we may be financially up against it soon, Dad."
+
+"Don't worry, Tom. We'll pull through, somehow. You can keep busy,
+can't you?"
+
+"Oh, yes, I've got to finish my House on Wheels," and Tom fairly
+spoke of it in capital letters, so near to his heart was this newest
+invention.
+
+"Ah, yes, Tom, your House on Wheels," and Mr. Swift chuckled a little.
+"I've been looking it over now and again. Seems as if you had a pretty
+good thing there."
+
+"I hope it will work out," responded the young man.
+
+"Looks as if you were fitting it up for a trip around the world," went
+on his father smiling. "Are you?"
+
+"Not exactly, Dad."
+
+"I might make another guess, Tom, my boy," and still the aged man was
+laughing.
+
+"Well, there's no law that I know of, Dad, to stop you from making
+guesses," and Tom busied himself over several papers that seemed to
+need close attention.
+
+"Well, then, Tom, I'll guess that you're going to use your new House on
+Wheels for a wedding journey. How about that?"
+
+"Who says anything about a wedding trip?" cried Tom, his face almost as
+red as the Englishman's had been.
+
+"Oh, no one has _said_ anything, Tom," his father answered mildly. "But
+from the manner in which you and Mary Nestor have been going about of
+late, looking into furniture store windows and----"
+
+"Oh, there's too much talk going on in this town!" exclaimed Tom, and
+his father laughed heartily at his son's evident discomfiture.
+
+"Well, wedding trip or world tour, your new House on Wheels appears to
+be a clever bit of work," went on Mr. Swift. "When will it be finished?"
+
+"Can't say, exactly. Though now that the new engine has arrived,
+as Koku informed me, I can rush things. I've been waiting for the
+machinery. That's why I'm glad, in a way, I didn't have to take on the
+Cunningham contracts."
+
+"Valuable as they were," remarked Mr. Swift.
+
+"Valuable as they were," agreed his son. "And now, if you'll excuse me,
+Dad, I'll go take a look at that new engine."
+
+"I have some matters to attend to myself," said old Mr. Swift, who,
+though he had given up active participation in the plant some time
+before, still maintained a general supervision over certain matters.
+He left the private office just as Ned Newton, the young financial
+manager, entered in some haste. Nodding to Tom's father, Ned turned to
+the young inventor and asked:
+
+"What's this I hear about you turning down Cunningham's work?"
+
+"I don't know, Ned, what you heard, nor how, so I can't reply."
+
+"I was just coming in through the yard when I saw Cunningham getting
+into an auto with a man who had a face like a rat's. He was a stranger
+to me; but I knew Cunningham, of course. Say, he was mad, that
+Englishman! I heard him muttering something about your having refused
+his contracts and, as nearly as I could make out, he was cussing you up
+hill and down dale and threatening not only to take his contracts to
+another firm but to get even with you as well."
+
+"Yes he was angry when he left here," admitted Tom. "But that's all
+bosh about his going to get even. It was a plain business proposition.
+Cunningham is a good business man, whatever else he may be, and
+business men don't look for revenge just because one firm won't do
+their manufacturing for them."
+
+"Maybe not. It might have been a lot of superheated atmosphere. But
+I can't understand, Tom, why you didn't take his work. There would
+have been a good profit in it, you told me, after the preliminary
+investigation."
+
+"Yes, the profit was there."
+
+"Well, then, what was wrong with such a handsome contract for the very
+kind of machinery that we are so well equipped to manufacture?"
+
+"If you really want to know, Ned, I'll tell you."
+
+"Of course I want to know."
+
+"Well, then, it's my opinion that Basil Cunningham is a plain,
+unvarnished, first-water crook!"
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER II
+
+                           THE NEW INVENTION
+
+
+Ned Newton stood for several seconds intently gazing at his chum and
+business associate after Tom Swift's emphatic rejoinder. Then, feeling
+that as financial manager of the Swift plant he ought not too easily
+give up a chance for making money, Ned remarked:
+
+"Well, Tom, I suppose you know your own business best, but you ought to
+have something to back up your opinion that Cunningham isn't straight."
+
+"I've got enough to convince myself, Ned, though maybe not enough to
+make you see things the way I do. In fact, I haven't any documentary
+evidence, but I still maintain that Cunningham is a crook."
+
+"In that case, of course we don't want anything to do with him," agreed
+Ned. "But what sort of evidence have you, Tom?"
+
+"I may be mistaken," replied Tom, who was willing to give any man the
+benefit of a doubt; "but I have a very strong suspicion that the
+delicate machinery Cunningham wanted us to manufacture for him would
+infringe on the patents of certain English machines used for scientific
+and optical work."
+
+"Infringement!" exclaimed Ned.
+
+"That's what it would be if we undertook it, and if it were found out
+we would be liable to prosecution," stated Tom. "Even if we weren't
+found out, of course I wouldn't undertake such work."
+
+"Of course," agreed Ned heartily. "But are you sure? You have been
+making some strong assertions against Cunningham."
+
+"I don't believe I'll be called on to prove them in court, for this is
+just between us," said Tom. "But I looked over the preliminary sketches
+of the machinery this Englishman wanted us to make for him. At first
+I was inclined to go on with it. But the other day I saw a notice
+in an English publication concerning some new scientific machinery
+just completed and it was almost identical with the blue prints and
+specifications Cunningham showed me. If we turned out the machinery for
+him he'd set up a shop over here for making those instruments and it
+would get us in Dutch once it came out."
+
+"That's right, Tom. I guess you acted wisely in turning him down.
+He's mad, mad as a wet hen, but let him splutter. That's what he was
+doing to the Queen's taste when he got in the auto with that rat-faced
+individual."
+
+"Yes, let him splutter," agreed Tom. "He can't harm us."
+
+However, later on, he was to revise that opinion of the Englishman.
+
+"Of course it's too bad to lose all that good money," mused Ned. "On a
+hundred-thousand-dollar contract we could probably knock down twenty
+per cent. at least."
+
+"Yes," agreed Tom, "it would have been picking up a nice bunch of cash.
+But I'm not going to make patent imitations under cover for anybody.
+I want nothing to do with fraudulent stuff. We can get enough good
+contracts, I think."
+
+"Well," remarked Ned, with a shrug of his shoulders, "good contracts
+aren't going around these days begging some one to take them into their
+shop. But I dare say we shall pull through."
+
+"Maybe I can get a lot of orders for my House on Wheels when I get it
+completed," chuckled Tom.
+
+"Nothing doing!" declared Ned, with a laugh. "You'll make only one
+House on Wheels and I can see you and Mary rolling off in that to the
+music of----"
+
+"Hey! Where do you get that stuff?" exploded Tom, making an ineffectual
+reach to punch his chum. "That's the second crack to-day. Dad made one
+and now you. Where do you get it?"
+
+"Well, since you turned down the Cunningham contract," went on Ned
+somewhat hastily, producing some papers from his pocket, "suppose we
+go into this Blakely matter. It isn't such a big thing, but we want to
+keep the wheels turning."
+
+"Sure," agreed Tom, and the two were soon deep in calculations.
+
+To the old readers of these books Tom Swift needs no introduction.
+But those to whom this volume comes as their first venture, it may be
+necessary to say that Tom Swift was a brilliant young inventor who
+lived with his father in the town of Shopton on Lake Carlopa.
+
+The initial volume, entitled "Tom Swift and His Motorcycle," related
+how Tom became possessed of a machine that was damaged when Mr.
+Wakefield Damon, its rider, tried to climb a tree.
+
+That was the beginning of Tom's mechanical activities, for he bought
+the motorcycle cheap, repaired it, and had some wonderful adventures
+on it. The tree-climbing incident also served to start the friendship
+of Tom and Mr. Damon, a friendship that had lasted, though the
+eccentric man, who blessed everything from his fountain pen to his
+boots, was much older than Tom Swift.
+
+After his experience with the motorcycle, the young inventor had many
+startling and dangerous experiences in aircraft, submarines, and
+in turning out, with the help of his father and with Ned Newton as
+financial adviser, many strange machines.
+
+Tom's latest invention is told of in the volume just before this one
+you are now reading, entitled "Tom Swift and His Talking Pictures."
+He made a machine which brought the images and voices of public
+performers directly into the home. The making of this machine had
+taken considerable cash, and though Tom had sold certain rights to a
+syndicate, the money would not be coming in for some time.
+
+"And that's one reason I was so anxious for this Cunningham contract to
+go through," remarked Ned, who was talking business matters over with
+Tom following the departure of the Englishman.
+
+"We'll get other work to do," declared Tom. "To tell you the truth,
+I'm not over anxious to clutter the shop up with any other stuff until
+I get my House on Wheels well out of the way."
+
+"Say, just what is this new invention, anyhow?" asked Ned. "I've been
+so busy I haven't paid much attention to it."
+
+"Well, the name tells just what it is," said Tom. "Briefly, it is a
+glorified auto--a veritable house that one can not only live in but
+travel in."
+
+"You mean a house with rooms and a bath and--and--everything?" asked
+Ned.
+
+"That's it--a bath and everything. Of course, the rooms aren't large,
+and the beds are to be folded back against the wall when they aren't in
+use."
+
+"What about eats?" asked Ned.
+
+"There's to be a kitchen with an electric stove," replied Tom.
+
+"Run a stove from a storage battery?" exclaimed Ned. "Say, it can't be
+done! You'd have to have such a big battery that it would be a job to
+cart it around."
+
+"Not a storage battery," explained Tom. "My House on Wheels is to be
+operated like some of the new, big jitneys, by a gas-electric motor.
+There's a gasolene engine of twelve cylinders, and, by the way, it's
+just arrived from Detroit, so Koku told me. Well, that motor operates
+a dynamo which furnishes the current that drives the auto, operates the
+stove and other appliances."
+
+"Then you don't take power directly from the gasolene engine?" asked
+Ned.
+
+"Only in case of emergency; that is, if the electric motor goes on
+the fritz. By using my gasolene motor to generate the current to run
+the car I get a much smoother flow of power, and there are other
+advantages."
+
+"Does the dingus look anything like a house?" asked Ned.
+
+"I object to your calling it a 'dingus,'" laughed the young inventor.
+"But in outward appearance it is like a small house."
+
+"With doors and windows?"
+
+"Yes, and even window shutters. Aside from an entrance back of the
+driver's seat, there is only one door, however, and that is at the
+rear."
+
+"How about a pair of steps?" asked Ned, thinking to stump his chum.
+
+"I've provided for those, too. There are steps at the rear for easy
+access to the interior, as my catalogs will say. Only, to keep small
+boys from hitch-hiking on them, the steps fold up out of the way when
+the House on Wheels is moving."
+
+"Then you're really going to tour in it?" asked Ned.
+
+"Sure!"
+
+"Going to be pretty heavy, isn't it?"
+
+"Oh, around two tons, I guess."
+
+"It's no flivver, at any rate. But won't it move like a canal boat?"
+
+"Canal boat! Do you want to insult me?" cried Tom. "On good roads
+she'll do fifty or sixty miles an hour."
+
+"Whew!" whistled Ned. "Guess I'd better go and take a look at this
+thing."
+
+"Come on," invited Tom.
+
+He was preparing to lead the way out of his private office to that
+part of the shop where he was constructing the new invention, when Mr.
+Jackson, the manager, entered with an air that caused Tom suddenly to
+ask:
+
+"What's the matter?"
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER III
+
+                           NED'S SUSPICIONS
+
+
+"Have you given any orders about unpacking the new engine that just
+arrived from Detroit?" asked Mr. Jackson of Tom Swift.
+
+"You mean the twelve-cylinder engine for my House on Wheels?" the young
+inventor inquired.
+
+"That's the one."
+
+"Why, no. Koku informed me only a little while ago that it had come.
+But I couldn't come out to look at it because that Cunningham chap was
+in the office. Why, is it being unpacked? And by whom?"
+
+"It is, and by a couple of strange young men who say you just put them
+on the pay roll yesterday to help with your new invention. They went at
+the work as though they knew what they were about, but I thought I'd
+speak to you."
+
+"I'm glad you did!" exclaimed Tom. "I've hired no new hands, young or
+old, for a long time. I wouldn't without consulting you."
+
+"That's what I thought. But these fellows seemed to know what they were
+about, and I didn't like to tell them to lay off."
+
+"There's something crooked here!" exclaimed Tom. "This must be looked
+into. Come on!" he called to Ned Newton.
+
+As the three walked along a corridor that led to one of the main shops
+where Tom's latest achievement in a mechanical way was in process of
+construction, the young inventor closely questioned Mr. Jackson.
+
+"Had they got the motor out of the packing case when you left them?"
+Tom was anxious to know.
+
+"Not yet. It's a pretty big piece of machinery and won't be unpacked in
+a hurry."
+
+"Then we may be in time!" Tom ejaculated.
+
+"Time for what?" asked Ned.
+
+"To stop any funny work."
+
+"Whew!" whistled the financial manager. "As bad as that? Whom do you
+suspect?"
+
+"You never can tell," was Tom's reply. "Ever since I've been in this
+business I've had to fight crooks and sharps. And I didn't like the way
+Cunningham acted after I turned down his proposition."
+
+"He sure was mad," declared Ned. "But do you think he knew anything
+about your House on Wheels, and might try to put sand in the motor
+bearings or hire some one to do it?"
+
+"You never can tell," said Tom again. "Though if it was Cunningham, it
+was pretty quick work."
+
+"Crooks very often need to act quickly," observed Ned.
+
+Tom hurried forward and was the first of the three to enter the shop.
+In one corner was a heavy case and opening it were two men, the only
+occupants of the place just then. At the sound of Tom's entrance they
+turned, straightened up and looked apprehensive. And well they might,
+for Ned cried:
+
+"The rat-faced man, Tom! Look! The one who was with Cunningham!"
+
+He pointed to one of the two whose countenance, especially in his
+appearance of fright, did resemble that of a rat. An instant later he
+and his companion dropped the tools they had been using and leaped from
+a near-by open window.
+
+"Stop them!" yelled Tom. But the rascals were too quick, and when
+the young inventor and his friends reached the casement the two were
+running across the yard toward the main gate which was, just then, open
+to let in a truck.
+
+"Stop those men!" yelled Tom, seeing several of his workman, as well as
+Eradicate and Koku, loitering in the yard.
+
+Not stopping to ask questions, several hands gave chase. The old
+colored man joined in with a yell of:
+
+"I'll get 'em fo' yo', Massa Tom!"
+
+But his will was better than his deed, for his aged limbs refused to
+take him over the ground fast enough. As for Koku, the giant would only
+need to get within hand grasp of the rascals to put a stop to their
+flight. But, like most big men, Koku was slow in getting started, and
+the two plotters were beyond the gate before any of their pursuers were
+within catching distance.
+
+Tom and Ned leaped out of the window also, but reached the gate only
+in time to see the two plotters disappearing down the road in an auto
+that, evidently, was in waiting.
+
+"Come, on, Tom! Chase 'em!" cried Ned. "Get out your electric runabout
+and we'll overtake 'em!"
+
+"Not a chance," Tom replied. "My runabout is having its batteries
+charged and all the other fast cars are away on the other side of the
+works. No, they've got us beat. I only hope they haven't damaged my new
+motor."
+
+"I think they didn't have a chance to do that," said Ned encouragingly.
+"But who were they, Tom?"
+
+Neither the young inventor nor any one else around the shop, including
+Mr. Jackson, knew. The two men, one of whom looked like a rat, had
+appeared at the main gate early that morning, it was learned on
+checking up. They presented an order signed, apparently, by Tom Swift,
+authorizing them to come in. It was a rule that any but the regular
+workmen must have such an order to gain entrance to the plant. But this
+order was forged.
+
+So the two got in and falsely stating that they had come from the
+Detroit plant of the concern which had made Tom's new motor, they
+gained access to the shop where it had been left by a truck from the
+freight office.
+
+Had it not been that Mr. Jackson saw the men at work and wondered
+enough about them to tell Tom, they might have carried out their plans,
+whatever they were. That the plans were based on an intent to work Tom
+Swift or his possessions some injury, could not be doubted.
+
+A hasty survey, however, showed that the motor had not been taken from
+its case, so it was not damaged.
+
+"What was the game, Tom?" asked Ned, when orders had been given to
+admit no more strangers to the plant on any pretext.
+
+"Well, I'll say Cunningham, as a guess."
+
+"You mean he put these men up to wrecking your motor after you turned
+him down?"
+
+"That's the way it looks to me, Ned. Of course it may have been some of
+my other enemies. But since you recognized the rat-faced chap, why, it
+looks suspicious to me."
+
+"But what would be Cunningham's object? He didn't want you to make him
+a House on Wheels, did he? Or sell him any stock in the enterprise of
+manufacturing them?"
+
+"No, he didn't mention the matter. I didn't even know that he knew I
+had such a thing in mind, much less almost completed."
+
+"Well, he found out in some way."
+
+"Very likely. And when I refused to help him make machinery to turn
+out infringements on English patented apparatus, he turned nasty and
+decided to make me sorry."
+
+"So it looks, Tom. Lucky you caught the plot in time."
+
+"That's due to Mr. Jackson's foresight. It was a narrow escape. Half an
+hour later and that motor would be fit only for the scrap-heap. Look
+here!"
+
+Tom held up a small bottle of a very powerful acid--one capable of
+eating into and corroding the hardest steel.
+
+"I picked that up where one of the scoundrels dropped it," Tom said.
+"They evidently wanted to get at some of the valves on the cylinders.
+A few drops of this acid in each one and the walls would have been so
+scored that even reboring would not have made them fit to use again."
+
+"A dirty trick!" exclaimed Ned. "I wish we could have caught them."
+
+"So do I, for the sake of what may happen in the future."
+
+Leaving Koku and Eradicate on guard over the new motor, Tom took
+Ned to where the chassis and body of the House on Wheels were being
+constructed. It was the first time Ned had seen the new invention and
+at a glimpse of it, standing in the middle of the shop where it was
+receiving its final coat of paint, the young manager exclaimed:
+
+"Say, that's a peach!"
+
+"Glad you like it," commented Tom.
+
+The house stood up on a framework corresponding to the chassis on which
+it would later be mounted. Tom opened the back door and a pair of
+steps, hitherto concealed in a recess, unfolded, let down, and could
+be used for entering the little dwelling.
+
+There were four rooms within, two containing folding cots that made
+comfortable beds. One room of those remaining was used as a kitchen.
+The other was a living room, though if needful the two bedchambers
+could also be utilized for this purpose, when the cots were folded away.
+
+"And that's the electric stove, is it?" asked Ned, pointing to the
+apparatus.
+
+"That's it. And here's the pantry, the ice box, and so on," added Tom,
+indicating the various conveniences.
+
+"Pretty slick!" was the enthusiastic comment of Ned Newton.
+
+"But where do you work the thing from?"
+
+"The motor goes out there," and, going to the front of the house, Tom
+showed where the big machine was to be mounted under a regulation auto
+hood. "This little compartment will contain the driver's seat and the
+controls," he went on, showing a space divided by a partition from the
+sleeping quarters.
+
+The kitchen was in the rear of the House on Wheels, and in front of
+that was the combined sitting and dining room, the sleeping quarters
+being forward.
+
+"Putting the kitchen in the rear insures the odors being carried away
+as the machine moves along," explained Tom.
+
+"Then you're going to cook as you travel?" asked Ned.
+
+"Sure!" assented Tom.
+
+"That is you are--or some one else," chuckled Ned.
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"I mean that my suspicions are confirmed," went on Ned, with a
+laugh, and taking care to get beyond Tom's reach before making his
+next remark. He added: "I know where the first stop will be for this
+traveling House on Wheels!"
+
+"Where?" asked Tom, unsuspiciously.
+
+"Honeymoon Lane!" yelled Ned, making a leap to escape his chum.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IV
+
+                            SURPRISING NEWS
+
+
+After all, Tom Swift had sense enough to take good-naturedly the
+chaffing to which Ned Newton subjected him.
+
+The young inventor could not but admit that his latest invention,
+coupled with the fact that he and Mary Nestor had been more than
+ordinarily chummy recently, would lead to the suspicion that there
+might soon be a closer relationship between them than heretofore.
+
+Mary and Tom had know each other a long time. Once her family and Tom
+were marooned on Earthquake Island, and Tom had managed, under great
+difficulties, to rig up machinery and send a wireless message. Mr.
+Nestor had held a great opinion of the young man's ability and skill
+ever since.
+
+"I'll Honeymoon Lane you if I get hold of you!" threatened Tom as he
+and Ned left the shop where the House on Wheels was nearing completion.
+
+Various matters occupied the attention of the two young men for the
+remainder of the day. Ned, charged with keeping track of the finances
+of the company, was busy with negotiations looking to the securing of
+manufacturing contracts that would keep the plant running. He was a
+little disappointed that the Cunningham proposition had been turned
+down, but he could but agree with Tom that to take a contract about
+which there was any suspicion of wrongdoing would be poor policy.
+
+As for Tom Swift, once he saw that the chassis and upper structure of
+his new House on Wheels was nearing completion, he arranged with Mr.
+Jackson to get the new motor on the block for a test. This took until
+nearly night, and then Tom had things in shape for a preliminary tryout
+of the machinery the next day.
+
+"No need to ask where you're going, Tom," chuckled Ned when, after the
+evening meal, which, as on many former occasions, he shared with the
+Swift family, he observed the young inventor getting out the electric
+runabout, the batteries of which were now fully charged.
+
+"It's none of your business where I'm going!" said Tom with a smile
+which took any possible sting from the words.
+
+"Well, I'm on the same sort of errand," commented the financial
+manager. "Mind if I take the roadster and give Helen a little spin?"
+
+"Consider yourself a top and spin away!" chuckled Tom, and a little
+later he was on his way to see Mary Nestor while Ned piloted the small
+but speedy car in the direction of his sweetheart's home.
+
+"Well, Tom, what's the latest news?" asked Mary when she had greeted
+him and they were seated on the porch.
+
+"Oh, nothing much." Tom decided not to tell her about the Cunningham
+matter or the discovery of the two men tampering with the motor. "The
+new House on Wheels is coming on pretty well, though."
+
+"That's good. Am I to get a ride in it?"
+
+"Of course!"
+
+"Tell me about it," she suggested, and Tom launched into an
+enthusiastic description of the interior of the new van-like vehicle,
+telling of the rooms, the electric stove, the little pantry and ice box
+until Mary exclaimed in delight:
+
+"I can hardly wait until it's finished!"
+
+"Which won't be long," commented the young inventor. "If the motor
+tests out all right, and I think it will, all that remains to be done
+is to put it in place and see how the whole affair works--I mean
+whether I have designed it properly so that it will keep to the road
+at high speeds."
+
+Then they talked of other matters until some uneasy movements on the
+part of Mrs. Nestor, in the house, warned the young man that the hour
+was getting late and that he had better leave.
+
+"I'll see you to-morrow, Mary," said Tom, as he started down the drive
+to where he had left the runabout.
+
+"Yes--I guess so," said Mary, and it was not until afterward that Tom
+noted and remembered the curious hesitancy in her voice. But now he was
+thinking of other matters.
+
+It was when he was half way along the road that lay between Mary's
+house and his own home that, passing along a lonely stretch of highway
+at moderate speed, Tom saw, thrown across the road in front of him, in
+bold relief by the brilliant rays of the moon, a gesticulating shadow
+of a man.
+
+The shadow was waving its arms as though in signal to the oncoming
+motorist to stop, and when Tom sensed this he began to be uneasy and
+was about to press the lever that would give him full speed ahead.
+
+"I'm not going to be fooled by any trick!" he murmured. "There have
+been too many hold-ups of late along this road. And if it isn't a
+hold-up it may be another attempt by Cunningham to annoy me. Look out
+there!" he yelled as the signaling figure and its accompanying shadow
+took the middle of the road. "Out of my way or I'll run you down!"
+
+"Bless my accident policy, don't do that!" cried a voice.
+
+For Tom the reaction was so great that his hand slipped from the
+electric speed lever, unconsciously pulling it toward the stop notch,
+and the runabout began to slow down.
+
+"Mr. Damon!" cried Tom. "Is that you?"
+
+"That's my name," said the voice of the man and he and his shadow both
+stepped to one side as the electric car rolled up and came to a stop,
+with the application of brakes, opposite him. "Thanks for picking me
+up. I don't know you, and I'm surprised that you could recognize me in
+the darkness, but----"
+
+"Oh, you know me, too!" chuckled Tom, and then the man cried:
+
+"Bless my opera glasses! It's Tom Swift!"
+
+"Of course!" agreed the owner of that name.
+
+"Well, how in the world did you hear of my accident and come to get
+me?" asked Mr. Wakefield Damon, for he it was. "Bless my carburetor,
+but this is remarkable!"
+
+"I didn't hear of any accident," said Tom, "and I'm sorry to learn
+that you have been in one. I just happened to come past this way. At
+first, I thought you were a highwayman. But when I heard you bless your
+accident policy I knew you."
+
+"It's lucky I spoke promptly!" chuckled the eccentric man.
+
+"What happened?" asked Tom, as he made room for his friend on the seat
+beside him. "Are you hurt?"
+
+"Oh, no. But my auto stalled about two miles back and I couldn't get it
+going. There wasn't any garage near, and I hated to go to some strange
+house, rouse them and ask to use the telephone to have a towing car
+come out to get me. So I started to walk, thinking I might meet some
+kind-hearted motorist. I never dreamed you would come by."
+
+"It was just chance," said Tom. "But what's the matter with your car,
+and where is it? Maybe I can fix it for you."
+
+"No, it isn't worth while. I think the points need filing and that
+isn't easy to do in the dark. If you'll run me to your house I'll stay
+all night, provided you have room. My wife is away so she won't miss
+me. It will be time enough in the morning to send a garage man out to
+get the car."
+
+"All right," assented Tom. Truth to tell, he was tired and did not
+relish working over a refractory auto at this hour of the night, or
+rather, morning, for it was now past twelve. "We'll be glad to put you
+up, Mr. Damon."
+
+"And I'm glad it happened, Tom, for it will give me a chance to see
+this new House on Wheels of yours. The last time I was over you were
+just planning it," said Mr. Damon. "I expect, by now, it is making
+regular trips."
+
+"Not quite so fast as that. But we're about ready for a tryout."
+
+"Then I'm just in time, bless my tooth brush!" chuckled Mr. Damon.
+
+Next morning, Mr. Damon, after a view of the House on Wheels, to which
+he gave enthusiastic praise, arranged with a garage worker to come and
+get him and take him to where his stalled car had been left. Tom busied
+himself over the motor block test and, to his delight, found that the
+new engine was even better than rated.
+
+"Of course it needs to be broken in," he told Ned. "But that is only a
+matter of time. I'm going to rush things through now."
+
+Orders were given for an extra shift of workmen to assemble the House
+on Wheels and put the motor in place. Aside from some refinements and
+equipment, the big, new car was almost ready for the road. To such
+good end did the men work that day, urged on and aided by Tom, that
+by night the motor was in place, connected to the drive shaft and the
+machine looked almost finished.
+
+"You could almost run it out as it is now," said Ned.
+
+"Not for a couple of days," replied Tom, with a shake of his head. "But
+at least it looks the part, so I think I'll telephone Mary and see if
+she can't come over and take a look."
+
+He hurried to the telephone in his workroom and was soon in connection
+with the Nestor home, as Ned could tell by the talk. Mary was on the
+wire, and the financial manager heard Tom say:
+
+"What's that, Mary? You're going away? Why--why----"
+
+Then came a pause. Ned knew Mary was speaking, and what she said seemed
+to be surprising news for Tom Swift, judging by the look on his face.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER V
+
+                            WORK AND WORRY
+
+
+Some matters of business routine called Ned Newton from the room while
+Tom was still telephoning, and when the financial manager returned he
+heard his chum say:
+
+"Well, of course if it's all arranged there isn't anything more to be
+said, I suppose." A pause. Then: "Of course I'll come over to see you
+off. But--it's pretty sudden. What's that? Oh, yes, of course." Then
+the good-bye.
+
+Tom hung up the receiver with leaden fingers, and there was a
+listlessness in his walk as he went back to where he had been working.
+Ned tried to assume an air as if he had heard nothing, but it was
+impossible to ignore the fact that Tom had received some unpleasant
+news. If he wanted to speak of it--all right. If he didn't----
+
+But Tom blurted it out.
+
+"Mary's going away!"
+
+"Away?"
+
+"Oh, not for good," and Tom laughed nervously at Ned's startled
+implication. "It's just on a visit to some relatives she had been
+promising to go and see for a long time. Matters are now arranged and
+she is going."
+
+"Rather--er--sudden, isn't it?" asked Ned. For Tom had spoken of his
+call on Mary the night before and had then made no mention of an
+impending visit.
+
+"Yes, very sudden. She didn't tell me until just now, when I asked
+her to come over and take a look at the House on Wheels. But she says
+she will be too busy packing. Very sudden!" and Tom's voice had a new
+quality in it.
+
+"Any special reason for her rush?" asked Ned, who felt privileged now
+that his chum had given him the opening.
+
+"Well, yes, in a way. The relatives to whom Mary is going on a visit
+are giving a house party for one member of the family who is soon
+to sail for Europe. Unless Mary starts to-morrow she won't see this
+forty-second cousin, or whatever she is, and it seems there are family
+reasons why she should."
+
+"Then she's going soon?"
+
+"Takes the train to-morrow morning."
+
+"Going to be gone long?"
+
+"She isn't sure how long. Hang it all! This upsets all my plans!" and
+Tom moodily paced the floor.
+
+"Oh, well, it isn't forever! Cheer up!" consoled Ned. "She'll be coming
+back. My girl went away once."
+
+"Yes, I know. But these people--they----"
+
+Tom paused, significantly, it seemed.
+
+"Well, what's wrong with them?" Ned wanted to know.
+
+"Oh, nothing much, except they're fairly bursting with money."
+
+"Well, that's a good thing, isn't it?"
+
+"Not considering what money means and does nowadays. Mary's going out
+of her depth, so to speak and----"
+
+"Say, look here!" exclaimed Ned. "You needn't worry about your girl.
+She's got a level head."
+
+"Yes, I know. But when she gets among millionaires she's likely to lose
+that level."
+
+"I don't believe so. Why, you're no poverty-stricken chap yourself,
+Tom, though I admit our bank account isn't as big as it will be when
+the dividends from the talking pictures will come in."
+
+"I'm not one, two, six in money matters compared to the Winthrop
+family," complained Tom moodily. "They're filthy rich, and it isn't
+going to do Mary any good mixing up with that bunch."
+
+"You mean she'll come back dissatisfied with the simple life of Shopton
+and vicinity?"
+
+"That's what I fear."
+
+"Oh, cheer up, disciple of gloom!" laughed Ned. "You'll find Mary just
+the same when she comes back as she is now. Is she eager to go?"
+
+"That's just it!" complained Tom. "She seems very keen about it."
+
+"Oh, well, a girl likes a change. And it can't last forever."
+
+"No, I suppose not. Oh, well, I'm a grouch not to wish Mary to have a
+good time. But I did want her to see this House on Wheels," and Tom
+acted like a small boy who has been kept home from a party.
+
+"She'll see it soon enough," predicted Ned. "And it will look all the
+better when it's complete and has had a tryout."
+
+"Maybe," was all Tom would say, and then he plunged into work.
+
+Ned expected that his friend would again go over to the Nestor house
+in the evening, but Tom, with rather a set look on his face, announced
+that he intended to work until late on his newest invention. However,
+he did telephone to Mary and arranged to call for her the next morning
+to take her to the station.
+
+What took place at the train when Mary departed Ned did not know. But
+Tom came back looking more gloomy than before and plunged into work
+with a zeal which left his devoted chum far behind.
+
+The Swift plant was a busy place in the days that followed. There
+was always more or less of routine labor in connection with several
+machines which Tom and his father had perfected, patented, and had put
+on the market for general sale.
+
+The latest invention of the young man, excepting the House on Wheels,
+had been a machine for showing moving pictures in the home, in
+simultaneous connection with vocal and instrumental effects by radio.
+It was possible to sit in one's parlor and not only see a distant
+theatrical performance, but actually hear all that went on. The vision
+of the actors and actresses was reduced in size, but the pictures were
+very clear. And the radio, of an improved type, clearly brought every
+word and every note of music through the air.
+
+This invention, or a share in it, had been sold to a syndicate which,
+for a time, had fought Tom Swift fiercely. But now matters were
+straightened out, though there was much detail to finish.
+
+With that, and with overseeing the completion of his House on Wheels,
+Tom Swift had plenty of work to keep him busy. He was also worrying, as
+Ned easily guessed.
+
+Though Tom received and wrote letters, the worried air did not depart
+from him and Ned knew his chum had a sore feeling in his heart. He was
+disappointed that Mary had not seen the new car before going away.
+
+But if the young inventor was not privileged to listen to Mary's
+praise, he had the chance to hear the enthusiastic comments of Mr.
+Damon who came over a few days after his night break-down.
+
+"Bless my safe deposit box, Tom!" exclaimed the eccentric man, "but I
+regard your House on Wheels as one of the most marvelous inventions of
+all time!"
+
+"Strictly speaking it isn't an invention," said Tom. "It is merely an
+adaptation of several existing ones. I've simply taken a small house
+and put it on an automobile body."
+
+"But you have done it very cleverly," said Mr. Damon. "This is an age
+of travel, Tom, and everybody is doing it. Now the one great drawback
+of travel is to find a place to stay at night, for no one likes to
+journey after dark, unless in a sleeping car.
+
+"So it has come about that there are hotels and you know what a
+bother it is to arrange for a night's stay. But now you come along
+with a house in which a person can travel all day, as in an ordinary
+automobile. Then at night, when getting to a town, instead of having to
+hunt up a garage and then a hotel, you just pull your bed down from the
+wall and tumble in. It's great!"
+
+"Well, I thought of that," Tom said. "I'm hoping it will be the success
+I think it may be."
+
+"Of course it will be!" declared Mr. Damon. "You can book my order for
+one now, Tom."
+
+"Consider it booked!" and the young inventor smiled for one of the few
+times since Mary had gone away.
+
+In spite of the fact that the House on Wheels was, to the unobservant,
+well nigh complete the day Mary Nestor went away, Tom said considerable
+yet remained to be done, and for another week he and his men labored
+hard over the structure.
+
+But finally the last coat of varnish was applied and given time to dry.
+Not all the fittings were in place, but that was a small matter. The
+big twelve-cylinder motor was connected and the brake test had been
+satisfactory.
+
+Then one evening, as Ned was about to leave to go to his home, Tom
+remarked to him:
+
+"Can you spare the time to make a trip with me, Ned?"
+
+"A trip where and how?"
+
+"I don't know just where, but as to how--in the House on Wheels."
+
+"Is she all ready?"
+
+"We'll give her a tryout to-morrow. Maybe the thing won't work as well
+as I planned, but we'll soon know. If it comes anywhere near the mark
+I've set, will you go with me?"
+
+"On a trip? Sure!"
+
+"All right," said Tom, pacing the floor of his office. "Well have the
+tryout to-morrow. After that--well, we'll see!"
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VI
+
+                              THE TRYOUT
+
+
+Tom Swift took his place in the driver's seat of the House on Wheels.
+This compartment was not unlike the front seat in any large, van-like
+truck, except that it was more comfortable and was equipped with a
+number of dials, indicators and controls.
+
+"Well, Ned, coming?" asked the young inventor, looking down at his chum
+and smiling.
+
+"I guess so, if you're quite sure she won't blow up."
+
+"If she does, we'll go together!" joked Tom.
+
+It was the day of the tryout, and while some work yet remained to
+be done on the new machine, it was in shape for a road test. It had
+been run around the big yard of the Swift plant and had acted in a
+satisfactory manner. What it would actually do under road conditions
+and off the level, was something yet to be demonstrated.
+
+The big twelve-cylinder motor had met the block test and had been
+able to propel the heavy car around the shops. Tom felt sure there was
+plenty of reserve power, or would be when it had been tuned up.
+
+Ned now climbed to the seat beside his chum. There was room for three
+in this compartment, but though Mr. Damon had been invited to come over
+for the initial run, the eccentric man had not appeared.
+
+With Ned on the seat beside him, Tom touched his foot to the button of
+the self-starter and with a roar the powerful motor sprang into life.
+Though it was big and had the strength of many horses, so well was it
+balanced that there was hardly any vibration, which spells the death
+knell of many machines otherwise perfect.
+
+Letting the motor warm up a bit, Tom carefully tested the various gear
+and control levers. Then, gently letting in the clutch, the House on
+Wheels rolled slowly out of the shed where it had been constructed.
+
+"There she goes!" cried Mr. Swift, who was almost as eager as his son
+over the success of the venture.
+
+"Rolling like an egg!" exclaimed Mr. Jackson, who had had no small
+share in building the machine after Tom had planned it.
+
+"By golly! She suah am a reg'lar ark!" was Eradicate's comment.
+"Mistah Noah he'd suah be livin' pretty if he'd had one ark like dat
+when de flood come! Ha! Ha!"
+
+There was a subdued cheer from the assembled workmen as Tom Swift
+proved that at least his machine would run smoothly, and with Koku
+loudly warning idlers away from the gate, the House on Wheels
+approached the open highway for the first time.
+
+As might have been expected, any activity at the Swift plant was sure
+to attract attention from the residents of Shopton. Though they were
+accustomed to seeing many strange machines issue from the big gates, or
+perhaps fly over the high fence, the matter never lost its interest.
+So, on this morning, there was a crowd of sightseers.
+
+Nor were they disappointed with the first view of Tom's new wonder.
+Bright in its gay colors and varnish, the House on Wheels was a sight
+for those who appreciate fine cars and machinery. Majestically it
+rolled out on the big rubber-tired wheels and, driving slowly until
+he was sure of the feel of the control wheel, Tom eased his machine
+through the gates and straightened it out on the broad road.
+
+"Hurray!" yelled a boy in the crowd. "It's a regular circus wagon!"
+
+"I wish I had one like it!" echoed a companion.
+
+For a little way, so slowly did Tom nurse the motor along, the
+crowd could keep pace with the machine. Then, when he had the feel
+that everything was going smoothly, the young inventor pressed the
+accelerator down a little.
+
+The result was at once apparent. As smoothly as a big locomotive, and
+with the same hint of power in reserve, the big House on Wheels went
+ahead so rapidly that the running crowd of boys and girls and men was
+soon left behind and Tom and Ned had the road to themselves save for
+an occasional motorist. But as this section was not ordinarily much
+traveled, they were not bothered by many other machines.
+
+Drivers of cars who passed or approached the House on Wheels stared
+curiously at it, and more than one was heard to remark to a companion:
+
+"Some advertising stunt, I guess."
+
+"That might not be bad," commented Ned, after one or two repetitions of
+this.
+
+"What?" asked Tom, who was intent on listening to the hum of the motor
+to detect a false note or failure of the oiling system.
+
+"Using this for advertising," said Ned. "Many a firm would pay
+big money to have a sign painted on the sides of this car, calling
+attention to the merits of Blank's chewing gum or Hank's breakfast
+food."
+
+"There are no advertisements going on this!" decided Tom. "I'll make my
+money some other way."
+
+"Even if you have to take on Cunningham's proposition?" teased Ned.
+
+"I'll never have anything to do with that crook!" said the young man as
+he slowed down to turn a corner which would take them out on the big
+state highway. "I'll close down the plant before I'll help him infringe
+on other inventors. I've had that done to me too many times not to know
+what it means. No Cunningham in mine!"
+
+They were now in comparatively open country, and though there was more
+traffic on the state road than on the thoroughfare they had left in
+coming from the Swift plant, there was not enough to worry a driver of
+Tom's experience.
+
+"You need a hill for a real stiff test," remarked Ned.
+
+"That's the idea, and we'll come to one soon if we keep on going."
+
+"Well, there doesn't seem to be anything to stop you," was his chum's
+opinion. "Hop right to it!"
+
+They were bowling along at an increased speed when Tom suddenly leaned
+over and bent forward as if listening, which is exactly what he was
+doing.
+
+"What's the matter?" asked his companion.
+
+"Sounds like a knock."
+
+They both listened intently, for though Ned did not have Tom's skill in
+inventiveness he was a good driver.
+
+"There's something wrong," decided Tom, pulling over to the side of the
+road to be out of the way of passing traffic. "I'm thinking one of the
+oil feeds is clogged. Yes, she's heating up," he added, as he pointed
+to the motor temperature indicator which was one of many dials and
+gages on the instrument board.
+
+The House on Wheels was brought to a halt and then Ned and Tom raised
+the hood for a look at the motor. There was an unusual wave of heat as
+soon as the sides were raised, and Tom's quick eye at once found the
+seat of trouble. A small valve that supplied oil to one of the many
+working parts was partly closed so that not enough of the lubricating
+fluid reached the shaft.
+
+They resumed the journey, and Tom ventured to open the throttle a
+little, though he had no intention of getting up to maximum speed,
+which should not be done with any new motor until after it has been
+limbered up for at least five hundred miles.
+
+The House on Wheels responded well and stepped along rather fast.
+
+"This is the life!" cried Ned gaily. "When do we eat, Tom?"
+
+"Not on this trip. I didn't pack in any grub. And you can't turn in and
+go to bed, either. This is just a preliminary run so I can decide what
+changes are needed."
+
+"It seems to me that everything is fine," said Ned. "She's running now
+like a sewing machine."
+
+"Got to try her on a hill yet," was Tom's answer.
+
+"I suppose so. If you go honeymooning in this you'll have hills to
+climb," observed Ned, and he noticed that Tom did not now resent a
+reference to a possible approaching marriage.
+
+"We'll soon know what she can do on the up grade," said the young
+inventor, with a look ahead. "We're coming to a hill now and it grows
+stiffer the higher you climb. Yes, this will be a good test."
+
+The first part of the hill was taken in fine fashion, somewhat to
+Tom's delighted surprise. He had imagined the machine might labor,
+especially while new and stiff. But up went the House, never faltering.
+
+Then, after a little comparatively level stretch, the hill took a
+sudden upward climb. For the first part of this the machine did well,
+there being no undue strain. But suddenly, when about half way up,
+there was a little jar, a sort of nervous shiver, and the motor stopped
+dead.
+
+So quickly did it happen that Tom had no time to apply the brakes and
+Ned cried:
+
+"Were backing downhill, Tom!"
+
+"I know it!" responded the young inventor, a grim look on his tense
+face.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VII
+
+                               THE RACE
+
+
+The House on Wheels was half way up a steep slope when the motor
+stopped and the heavy, and somewhat clumsy car--clumsy because of
+its bulk--began to go backward. Of course there were brakes. Tom had
+provided a double set, and they would hold. He had tested them under
+severe strains. But it took a moment for both the young men to realize
+what had happened and to decide what to do.
+
+Of course there was only one course of action after Tom had quickly
+discovered that the stoppage of the motor was not momentary, and that
+it could not be galvanized into action by the self-starter. The thing
+to do was to jam on the brakes, which the young inventor did before the
+backward motion of the House had gained it such momentum that it could
+not be checked.
+
+"Whew!" whistled Ned, as he felt the machine come to what seemed like
+a reluctant stop. "That was a close call!"
+
+"Oh, no," said Tom, half smiling. "I could have let her get up even
+more speed than she had, rolling backward, and yet have brought her to
+a stop with the one set of brakes."
+
+"On this hill?" Ned was a bit incredulous.
+
+"Yes, or on a steeper one. I want to try her on some mountain."
+
+"Maybe you'll get the chance," Ned remarked.
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Tom, for there seemed to be something his
+chum was holding back. But as, just then, a peculiar buzzing sounded
+from beneath the motor hood, Tom decided to investigate that before
+asking any questions.
+
+The brakes were holding the House on Wheels midway up the rather steep
+hill, but on getting out of the driver's seat, which the two young
+men did very soon after the accident, their first care was to block
+the rear wheels with a log of wood which they dragged from a near-by
+thicket. After seeing that this would keep the car from rolling back
+downhill, even if the brakes should let go, Tom fastened a rope to the
+log and the other end of the cable to the rear of the House on Wheels.
+
+"What's the idea?" asked Ned. "Going to use that as a drag going
+downhill on the other side?"
+
+"No. But haven't you often noticed that where motorists have to stop on
+a hill, and use rocks or logs to block them, they go away after getting
+a new start and leave the obstructions in the road?"
+
+"I've seen that many a time," agreed Ned, "and I've bawled 'em out for
+it more than once. The trouble is that they aren't there to hear what I
+think about 'em."
+
+"That's just it. Well, I may want to start up without having to release
+my brakes suddenly, hence the log of wood. And as I don't want to leave
+you behind to roll the log out of the way, I fastened on this rope.
+We'll pull the log behind us up to the top of the hill, where it is
+level, and then we can stop and take it off."
+
+"Good idea!" commented Ned. "Now let's see what's wrong. I do hope it
+isn't anything serious."
+
+"No, it can't be," decided Tom. "The motor was too severely tested for
+that. It's just some little dingus that's out of order--maybe a broken
+oil pipe or a loose wire."
+
+It was the latter that proved to be the seat of the trouble when a
+careful check-up had been made. In the haste with which the House on
+Wheels had been assembled, this little item was overlooked. It required
+but a short time to put the ignition cable back in place, and then,
+having run the motor for some time, listening to the smooth purr of it,
+Tom announced that he was satisfied there would be no further trouble.
+
+It was when they were ready to start on again that Tom's wisdom in
+blocking the wheels was demonstrated. For there was no need of a sudden
+letting in of the clutch, after racing the engine in gear to get
+momentum and speed enough to make a flying start uphill. The brakes
+were already released. The log prevented the House on Wheels from
+rolling backward, and the machine started slowly up the grade as if
+taking off from a level. The log was pulled along by means of the rope,
+and did not remain in the road a menace to following travelers.
+
+"She's coming up in good style," commented Ned, as he observed the
+increasing speed of the machine even though the grade of the hill grew
+greater.
+
+"Couldn't be better," agreed Tom, with a satisfied smile. "All the
+power I need and then some! When she gets broken in I expect great
+things of her."
+
+"Looks so," murmured Ned.
+
+In a short time they were at the top of the hill and a long, level road
+lay before them. They made a momentary stop to cast off the blocking
+log and then went on.
+
+"I'm going back and take a look inside," said Ned after a while. "I
+want to see how she rides."
+
+There was a passage leading from the driver's seat to the interior of
+the House, and Ned was soon making his way through the various "rooms"
+as they might be called, though compartments would probably be the
+better term. He sat in the small chairs, let down one of the cots and
+stretched out on it and sat at the table, pretending to eat, though, as
+yet, there was no food aboard.
+
+"How is it?" asked Tom, as his chum reappeared in the communicating
+passage.
+
+"Slick as oil!" was the enthusiastic comment. "Rides like an ocean
+liner."
+
+"That's good. Then there's nothing wrong in the construction. I was
+afraid she might sway too much."
+
+"There is a little swaying," admitted Ned. "But I think that will be
+smoothed out when you get a load in."
+
+"I guess so," agreed Tom. "Well, come out here and try your hand at
+it."
+
+"What do you mean?" Ned wanted to know.
+
+"I want you to drive for a while. You've driven lots of cars, and I
+want you to get the feel of this. It seems a trifle stiff to me, and I
+want to see if you get the same impression. I can loosen the gear up a
+bit if it is."
+
+"You mean you want me to drive your House on Wheels?" asked Ned.
+
+"Sure! Why not?"
+
+"I may wreck her."
+
+"So might I. Accidents are always likely to happen. But I've got to get
+some other impression than my own as to how she holds the road, takes
+corners, and the like, and you're the best one I know to give me the
+information I need. Besides, you'll be coming on trips with me, and I
+can't always be at the wheel."
+
+"Me come on a trip with you in this?" chuckled Ned. "Well, I like that!"
+
+"What do you mean? Why wouldn't you come?"
+
+"On yours and Mary's honeymoon trip? Excuse me!"
+
+"Say, cut that stuff out!" and Tom seemed serious. "Who's said anything
+about a honeymoon?"
+
+"Nobody--nobody's said a word. At least, you and Mary haven't,"
+admitted the financial manager. "But actions speak louder than words.
+And I thought that's why you were getting this canal boat in shape."
+
+"Nothing of the sort!" exclaimed Tom sharply. "I mean--of course--that
+is, I--Oh, heck! Come on out here and take the wheel!"
+
+"All right!" agreed Ned. "But don't blame me for what happens."
+
+"I won't," and Tom steered the machine over to the side of the road to
+bring it to a stop out of possible traffic while he changed places with
+his chum.
+
+After proceeding at a moderate rate for a mile or two, in order to
+familiarize himself with the brakes and controls, Ned let out a little
+more gas and the House on Wheels shot ahead on the smooth, level
+concrete highway which the two had practically to themselves.
+
+"How does she feel, Ned?" asked Tom, as they sped along.
+
+"Fine."
+
+"And how does she handle?"
+
+"Light as a cork! There's no steering strain at all."
+
+"I'm glad of that. I wanted to make sure of it."
+
+"But take her yourself," urged Ned, guiding the House to the side of
+the road in case any motorists were following. "You haven't had the
+wheel when you had a chance to let out. Go ahead."
+
+"All right," agreed Tom Swift.
+
+He had not long been in the driver's seat, and was working up speed,
+when from behind came a long, shrill whistle. For a moment the young
+men thought it might be one of those signals connected to the exhaust
+pipe of some speeding motorist. But a look into the rear vision mirror
+showed a fast freight train approaching. Then, for the first time, Tom
+and Ned noticed that they were running parallel to railroad tracks and
+close to them.
+
+On came the fast freight, and the engineer seemed either to be trying
+to attract the attention of the occupants of the peculiar car or else
+saluting them. Then Tom cried suddenly:
+
+"I know what he wants!"
+
+"What?" asked Ned.
+
+"A race! And he's going to get it. Come on, steam baby!" yelled Tom,
+noting that he was now even with the locomotive. "We'll see what you
+can do against the House on Wheels!"
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VIII
+
+                        CUNNINGHAM ON THE WIRE
+
+
+Three sharp whistles from the locomotive seemed to indicate, on the
+part of its driver, an acceptance of the challenge. In answer Tom gave
+three toots of his own horn and the race was on.
+
+No better speedway could have been devised for a test of the
+comparative powers of the fast freight and Tom Swift's House on
+Wheels than the concrete highway and the steel track along which the
+respective machines were now rushing. There was not another automobile
+in sight along a stretch of several miles, and no other train on the
+railroad. It seemed to have been made to order.
+
+"Think you've got a chance, Tom?" yelled Ned. It was necessary to yell,
+for the puffing, panting locomotive was so close that its exhaust
+almost drowned one's voice. Nor was the House on Wheels altogether
+quiet, for there was a subdued rumble and roar at its present high
+speed which made talking anything but easy.
+
+"I've got a good chance!" answered Tom, with a grim tightening of his
+lips as his hands grasped more firmly the steering wheel. "I'm going to
+beat this baby."
+
+"It's a fast freight, Tom, the fruit express. It has the right of way
+over everything except passenger trains. It's the crack freight of this
+road and makes almost as good time as some of the through passenger
+trains."
+
+"Can't help that," replied the young inventor. "I'm not going to sit
+back and take his smoke!"
+
+Indeed, there seemed to be little danger of this. For though the
+freight had crept up on the House on Wheels when she was gaining
+headway, the two machines were not long on even terms before Tom's
+House began to pull away.
+
+But if he thought to gain an easy victory, he was mistaken. A quick
+glance showed that the fireman was busy shoveling coal under the boiler
+of the freight engine. Out belched volumes of black smoke and the
+increased staccato of the exhaust showed that not only was the throttle
+being opened wider but that the link motion was being taken up, making
+a corresponding quicker cut off of steam at one end of the cylinders
+and a duplicate fast expulsion on the other end.
+
+"She's creeping up on us, Tom," observed Ned, looking back when, after
+a little run, they had distanced the freight.
+
+"We've got to expect that. But I've got something in reserve yet.
+Though I daren't let the House out for all she's worth, I can still get
+the accelerator down a few notches without damage. The race isn't over
+yet."
+
+Tom had taken part in many speed contests, and he knew how to jockey
+with the best of them. He purposely let the freight slowly crawl up on
+even terms with him. This was due not only to the increased speed of
+the freight but also to Tom's slight slackening of his pace.
+
+"I'll fool this bird!" he told Ned.
+
+And when the engine was again up in front, so that the pilot was in
+line with the bumper of the House on Wheels, Tom turned on more gas,
+after a momentary cut-off, and again shot ahead.
+
+He and Ned could almost see, in fancy, the chagrin on the faces of the
+engineer and fireman as they were thus gently mocked. But the railroad
+men were good sports and were not going to give up easily.
+
+Again there was a frantic shoveling of coal, and there must have been a
+more advantageous adjustment of the draft, or perhaps a forced one was
+turned on, for suddenly the safety valve popped, which, at the speed
+the engine had already attained, showed an increased pressure of steam.
+
+"He's coming right after us!" cried Ned, as they swayed along.
+
+On no other road but this concrete highway would it have been safe to
+run the House on Wheels at the speed she was going. And few drivers
+other than Tom Swift would have been capable of handling the heavy
+machine with such skill and judgment.
+
+The race was now on in earnest. Tom knew that it would not be safe to
+push his motor much faster. Not that it was not capable of a higher
+rate, but it would need to be broken in somewhat before he dared risk
+it. On the other hand, the locomotive was not thus limited. So if it
+was not yet at its maximum, there would be no danger in pushing the
+mechanism to that point. And if the maximum was greater than Tom's
+temporary one, then he would lose.
+
+However, though forced draft was used, the big freighter appeared to
+have reached the limit. For perhaps half a mile she held her own on
+even terms with the House on Wheels. Then Ned asked:
+
+"Can you do a bit better, Tom?"
+
+"I'm going to risk it," was the quick answer.
+
+The House slowly began to draw ahead and there was no replying response
+on the part of the locomotive. Foot by foot Tom and Ned drew away. They
+had a glimpse of the fireman desperately shoveling coal, but to no
+purpose.
+
+Gradually the gap that separated the two widened, and though brakemen
+on top of the cars yelled and seemed to urge their mates to greater
+efforts, it was not to be.
+
+Tom Swift pulled away and won the race by a good margin. Not much
+too soon, either, for when he was several lengths ahead the railroad
+branched away from the highway it had been paralleling for several
+miles and disappeared into the woods.
+
+In recognition of the beating by a better rival, the engineer saluted
+with three long blasts, to which Tom responded with like signals from
+his horn.
+
+"Well, that's that!" remarked Ned, as they slowed down, for they were
+approaching another steep hill.
+
+"Yes," assented Tom. "It's all over and I'm satisfied. The House on
+Wheels couldn't have done better. Not a strain and not a bearing
+overheated," he added, as he brought the machine to a gradual stop and
+made a hasty examination.
+
+"Going to take the hill?" asked Ned.
+
+"No, we'll give her a rest and drift back," was the answer. "She has
+done her duty and there's no use putting on too much strain."
+
+"That's right," agreed Ned.
+
+He had alighted from the driver's seat with Tom to stretch his legs,
+and as the two were climbing back into the compartment they saw a
+sporty runabout flash past them. Two men, one young, were in it and
+they seemed much interested in the House on Wheels at the side of the
+road. One of them leaned out and looked back.
+
+At the sight of his face Ned exclaimed:
+
+"Did you notice him, Tom?"
+
+"No. Who was he?"
+
+"That rat-faced chap who got into your shop and tried to put this motor
+out of business."
+
+"No!"
+
+"I'm sure of it! Come on, let's chase after 'em!" proposed Ned eagerly.
+But Tom Swift shook his head.
+
+"We haven't a chance," said the young inventor. "They've got a much
+faster machine than mine and a good start. The House wasn't designed
+to race runabouts, though it can hold its own in a fast freight race.
+Let him go, whoever he is."
+
+The trip back to the Swift plant was without incident, except that when
+Tom and Ned left the concrete highway and got into the heavier traffic
+they were somewhat delayed by the crowding around and near approach of
+other motorists who showed much curiosity regarding the strange, big
+machine.
+
+"How was it, Tom?" asked his father, as they turned in through the big
+gates of the plant.
+
+"Couldn't have been better, Dad," and he gave a short account of the
+tryout trip, including the race.
+
+"Dat's fine!" commented Eradicate who, with the freedom of an old
+family servant, had been listening. "Better put her to bed now, Massa
+Tom, an' let her hab a good night's rest. Dat's what I used to do wif
+de race hosses down in ole Virginny."
+
+"'Tisn't a bad idea," returned Tom, with a smile. "Give the motor a
+thorough examination and test for any possible strains," Tom told one
+of his men, who came out to help put the House on Wheels into the
+special garage that had been built for it. "I pushed the motor pretty
+hard, for a new one, and I want to be sure it's in good shape."
+
+"I'll look after it thoroughly, Mr. Swift," promised the man.
+
+Scarcely had Tom and Ned reached the private office, where some matters
+awaited their attention, than the telephone bell rang. Answering it,
+Tom showed some amazement when he learned the identity of the man at
+the other end of the wire.
+
+"This is Basil Cunningham, Mr. Swift," came the loud, somewhat rasping
+tones of the burly Englishman. "We'll let bygones be bygones, if it's
+all the same to you. I want you to take my contract and I'll add a
+special ten per cent. bonus if you will rush it through for me."
+
+For a moment Tom Swift was too surprised to reply. But he gathered his
+wits together in a few seconds and called back:
+
+"I wouldn't take your contract, Mr. Cunningham, for even an additional
+bonus of twenty per cent!"
+
+"You won't?"
+
+"No!"
+
+"Is that your final answer?"
+
+"It is."
+
+"But look here, Mr. Swift," and Cunningham's voice was almost whining
+now, "what objection have you to making these machines for me?"
+
+"Will you tell me what you intend to use them for?" countered Tom.
+
+"No, I will not!" was the answer snapped back quickly. "It isn't any of
+your affair!"
+
+From the manner in which Cunningham banged the receiver on the hook,
+Tom felt that the Englishman was in a towering rage. Ned could only
+guess at half of the conversation, but Tom gave it to him in detail a
+little later.
+
+"Why do you think he is so secretive about what the machines are to be
+used for?" the young financial manager wanted to know.
+
+"Because there's a nigger in the woodpile--that's my opinion!"
+
+"You still think Cunningham intends to infringe?"
+
+"I do. The fact that he comes back to me after my first refusal shows
+that he has tried to get other concerns to take up his work and has
+failed."
+
+"It would seem so," agreed Ned.
+
+"Well, this all goes to show that my first impression is right," went
+on Tom. "Cunningham is a crook, I'm sure."
+
+"Then we're better off leaving him alone," commented Ned.
+
+They were about to go over some business papers again when the
+telephone rang once more.
+
+"You answer, Ned," directed Tom. "If it's Cunningham say I will have no
+further communication with him!"
+
+Ned picked up the instrument, listened a moment, and then cried:
+
+"What's that? Who are you? What do you mean? Don't be a coward! Give me
+your name!"
+
+"What's the matter?" asked Tom when Ned, by impatiently jiggling the
+receiver hook, indicated that the person at the other end of the wire
+had hung up. "Who was talking, Cunningham?"
+
+"I don't think so. But it must have been one of his men. For he said:
+'Tom Swift will regret not taking this contract! He'd better watch
+out!' I tried to make him tell who he was, but he wouldn't."
+
+"So," said Tom musingly, and with a little smile, "they are beginning
+to threaten, are they? Well, I'm ready for them!"
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IX
+
+                            DISMAL MOUNTAIN
+
+
+"Well, Ned, I guess that's about all!"
+
+"Unless you want to put in another piece of bacon," was Ned Newton's
+rejoinder to his chum's implied question.
+
+The two were sitting in the House on Wheels, about a week after the
+sensational race with the freight train. In the intervening time much
+work had been done on the new invention. The motor was thoroughly
+gone over, tuned up, and minor adjustments made. The furnishing of
+the interior of the House was completed, from kitchen articles to bed
+linen, and the vehicle was now equipped for a long or short journey, as
+the owner desired. Ned's particular province was the pantry, and he had
+furnished it, as Tom said, "with enough grub to last a month."
+
+Following another and more severe tryout of the machine after the
+freight train race, Tom had suggested to his chum that they go on a
+week's crosscountry tour to further test the House on Wheels under
+varying conditions.
+
+"Have you any particular object in view?" asked Ned.
+
+"Well, I thought maybe I'd surprise Mary," was the answer.
+
+"Surprise her?" questioned Ned. "What do you mean?"
+
+"We could call on the Winthrops where she is staying."
+
+"Good idea. But where is it?"
+
+"Just outside Chesterport."
+
+"Chesterport!" exclaimed Ned, with every indication of excitement. "You
+mean Chesterport in this state?"
+
+"Sure. Why not? What's wrong with it?"
+
+"Nothing. Only--Well, say, what are you going to do after you surprise
+Mary in Chesterport?"
+
+"After that we can keep on touring, if you like. We can go as far
+beyond Chesterport as you like."
+
+"We won't have to go far," murmured Ned, and there was a strange look
+in his eyes. "Why didn't you tell me before that Mary had gone to
+Chesterport?"
+
+"I didn't attach any importance to it, for one thing," answered Tom.
+"And, for all I know, I may have mentioned it to you a dozen times."
+
+"No you didn't, or I'd have remembered it."
+
+"What did you mean by saying we won't have to go far beyond
+Chesterport?" asked Tom. "What's there of such importance?"
+
+"It's queer you never heard of it," murmured Ned, looking over some
+papers he hastily took from his pocket.
+
+"For the love of Pete! Heard of what?" cried Tom, a bit exasperated by
+his chum's curious manner.
+
+"Dismal Mountain! The peak of mystery!" exclaimed Ned. "If you haven't
+made any other plans after you pay Mary a visit, what's the matter with
+keeping on to Dismal Mountain?"
+
+"Nothing the matter, as far as I can see," admitted Tom. "But it is
+the first time I've ever heard of the beast and I'd like a little
+information. Why is the mountain dismal and what's the mystery about
+it?"
+
+"It's dismal because of the mystery," was the reply. "And as for what
+that is, smarter lads than you have asked the question and haven't been
+answered."
+
+"Oh, cut it out! Be yourself!" advised Tom, with a laugh. "Get down to
+brass tacks and let's have a little first hand information."
+
+"That I can't give you, much as I'd like to," said Ned, with a serious
+air, not at all in keeping with Tom's bantering words. "All I know
+about Dismal Mountain is what I've heard or read, but that's plenty.
+I've made a few notes here, and----"
+
+"I should say you had!" exclaimed Tom, looking at the documents his
+chum pulled from his pocket. "Looks like an election ballot."
+
+"Well, they're mostly clippings from papers," went on Ned; "though I
+have made some notes myself of what folks have told me. Look here!
+Those are some newspaper clippings."
+
+He spread a sheaf of them out on the table in the living room of the
+House on Wheels where this talk was taking place. The House was in the
+garage, but was all ready to run out at a moment's notice.
+
+Tom saw that the clippings bore various heads, such as: "Dismal
+Mountain Smokes Again," "Dismal Mountain Claims Another Victim," and
+this appeared to be an account of a man who had disappeared somewhere
+in the fastness of the forest around the place.
+
+"You don't need to read them all," advised Ned. "I can shorten it by
+summarizing it for you. Dismal Mountain is some distance south of
+Chesterport--just how far I don't know. It's in a lonely section of the
+country, away from any town or city, though there are people living
+not far from the foot of the mountain.
+
+"Some of these folks say the mountain is haunted. Others hold that it
+is the resort of present-day moonshiners and bootleggers. I think that
+comes as near the mark as any. Another version is that the strange
+sights and sounds that are seen and heard are made by the moonshiners
+or bootleggers to scare would-be investigators away."
+
+"I can well believe that," murmured Tom. "What else?"
+
+"Well, there's another theory that a squad of bandits or road agents
+make the glens of Dismal Mountain their hiding places," went on
+Ned. "They lie in wait there and hold up trucks carrying big loads
+of valuable merchandise, such as bales of silk. There may also be
+hijackers on the mountain--men who make a practice of raiding the
+trucks sent out by bootleggers. Of course the latter being engaged in
+breaking the law themselves, can't call on the law to protect them. So
+the hijackers have it easy."
+
+"Sounds like a right bad sort of a place," commented Tom.
+
+"It's fully as bad as it sounds," declared Ned. "Not long ago, as you
+can see by this clipping, there was a train hold-up not far from Dismal
+Mountain. Some of the bandits are believed to have fled to that place
+and may still be in hiding."
+
+"This is getting worse and more interesting!" exclaimed Tom Swift. "I
+only hope you aren't stringing me," he added, with a sharp look at his
+chum.
+
+"Indeed I'm not kidding you!" expostulated Ned. "You can read it there
+for yourself. Of course I don't guarantee the truth of any of this, but
+if I'm fooled, so are the papers."
+
+"It looks authentic," admitted Tom, when he had glanced through several
+clippings. "At least there have been a number of crimes committed in
+the vicinity of this Dismal Mountain, and it may hold the criminals."
+
+"That's what I think," said Ned. "And when I heard just now for the
+first time that you are going to Chesterport, which is the nearest town
+of any size to the mountain, I thought it would be a good chance to
+visit the mysterious place."
+
+"You're right!" exclaimed Tom. "I'm glad you mentioned this. I wouldn't
+have missed it for the world. It's queer I never heard about the
+mountain of mystery before, and yet it isn't a hundred miles away."
+
+"It is only recently that all these stories became public," stated Ned.
+"Besides, you were so busy working on your talking pictures and since
+then on this House on Wheels that I don't blame you for not having
+heard of this Dismal Mountain."
+
+"It's going to be just the thing!" cried Tom, his face lighting with
+pleasure. "With Mary away, I needed something to stimulate me and keep
+me from going stale. This will do the trick! Let's see if we can't run
+down this mystery!"
+
+"I'm with you!" echoed Ned.
+
+He was putting away his clippings and other information and Tom was
+going to ask about the roads to Dismal Mountain and the possibility of
+taking the House on Wheels when they heard a noise at the outer door of
+the garage where the new machine stood. Then the handle was cautiously
+tried.
+
+"Look!" whispered Ned, touching Tom on the arm and pointing to the
+latch that was slowly being raised.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER X
+
+                               JEALOUSY
+
+
+Together Tom Swift and Ned Newton watched the door of the garage being
+cautiously opened. There was something peculiar in this. In the first
+place, no one who had a right to swing the door would have been thus
+cautious about it. In the second place, no one was supposed to be in
+that part of the shop just now except Tom and Ned. The young inventor
+had given orders that he was to be left undisturbed with his financial
+manager to make a final inspection of his new machine.
+
+Rightly arguing that no one who had a right to be there would try to
+enter in this manner, Tom Swift decided to find out who was opening
+the door, and in such a manner as to capture the intruder if possible.
+Accordingly, he made a sign to Ned to keep quiet and then began
+creeping toward the door in as stealthy a manner as it was being
+opened, which was a fraction of an inch at a time.
+
+Ned, seeing his chum's intention, followed him, and the two were close
+to the door when, unfortunately, Tom stumbled over a piece of wood left
+by one of the workman. The noise, though slight, was enough to alarm
+the person on the other side of the door. It was at once pulled shut
+and footsteps could be heard in hasty retreat outside.
+
+"After him!" yelled Tom, caution now being useless, and he and Ned made
+a dart for the opening. They swung back the door, but it had stuck
+a little, and the two youths were just in time to see a crouching,
+running figure some distance away.
+
+"Catch him!" cried Ned.
+
+It was easier said than done. When Tom and Ned reached the place where
+they had caught a glimpse of the running figure there was no sign of
+the fugitive. Though an alarm was at once raised and a search made, no
+stranger was discovered on the place.
+
+"Well, what do you make of it?" asked Tom, when the two had returned to
+where the House on Wheels stood.
+
+"Hanged if I know what to make of it," Ned replied. "Whoever it was
+thought no one was in here, and they thought they could either steal
+your House or else damage it."
+
+"It would be hard to steal it," replied Tom. "But it wouldn't take
+much to wreck it. Looks as if some of the old gangs were after me, or
+else some new one."
+
+"I'm inclined to the latter theory," said Ned. "And the newest one who
+would logically have it in for you is Cunningham. Isn't that the case?"
+
+"I suppose so. Yet I can't understand a man of his business
+ability--and I must admit he is shrewd--being foolish enough to risk an
+attack such as this might have been."
+
+"Unless he is so angry that he hasn't any common sense left," suggested
+Ned.
+
+"That may be it, yes. Well, the sooner we get started away from here
+the better it will be for us."
+
+"Do you think you'll escape your enemies, Tom, by starting on a trip in
+the House on Wheels?" asked Ned.
+
+"Not exactly! We've had experiences before in being trailed by those
+who wanted to injure me or my father. But it isn't as easy for them to
+get at me when I'm on the move. I can keep them guessing."
+
+"There's something in that," admitted Ned. "Well, I won't be sorry to
+be on the move, either."
+
+It was two days after this, following a tryout of the House on Wheels
+fully loaded and equipped, that Tom and Ned started on what they
+thought was to be a pleasant little excursion, but which turned out to
+be the beginning of a series of strange events.
+
+"I'll let you know when I get to Chesterport, Dad," said Tom, when
+bidding his father good-bye.
+
+"Yes, do," urged the aged inventor. "This is a different machine from
+any you have traveled in, and I should like to know how it behaves. We
+might make some money out of putting them on the market."
+
+"I'll think about that."
+
+Ned made his farewells to Helen Morton and then, amid a chorus of good
+wishes on the part of Mr. Damon and the shop force, the two young men
+started off in the strange machine which attracted much attention all
+along the road.
+
+"Off to Chesterport!" gaily exclaimed Ned, as he sat beside Tom in the
+driver's seat.
+
+"And the mountain of mystery!" added the young inventor.
+
+They reached Chesterport about the middle of the afternoon, but instead
+of proceeding up the main street to the residence of the Winthrops,
+who, Tom had told Ned, occupied a mansion in an exclusive part of the
+town, the House on Wheels, under the guidance of its inventor, was
+headed into a vacant lot near an automobile garage.
+
+"What's the idea?" inquired Ned, in surprise. "Something gone wrong?"
+
+"No. Why?"
+
+"Why don't you run her up in front of the Winthrop's and call on Mary
+in style?"
+
+"That's just it, Ned. I'm afraid the Winthrop family wouldn't like
+this kind of style. And it might embarrass Mary. You see, the Winthrop
+people are old-fashioned, conservative people, dating back to the
+Massachusetts Bay Colony, or something like that. Up to a few years
+ago the older Mrs. Winthrop would never ride in anything but the
+family carriage. She did grudgingly consent to an auto, in time. Her
+daughter-in-law isn't much more liberal, and I'm afraid if we dashed up
+and stopped in front of their place with this rather gaudy affair, the
+ladies might have a fit and conclude that I wasn't the sort of person
+Mary ought to marry."
+
+"I see!" laughed Ned. "Well, maybe the House is a bit too much like a
+circus van to park in front of a proud old lady's house. I see your
+point. But what are you going to do?"
+
+"Oh, we'll leave the House here under the eye of this garage man and
+then you and I will hire a taxi and call on Mary in style."
+
+"Count me out. I'll stay with the House."
+
+"Nothing doing! You go with me!"
+
+The young men had been wearing old garments, for they had anticipated
+having to do some work on the car. But there was a miniature bathroom
+in the House on Wheels and after washing and changing to fresh
+garments, the two young men hired a taxi from the garage, near which
+they had left the House on Wheels and went calling.
+
+"Oh, I'm so glad to see you!" Mary exclaimed impulsively at the sight
+of Tom and Ned. "Why didn't you send me word you were coming?"
+
+"We didn't decide to come until so short a time ago," Tom answered,
+"that we didn't really have time."
+
+"He wasn't sure his old House could make the grade," chuckled Ned.
+
+"Oh, then you have the wonderful House with you!" cried Mary.
+
+"Yes, er--I--now--what pocket did I put it in, Ned?" asked Tom in mock
+anxiety, as he searched through his garments. "I know I had it when we
+came in, but----"
+
+"Think you're smart, don't you?" mocked Mary.
+
+Grace Winthrop came in just then to be introduced, and she and Ned
+paired off quite well, "considering everything," as Tom said afterward.
+
+The story of the trip was told and both girls asked to be taken for a
+ride in the House on Wheels, a petition that was quickly granted. Grace
+Winthrop shared none of her grandmother's inhibitions against modernism!
+
+"Oh, boys, you're just in time!" exclaimed Mary, as they were having
+some lemonade out on the shady piazza. "Aren't they, Grace?"
+
+"In time for what?" Tom wanted to know.
+
+"The dance!" answered Mary. "We're having one to-night. You can stay,
+can't you, Tom? And you, Ned?" She looked appealingly at Tom.
+
+"Afraid not," he answered. "We have a number of engagements, and our
+schedule----"
+
+"Oh, Tom Swift!"
+
+Mary's disappointment was so genuine that Tom, who had been a little
+stiff with her at first, relented and said:
+
+"We haven't dress suits with us."
+
+"It's an informal dance," Grace made haste to say, and after being
+urged a bit more the two visitors consented to come to the affair that
+evening. They refused an invitation to dinner, as both Tom and Ned
+wanted to see how it would be to get their own meal on the electric
+stove in the House on Wheels.
+
+The dance was a great success. Ned found Grace Winthrop a gracious
+hostess, and he did not seem to miss Helen much.
+
+In fact, he was having such a good time that it was not until late in
+the evening that he noticed Tom sitting by himself out on the porch
+and looking in one of the long windows at the dancing floor. Among the
+couples foxtrotting about were Mary and a young fellow named Floyd
+Barton to whom Ned had been introduced.
+
+"What's the matter, Tom?" asked Ned, who had come out for a breath of
+air. "Hurt your foot?"
+
+"Hurt my foot! No! What makes you ask that?"
+
+"You aren't dancing."
+
+"I haven't had much chance!" was the somewhat grumpish answer, and Ned
+saw his chum's gaze following Mary and her partner. To do him justice,
+Barton was a fine dancer.
+
+"Oh, ho!" mused Ned to himself, as he took in the situation. "Poor old
+Tom is jealous!"
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XI
+
+                         TRAILING THE MYSTERY
+
+
+The next day, after a late, lazy sleep in the bunks of the House on
+Wheels, Tom Swift and Ned Newton, in fulfillment of a promise made the
+night before, called to take Mary and Grace for a ride in Tom's latest
+invention.
+
+Tom and his chum called in a taxi to take the girls out to the House on
+Wheels, for the young inventor rightly guessed that Mrs. Winthrop would
+not appreciate the sensation that would be caused should the big auto
+stop in front of her house.
+
+"Hello!" Mary called to Tom and Ned as she came downstairs with Grace
+to meet them. "Did you have a good time last night?"
+
+"Fine!" answered Ned, who had thoroughly enjoyed himself.
+
+"Are you all ready?" asked Tom, trying to smile but not making a great
+success of it. He seemed anxious to avoid answering the question. But
+Mary was not to be put off.
+
+"I asked if you had a good time last night, Tom Swift," and Mary's
+voice had a new quality in it. "Aren't you going to answer me?"
+
+"Oh, I beg your pardon. Of course! It was a lovely affair. And I must
+say you danced very well, Mary--you and Mr. Barton."
+
+There was something in Tom's tone that made Mary look sharply at him,
+but she said nothing more then.
+
+"Well, are you all ready for the thrill of your lives?" asked Ned, to
+cover the little moment of embarrassment that followed the interchange
+between Mary and Tom.
+
+"Does the machine go very fast?" asked Grace.
+
+"Not at all," Tom made haste to say. "It isn't a racer, by any means.
+It's just a comfortable way of traveling, that's all. There won't be
+any particular thrill."
+
+"I'm eager to see it since its completion," said Mary, and Ned noticed
+that her manner toward Tom had changed a bit.
+
+However, once they were started, the party was gay enough and Ned
+thought perhaps his chum's natural jealousy would wear off. He learned,
+by judicious questions put to Grace Winthrop, that Floyd Barton was
+a rich young man of the neighborhood who had been paying Mary much
+attention since her arrival in Chesterport.
+
+"Mr. Barton thinks Mary is a lovely girl," said Grace to Ned.
+
+"Well, he is certainly right," was the answer. "So does Tom Swift."
+
+"Oh, well, that's different. Mr. Barton is just a very good friend. Of
+course I know that Tom and Mary are engaged. But a girl must be nice to
+those who are nice to her."
+
+"Then you'd better start right in on me!" challenged Ned, and the two
+laughed.
+
+This was more than Mary and Tom were doing just then. They seemed to be
+talking seriously on the rear seat of the taxi, Ned and Grace occupying
+the auxiliary folding seats ahead.
+
+However, once the House on Wheels was reached, the air cleared a bit.
+Both girls went into raptures over the House, though Mary had seen it
+before, when it was almost completed. They reveled in the appointments
+and said the kitchen was "just darling," using so many other adjectives
+to praise the other sections that Tom and Ned felt quite set up over
+having had a hand in turning out the machine.
+
+The House on Wheels was taken for a spin into the country with the
+girls as guests, and the party remained out all day, eating "on
+board," if that be the proper term. In the evening, when the return
+to Chesterport was made, Tom and Mary seemed to have patched up their
+little differences. Ned had an inkling as to what was at the bottom of
+the trouble when he overheard Tom say:
+
+"Well, but you didn't need to dance every number with him, did you?"
+
+"I didn't! I danced with you three times! If I had known you were
+coming I'd have saved more for you."
+
+"I'm sorry I didn't send you word," murmured Tom.
+
+"So am I," replied Mary, and then they talked of other things.
+
+But that Tom still felt jealous pangs was evident the next day, for
+the boys remained over for a lawn party Grace had arranged in honor
+of Mary. There was no dancing this time, for the affair was held out
+of doors. But Floyd Barton was there, with other young men, and even
+Ned, in what few moments he spent away from Grace Winthrop, could not
+help noticing that Mary was very often in the company of the young
+Chesterport man.
+
+However, she gave Tom some attention and called him to her side when
+she had to preside at a little game. She seemed very sweet and
+gracious, but there was a lowering look on Tom's face that did not
+altogether vanish, Ned noticed.
+
+At the close of the lawn party Mary accompanied Mr. Barton to the gate
+to bid him farewell. When she came back Tom further showed the canker
+that was eating him.
+
+"Can't you stay over one more day?" Grace Winthrop was asking Ned, who
+had announced that their plans called for starting off the next morning.
+
+"I'd like to," Ned replied. "But of course----"
+
+"We're going to pull out first thing to-morrow!" broke in Tom, with
+more bruskness than seemed necessary.
+
+"Oh, in that case then you won't be here," said Mary, and her voice was
+tantalizingly cool. "I thought you were having a good time."
+
+"We are!" exclaimed Ned.
+
+"Too good," said Tom. "I guess you're having a good time too, aren't
+you, Mary?" His question was rather pointed.
+
+"Who, me? Oh, yes! Grace has entertained me lavishly, and----"
+
+"I guess she hasn't been doing all the entertaining," and Tom pretended
+to be much interested in a troublesome hangnail.
+
+"Oh, of course her friends have been awfully sweet to me," said Mary,
+purposely misunderstanding. "Well, if you boys won't stay, you won't!
+Where are you going, Tom?"
+
+"Oh, off on a little exploring trip," and he glanced toward Ned to make
+sure he would not mention Dismal Mountain, since they had agreed it
+would be better to keep their plans secret. "Got to try out the House
+under all sorts of conditions."
+
+"I suppose so," agreed Grace. "Well, can't you stop off again on your
+way back?"
+
+"We'll try," was all Tom would promise, though Ned was enthusiastic
+when he said:
+
+"I sure would like to!"
+
+"Do try, then," urged Mary. "I'm having such a lovely time on this
+visit that I want every one else to have fun, too. And you have been
+working hard, haven't you, Tom?"
+
+"A bit, yes."
+
+"Well, now you'd better take a rest on this trip. Don't think about
+business and don't run into any danger. Will you?"
+
+She crossed the room and stood near him, while Ned and Grace went
+outside.
+
+"Will you, Tom?"
+
+"Will I what?"
+
+"Be careful to keep out of danger."
+
+"Oh, I--Who'd care if I did get into danger?" His voice was hard.
+
+"Who'd care? Well, I like that, Tom Swift! Wouldn't your father care,
+and my father and mother, and Ned and Koku and Eradicate and--lots of
+folks?"
+
+"Anybody else?" asked Tom, with a half smile.
+
+"Of course, you silly boy! I would! Is that what you wanted me to say?"
+
+It would seem from Tom's pleased answer that it was.
+
+So the little rift in the heavens appeared to have passed.
+
+"All hands on deck!"
+
+Ned Newton heard this hail from the depths of drowsy slumber as he
+turned over in his cot the next morning.
+
+"What's the row?" he asked sleepily.
+
+"All hands on deck!" repeated Tom. "Come on, if we're going to get
+started."
+
+"What's the matter?" yawned Ned, parting the curtains and peering out.
+"Are you the little early bird after the earlier worm this morning?"
+
+"Somewhat. But we've been loafing long enough. Let's get on the move if
+we're going to."
+
+They washed, dressed and had breakfast, and then, having paid their
+garage bill and taken on a supply of gas and oil, they set out down
+the main road of Chesterport, having said good-bye to the girls the
+night before.
+
+They were on the road to Branchville, beyond which was the beginning of
+the hills that rose to their limit in the peak known locally as Dismal
+Mountain.
+
+"I hope we run across a batch of moonshiners, some train bandits, and
+half a dozen road agents!" declared Tom, as he grasped the steering
+wheel.
+
+"Ah, ha!" mused Ned. "The little green bug is still biting him!"
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XII
+
+                              THE WARNING
+
+
+Though not a very great distance separated the vicinity of the mountain
+of mystery from Chesterport, Tom and Ned decided they would occupy two
+days on the trip. By hard driving they might have covered the trail in
+a day and a night, but there was no special need of haste. Then, too,
+Tom Swift did not want to push the motor of his House on Wheels to the
+safe limit even, for he wanted to get it well broken in and limbered up
+before trying any stunts with it.
+
+"This is the life!" sang Ned, as they rolled along the level highway.
+"Eh, Tom?"
+
+"It sure is! Makes a fellow glad to be alive!"
+
+"This is one of the best things you ever turned out of your shop," went
+on Ned, indicating by a comprehensive motion of his hand the vehicle in
+which they were riding.
+
+As they motored along, their big car attracted much attention, not only
+from passing machines but on the part of persons in towns and villages
+through which they passed.
+
+Noon came almost before the two travelers realized it, and, being
+then on a country road with no settlement in sight, they pulled off
+the highway, stopped under some trees and near a little stream, and
+prepared to have lunch.
+
+The pantry had been well stocked, and Ned and Tom, being used to
+camping, had no difficulty in preparing a light meal, part of which was
+set to cooking on the electric stove. In a little while there was a
+most appetizing odor in the air and either this, or perhaps a sight of
+the big machine itself, caused a passing man to stop.
+
+He was obviously a hobo, a rather dirty, unshaven and ragged specimen
+of tramp. Yet his face had an impudent, roguish smile and his manner
+was ingratiating as he shuffled up in the dust until he was opposite
+the House, outside of which Tom and Ned sat on stools in the shade.
+They were waiting for the potatoes to boil.
+
+"How's business, Boss--maybe I ought to say Bosses?" asked the tramp in
+a hoarse voice. He leered and smiled.
+
+"What do you mean--business?" asked Tom.
+
+"The lunch-wagon business." The tramp seemed surprised at the question.
+Very evidently he took the House on Wheels for one of those roadside
+refreshment places.
+
+"We haven't opened up yet," said Ned, carrying on the delusion.
+
+"Smells like you had," commented the tramp, hungrily sniffing. "If that
+ain't hash and onions cooking may I never eat another meal!"
+
+He was vehement about it. From his looks he did not appear to have
+eaten a meal recently.
+
+"Is it hash and onions?" he asked.
+
+"Guessed it first shot," commented Tom.
+
+"But I can't see how you can expect to do much business here," went on
+the hobo. "This road ain't much traveled."
+
+"We're our own best customers," chuckled Ned, and at the man's look of
+surprise he added enough information to show the nature of the House on
+Wheels.
+
+"Well, then it's a washout as far as it goes with me," sighed the
+tramp. "I was goin' to ask if I couldn't do you folks some work for the
+price of a hand-out, but if yours is a private concern----"
+
+"Oh, I guess we can manage to get you something," said Tom
+good-naturedly. A little later when he and Ned were eating in the
+combined kitchen and dining room, they handed the tramp a generous
+plateful, for which he expressed gratitude.
+
+"Travel much in these parts?" asked Ned, as the hobo was about to
+shuffle along.
+
+"More or less, Boss."
+
+"Ever been to Dismal Mountain?"
+
+"No, I can't say I have. And, what's more, I don't intend to! So if you
+folks is aimin' to have me go there to work for what you jest give me,
+count it out! I'm sorry, but----"
+
+"Nothing like that," interrupted Tom. "I just wanted to know if we were
+on the right road to get there."
+
+"Yes, you're on the right road," the tramp admitted, with a shake of
+his head. "But what for you fellers want to go to Dismal Mountain, gets
+me!"
+
+"What's the matter with the place anyhow?" asked Ned.
+
+"Oh, I don't know's there's much the matter with the _place_," and the
+man emphasized the word. "It's the birds that hang out around there."
+
+"Ghosts?" asked Tom, with a smile.
+
+"Ghosts!" exploded the tramp. "I'd rather meet ghosts than some of the
+guys what hangs out there. Tough babies--an' I don't mean maybe!"
+
+"A rough crowd, eh?" asked Ned.
+
+"Tougher'n what I like," admitted the tramp. "I don't claim to be no
+saint, but I'm pretty decent compared to some of the hard-boiled eggs
+that hide around Dismal Mountain."
+
+"Then you wouldn't advise us to go there?" Tom asked.
+
+"It's none of my business, Boss," was the answer. "You know what your
+own game is better'n what I do. But I wouldn't advise you to take any
+valuables with you when you go to Dismal Mountain."
+
+"Thanks," murmured Ned. "We aren't wearing any diamonds."
+
+"Some of the guys there'll steal the laces out of your shoes," went on
+the tramp.
+
+"Just what kind of criminals hang out there?" inquired Tom.
+
+"A kind I never travel with," was the quick rejoinder. "I'm a bum--I
+don't deny it--and I'm not lookin' for work. But I'd sooner work than
+pull off some o' the things that those babies do. Keep your eyes open
+if you go there."
+
+"We will," promised Ned.
+
+The tramp shuffled away, and when the two chums were again alone Ned
+looked at Tom and asked:
+
+"Think we'd better follow through?"
+
+"Sure! Why not?"
+
+"Well, there are only two of us and if there are some tough gangs up
+there, or even a small band, we might run into trouble."
+
+"I'm not going to run away from trouble," declared the young inventor.
+"Maybe it would have been wise to have had at least Koku along. But I'm
+not going back after him. We'll go on to Dismal Mountain and see what's
+there. Are you with me?"
+
+"I sure am, Tom!"
+
+They rested after the noon meal, washed the dishes in the near-by
+brook, to save the supply of water in the auto tanks, and then
+journeyed on in leisurely fashion. They expected to reach the mountain
+of mystery the following night.
+
+It was dusk when they stopped the House on the outskirts of a little
+village and prepared the evening meal. Then, having disposed of that,
+they decided to go into town for the sake of the exercise and to see if
+they could buy a paper.
+
+They hired a couple of boys from a house near where they had parked
+their machine to stand guard over it while they were in town, and one
+can well imagine with what pride the youngsters accepted the commission.
+
+"We won't let nobody come near it until you come back!" promised the
+older boy.
+
+"I got my baseball bat if they do!" chimed in his brother.
+
+Stopping for an ice-cream soda in the only store of the town that
+dispensed this refreshment and having bought a paper, Ned and Tom
+lingered a while to listen to the somewhat excited and loud talk
+that was going on amid a crowd of men in the place, evidently the
+headquarters of the village gossips.
+
+"And they got clean away!" one man declared. "Took every darn cent,
+too!"
+
+"Did they hurt the guards?" asked another.
+
+"Shot at 'em, but missed. It was all over quick."
+
+"Didn't they see which way the robbers went?" some one wanted to know.
+
+"Off toward Dismal Mountain," another answered.
+
+"Might have known it!" commented several. "That place ought to be wiped
+out."
+
+"This sounds interesting," remarked Tom to Ned in a low voice. "I'm
+going to butt in."
+
+Accordingly, he addressed the principal speaker and asked what all the
+talk was about.
+
+"Highway robbery, that's what!" came the vehement answer. "A couple of
+men guarding the pay roll of the shoe factory here were held up this
+afternoon and robbed of about four thousand dollars."
+
+"I just now heard you mention Dismal Mountain," went on Tom. "Is that a
+hang-out for highwaymen?"
+
+"That and worse," was the reply. "Dismal Mountain is a good place for
+honest folks to stay away from."
+
+"Well, my friend and I claim to be honest," said Tom, indicating Ned.
+"But we are on our way to Dismal Mountain and----"
+
+"Don't go!" exclaimed an old man in the store. "I know more about that
+place than most folks, and my advice to you is not to go there. Unless
+you're officers aiming to arrest the scoundrels that hide there," he
+added hopefully.
+
+"No, we aren't officers," stated Ned.
+
+"We were just going there to find out what gives the place its bad
+name," added Tom. "We would rather like to solve the mystery."
+
+"Well, be warned by me and keep away," went on the old man. "I used to
+live not far from the place," he added, "and I don't want to see any
+more such goings on as I witnessed."
+
+"What were they?" asked Ned.
+
+"I couldn't tell you," was the answer, with a dubious shake of the
+head. "I've seen men go up that mountain and never come down. There
+were queer noises and queer lights. Nobody that had a valuable horse
+near Dismal Mountain ever left him in a field over night. If they did
+he wasn't there in the morning."
+
+"This sounds interesting," said Tom.
+
+"_Interesting_, young man!" exclaimed the speaker. "It's _dangerous_!
+That's what it is! _Dangerous!_"
+
+There was so much interest in the recent hold-up that the departure of
+Tom and Ned was little noticed. They went back to the House on Wheels
+where they found the two boys had been faithful to their trust, and,
+having paid and dismissed them, the two travelers turned in for the
+night.
+
+"Well, what about it?" asked Tom of his chum when they arose the next
+morning and found it raining and blowing. "Shall we lay over?"
+
+"Not on my account," declared Ned. "This storm doesn't seem to be going
+to amount to much."
+
+"Oh, it wasn't of the storm I was speaking."
+
+"What then?"
+
+"The warnings we had last night against proceeding to Dismal Mountain.
+If you----"
+
+"Nothing doing!" interrupted Ned. "I'll go with you to the end of the
+trail!"
+
+"That settles it. We keep on!" cried Tom.
+
+After a hearty breakfast, they took their places on the front seat and
+started off. For a time they followed a good concrete road, but it
+soon branched off, and their way lay along a highway that had once been
+good but which was so no longer.
+
+As the day advanced, taking the travelers farther on their way, the
+storm increased. By afternoon and after lunch, which they ate while
+moving along, they were in the midst of a terrific downpour with a wind
+which reached at times the velocity of a gale.
+
+"She seems to weather it all right, though," remarked Ned, indicating
+their traveling House.
+
+"Standing up fine!" agreed Tom, much pleased with the staunchness of
+his latest invention. "We'll be almost there by night in spite of the
+storm and the bad road."
+
+Hardly had he spoken than there was a fiercer burst of wind, which
+dashed the rain like hail against the protecting glass in front. Just
+then Ned pointed ahead as a loud crash sounded and cried:
+
+"Look out, Tom! Stop! Danger!"
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XIII
+
+                          THE DESERTED HOUSE
+
+
+Tom Swift, ever on the alert when driving any of his machines, from
+the humble motorcycle to the more complicated apparatuses of the air
+or undersea, lived up to his name in bringing the House on Wheels to
+a quick but skillful stop as Ned Newton uttered the exclamation of
+warning.
+
+It was just in time, for the front wheels were almost against a big
+rotten tree that the gale had blown down across the highway leading
+toward Dismal Mountain. Tom's attention had been taken momentarily by
+some of his dashboard gages, so he had not seen the sway of the tree
+before it fell. But Ned's quick eyes had sensed the danger and had
+given ample warning.
+
+"Close call, that!" commented Tom, as he leaned back after pulling hard
+on the emergency brake.
+
+"Don't want 'em any closer," agreed Ned, as he looked through the
+driving rain at the fallen tree. "If we had gone full tilt into that it
+might have scratched some of the paint off the House."
+
+"Worse than that," assented Tom. "It's lucky you yelled at me when you
+did."
+
+"Well, what's the next move?" asked Ned.
+
+"Put on our umbrella clothes and see if we can cut that tree away,"
+suggested Tom. "I don't believe we can very well turn around and I
+don't want to navigate backward."
+
+"No, it won't be easy," agreed Ned. "Well, let's hop to it. I don't
+believe there's much traffic on this road, but what there is we don't
+want to hold up."
+
+"Speaking of hold-ups," said Tom grimly, "maybe we could get some of
+the hold-up residents of Dismal Mountain to come to our help."
+
+"They don't show up in any great numbers," remarked Ned, as he made his
+way back into the interior of the car to get his raincoat and rubber
+boots, which Tom had designated as "umbrella clothes."
+
+They were in a lonely part of the country, in the midst of an extensive
+piece of woods, it appeared, on a seldom-traveled road, about at the
+beginning of the big peak known as Dismal Mountain. They had seen no
+habitation for some time, nor had they met any other travelers, which
+last was not remarkable, considering the state of the weather.
+
+Tom carried a set of emergency tools in his House on Wheels and among
+these were a couple of axes. In a short time he and Ned, fortified
+against the elements, which appeared to be doing their worst just now,
+were attacking the fallen tree with their sharp tools.
+
+Fortunately the tree was pretty well rotted, and though it was large in
+diameter, the trunk was punk-like in its character and the axes easily
+bit into it. Chopping out small sections, the two travelers dragged
+them to one side of the road until at last, after an hour's work, they
+had cleared a passage for their auto and for any other vehicles that
+might follow.
+
+"Though if there are any other people foolish enough to drive up here
+in a storm like this, they ought to be made to chop their own trees,"
+commented Tom, as he got back on the seat.
+
+"It wasn't so bad when we started up here," Ned reminded his chum.
+
+"Oh, I'm not kicking!" Tom made haste to say. "I'm just talking to hear
+my own voice. Whew, it's going to be a nasty night!"
+
+"It already is one!" declared Ned, for darkness was rapidly falling and
+they had no idea of what lay beyond them.
+
+"Want to stay here?" asked Tom, always willing to give in on the
+matter of stopping for the night.
+
+"No, the road's too narrow in case anything else comes along, though
+I don't believe it will. Let's push on, and maybe we'll get to some
+decent place where we can pull up."
+
+The motor, which had been stopped while the fallen tree was being
+chopped away, was again put in motion and once more the House on Wheels
+began the gradual but steady ascent that led up Dismal Mountain, by
+this time in the young men's minds, a veritable mountain of mystery.
+
+For about a mile the road was fairly good and firm. After that either
+the highway had not been kept in repair or the heavy rain was washing
+it away rapidly, for the House on Wheels careened from one rut into
+another until it was swaying like a circus camel in the parade.
+
+"Not so good!" commented Ned, as he banged up against the side of the
+seat after a particularly heavy lurch.
+
+"It is getting a bit thick and heavy," agreed Tom, trying to peer ahead
+into the gloom which was pierced by two powerful headlights of the
+auto. But powerful as they were, the gleams of the lamps appeared to be
+swallowed up in the dark trees on either side of the road and by the
+surface of the highway itself.
+
+A comparatively light surface is needed to reflect the gleams of any
+auto lamps properly, as you have noticed when driving first on concrete
+and then on asphalt. You can see twice as well on the former as on the
+latter. And in driving through woods on a dirt road, nearly all the
+illumination is absorbed so that you get the benefit of very little of
+it.
+
+It was so in the case of Tom and Ned, and though for a little way in
+front of the wheels they could see where they were going, beyond ten
+feet all was gloom and darkness.
+
+It was still raining hard and the wind was blowing. Tom had set in
+motion the wiper of the glass in front of him so the drops did not
+accumulate and distort his vision. But he needed all the artificial
+aids he could command on a night like this and under the circumstances.
+
+For the first time it began to be apparent to him and Ned that perhaps
+they had done rather a foolish thing to come to Dismal Mountain in
+this large van-like car. It was not exactly the kind of a machine
+for prospect work, not being small or flexible enough for quick
+maneuvering.
+
+On the other hand, it was a portable base of supplies and the occupants
+of it could stop wherever they found themselves and be comfortable,
+which was more than could be said for a small car. So they kept
+plugging along.
+
+The motor was pulling powerfully. Tom was glad of this for he knew he
+would need all the power he could command when they got into the upper
+slopes where the grades would be stiffer.
+
+On and on, up and up, the House on Wheels was driven until Ned began to
+wonder where his chum would stop. He did not like to suggest a halt,
+for there seemed to be no good place to pull up. The road was still
+narrow. The House took up considerable room and there were places where
+trees grew so close to each side of the road that it seemed impossible
+to squeeze the big vehicle through.
+
+But, somehow, Tom managed it, though once both sides of the car lightly
+brushed great trunks that would have taken hours on the part of a
+skilled lumberman to fell. However, luck was with the two venturesome
+travelers.
+
+After a stiff ascent, in which Tom had to drop back to second gear for
+one of the few times since the trip started, they came to a somewhat
+level stretch, as was evidenced by the easier pull on the motor. Ned,
+always enthusiastic, exclaimed:
+
+"Hurray! We're up!"
+
+"Not half!" exclaimed Tom. "Don't fool yourself."
+
+"Oh, gee!" sighed Ned.
+
+"But we may reach a place where it will be wise to stop for the rest of
+the night," went on Tom, trying in vain to pierce the dark forest ahead
+and on either side. "The road is wider here and we can pull off it with
+a chance for something else to pass."
+
+"Nobody but us two are crazy enough to be out here on a night like
+this," commented the financial manager.
+
+"Guess that's about right," assented Tom. "Still, it's best not to take
+any chances. I'll go along a bit farther and then we'll pull up and
+call it a day's work."
+
+The going was better until there was a sudden lurch to one side.
+
+"In a hole!" cried Tom, and he quickly went into second and then into
+first gear in an effort to pull out.
+
+However, it was not to be. The House on Wheels slowly settled down and
+not all the power of the motor could stir it. Finally Tom realized that
+he was only sinking the rear wheels deeper into the mud by churning
+them around.
+
+"We've got to dig out!" he told Ned.
+
+There was no help for it. Once more they donned boots and raincoats
+and, hanging a portable electric light over the bogged side, they saw
+where the right front wheel had sunk into a deep hole. It took the two
+the best part of an hour to dig a slope in front and fill it with small
+stones to make a firm surface so the machine could climb out. This the
+auto did after several false starts, and once more they were on their
+way.
+
+The road shortly broadened and the trees were cut back from the highway
+into a small clearing. This opening enabled the two to see better,
+and in the gleam of the powerful lamps Ned noticed, just ahead, on
+the right, a big house, from which, however, no lights showed. As the
+car approached, it could be seen that the place was an old, deserted
+mansion that had once been the stately home of some wealthy person, for
+there were extensive grounds.
+
+"Look!" exclaimed Ned.
+
+"I see it," answered Tom. "Nobody home from the looks of it, but we can
+pull up there and stop for the night. What say?"
+
+"Suits me!"
+
+Accordingly, Tom guided the big car into what seemed to have once been
+a drive and he and Ned both experienced a feeling of relief. But if
+they had known to what adventures the deserted house was a preface they
+might well have hesitated.
+
+"What do you make it out to be?" joked Ned, as the House on Wheels was
+brought to a stop at one side of the old mansion. "Is it a hang-out of
+bootleggers or road agents?"
+
+"Take your choice," Tom answered, in equally light vein. "Luckily, we
+don't have to depend on them for supper. We roll our own."
+
+"And I'm going to roll mine right soon!" added Ned. "Boy, I'm hungry
+and I don't mean perhaps!"
+
+"Be with you in just a minute," Tom said, shutting off the motor and
+putting on the emergency brake. He was glad to note that the ground
+seemed firm beneath the wheels.
+
+As he and Ned were alighting, thinking to have a look around the
+outside of the deserted house before getting something to eat, Ned
+uttered a low exclamation which Tom heard above the noise of the rain
+that was coming down more gently now.
+
+"What is it?" whispered the young inventor.
+
+"Did you hear a noise in there?" asked Ned in cautious tones.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XIV
+
+                        A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE
+
+
+Like game dogs, Tom Swift and Ned Newton froze in their tracks and
+stood in the rain near the deserted house, waiting for they knew not
+what. It was a lonesome, dreary place, dense woods being all around
+them, and ahead, though some miles distant, the sinister summit of
+Dismal Mountain with its suggestion of mystery. Only the fact that
+the warm, comfortable and cozily lighted House on Wheels was near by
+heartened the young men. They were rather tired from their trip, with
+fighting the elements, and digging the heavy auto out of bog holes.
+
+For several seconds they stood there, Tom seeking to tune his ears to
+what Ned had said he had heard--a noise in the deserted house. But as
+no sounds came to him, the young inventor began to believe that his
+chum was mistaken.
+
+"Guess it was only the storm," he said, still pitching his voice low.
+
+"Maybe," agreed Ned. "Yet at first I was sure the sound came from the
+house."
+
+"It might at that, and still nobody need be in it," Tom suggested.
+"In an old, deserted place like this there are always doors to swing,
+windows to rattle, and shutters to slam."
+
+"I suppose so," agreed Ned. "Well, shall we go in and have a look
+around?"
+
+"I don't know that it will do us any good or that we can learn anything
+by going in this old mansion," was Tom's comment. "Yet as long as we're
+here we might as well go in. If we're going to stay here all night----"
+
+"Stay here all night!" interrupted Ned, in surprise.
+
+"I don't mean in there," and Tom pointed to the dark and silent
+mansion, "but in our own House. If we're going to camp out here it's
+just as well to know the character of our neighbor."
+
+"Sure," assented Ned. "Well, come on in and let's get it over with.
+Then we'll eat. I'm hungry!"
+
+"So am I. Got your flashlight?" and Tom produced one of these handy
+little portable torches.
+
+"Never go without it when I'm traveling with you," chuckled Ned. "You
+always end up in some queer situation or other." This was true, as Tom
+knew from past experience, so he did not comment on it.
+
+A look behind the young men showed them that the auto was where they
+had left it, the power shut off, the headlights glowing, and also some
+lights turned on showing the cozy interior.
+
+"I'll sure be glad to get back in it," murmured Tom.
+
+"So will I," echoed his chum.
+
+The deserted mansion the two had discovered half way up Dismal Mountain
+was like many other tenantless houses in lonesome country districts,
+only this was rather larger and better.
+
+With the departing of the owner the place had been left to the mercy
+of the elements and the whims of those who were more or less vandals
+who took delight in needlessly breaking doors, windows and shutters.
+Consequently there was no difficulty in getting into the place. The
+front door gaped wide and, after flashing their lights into and around
+a spacious entrance hall, Tom and Ned stepped inside.
+
+"I guess this a hang-out for tramps now and then," remarked Tom, as the
+two advanced down the hallway.
+
+"Shouldn't wonder," agreed Ned. "They've got plenty of rooms at their
+disposal, anyhow," he added as his light showed many apartments as
+they continued on their way. Aside from broken boxes and barrels, with
+here and there a litter of straw or leaves, there was no furniture in
+the rooms.
+
+Dismal and eerie to the extreme was the deserted house. Paper peeling
+from the damp walls hung in strips like festoons of Spanish moss. In
+places the plaster had fallen, leaving gaping holes that were like
+sightless eyes staring at the intruders.
+
+They went through the first floor, flashing their lights into nooks and
+corners but discovering nothing. There were some signs of the place
+having recently harbored such tenants as tramps. In one room a fire
+appeared to have been burning not long since on an open hearth and some
+empty tin cans scattered about seemed to give evidence that hoboes had
+cooked a meal here some time.
+
+"Shall we go upstairs?" asked Ned, when their inspection of the first
+floor was finished.
+
+"Might as well," decided Tom. "Then we'll know there isn't anything
+here to annoy us after we get back to the House."
+
+The front stairway was a large and imposing one, sweeping up to a
+balcony where there was space enough for a fairly large room. From here
+one could look down into the lower front hall. As Ned followed Tom to
+this balcony he saw the young inventor turn and gaze intently at what
+appeared to be a panel in the back wall of the landing. Tom's start was
+so obvious that Ned asked:
+
+"What's the matter?"
+
+"I thought--I wasn't sure--but I thought I saw one of those oak panels
+slide as I came up the stairs," answered Tom.
+
+"You thought you saw a panel slide!" exclaimed Ned. "Say, this is like
+a moving picture mystery."
+
+"Maybe it was only the shadow of your flashlight," went on Tom.
+
+He advanced to the rear wall and tapped on it. The lower part was made
+up of what had once been beautifully carved, quartered oak panels. But
+as far as the two adventurers could discover, all of them were in place
+and none seemed movable.
+
+"It must have been a shadow," said Ned.
+
+"I guess so," agreed his chum.
+
+The rooms upstairs, like those below, were bare and deserted, devoid of
+furniture, but with the same festoons of drooping wall paper. In some
+of the chambers there were piles of old bags and leaves in some corners
+showing plainly that tramps had been sleeping there.
+
+"It was probably these hoboes, who made this place a hang-out, that
+gave rise to the stories about ghosts and bootleggers on Dismal
+Mountain," commented Ned, and Tom agreed that this might be so.
+
+The number and arrangement of the upper rooms confirmed the ideas of
+the young men that this mansion had once been the home of persons
+who lived in luxury and moved in high society. There were a number
+of bedchambers, each with a private bath. But the latter rooms were
+in worse ruin than any other part of the house, for the fixtures had
+been torn out, probably by those who wanted the lead and brass piping
+to sell to junkmen. Some of the porcelain bath tubs had been wantonly
+cracked and broken.
+
+It was when Tom, preceding Ned, walked out of one of the bedrooms into
+the main hall that the young inventor gave another perceptible start
+and uttered a low exclamation.
+
+"What's the matter now?" asked Ned, with half a laugh. "See another
+moving panel?"
+
+"No, but, somehow, Ned, I feel as if we were being spied upon! Don't
+you?"
+
+"Spied upon! What do you mean?"
+
+"Well, when I came out of that room," and Tom pointed back to it, "I
+had a distinct feeling that eyes were following me. Didn't you ever
+have such a feeling?"
+
+"Yes; but not now. I think you're just over-worked and nervous. You did
+most of the driving, and with that and the storm and getting bogged,
+it's no wonder you're seeing things."
+
+"Well, maybe that's it," agreed Tom, but his heart did not appear to
+be in what he was saying. "I am tired. I'll be glad when we have had
+something to eat and can turn in for a good night's sleep."
+
+"Boy, you let loose an earful that time!" chuckled Ned.
+
+He saw that Tom was flashing his light back into the room they had just
+quitted and he followed his chum's example. But nothing was seen save
+the same dismal ruin that confronted them on every side.
+
+Going downstairs behind Tom, when Ned reached the landing where the
+young inventor had said he thought he saw a panel move, he was suddenly
+conscious of the same feeling that Tom had mentioned--that of unseen
+eyes staring at him.
+
+"But it's all bunk!" said Ned to himself. "It's just nerves. I'm not
+going to speak of it. Tom has enough to worry about now."
+
+However, he cast a quick look over his shoulder and even flashed his
+torch on the oak paneling, a move which caused Tom to ask:
+
+"What's the matter?"
+
+"Oh, nothing," answered Ned, prevaricating just a little. But he felt
+he had a right to, since, as he reasoned, Tom Swift had been under a
+strain for several days getting the House on Wheels in shape for this
+test trip. There was no sense in adding to his worries, especially as
+it was such an intangible something that Ned had felt.
+
+Yet he could not get over the sensation that he, too, as Tom had been,
+was being watched by sinister eyes somewhere within that deserted
+mansion. Eyes that were evil, that looked evil, and that hoped evil.
+
+"Might have been bats," thought Ned. "Always have been bats in an old
+house. That's what it was--bats. I'll be getting them in my belfry if I
+don't get something to eat soon," he thought, with a noiseless chuckle.
+
+Their footsteps echoed and re-echoed through the dark and eerie
+mansion, but nothing happened, save now and then a distant and ghostly
+hammering or clattering sound that plainly came from rattling windows,
+banging doors, and swinging shutters.
+
+"Well," remarked Tom, with a sigh of relief, "we've proved that there's
+nobody around here to annoy us. Now for a good night's rest."
+
+He stepped out of the front door, closely followed by Ned. The rain was
+coming down hard and the wind had once more risen to the proportions
+of half a gale. For a moment Tom and Ned stood on the big front porch.
+Then Ned remarked:
+
+"We must have got turned around and come out the back way."
+
+"Why so?" asked Tom.
+
+"Because we left the House right where we could see it from the front
+steps, and it isn't in sight now. We must have got turned around and
+come out at the back instead of the front."
+
+"This is the front all right," said Tom in a queer voice. "It's where
+we went in, but the House on Wheels is gone!"
+
+"Gone!" cried Ned. "It can't be!"
+
+"Look for yourself," asserted his chum. "You know where it was. In
+plain sight with lights going, as we saw just before we went inside.
+Now it's gone!"
+
+There was no doubt of it. The House on Wheels had vanished!
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XV
+
+                             ON THE TRAIL
+
+
+Their hearts oppressed with a sense of foreboding which they could not
+fathom, Tom Swift and Ned Newton hurried down the broad front steps
+of the old mansion, out into the wind and rain, and hurried toward
+the clearing where they had left the warm, lighted, and cozy House on
+Wheels. For a moment they hoped that perhaps the lighting system had
+failed and that they could not see the big auto because it was shrouded
+in darkness.
+
+But as they lighted their way by means of their pocket flashlights and
+reached the spot, near two large, distinctive trees where they had
+halted the big auto, there was no question about it. Their car had been
+taken away! It could not have rolled downhill, for it had been stopped
+on a level spot, and Tom had taken pains to set the brakes.
+
+"Some one came and got it!" exclaimed Tom, when it was certain that
+the machine had vanished.
+
+"Who was it?" came from Ned.
+
+"Hard to say. But I guess we weren't wrong, Ned, in suspecting that we
+were being spied upon by unseen eyes in that old house."
+
+"I'm forced to believe that."
+
+"While some watched us inside, to make sure we wouldn't come out and
+interrupt the theft, others stole the House," declared Tom.
+
+"Looks so," commented Ned. "Gee, but this is tough luck! What are we
+going to do now?"
+
+"We've got to hit the trail, of course, and see if we can't get it
+back," was Tom Swift's prompt answer.
+
+Though they were hungry and tired, the two young men did not hesitate.
+In fact, they could not. Much depended on prompt action, for the House
+on Wheels could not long have been taken away. Luckily Tom and Ned had
+on rubber boots and rain coats, and their little electric flashlights
+enabled them to see the trail. Without them they would have been at a
+great disadvantage.
+
+But with these gleams, flashing occasionally so as not to wear out the
+batteries too fast, the two first made sure where the big auto had
+stood and then began to trail it.
+
+"They first swung around in a half circle and then went off this way,"
+said Tom, pointing to the peculiar marks in the mud left by the tires
+of the House on Wheels. They were tires especially made for heavy duty
+and marked with ridges designed to prevent skidding, so the trail was
+easily followed, particularly as the wet ground took a deep impression.
+
+"It ought to be a cinch to trace her," remarked Ned, as the two young
+men hurried on, their weariness and hunger forgotten in the excitement
+of the chase.
+
+"Yes, for a way, anyhow," agreed Tom. "But we may not always have soft
+dirt roads like this to retain the marks. Though I don't believe there
+are any concrete stretches in this neighborhood," and he motioned
+toward Dismal Mountain, up the trail of which the House on Wheels
+clearly had been driven.
+
+"The ground will be soft for a couple of days after this rain, and we
+can keep on following," suggested Ned.
+
+"They may get too far ahead of us to leave us a Chinaman's chance,"
+said Tom, with a sigh. "Remember, we're walking, and if the House only
+crawled it could do ten miles to our one. Besides, they may run her
+down off this mountain and onto a hard road, and then the tire marks
+won't be one, two, six!"
+
+On they splashed in the rain and darkness. The road taken by the House
+on Wheels, as evidenced by the tire marks, led up the mountain and the
+deserted house, with its gloom, its secrets and its spying eyes, was
+soon left in the rear of the young men who pressed on, now and then
+flashing their torches to make sure they were still on the right trail.
+
+"Hark!" exclaimed Tom suddenly, when they had been thus going for
+several minutes.
+
+"What is it?" asked Ned, coming to a halt.
+
+"Let's listen and try to hear the motor," suggested the young inventor.
+"I have an idea those fellows, whoever they are, won't push the machine
+too hard. They may run her only a little way and then lay over for the
+night."
+
+Accordingly, the two stood there with the rain dripping on them,
+listening. But the only sounds that came to their ears were those of
+the storm--the wind and rain, the clattering of tree branches, and the
+swish of wet leaves.
+
+"No use trying to hear anything," stated Ned, after a pause.
+
+"No, I guess there isn't. We'll keep on."
+
+Again the two plunged forward along the muddy road. They blessed their
+lucky stars that had given them the forethought to put on rubber boots
+and coats before venturing around and into the old house.
+
+Tom, also, was glad he had equipped his car with those heavy and
+peculiarly marked tires, for they were very easy to follow, even under
+the adverse circumstances of rain and darkness.
+
+In spite of the fact that the noise of the storm would seem to preclude
+their hearing any sound made by the car ahead of them, Tom and Ned
+stopped several more times and listened for any faint echo of a motor
+ahead of them. But they heard nothing.
+
+"Maybe I'm wrong, Ned," said Tom, after a while, pausing at a sandy
+stretch in the road, where the wheel marks were very plain, "but
+doesn't it strike you that these tire impressions are fresher than they
+have been for some time back?"
+
+"Fresher? Anybody would think we were trailing an elephant or some wild
+animal."
+
+"Well, we are, in a way. But you see the rain has the effect of washing
+out the marks after a certain time. Now these marks here are sharp and
+fresh."
+
+"Yes, I admit it," said Ned. "But what of it?"
+
+"Well," and Tom's voice had a note of triumph in it, "to me this means
+that my House has passed here within a short time--minutes I should
+say--otherwise the hard rain would have washed down some of the tire
+ridges."
+
+"Tom, you're right!" cried Ned. "She ought to be close now."
+
+"That's what I think. Come on!"
+
+Once more the two plunged forward. The tire marks continued to become
+ever fresher until the seekers reached a place where a small road
+branched off the main highway.
+
+"They went up here!" cried Tom, indicating the trail that led up the
+branch road.
+
+"Sure enough!" assented Ned, flashing his light on the marks.
+
+Up the road the two fairly ran until, so quickly that it was startling,
+they came upon the big auto at a standstill in the middle of the
+highway. The House on Wheels was in darkness, but there it was.
+
+"We've found her!" exulted Tom, but he had the caution to speak in low
+tones.
+
+"Sure enough," agreed Ned and his voice was hardly more than a whisper.
+"But what's the game, I wonder?"
+
+That remained to be seen.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XVI
+
+                            TWO STRANGE MEN
+
+
+There were two theories to account for the taking away of the House
+on Wheels. These at once occurred to Tom Swift and Ned Newton as they
+stood in the rain and darkness near the auto, hardly able to believe
+their good luck which had brought them to the machine within half an
+hour of the theft.
+
+One explanation was that the legal authorities of the place--state
+police or local traffic officers--had come upon the parked House while
+Tom and Ned were in the deserted mansion. Seeing no one in the big
+auto, but observing that the lights were on, the authorities might have
+concluded that there had been an accident or that the car was abandoned
+and so had decided to drive it some place where it could be held
+pending an investigation.
+
+Another and more plausible theory, was that ordinary thieves, happening
+upon the car, had decided to appropriate it for themselves. For it was
+a car that any one might desire to possess.
+
+As Tom and Ned stood behind the discovered auto, pondering over these
+matters, it was more and more evident to them that the car had been
+stolen and abandoned. But had it been abandoned for good, or were the
+thieves just temporarily away from it?
+
+That last consideration must give them serious pause.
+
+For perhaps a full minute the two stood there, the rain dripping off
+their hats and coats, while they considered. Meanwhile they were
+using their ears and eyes to the best possible advantage; their ears
+particularly. For soon after discovering the auto they had switched off
+their torches and now stood in gloom. There was no light either in the
+House on Wheels or at the headlamps, as Tom and Ned ascertained by a
+quick glance forward.
+
+No sound came from the stranded auto. There was no noise of movement on
+the part of those who had taken the vehicle away and who might now be
+in ambush near it.
+
+"Well," questioned Ned in a whisper, "what'll we do?"
+
+"Let's circle the House and see if we can spot anybody," was Tom's
+answer, just breathed into his chum's ear.
+
+The storm was making so much noise that ordinary sounds on the part of
+the two would be covered, they thought. Still, they were not going to
+take any chances and they used the utmost caution in proceeding.
+
+"Come on!" whispered Tom.
+
+"I'm with you!" answered Ned.
+
+Side by side they started around the left of the House, intending to
+make their way to the front and gain control of the machine. They were
+not half way to their objective when there was a noise up ahead--a
+crackling and trampling of the bushes and voices coming out of the
+darkness.
+
+Tom reached out and caught the coat of Ned who was moving away from him.
+
+"Hold on!" whispered the young inventor, pulling his chum toward him.
+"Let's see who these birds are before we bump into them."
+
+It was good advice, as Ned admitted by following Tom into a little
+recess of the underbrush about midway of the auto. Pushing themselves
+back into the screen of shrubs, the two waited. They were not long left
+in doubt as to the character or intentions of the men whose voices came
+to them.
+
+There were two men, as evidenced by the different tones. One said:
+
+"Well, we got her all right!"
+
+"You said it."
+
+From the tones of the voices Tom and Ned judged one man to be big
+and the other small, and, without sight of them, the hidden ones so
+distinguished the two speakers mentally.
+
+"It was easy," went on Big, to give him a temporary designation.
+
+"Maybe it was too easy," suggested Small.
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Well, I mean those two lads won't give up their machine so easily.
+They may come to get it back."
+
+"Let 'em!" chuckled Big. "We'll be ready for 'em."
+
+"I'd feel better satisfied if we had kept on," said Small. "I don't see
+the sense in stopping here."
+
+"That's what the boss told us to do if we were lucky enough to get the
+machine," said the other. "And we did."
+
+"Well, if the boss told us to stay here, we've got to, I reckon,"
+admitted Small. "But there's no use staying out in the wet. That's a
+pretty nifty little outfit this fellow Quick turned out, and I don't
+see why we can't take it easy in it and have some grub."
+
+"There's no harm in that," agreed Big. "But the chap who got up this
+dingus is named Swift, not Quick."
+
+"It's all the same," chuckled the other. "And I can't get in out of
+the wet any too quick and have something to eat. What say?"
+
+"I'll be with you in a little while."
+
+"Why, where you going?" asked Small, and there seemed to be a note of
+suspicion in his voice.
+
+There was a moment before the reply came and in that moment Tom and
+Ned made several rapid conclusions. There was no doubt now but what
+their car had been stolen. These were no state police or local traffic
+officers who had run the car away for its own safety. They were thieves
+and had evidently acted from a well-planned motive.
+
+"They know you, Tom, or one of them does," whispered Ned.
+
+"Seems so! By golly! I'd give a good deal to know just who is back of
+all this!" Tom's voice though low was tense and angry.
+
+"Maybe we can find out," whispered Ned.
+
+"Hush!" cautioned Tom, and at that moment Small spoke again, saying:
+
+"Where you going? What's the game? Why don't you come in with me and
+help rustle some grub on that electric stove I saw."
+
+"I can't come just now," was the answer.
+
+"Getting cold feet?" demanded the other man sullenly. "Say, if you're
+trying to double cross me----"
+
+"Don't be a fool!" snapped Big viciously. "It's all part of the game
+we're playing for the boss."
+
+"Well, maybe it is. But I don't like you sneaking off this way leaving
+me all alone in case anything happens."
+
+"I've got to go. I've got to go tell the boss."
+
+"You have?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Where is he?"
+
+"A little way ahead, waiting. His orders were, if we got the car, to
+stop here and for me to come on alone and let him know."
+
+"All right, then I reckon you got to do it. But where is the boss?"
+
+"Near the entrance to the castle."
+
+"Oh! Well, all right. Go ahead, but don't leave me alone any longer
+than you can help."
+
+"Ho! Who's getting cold feet now?" jeered Big.
+
+"Well, you never know what can happen," grumbled Small. "It's a nasty
+night. Those fellows may get help and trace us here. I'm not afraid of
+the two, but if they get a gang of police----"
+
+"Forget it! They'll never find us. Besides, where could they get any
+police on a night like this to come to Dismal Mountain?"
+
+"Well, maybe they couldn't. Anyhow, don't be any longer than you can
+help."
+
+"I won't," promised Big. "Soon as I let the boss know we've pulled off
+the trick I'll come back. You can wait inside and be cooking your own
+grub. I'll eat when I come in."
+
+"All right. Hop to it."
+
+The sound of one man striding away in the darkness through the brush
+could be heard. The two had evidently gone on ahead after temporarily
+abandoning the House and had come back to hold their talk in front of
+the halted machine. Now one was going away and the other remaining.
+
+"What are we going to do now?" asked Ned.
+
+"Let me think a minute," suggested his chum. "Did you hear that remark
+about the castle?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Have you any idea what it means?"
+
+"Yes, I heard something about it when I was looking up the history of
+Dismal Mountain before I had any idea we'd ever come here. The castle
+is an old stone building, built to represent its name. It was started
+by a rich man who had an idea he'd like to live somewhat after the
+English style. But either he died or his money gave out, for the castle
+was never quite finished. It's an old, rambling pile of stone near the
+top of this mountain of mystery."
+
+"Anybody live in it?"
+
+"That I don't know. Probably it's deserted like the old house, but it
+may be the hang-out of some of the gangs infesting the mountain, and
+it's very evident that our car has fallen into the hands of one of
+these same gangs."
+
+"Yes," agreed Tom. "But they won't have my machine long!"
+
+"What are you going to do?"
+
+"Get it back, Ned. There's only one man there now and we ought to be
+able to easily handle him."
+
+"He's likely to be armed. They both are I should say, and there is no
+telling when Mr. Big may come back."
+
+"I aim to do up Mr. Small before Mr. Big shows up," replied Tom grimly.
+"As for being armed, we've got our own automatics."
+
+"That's so!" agreed Ned, who, for the moment, had forgotten that before
+getting out of the House on Wheels to go to the old house he and his
+chum had put the weapons in their pockets. "Well, lead on, Tom."
+
+"We'll wait just a moment to see that Big doesn't change his mind and
+come back," suggested the young inventor.
+
+But the echoes of the retreating footsteps of the other echoed fainter
+and fainter above the sound of the storm and it was evident that he was
+going on to seek the "boss," whoever that personage might be.
+
+Waiting another few seconds, Tom and Ned heard Small enter the House
+and a moment later there was a gleam of light within the auto. Tom
+drew a deep breath. He could not bear to have any hands but those of
+himself and his friends touch his latest pet machine. But it was now,
+temporarily at least, captured by an unknown enemy.
+
+"Come on now!" whispered Tom fiercely to his chum, drawing his
+automatic and stepping out of their hiding place.
+
+"I'm with you!" answered Ned, who had his own weapon in readiness.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XVII
+
+                          THE CAPTIVE ESCAPES
+
+
+Instead of proceeding to the front of the House on Wheels, the opening
+by which the remaining man had entered, Tom Swift turned to the rear,
+somewhat to the surprise of his chum.
+
+"You can't get in that way," suggested Ned. "The back steps are up."
+
+"I know," whispered Tom. "But they can be let down from the outside if
+you know the trick. I arranged a duplicate control, for I didn't know
+when I might run my machine into a tree and have to get in and out the
+back door."
+
+Ned knew that Tom was only joking with his reference to ramming
+his beloved new car into a tree. But it was true that there was an
+inconspicuous spring outside, on the rear of the machine. This, when
+operated, let the folding steps down out of their safety recess and
+enabled one to enter the rear of the House without reference to what
+was going on in front.
+
+"We'll give him a great surprise," whispered Tom.
+
+Ned now understood what the proceeding was to be and he was close
+behind his chum as the latter approached the rear of the big car.
+Inside the lights were gleaming and the shadow of the intruder could be
+seen passing to and fro at the windows. Evidently he had no suspicion
+that the owner of the stolen machine was soon to take vengeance.
+
+Pressing the switch of his flashlight for a brief instant, Tom
+located the control spring and as he pressed it the steps slowly slid
+down so he and Ned could mount them. The lowering of the steps also
+automatically unlocked the rear door.
+
+The storm, after a brief cessation, was raging again, and the noise of
+this--rain on the leaves, drumming on the roof of the House on Wheels,
+and the howling of the wind--was enough to cover any slight noises Tom
+and Ned might make.
+
+With Tom in the lead, the two young men entered the car. The intruder
+could be heard rummaging about up in front, evidently with the
+intention of appropriating to himself such portable property as he
+could before the return of his companion, with or without the "boss."
+
+For the first time the young inventor and his chum now had a sight
+of the man whom they had designated "Small," because of his voice.
+His stature was in keeping with his tones. He was a short, squat
+individual, but looked powerful, and his face had an ugly look as he
+was observed moving about in the compartment near the front seat.
+
+"Is that the rat-faced man you have been talking about, Ned?" Tom
+inquired.
+
+"No, this fellow is a stranger to me."
+
+"I never saw him until now, either, as far as I remember," said Tom.
+"But we're going to get better acquainted right away," he grimly added.
+
+Looking to make sure his automatic was in readiness, an example
+followed by Ned, Tom stealthily advanced through the two back rooms of
+the house to the front one where the man was rummaging about.
+
+Ned did not know just what Tom's plan of capture was, and perhaps the
+young inventor did not himself. But suddenly, as Tom observed the
+intruder pocket some toilet articles of silver, which, it developed
+later, Tom had placed in a dresser for the exclusive use of Mary
+Nestor, the young man's self control vanished.
+
+With an angry exclamation Tom Swift fairly leaped into the front
+compartment where the man stood and, leveling his automatic at the
+intruder, the command came:
+
+"Stick 'em up and do it quick!"
+
+If the fellow had any intention of reaching for his gun, and a
+momentary deflection of one hand toward the side pocket of his coat
+would seem to indicate that, he soon gave over the idea as Tom went on:
+
+"No tricks now! Put 'em up, and quick, or I'll let you have it!"
+
+Ordinarily Tom Swift was the soul of politeness. But the sight of the
+vandal taking the things designed for Mary was too much for his self
+control. He "saw red," he afterward told Ned.
+
+The look of amazement and fear on the man's face would have been
+laughable had not the situation been so serious. There was but a moment
+of hesitation and then up went the hands.
+
+"Take his gun away, Ned," ordered Tom, and this was soon done. That
+momentary motion of one hand toward the coat pocket had indicated as
+plainly as words could have done where the weapon was hidden. It was an
+automatic of expensive make, and Tom put it in his own pocket with a
+grin of satisfaction.
+
+"Now we've got you, let's hear your story!" ordered Tom, still
+covering the man with his pistol. "What are you doing here?"
+
+"No-no-nothing," the fellow half stammered. "I just came here to get
+out of the rain. I saw this machine on the road, with nobody in it, so
+I crawled in. I didn't take anything----"
+
+"What about these?" and Tom reached one hand into another pocket and
+took out the silver articles. "I suppose these grew here?"
+
+"Oh, those! Well, I didn't think----"
+
+"And I suppose you and the other man, who's gone to tell the boss, just
+thought my car was parked back there for you to run off with. Is that
+it?" went on Tom.
+
+"Oh, so you----"
+
+"Yes, I'm the owner and I know all about you and I've got you dead to
+rights!" snapped the young inventor. Part of his statement was true, at
+all events. Though he was far from knowing all about the man. Yet he
+decided to bluff some more.
+
+"I know you!" proceeded Tom. "Hanson's your name----"
+
+"You got me wrong there, chief," said the man, with an uneasy smile.
+"Gorro is my name."
+
+"Gorro, then. I was coming to that!" snapped Tom, carrying out his
+bluff. "But even if you aren't Hanson you're in with him and----"
+
+"No, chief, honest, I don't know Hanson."
+
+"Who was the fellow who went after the boss?" asked Tom. "You might as
+well come through clean, for I'll find out anyhow."
+
+Whether the fellow saw through Tom's bluff or whether he was just
+naturally stubborn did not at once develop. At any rate, a cunning and
+ugly light came into the prisoner's eyes and he said:
+
+"Go ahead then. Find out the best way you can. I'll tell you nothing
+and, what's more----"
+
+The fellow who had admitted his name was Gorro seemed about to shout
+and give an alarm, which might have been followed by a reckless attack
+on his part against Tom and Ned. But Tom guessed the man's intention
+and, stepping closer to him, pressed the automatic against his stomach
+and fairly growled out:
+
+"If I hear so much as a peep from you I'll let you have it!"
+
+Again Tom Swift was forcing himself to play a part. It is very
+doubtful, except to save the lives of himself and Ned, that he would
+have pulled the trigger. Yet Gorro undoubtedly thought that such might
+happen, for he shrank away and turned pale as he muttered:
+
+"Don't shoot, chief! But I'm not going to give myself or my pals away."
+
+"Well, don't try any monkey business then! Don't you make a sound. Now,
+Ned, you go through all his pockets while I keep him covered. We'll see
+who he is."
+
+The man did not appear to fear that anything found in his pockets would
+disclose anything, for he held his hands high and made no objections as
+Ned went through his pockets.
+
+After taking out the silver toilet articles there was nothing save a
+knife, some odds and ends, and a small sum of money. This last Tom told
+Ned to put back.
+
+"Otherwise he might accuse us of having robbed him," said the young
+inventor.
+
+There were no papers to disclose the fellow's identity or throw any
+light on who his companion or the mysterious "boss" was. And Gorro
+might as well be the captive's name as any other.
+
+"Sit down!" said Tom, giving the fellow a sudden push to a folding seat
+on one wall. "I want to talk to you."
+
+The action took the man by surprise, and Tom counted on this and also
+on the fact that a person standing naturally dominates the one sitting
+down. Police chiefs have found this out in questioning criminals.
+
+But if Tom Swift thought to intimidate this man he was mistaken. Though
+Tom and Ned took turns firing questions at him, under the threat of
+the revolver, all Gorro would say was that he had seen the stalled car
+there and had entered it to get shelter from the storm.
+
+"You're not telling the truth and you know it!" said Tom sternly. "You
+and that other man picked up this car near the old deserted house when
+we two were inside. You drove it here, branching off from the main
+road, and then you and your pal got out to find out where you were and
+how near to the place the boss said he'd meet you. Then you two came
+back, your pal went off to find the boss to arrange about going on to
+the castle and you came in here. You see I know all about you."
+
+The man's eyes opened wide at this evidence on Tom's part that he had
+overheard some of the talk. Still he refused to answer any questions as
+to his own further identity or that of the man who had gone to speak to
+the "boss."
+
+"No use asking me, I won't talk," snarled Gorro, and he relapsed into
+sullen silence out of which nothing seemed to stir him. Tom and Ned
+were a bit disappointed, but they were rejoiced to recover the House on
+Wheels and to have one captive as a result of their work.
+
+"Though what we're going to do with him is more than I know,"
+confessed Tom to Ned in a whisper, as they withdrew to the far end of
+the compartment and eyed the hangdog prisoner.
+
+"Tie him up and leave him at the nearest police station," suggested Ned.
+
+"The trouble is there aren't any police stations around here on Dismal
+Mountain," answered Tom. "And I don't like to have him in here with us,
+even if he is roped."
+
+"No, he might get loose while we're asleep and do no end of damage,"
+agreed Ned. "Well, I suppose the only thing we can do is to read him
+the riot act and let him go."
+
+"Yet I hate to do that," confessed Tom. "He'll only make more trouble
+for us as long as we're in this neighborhood."
+
+"Then you aren't going to clear out once you get started again?" asked
+Ned.
+
+"I am not! I'm going to solve the mystery of this mountain or know the
+reason why!" asserted Tom Swift.
+
+During this talk the prisoner, for such he was though not held in
+bonds, seemed to be cocking his ears and listening to something that
+was going on outside. For a time Ned and Tom did not notice this, being
+too intent on their consultation as to what was best to do.
+
+But all at once Tom Swift became aware that Gorro, if that was his
+name, was listening to something more going on outside than merely the
+fall of the rain and the howling of the wind.
+
+"Look at him, Ned," said Tom in a low voice, indicating, with his eyes,
+the prisoner. "What's he up to?"
+
+Ned looked, but could form no guess. As a matter of fact, Gorro was
+still sullenly sitting in the seat to which Tom had pushed him. But
+there was a look in his eyes that boded no good.
+
+"I'll give you one more chance!" said Tom suddenly, more for the sake
+of breaking the tenseness than of any hope that it would break down the
+fellow's resistance. "Will you tell?"
+
+"No!" yelled Gorro. "And you won't be here much longer, either!"
+
+With that he dived off the seat to the floor, where he wriggled along
+like some clumsy snake and a moment later before Tom or Ned could stop
+him or before Tom could fire, if he wanted to go to that length, the
+fellow was out of the front door and rushing away in the darkness.
+
+At the same moment there was another noise outside and a shout as
+though some one had seen Gorro and had hailed him. Ned and Tom did not
+doubt that the other man had come back and was taken by surprise to
+see his pal thus leap from the House on Wheels they had so daringly
+captured.
+
+"There he goes!" yelled Ned, which was really a useless exclamation, as
+Tom could see very plainly what had happened. "After him!"
+
+"No!" shouted the young inventor, catching hold of Ned, who would have
+followed the escaped prisoner. "Let him go! He's met his pal outside
+and the other man has a gun. Let him go. Besides, we'd never locate him
+in this downpour."
+
+As he spoke it seemed as if the heavens had opened and let down a flood
+of water, so heavily was the rain now beating on the roof and sides of
+the House on Wheels.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XVIII
+
+                           SHOTS FROM AMBUSH
+
+
+Standing near the seat where, but a moment before, Gorro had sat
+practically at their mercy, Tom Swift and Ned Newton looked at each
+other, a little dazed by the suddenness with which it had all happened.
+They had been so confident of their prisoner, and now he was gone and
+his secret with him. But the situation was not as easy as it appeared
+on the surface.
+
+"Make everything snug!" exclaimed Tom, pulling himself together and
+getting ready for action. "Look sharp!"
+
+"What's the idea?" Ned wanted to know. "Are you going after this
+fellow?"
+
+"Indeed I'm not! But we're going to pull out of here as soon as we can.
+I think it isn't a very healthy place. First, though, we've got to make
+sure everything is all right, that the engine hasn't been damaged, and
+look to make certain we haven't any more stowaways on board. Some one
+may be hiding here."
+
+It did not take long to ascertain that Gorro had been alone in his
+short occupancy of the House on Wheels. None other of the gang was in
+the place. A test which Tom and Ned then applied to the motor showed
+that it was in good working order. The men had run the House a short
+distance, but, unless morning should disclose some damage to the
+outside of the vehicle, it seemed to be as it was when the two young
+men left it to examine the deserted mansion.
+
+As they hurried to and fro, making ready for a continuation of the
+trip, Tom and Ned talked over what had occurred and speculated on what
+it all could mean.
+
+"It sure is mysterious," declared Ned. "They seem to have been waiting
+there for you, Tom."
+
+"Yet that couldn't be, for until I decided to come to Chesterport to
+see Mary, not even you knew I contemplated such a trip. As a matter of
+fact, I did not contemplate it until then."
+
+"That's right."
+
+"And we didn't mention Dismal Mountain to anybody that I know of."
+
+"We told Mary we were coming here."
+
+"Yes. But she isn't the kind of girl to broadcast such news. She never
+talks of my plans."
+
+"Her friend, Grace Winthrop, might have," suggested Ned.
+
+"Nonsense! As if either of those girls would be in communication with
+Gorro and his gang!" scoffed Tom.
+
+"Oh, I didn't mean it that way!" Ned made haste to say. "But they might
+have been talking our trip over between themselves while downtown
+in Chesterport, and some of this gang might have overheard them and
+decided it would be a good chance to get a fine new car easily."
+
+"It's possible, but not very probable," answered Tom.
+
+"Then there's that fellow," suggested Ned.
+
+"What fellow?"
+
+"Floyd Barton--the one who was showing Mary so much attention. She
+might have let the object of our trip slip out to Barton and he may
+have talked."
+
+But Tom Swift shook his head.
+
+"He's one of those rich chaps who don't care about anything but hanging
+around girls and having a good time," said the young inventor, and Ned
+surmised that there was little love lost between Tom and Floyd Barton.
+
+"Well, maybe we'll get at the bottom of this some day," went on Ned.
+"But those fellows, whoever they were, must have known we were coming
+and been on the lookout for us."
+
+"It seems so," admitted Tom. "And I wonder who the boss is! If we could
+put our hands on him we'd have the key to unlock the whole mystery.
+But, meanwhile, let's get going."
+
+"Which way?" asked Ned. "Do you mean to say you're going to keep on in
+this storm?"
+
+"I certainly am!" declared his chum. "The House was built for rough
+work, and this will be a good test. Besides, I have an idea that
+staying round here isn't going to be exactly healthy. There was another
+fellow with Gorro you know, and now that our late prisoner has gotten
+away and met him, the two, in conjunction with the unknown boss, may
+decide to make another attempt to capture our House."
+
+"That's so," agreed Ned. "The quicker we get down off Dismal Mountain
+the better."
+
+"Down!" exclaimed Tom in a surprised voice. "I'm going on up!"
+
+"Up!"
+
+"Up, yes, to the top."
+
+"Whew!" whistled Ned.
+
+"Why, what's wrong with that?" Tom wanted to know. "Isn't that what we
+planned to do--cross Dismal Mountain and find out the truth of some of
+these weird stories?"
+
+"Yes--But the danger?"
+
+"There's more danger trying to turn around and go back down that steep
+slope on a dark night and in a pouring rain when the roads may be
+washed out than there is in going ahead," said Tom.
+
+"I can't quite see that," and Ned shrugged his shoulders. "The roads up
+ahead may be even worse than those we came up, as far as washouts go."
+
+"Well, it will be awkward turning around, anyhow," Tom decided. "There
+isn't any too much room to maneuver, and it will be safer to go ahead,
+I think."
+
+"Then I'm with you!" declared Ned.
+
+Switching on the most powerful headlights, Tom Swift looked ahead as
+well as he could up the dark and rain-swept road along which he was
+soon guiding his vehicle. Back of him Ned was beating up the eggs and
+slicing and chopping the ham to make an omelet. Already the delicious
+aroma of boiling coffee permeated the House.
+
+"Grub'll be ready soon now!" called Ned, as he slipped the omelet into
+the frying pan.
+
+"Good for you!" called back Tom from the driver's seat where he was
+watching the road. It went on up the mountain in an easy slope and was
+a fairly good highway.
+
+"Going to eat with one hand and drive with the other, or are you coming
+back and sit at the table?" asked Ned, when the meal was almost ready.
+
+"Oh, I'll slow down and eat properly," Tom replied. "My coffee would
+slop all over me if I tried to drink it while going along here."
+
+A little later Tom came to a wider place in the road. Here he pulled to
+the right and, putting on the brakes, but leaving the engine running,
+in case they had to get out in a hurry, Tom climbed back and joined his
+chum at the table.
+
+"Not half bad, this, is it?" chuckled the young inventor, having tasted
+the omelet.
+
+"It would be jolly if it didn't storm so," replied Ned, with a little
+shiver. "Listen to that rain, would you!"
+
+It was dashing hard on the roof, sides, and windows of the House on
+Wheels.
+
+"Can't get in, that's one consolation," Tom said. "And I never sleep
+better than when I hear rain on the roof."
+
+"Do you intend to do any sleeping to-night?" Ned wanted to know, as he
+filled Tom's coffee cup a second time. "If you do, I'd advise you to
+reduce your quantity of coffee."
+
+"I don't reckon we'll get much sleep to-night," said Tom, and his air
+was a bit anxious. "I want to get well away from this place, and if we
+do that and keep a lookout the rest of the night, we won't have much
+time for enjoying our rest."
+
+"No, I suppose not," agreed Ned. "Then coffee is the best thing you can
+take. It will keep you awake," and he gave himself a second helping.
+
+Under other circumstances Tom and Ned would have made the occasion of
+the night meal in their traveling auto a jolly affair. But now there
+was too much to think of. So, when they had satisfied their appetites,
+Tom climbed back to the driver's compartment and started the car again,
+while Ned cleaned up in the kitchen.
+
+"Did you hear that?" Tom called to his companion after a period of
+silence, broken only by the racket of the wind and rain.
+
+"Yes," answered Ned. "Sounded like a shot. What was it?"
+
+"Thunder. It's beginning to lighten again, and I think we're in for a
+worse storm than any we've had yet."
+
+"Maybe it will be a clearing-up shower," suggested Ned.
+
+"Hope so," commented Tom.
+
+He drove on, the lightning flashes coming more vividly and oftener now.
+Ned came forward to sit beside his chum, and once, during the period of
+a vivid flash, both of them saw something that caused them to start and
+Ned to cry:
+
+"Did you see that man with a gun?"
+
+"I did!" answered Tom. "Just ahead!"
+
+The lightning had revealed a sinister face peering out from behind a
+bush.
+
+"Better slow up, hadn't you?" asked Ned, straining his eyes through the
+added darkness that followed the flash to get another glimpse of the
+armed man.
+
+"No, I think we'd better hasten on," was Tom's opinion. "He may have
+been only a hunter who has lost his way."
+
+"I hope he isn't hunting us," said Ned grimly.
+
+There came another flash, but they had gone on past the place where the
+man's face had been observed, and no other foes were now revealed by
+the glare from the sky.
+
+"There's one thing we ought to do," said Ned, after the House on Wheels
+had rumbled on a little farther, the grade being steeper now.
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"Put out those lights back of us. They only show us up to those who may
+be watching."
+
+"That's right," agreed the young inventor. "Go in and douse 'em!"
+
+At the same time he reached forward and cut the switch that controlled
+the illumination of his dashboard. This left the auto with but the
+bright headlamps glowing, and they kept any one who might be in front
+of the auto from seeing anything of the occupants of the driver's seat.
+
+In the darkness Ned sat beside his chum. The House on Wheels was being
+driven on. Ned was about to ask Tom if he did not want to be relieved
+for a while when there came a sudden sharp crack from the bushes on the
+left of the road. At first Ned thought it was a preliminary to a burst
+of thunder. A moment later he knew it had been a rifle shot.
+
+Then came several more reports, and one bullet, fired from ambush,
+shattered a window back of the two who had dared to try to solve the
+mystery of Dismal Mountain.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XIX
+
+                               PRISONERS
+
+
+"They're firing at us!" cried Ned Newton.
+
+"Guess there isn't much doubt of that!" was Tom Swift's grim rejoinder.
+"Are you hit?"
+
+"No. Are you?"
+
+"Not yet, but we both may be if this thing keeps up."
+
+That the bombardment was going to keep up was evident a moment later
+when above the noise of the storm there were other shots and a second
+window was shattered.
+
+"Come on!" cried Tom, and with a quick motion he shut off all lights on
+the House on Wheels, leaving it in gloom.
+
+"What are you going to do?" asked Ned.
+
+"Get off this seat. We're in too exposed a position here. They're
+trying to pick us off!"
+
+"It sure seems so!" agreed Ned.
+
+"Follow me before the next lightning flash, or they'll see us," called
+Tom into Ned's ear.
+
+The motor was shut off and the auto stopped. The two slid down off the
+driver's seat and plunged into the thick, rain-drenched bushes on the
+right of the road.
+
+"Got your automatic?" panted Tom, as he lunged forward.
+
+"Sure!"
+
+"Have it ready."
+
+"What's the game?"
+
+"We'll try to spot those fellows who were taking pot shots at us. Maybe
+we can do a little potting on our own account."
+
+"That would suit me," growled Ned.
+
+Their position was most uncomfortable. Neither had on any protection
+from the rain now, for they had taken off their rubber boots and coats
+on getting back into the House on Wheels. They had even dived off the
+seat without their caps. It was like emerging from the protection of a
+comfortable room into the rain-swept open.
+
+"Good thing we ate when we did, or we'd never have gotten anything,"
+remarked Tom, as he tramped along beside his chum.
+
+"That's right. But where are we, anyhow?"
+
+There was no means of knowing. They were somewhere on the slope of
+Dismal Mountain, out in the storm and darkness, seeking unknown enemies
+and being sought by them.
+
+For a little while after leaping from the car the two young men
+remained in the vicinity of it. They could see its bulk looming over
+the tops of the bushes by the glare of lightning flashes. Taking
+advantage of this intermittent light, they now began to circle about,
+trying to locate the man or men who had fired at them.
+
+But the ambuscaders were playing safe, and did not show themselves. Tom
+and Ned skirted around, soon becoming soaked to the skin.
+
+Finally Tom, who was in the lead, saw by one long, bright flash a sort
+of shelter where a group of big oaks grew amid some rocks.
+
+"Let's put in over there," he proposed to Ned. "We'll be a little drier
+than out here."
+
+"Dry!" chuckled Ned good-naturedly. "I'll be wet for a week after this
+soaking."
+
+It was somewhat better in the shelter, and the two adventurers stood
+there a few minutes, listening to the storm. Their situation was
+anything but safe or comfortable. For it could not be said what moment
+they might be seen by their enemies and fired on again.
+
+Presently, above the racket of the storm, they heard voices in
+conversation. Then, during a lull in the outburst of the elements,
+several persons could be heard tramping through the underbrush and
+approaching the rocks.
+
+"They're coming!" whispered Ned, grasping his automatic.
+
+"I think they haven't seen us," murmured Tom. "Keep still. Stoop down
+and maybe we can hear what they are saying."
+
+The men--there appeared to be at least three--approached the outer
+circle of rocks in the center of which the two young men were hidden.
+Then, as the lull of the storm continued, Tom and Ned, to their
+surprise, heard the name Cunningham mentioned.
+
+"Did you get that?" whispered Ned.
+
+"Yes," Tom cautiously replied.
+
+"Wonder if it's the same bird who wanted you to work for him."
+
+"Might be. Keep quiet and listen."
+
+What connection Cunningham's name had with the present activities was
+not made clear, nor was it spoken again. But one of the men, evidently
+more cautious than his companion, said:
+
+"Don't be so free with names."
+
+"Why not?" came the question.
+
+"You never know who may be listening. Those fellows are somewhere in
+these woods."
+
+"Yes, and they'll be here for some time if they depend on that shebang
+of theirs to take 'em out," went on another voice.
+
+Tom and Ned stiffened on hearing this. It seemed to portend something
+desperate.
+
+"Why, did Jerkin drive the car away?" one of the party wanted to know.
+
+"That's what he did. Those fellows shut off the engine and put out
+the lights before they dived off that seat. But they didn't put the
+machinery out of business and Jerkin soon had it going again."
+
+"I'll say they dived off!" chuckled a voice. "I guess we would 'a' done
+the same with bullets singing around our ears."
+
+"Jerkin oughtn't to be so free with his gun," growled a voice that had
+not hitherto spoken. "He might have bumped one of them off, and there
+wasn't any need of that."
+
+"The boss said to get that machine by hook or by crook," commented
+another. "And I suppose that's what Jerkin was thinking of. But Cun----"
+
+"Go easy on names!" snarled some one. "I told you before!"
+
+"It was going to be Cunningham," whispered Ned.
+
+"Yes," agreed the young inventor. "But what would that Englishman be
+doing with this bunch of criminals?"
+
+"There's no telling. We're getting an earful of more than rain, all
+right."
+
+"Well, there's no use hunting around for those fellows any longer,"
+said some one. "What with this storm and the dark, we'll never find
+'em. I want to get under shelter and have something to eat. It smells
+as though they had cooked something in that queer auto of theirs."
+
+"They did."
+
+"Well, then I'm going to head for that and get some for myself. Where
+is Jerkin going to park it?"
+
+"At the castle."
+
+The mention of this name caused Tom to nudge his chum. It was the
+second time this place had been spoken of. Evidently it was a
+rendezvous for the gang.
+
+"Well, then it's me for the castle," went on the hungry bandit. "Do you
+think Barton will be there?"
+
+"Who, Floyd? Why he----"
+
+"Say, will you fellows quit naming names?" snarled out the man who was,
+evidently, the most cautious of the party.
+
+"Oh, there's nobody around to hear," said one of the two who had spoken
+the name of the young Chesterport man. "Come on, boys, let's go."
+
+In the darkness, Tom and Ned sought to look one into the face of the
+other. What did this mean--this mentioning not only of the name
+of Cunningham but that of Floyd Barton, the rich youth who was so
+attentive to Mary Nestor? Surely this mystery was deepening!
+
+"Worse and more of it!" murmured Ned in Tom's ear, as they heard the
+unseen talkers preparing to move away.
+
+"That's right," agreed the young inventor.
+
+They waited a little while, the sound of the retreating footsteps
+growing fainter, and then, as the lull in the storm still held, Tom and
+Ned started out of their hiding place.
+
+"We've got to head for the castle and get back our machine," stated Tom.
+
+"Surest thing you know!" agreed Ned.
+
+They were out from under the clump of trees and in the open when a
+brilliant flash of light came. In the glare, the two young men stood
+revealed as plain as by day. The lightning glare likewise showed to Tom
+and Ned three men not far away.
+
+"There they are!" one of the trio yelled, pointing to the two.
+
+"Get 'em!" shouted another.
+
+"Come on!" cried Tom, and he leaped away, followed by his chum.
+
+But they were in unknown territory and, blinded by the flash, could not
+see where they were going. They reached the edge of a little gully
+and, before they could recover their balance, they went plunging down
+it, falling and rolling over and over.
+
+"Come on! Come on!" yelled one of the three men, closely following the
+fugitives. "We've got 'em!"
+
+A moment later they did have them. Taken at a disadvantage, pounced
+upon as they rolled, stunned, to the bottom of the gully, unable to use
+their weapons, Tom Swift and Ned Newton were quickly made prisoners by
+their enemies.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XX
+
+                             IN THE CASTLE
+
+
+Stunned and bruised by their unexpected fall into the gully and
+manhandled by their captors, Tom Swift and Ned Newton were in a bit of
+a daze as they were roughly pulled along. The men--there were at least
+four of them now, as two were on each side of the prisoners--walked
+their captives down the gulch in the middle of which ran a stream of
+water, swollen by the heavy rain.
+
+One of the four bandits--Tom and Ned mentally called them this--had
+a flashlight which he used to pick out the path when the gleams of
+lightning failed, as they did every so often.
+
+"Well, we got 'em both!" chuckled one of the men.
+
+"And without firing a shot!" added another. "It was easy!"
+
+"A slick bit of work," put in a third gruff voice. "If----"
+
+"No names now!" warned the fourth bandit.
+
+By this time, their spent breath having come back and the cool rain on
+their heads having revived them, Tom and Ned were able to realize their
+desperate plight, and that it was desperate they had little reason to
+doubt.
+
+Each of them was in the firm grasp of two evil men who, it was evident,
+would not hesitate to shoot if need be. But Tom Swift was not one to
+endure mistreatment silently. As he walked along he turned to one of
+his captors and demanded:
+
+"What does this mean? Who are you, anyhow, and by what right are you
+taking us away?"
+
+"Keep your shirt on, buddy," responded the man in what, doubtless, he
+meant to be a friendly and conciliatory tone. "You'll soon find out
+where you're going."
+
+"And why!" added another, with a chuckle.
+
+"Look here!" burst out Ned. "Maybe you don't know who we are!"
+
+"Oh, we know all right, buddy," said the man who had first spoken to
+Tom. "It's because you are who you are that we got you."
+
+"Orders from headquarters," said one who had not yet spoken.
+
+"Shut up!" some one snarled at him.
+
+The storm, after that outburst in which so many things had happened,
+now appeared to be subsiding. The thunder was not so loud nor the
+lightning so glaring and frequent. The rain, too, had slackened.
+
+"We have a right to know where you are taking us!" fiercely exclaimed
+Tom. "If you don't tell us you'll have a fight right here and now!"
+
+He was prepared to try a sudden pull away from the men that held him,
+knowing it would be but a desperate chance, though willing to take it.
+But the man on his right warned him:
+
+"Don't try any rough stuff, buddy. We'll treat you decent as far as we
+can, but we got orders to bring you in and we're going to do it. If you
+come along peaceable you won't be hurt."
+
+"Then tell me where we are being taken!" demanded Tom.
+
+"To the castle, if that means anything to you," replied the man who had
+warned against violence.
+
+They were soon led out of the gully and found themselves on a road,
+bordered on each side with trees and bushes. It was evidently the main
+highway leading up Dismal Mountain--the same road on which they had
+been traveling in the House on Wheels. But what part of it they were
+on, they did not know.
+
+"It ought to be somewhere around here," muttered one of the men,
+looking up and down the road.
+
+"There it is--down by the bend," said another.
+
+Tom and Ned had a glimpse of a dark shape looming over the tops of
+bushes and, for a moment, hoped it was their own car they had been
+forced to flee from. But when they got up to it they saw it was an
+ordinary auto.
+
+"Get in!" ordered one of the men, and Tom and his chum, feeling this
+was no time to fight, did as they were told. The auto, a big touring
+car, held the two prisoners and two guards in the tonneau. The other
+two guards mounted to the front seat and they were soon traveling on
+in the darkness. The storm was now almost over, though the trees and
+bushes still dripped water. What the hour was the two prisoners could
+only guess, but it must have been long past midnight.
+
+On up the dark and muddy road the big touring car was guided. It was so
+gloomy that, aside from the fact that there were trees and bushes on
+each side of the highway, Tom and Ned could see nothing.
+
+"How you feeling, Tom?" asked Ned, easing himself in the seat.
+
+"Pretty rotten!"
+
+"So do I! But I'm glad we had that ham omelet."
+
+"So am I!" laughed the young inventor. "But I'd like some dry clothes,"
+he added.
+
+"Same here."
+
+Their captors did not seem to object to their talk, for there was no
+command to be silent. Nor, it was evident, did they fear any alarm
+being given or pursuit undertaken, since no precautions were taken.
+Tom and Ned guessed that the rascals knew they were pretty safe from
+disturbance while on Dismal Mountain.
+
+How far they were driven, the two prisoners did not know. But about
+half an hour after they had gotten into the auto it began to slow up
+and the reason was evident. They had come to where a private drive led
+off from the main highway. It was a drive leading between two great
+stone posts which, in their day, must have supported immense iron
+gates. But the gates had long since rusted away or been carried away.
+
+"Is this the entrance to the castle?" asked Tom of the man who had
+called him "buddy" several times, though perhaps more out of habit than
+affection.
+
+"This is the shack," was the answer. "You'll get out in a few minutes."
+
+The drive of the old mansion, which had come to be called a "castle,"
+was long and winding. But at length it came to an end in a big arc and
+at the upper curve stood the old pile of masonry which had started out
+to be a wonderful home, only it fell by the wayside.
+
+No sooner had the car come to a stop on the drive, which was overgrown
+with weeds, than a door, in what was evidently an entrance hall,
+opened. A man, whom neither Ned nor Tom recognized, stood framed in the
+light.
+
+"Did you get 'em?" asked this man.
+
+"Sure thing!" answered "Buddy," as Tom and Ned designated the more
+friendly of their guards. "Is their machine here?"
+
+"Rolled in just before you pulled up. Guess it isn't so easy to drive,"
+remarked the man in the doorway.
+
+"I hope they haven't damaged my House," murmured Tom, and Ned joined
+him in this wish.
+
+However, just then there was no way of knowing what had happened to
+the big car. It was not in sight. In one or two lower windows of the
+old half ruined castle lights showed. All the upper windows were in
+darkness.
+
+"Get down, you two!" gruffly ordered one of the guards.
+
+Tom and Ned, stiff from the wetting they had undergone and sore and
+bruised from their fall, alighted.
+
+"Go on in," was the next command, and they thought it best to obey. A
+night's rest, some more food, and a chance to consider their situation
+was needed before they could make a break for liberty.
+
+The two captives found themselves in what had once been a stately
+reception hall, but which was now in almost the same state of ruin and
+decay as was the old mansion where the young men had first lost their
+House on Wheels. However, they had little chance for observation, as
+they were fairly rushed out through a rear door, along a dimly lighted
+passage, and thrust into a dark room. The door was pulled shut and
+locked after them.
+
+"Look here!" cried Tom angrily. "This is a rotten way to treat even a
+dog, and we haven't done anything to you fellows! We want something hot
+to drink and some dry clothes."
+
+"Keep your shirt on, buddy," advised the man on the other side of the
+door. "You'll be treated decent--anyhow for a while. I'll see you get
+some dry things in a short time."
+
+He was as good as his word, coming back in about fifteen minutes with
+a pile of old but dry and serviceable garments. At the same time he
+brought a tray of sandwiches and a pot of hot tea. This last was most
+refreshing, and Tom and Ned ate and drank gratefully, once they had
+taken off their wet clothes and put on the dry ones.
+
+By the light of a lantern their guard carried they saw that they were
+prisoners in a fairly large stone room containing one window with iron
+bars across it. Upon what this window looked they had no means of
+guessing in the darkness outside it.
+
+"Where are we going to sleep?" asked Ned of the man who brought the
+food and clothes.
+
+"What's the matter with those bunks?" the man asked, with a chuckle.
+
+He held his lantern in a dark corner and there, where the prisoners had
+not before noticed them, were two cots with pillows and blankets on
+them. "Turn in there," was the suggestion, "They're as comfortable as
+those in that traveling house of yours, I reckon."
+
+"Where is my House?" demanded Tom angrily.
+
+"Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies!" replied the man,
+though not unkindly. "Better take it easy now."
+
+With their bodily needs taken care of, Tom and Ned were free to wonder
+and speculate on what had happened, what it all meant and what the
+future held.
+
+"But it's all pretty much guess work," said Ned, when they were talking
+it over.
+
+"That's right," agreed Tom. "However, let's get some rest."
+
+The bunks were comfortable, and in spite of their worry and anxiety
+they soon fell asleep.
+
+The sun was shining in their barred window when they awoke. They had no
+sooner opened their eyes than the door was unlocked and a strange man
+came in with a tray of breakfast. The coffee smelled most appetizing.
+
+During the night Tom had had an idea. He determined to try to find out
+something he much wanted to know. So, when the guard had set the tray
+down and was going out, Tom suddenly shot at him:
+
+"Tell Basil Cunningham I want to see him at once!"
+
+"Wha--what's that?" stammered the guard, obviously taken by surprise.
+
+"I said tell Basil Cunningham I want to see him at once!" snapped out
+Tom.
+
+The man appeared positively terror-stricken and hurried out of the
+stone room.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XXI
+
+                            PLOTS AND PLANS
+
+
+More than anything else on Tom Swift's part, it had been a bluff to
+name Cunningham and say he wanted to see him. Still, since the mention
+of the Englishman's name and that of Floyd Barton, both Tom and his
+chum had felt certain that the two were in some way mixed up in the
+queer doings on Dismal Mountain. But Tom had no notion that the mere
+mention of the Englishman's name would so startle the guard.
+
+"Did you see that, Ned?" asked Tom, nodding toward the man who had left
+so hurriedly.
+
+"I sure did. What does it mean?"
+
+"To my mind it means that Cunningham is a worse rascal than I thought
+him, that he is one of the ringleaders of this gang, but that they are
+surprised we have guessed it."
+
+"Looks so. But what are you going to do next?"
+
+"Eat," was Tom's laconic answer, and he moved toward the breakfast
+tray which, to do their captors justice, was bountifully laden and
+included a pot of steaming coffee.
+
+Tom and Ned felt distinctly better after the meal, and they almost
+laughed at each other, for they presented a queer appearance in their
+borrowed clothes.
+
+"But we'll have to wear them for some time," Ned remarked. "Our own
+were so thoroughly soaked it will take a couple of days to dry them
+out."
+
+"Guess so," commented Tom. "Well, I've been worse off. Did you save
+your flashlight?"
+
+"Yes," and Ned produced it, having slipped it, with some other
+possessions, from the pockets of his wet garments when the change was
+made the night before. "They got my gun, though."
+
+"And mine," added Tom. "We'll have to sing small for a time, even if we
+manage to escape."
+
+"Are you going to try that?"
+
+"I surely am! But not right away. First I want to see what's going on
+around this castle."
+
+They had ample time that day, though not much opportunity, for
+observation, since they were not released from the stone room. They
+had some relaxation, however, for there was a bathroom connected with
+it and they could wash and be comfortable. The man who came to remove
+the breakfast tray was not the same one who had brought it in, but Tom
+determined to experiment on him. Accordingly the young inventor snapped
+out:
+
+"When is Mr. Basil Cunningham coming to see me?"
+
+The guard showed no alarm or even interest, merely grunting and
+remarking:
+
+"You'll have to ask somebody else. That isn't in my department."
+
+"Gosh!" commented Ned, when the fellow had gone. "You'd think this was
+a regular business!"
+
+"I'm beginning to believe it is," was Tom's comment.
+
+"What, a business place?" asked Ned, in surprise.
+
+"Yes. Cunningham is a business man, you know, though I don't like his
+style. He's clever and I think he has surrounded himself with a bunch
+of crooks like himself and is carrying on a regular business in this
+old castle."
+
+"What sort of business?"
+
+"Come here and take a look," was Tom's reply.
+
+They could look out of the barred window into a courtyard. In it,
+coming and going, were a number of men and auto trucks. The trucks
+brought in rather large and heavy boxes. Some of these boxes were taken
+on hand trucks into various rooms of the old castle.
+
+"That's been going on all morning," said Tom. "Once, when you were in
+the bathroom washing, I looked out of the grating in the door and I saw
+some men passing along the corridor carrying things that must have come
+out of the boxes."
+
+"What sort of things?" Ned wanted to know.
+
+As if to save Tom the need of answering, one of the boxes being
+unloaded from a truck suddenly slipped, fell, and broke open. Out of
+it tumbled what Ned recognized as high class scientific instruments,
+optical goods, binoculars, telescopes and the like.
+
+"That's the stuff they're bringing into this castle," said Tom.
+
+"My word! What for?" asked Ned.
+
+"To doctor it up and dispose of it, I believe," Tom replied.
+
+"But where do they get it? They don't manufacture those things here, do
+they?"
+
+"Not yet. But I think they plan to," said the young inventor. "It was
+machinery for turning out such goods that Cunningham wanted me to make
+for him. But I saw his object--he wants to infringe on foreign patents.
+This stuff costs money, with the duty and royalty that has to be paid,
+and if Cunningham could bootleg it, so to speak, he'd get rich."
+
+"But he seems to be making it," and Ned pointed to where men were
+hurriedly gathering up the scattered telescopes and other instruments.
+
+"No, he didn't make that! He stole it!" exclaimed Tom.
+
+"Stole it?"
+
+"Either he or some of his gang," was Tom's answer. "You know some of
+those clippings you gave me about Dismal Mountain said that freight and
+through express trains were held up and several cases of high grade
+electrical, scientific and optical goods were taken."
+
+"I remember," assented Ned. "I thought at the time that it was pretty
+queer stuff for train bandits to take."
+
+"Well, that's some of the stuff, I believe," went on Tom. "Cunningham
+is evidently an expert in this line of goods and he knows how to
+handle and dispose of them better than any other stuff that might be
+stolen. I think he wanted me to make machinery to turn out tools like
+these so he could say, if he were caught, that this old castle was his
+manufacturing plant. But his greatest source of goods would be from
+robbing trains."
+
+"It doesn't seem possible!" murmured Ned.
+
+"I know it. But there are the facts," said Tom, and his chum could but
+agree with him.
+
+For two days Tom and Ned were kept close prisoners in the old stone
+room. During this time they discussed many plans and plots for
+escaping. None seemed to fit in, however, or else the time was not yet
+ripe, so they remained in captivity.
+
+Meanwhile, the activity on the part of men bringing in cases of goods
+and carrying them along the corridor and past the room where Tom and
+Ned were locked kept up night and day. Except for small quantities of
+what seemed to be bolts of silk, all the things were optical goods or
+machines used by scientists--stuff worth a great deal of money. There
+was a hum and buzz of work all through the old castle, but except for
+men who came to bring them food, Tom and Ned had no contact with any of
+their captors.
+
+Then, one night, the same guard who had shown perturbation when Tom
+first mentioned Cunningham, again brought in the tray of food. It
+needed but a glance to show that he had been drinking, and Tom, with a
+whisper to Ned, decided the man's befuddled state would afford them a
+good opportunity to do some more bluffing.
+
+So, having inspected the tray, as if to look and see that it contained
+all he wanted, Tom stepped toward the man and in stern tones exclaimed:
+
+"Did you give my message to Basil Cunningham?"
+
+Instead of being alarmed as he had been before, the man leered in his
+drunken manner and thickly said:
+
+"Sure I did!"
+
+"Oh, did you?" Tom was rather taken aback by this reply.
+
+"I sure did, and he's coming to see you soon."
+
+This was more and different news, and Tom and his chum did not know how
+to take it. But Tom had another card he wanted to play.
+
+Stepping toward the fellow the young inventor took him by one shoulder
+and, giving him a shake, exclaimed sternly:
+
+"Never mind about Cunningham! Send Floyd Barton to me!"
+
+Tom had determined to try the effect of this name.
+
+To his surprise, it did not upset the man in the least. He leered at
+Tom and Ned with drunken gravity and mumbled:
+
+"Barton's lucky--thash wha' he is! Lucky--hic--dog!"
+
+"Lucky! What do you mean?" snapped out Tom.
+
+"Mean he's goin' to marry a fine girl--thash wha' he ish! Lucky dog,
+Barton--Lucky--hic--dog!"
+
+"Who's the girl?" asked Ned, more for the sake of giving his chum a
+chance to think up his next verbal attack than for any desire for
+information. "Do you know her?"
+
+"No, I don't know her. But I know her name. Name's Mary--thash wha' it
+is. Mary--Mary--hic!"
+
+Even yet the two were not suspicious, and Ned still joked.
+
+"Mary Hick! That's a queer name," he chuckled.
+
+"Not Mary Hick--no!" mumbled the half-drunken guard. "Not Mary
+Hick--Mary Nestor. Thash who Barton's goin' marry--Mary Nestor--fine
+girl--Mary--hic!"
+
+"What's that?" cried Tom Swift, hardly able to believe his ears. "You
+dirty scoundrel, don't you mention her name again! What do you mean
+bringing her into this conversation? What has she to do with that sap,
+Floyd Barton?"
+
+"He's sap aw right--sure!" agreed the drunken fellow. "But he's got
+money. Goin' to marry fine girl--Mary--hic--no, not Mary Hick--thash
+wrong--Mary Nestor!"
+
+Tom could restrain himself no longer. He stepped back, raised his fist
+and was going to let it drive full into the face of the guard when a
+sudden interruption came.
+
+A man with a black handkerchief over the lower part of his face had
+entered the stone room, and, as Tom was about to fell the insulting
+guard, stepped between the two.
+
+"You rotten beast!" Tom hissed.
+
+He was suddenly pulled back by the masked man and swung to one side.
+But Tom's blood was up. Nothing could stop him now.
+
+"Out of my way, you!" he yelled at the man who had hold of him. "Who
+are you, anyhow? None of your masked tricks with me! Off with that!"
+
+Before the man who had stepped between Tom and the guard could put up
+his hands to prevent it, Tom had torn off the black handkerchief.
+
+There, with a startled frown on his beefy red face, stood--Basil
+Cunningham!
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXII
+
+                              THE ESCAPE
+
+
+"Cunningham!" gasped Tom Swift, taken aback as much by the boldness of
+the rascal in coming into his presence as by the force the Englishman
+had used in swinging him aside. "You--Cunningham!"
+
+"Yes!" hissed the crook, but he appeared agitated because of having had
+his mask torn off. "You made a wrong move that time, Swift!"
+
+"Wrong move! What do you mean?"
+
+"I mean I came in here only to save this drunken fool from a beating
+he well deserves. That has nothing to do with it. If you had kept
+your hand to yourself and left my mask alone I would not have minded
+so much. But, now that you have found me out, it will go hard with
+you--both of you!" and he pointed an accusing finger at Ned.
+
+"I'm not afraid of you!" blustered the financial manager. "Come on,
+Tom!" he yelled. "It's even now! And the other man's fuddled. We can
+handle Cunningham!"
+
+At that moment another guard, attracted by the loud talking, entered
+the stone room, and as he was armed with a rifle the odds were too
+great to risk a fight.
+
+"Better not try anything!" snarled Cunningham, putting in his pocket
+the black handkerchief Tom had pulled from his face. "Yes, Swift, you
+made a wrong move! We might have let you go, but, now that you made me
+show myself, it is impossible!"
+
+"So you're going to keep us here?" inquired Tom.
+
+"Yes!"
+
+"It can't be for very long," said the young inventor. "We'll be missed.
+My House on Wheels will be traced. It was known we were coming to
+Dismal Mountain and searching parties will soon be on our trail."
+
+"They won't find you!" snapped Cunningham. "You've made your own bed
+and now you can sleep in it. Take 'em out!" he ordered another guard
+who had joined the one with the rifle. "As for you--drunken fool that
+you are--clear out!" and his eyes blazed as he kicked the man who had
+blurted out the news of the approaching marriage of Floyd Barton and
+Mary Nestor. "Take 'em out!"
+
+"Where, Boss?" asked one of the sober guards.
+
+"To the dungeon, of course! Where else?"
+
+Tom and Ned did not think it wise to put up a fight for, so they
+feared, Cunningham, in his rage, might order them shot. So they
+accompanied their captors along the corridor and down a flight of steps
+to what was evidently the cellar of the castle. A little later they
+were shut in another stone room, but smaller and much less desirable
+than their former prison. They were, indeed, in a dungeon.
+
+"Now maybe you'll wish you hadn't been so fresh!" sneered one of the
+guards as he departed, locking the door.
+
+Left to themselves, Ned and Tom looked at each other with somewhat
+woebegone and puzzled faces. Their dungeon was dimly lighted and was
+damp and depressing. It was almost like a prison cell.
+
+"Well, I'm not going to stay here long!" declared Tom determinedly.
+
+"What are you going to do?" asked Ned.
+
+"Get out the first chance I see. This is sure rotten!"
+
+"It will be if they don't feed us," agreed his chum. But they did not
+have to worry long on that score, for presently a man they had not seen
+before appeared with a tray of as good food as had before been served
+to them. They were hungry and ate heartily. Then they were left alone
+and talked matters over.
+
+"What do you think of that fellow's talk about Mary?" asked Tom. "Think
+there was any basis for it?"
+
+"That drunk seemed to know what he was talking about. But you know Mary
+better than I do," answered Ned. "However, I don't believe Mary would
+ever consent to marry this Barton."
+
+"Don't you?" cried Tom, and Ned saw that he caught at this straw.
+
+"No, I don't. I believe, for reasons of his own, Barton has been
+telling that story and he's circulated it among these men, hoping it
+would reach you and break down your nerve!"
+
+"It shan't!" cried Tom.
+
+"No! Don't let it!" urged Ned. "It's a dirty, rotten game, Tom. They're
+trying to get your nerve!"
+
+"That's it--a game!" cried Tom Swift, with new energy. "Well, they'll
+find that two can play at it! I'm out for revenge now, and when I meet
+Barton----"
+
+"I hope I'll be there to see the fight!" chuckled Ned.
+
+However, if Tom and Ned hoped for any immediate change in their
+captivity, they were disappointed. For three days they remained in
+close confinement, and when meals were brought there were always two
+guards, one with a gun and the other with a tray, so there was no
+chance for a surprise attack.
+
+Not giving up easily, though, Tom and Ned tried to escape from the
+small stone room at night. They took a fork and spoon from one of their
+trays, and with these simple implements tried to loosen some of the
+window bars.
+
+At first they thought they were going to succeed, for they dug out some
+mortar. But it was only to find under the mortar that the bars were set
+in lead upon which their tools made no impression. So they had to give
+that up.
+
+They were below the level of the ground, there being a little dug-out
+area upon which the only window in their cell opened. So they could see
+nothing of what went on in the courtyard on which they judged their
+prison room faced, for they could hear trucks coming and going and the
+murmur of many voices.
+
+"Well, if we can't leave by the window we must try the door," said Tom,
+when they had been locked up a week. They still had the spoon and fork
+and hoped to be able to pick the lock. But a few trials convinced them
+that it was too strong.
+
+Then, unexpectedly, their chance came. The same guard, again drunk,
+who had blurted out the gossip concerning Mary and Barton came in with
+a tray of food for their supper, and in a flash Tom and Ned saw that he
+was alone.
+
+For once the cunning of their captors had slipped!
+
+"We'll get him this time, Ned!" whispered Tom, and his chum understood.
+
+Smiling with drunken vacuity, the guard had unlocked the door. The tray
+was heavy and he had had to set it down on a stool outside to do this
+and use both hands in carrying it into the cell.
+
+"Now!" cried Tom suddenly, and he and Ned threw themselves on the
+unsuspecting fellow. Before he could utter a cry Tom clapped his hand
+over the guard's mouth and while he got a knee into the small of his
+back, Ned bound the struggling hands.
+
+In a trice they had wound strips torn from their bed clothes around the
+man's ankles and improvised a gag which effectually silenced him. Then
+they trussed him up so he could not move and, having taken from his
+pockets a bunch of keys and a pistol, they were ready for their long
+deferred escape.
+
+"Talk about luck!" panted Ned, for the capture had not been easy in
+spite of the fellow's drunken condition.
+
+"We're not out of the woods just yet," cautioned Tom.
+
+"Well, let's get out of this dungeon for a start," proposed Ned.
+
+Then, having shoved the trussed guard under one of the cots, they
+arranged the clothes on both of them to make it appear that the
+prisoners were sleeping after their meal, and, having gone out by the
+door, they locked their gagged guard within and stole swiftly down the
+corridor.
+
+They had to proceed cautiously, for they were unfamiliar with the
+interior of the castle and did not know at what moment they might run
+into Cunningham or some of his men. So they paused at every turn to
+look about them before advancing.
+
+Twice, as they did this, they saw forms or heard through the gloom
+approaching voices and footsteps, and had to hurry back and secrete
+themselves. But at length they made their way up a flight of stairs,
+the same ones down which they had been taken after the exposure of
+Cunningham's masked face. They were now on the ground floor of the
+castle, where they had first been imprisoned.
+
+It was night, and only a few dim lights here and there in the long,
+deserted corridors showed them which way to go. They did not know what
+turns to take. Any moment might send them stumbling upon a band of
+their enemies.
+
+They conversed in whispers, went a little way down one passage, only to
+find that it ended against a blank wall, returned to try another with
+like poor results. They wanted to get out into the open, to find the
+House on Wheels if possible, and escape in that. But luck seemed to be
+against them.
+
+They wandered about, several times having to take refuge behind piles
+of débris to escape groups of men. Presently they saw a light at one
+end of a long corridor. Stealing toward it, they found that the light
+came from an open room, whence proceeded the murmur of many voices.
+Adjoining the large room, in which several men were gathered, was a
+smaller apartment, a storage place, evidently.
+
+"Come in here!" whispered Tom to his chum, and they slipped in not a
+second too soon, for Cunningham strode down the hall and entered the
+main, lighted room where a conference seemed to be going on.
+
+Then, hidden in the small room and listening at a ventilator
+communicating with the other apartment, Tom and Ned heard enough talk
+to make clear to them the nature of the business carried on in the old
+castle.
+
+As Tom had suspected, Cunningham was a rascally but talented
+manufacturer of fine optical and scientific machines and instruments.
+He had failed in doing a legitimate business and had turned to crooked
+ways.
+
+As the talk went on, Tom saw why he had been approached to make
+machinery and tools for turning out illegal goods. It was because
+Cunningham wanted to sell them at an enormous profit, not having to
+pay any patent royalties. Owing to Tom's refusal, and because of his
+inability to get other firms to make any machines, Cunningham had taken
+to stealing shipments of goods from large manufacturing concerns. He
+had allied himself with a band of train robbers who, departing from the
+usual holding up of pay and express cars, were looting fast freights.
+Sometimes the trains were held up by means of false signals and again
+cars on sidings were broken into and the cases stolen and brought to
+the castle for distribution among fences, as dealers in thieves' loot
+are called.
+
+Cunningham was doing some manufacturing in the castle, it became known
+to Tom and Ned as they listened, and this branch would have been
+gone into on a larger scale had Tom consented to make the necessary
+machinery.
+
+Then, unexpectedly, the two heard some startling news. Floyd Barton was
+Cunningham's nephew and the young man who had danced so often with
+Mary Nestor was using part of his wealth in the illegal manufacture of
+patented goods. Whether Barton was present at the conference, Tom and
+Ned could not discover, for though they could hear the talk they could
+not see the speakers.
+
+"Well, we've found out all we want to know, Ned," remarked Tom, as they
+got down off the box on which they had been standing to bring their
+ears nearer the ventilator.
+
+"I should say so! Why, this Cunningham is nothing but what you said he
+was--a crook!"
+
+"And those with him are just plain thieves!" said Tom. "Well, we've got
+enough evidence to jail the lot of them."
+
+"Including Barton!" said Ned.
+
+"Yes, including Barton!"
+
+"But first we've got to get out of here," went on Ned. "Come on, before
+that meeting breaks up," and he nodded toward the other room.
+
+He and Tom came out of their hiding place and, as they did so, Ned
+saw, lying on a ledge, an automatic pistol. With an exclamation of
+satisfaction, he picked it up, ascertained that the magazine was
+filled, and put it in his pocket. Tom had the one taken from the guard.
+
+"We've got to work fast!" Tom whispered to his chum, as they went back
+along the corridor. "Try the first window you come to and we'll light
+out!"
+
+"This looks like a good one," said Ned, indicating a casement which,
+they could see by looking out, was not far from the ground. "Come on!"
+
+As Ned threw one leg over the sill and Tom was in readiness to follow,
+they heard a noise behind them and saw Cunningham running toward them.
+
+"Guards! Guards!" yelled the Englishman. "The prisoners are escaping!
+Help me!"
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXIII
+
+                           SETTING THE TRAP
+
+
+Just for an instant Ned Newton hesitated. It was a critical moment.
+
+"Go on! Go on!" Tom Swift frantically yelled to his chum. "Don't stop
+now!"
+
+"He may shoot!" objected Ned, who was in no position to assume the
+offensive, though both he and Tom were now armed.
+
+"No, he won't!" Tom exclaimed. "He's only bluffing! A coward! Go on!
+I'm right with you!"
+
+"Here goes then!" and Ned, ignoring the frantic shouts of Basil
+Cunningham, leaped from the window. It was a little higher up from
+the ground than he had thought and his fall rather jarred him. But he
+rolled over to be out of the way when Tom jumped.
+
+The young inventor, after a glance back over his shoulder, which showed
+that Cunningham was without a visible weapon, leaped over the window
+sill and joined his chum below. Tom managed to keep his feet in his
+leap. In the old castle, and as he leaned out of the window, Cunningham
+continued to shout:
+
+"The prisoners! They're escaping! Where are those confounded guards?"
+
+The whole place was aroused now and other voices could be heard
+mingling with those of the Englishman in excited shouts. Evidently,
+those who had been present at the conference of which Tom and Ned had
+overheard so much, were now joining, or getting ready to join, the
+pursuit.
+
+Lights flashed in many windows that had hitherto been in darkness.
+There was the sound of running feet and the clank of metal as though
+the guards were arming themselves with swords instead of rifles and
+automatic pistols.
+
+Ned got to his feet, to find Tom at his side. The young inventor
+grasped his chum's arm, holding his automatic in his other hand, and
+gasped:
+
+"Come on! Run for it! It's now or never!"
+
+"But which way shall we run?" asked Ned. "I'm all turned around!"
+
+It was no wonder. The night was dark and the weird ruin of a castle
+stood out in uncanny relief with lights in many windows. Tom and Ned
+had leaped from a window at the rear of the place, a view of the castle
+which they had never had before. So they were a bit confused.
+
+"The main gate is around the other side!" panted Ned, as he ran on
+beside Tom.
+
+"Never mind that. There must be a back way out, and I think it will be
+healthier for us to take that than the front way. They'll be sure to be
+laying for us there."
+
+"Guess that's true!" muttered Ned.
+
+The eyes of the escaped prisoners were now becoming accustomed to the
+darkness all about them, for they had come from comparatively well
+illuminated corridors into the pitch black night, and this is always
+confusing. They had a dim vision of a wall or a fence at the rear of
+the castle. It was probably a continuation of the fence in front, with
+its ornate and massive pillars, though the front gate was gone.
+
+"If only the back gate is in the same condition we may be in luck," Tom
+remarked as they ran on.
+
+They looked back for just a moment and saw several figures leap from
+the same window out of which they had jumped. Framed in the light,
+these pursuers were easily visible.
+
+Suddenly there was a sliver of flame in the darkness at the rear of
+the castle. A sharp report followed and then the whine of a bullet over
+the heads of the two fugitives.
+
+"Hot stuff, Tom!" muttered Ned.
+
+"They mean business!" assented the young inventor. "But we've got an
+answer ready!"
+
+He turned quickly and fired at random, purposely aiming over the top of
+a dark patch that seemed to be composed of smaller patches. That it was
+a group of bandits summoned by Cunningham, Tom did not doubt.
+
+There was a momentary halt on the part of the pursuers at this evidence
+of preparedness on the part of the late prisoners. But another bullet
+came whining its vicious song over the heads of the two young men. When
+Ned would have turned and fired, Tom called:
+
+"Save your cartridges! We may need 'em later! Isn't that a gate just
+ahead?"
+
+He pointed to where the fence seemed to have a break in it.
+
+"It's a gate, all right," Ned answered. "But closed."
+
+"And with a man on guard!" added Tom, as they drew closer and saw a
+figure emerge from some bushes to confront them. That it was a guard
+was evident a moment later, for he stepped across the path to bar the
+progress of Tom and Ned and was bringing a rifle to the ready as he
+growled:
+
+"Get back there! Nobody allowed out of this gate without the boss says
+so! Get back!"
+
+"Get back yourself!" snarled Tom, and as he spoke he fired, but aiming
+over the guard's hat. So close was the bullet, though, that the fellow
+dropped his gun in mortal terror and yelled:
+
+"I'm through!"
+
+Away he sped in the darkness.
+
+"The fates grant that he didn't take the keys with him!" murmured Tom,
+as he and Ned ran on toward the gates which they could make out more
+plainly now.
+
+"It isn't likely they're locked if a man was on guard," suggested Ned,
+and so it proved. The rusty iron gates swung under the vigorous pushes
+of the two, and a moment later they found themselves out in the road,
+while behind them could be heard the confused shouts of their pursuers.
+
+"Oh, for a car now!" cried Tom.
+
+He and Ned were running down the road, not knowing and little caring in
+what direction, so long as they were leaving the castle and its bandits
+behind them. As they swung around a corner, where the road widened, Ned
+saw a deeper patch of blackness and, pointing to it, gave a cry of joy.
+
+"What is it?" demanded Tom Swift.
+
+"The House on Wheels!" yelled Ned.
+
+A moment later the fugitives came to where their vehicle was parked
+beside the road. It was in darkness and there seemed to be no life
+about it. Hesitating only a moment, to make sure of this, Ned and Tom
+approached. In their hearts they were hoping that the machine would not
+be in the possession of the enemy.
+
+It did not seem to be. They were not challenged as they leaped to the
+driver's seat, and in a moment Tom had switched on the lights.
+
+"We're in luck, Ned!" he yelled, as a glance at the various gages
+showed that there was plenty of oil and gas. "Now if they haven't put
+it on the blink, well let them have a look at our tail light in about
+two seconds!"
+
+The self-starter hummed. There was a responding roar from the powerful
+motor, and in another instant Tom Swift was heading his machine down
+the mountain at ever increasing speed.
+
+There had been several days of dry weather following the storm, and the
+dust of the highway reflected the headlights well so that driving was
+comparatively easy. The speed increased so that Ned called out:
+
+"Aren't you hitting it up pretty fast, Tom?"
+
+"Got to!" was the grim answer. "They're coming after us! Listen!"
+
+He slowed for a second, silencing his engine a bit, and from behind
+came the roaring exhaust of another car.
+
+"They've got to go some to get me now!" exulted Tom. "We're on a down
+grade, and as soon as the motor warms up I'll show them what my House
+on Wheels can do!"
+
+Faster and faster they sped down the winding road in the darkness. The
+hand on the speedometer went to 25 to 30, and then on past 35. When it
+got to 45 Ned looked at Tom and took a tighter grip of the seat rail.
+
+"Will she stand it, Tom?" he asked.
+
+"We'll soon find out!" was the laconic reply.
+
+On toward 50 the hand was moving, and soon it had passed that figure.
+Then it was 55! Still Tom Swift did not take his foot off the
+accelerator.
+
+"Whew!" whistled Ned. "She's doing better than sixty miles an hour,
+Tom!"
+
+"That's nothing--downhill!" was the response. But 60 seemed enough,
+and at that speed--terrific when the size of the machine was
+considered--Tom held the road wonderfully well. There was no longer the
+sound of pursuit.
+
+"I guess they saw our tail light and gave up!" chuckled Tom. "We're
+well out of that!"
+
+"What's the next move?" Ned asked.
+
+"Stop at the nearest place where there are police and give the alarm!"
+snapped Tom. "I'm not going to let Cunningham get away with the stuff
+he's trying to pull."
+
+They went on for several miles at this high speed, and then, when faint
+dawn was rosily tinting the east, they came down off Dismal Mountain to
+a level road and, inquiring of a passing truckman, learned the location
+of the headquarters of the nearest State Police.
+
+"So that's the secret of Dismal Mountain, is it?" asked a rather sleepy
+sergeant who had been on duty all night. Tom and Ned had gasped out
+their story, touching only the high spots of their capture and escape.
+"Road agents, train robbers, and bandits hanging out in the castle,
+eh?" went on the officer.
+
+"Will you look after 'em?" asked Tom, leaving the station to get into
+his House on Wheels again.
+
+"I sure will, Mr. Swift. And thanks a lot for the tip. I'll spread a
+net for these scoundrels. Dismal Mountain is going to lose its secret
+and its mystery. Luckily, there aren't many roads leading down from it.
+I'll have every one covered. Those fellows will walk right into my
+trap, and those that don't come down--well, we'll go up and get 'em!"
+he finished, with a grim laugh.
+
+He hurried inside to send out a general alarm and Tom kept on toward
+the House on Wheels.
+
+"Where to now?" asked Ned.
+
+"To Chesterport," Tom answered. But there was no enthusiasm in his
+voice. Ned could guess why. The gossip Tom had heard about Mary Nestor
+and Floyd Barton was eating at his heart like a canker.
+
+The sun was scarcely above the horizon when Tom and Ned, leaving to
+the State Police the work of rounding up the bandits in Cunningham's
+gang, rolled in the House on Wheels up in front of the Winthrop home.
+There was no stopping now blocks away for fear of wounding the social
+sensibilities of Mrs. Winthrop.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXIV
+
+                             JUST IN TIME
+
+
+Though it was very early, one of the men about the Winthrop place was
+already astir, preparing to wash down the front porch with a hose. Tom,
+followed by Ned, strode up the front walk, and the man, staring at the
+big House on Wheels which had stopped at the front curb, looked in
+surprise at the two rather unkempt and disheveled early morning callers.
+
+"I'm Mr. Swift," Tom explained, smiling at the man.
+
+"Oh, yes! Excuse me, sir! I didn't recognize you. I remember now! You
+were here at the house party given for Miss Nestor. Of course! I didn't
+know you--in--er----"
+
+"These clothes!" finished Tom, with a laugh. "I don't blame you." He
+and Ned still wore the old garments that had been given in exchange
+for their own more fashionable attire. Doubtless some of the bandits
+retained the new suits.
+
+"Yes, of course, Mr. Swift," murmured the man. "Will you come in? It's
+a little bit early, but----"
+
+"Is Miss Nestor up yet?" asked Tom, and a moment later he realized what
+a foolish question it was. It was barely six o'clock, and of course
+none of the household would be up.
+
+"No, sir," the man replied. "Miss Nestor isn't here now."
+
+"She isn't? Where is she?" demanded Tom, a strange feeling around his
+heart.
+
+"She and Miss Winthrop and several other guests went on a houseboat
+trip with Mr. Barton down the river two days ago."
+
+"With Mr. Barton?" Tom fairly shouted.
+
+"Yes, sir. He has a large houseboat. It was quite a party. But they are
+expected back to-day."
+
+"What time?"
+
+"About noon, I think, sir."
+
+"Where will the houseboat dock?"
+
+"Down the river," and the man mentioned a certain dock.
+
+"Thanks," said Tom, as he turned away.
+
+"Depend upon it, Tom," asseverated Ned stoutly, "Mary doesn't know
+Barton's character or she wouldn't even dance with him, let alone going
+off on houseboat parties."
+
+"That remains to be seen," and Tom's voice had a bitter tone in it.
+"That remains to be seen."
+
+"Where are you going?" asked Ned as he climbed up to the seat beside
+his chum.
+
+"Down to the dock to wait for the arrival of that houseboat. We'll park
+there, get something to eat, and freshen up a bit. I want to have a
+little conversation with Mr. Floyd Barton."
+
+Ned could guess the interview would not be exactly pleasant for Mr.
+Floyd Barton, and he smiled grimly.
+
+It was so early that the passage of the big auto through the streets of
+Chesterport attracted little attention this time. The dock was found
+without difficulty, and in a vacant space near the river Tom parked his
+House on Wheels. Then he and Ned got breakfast, of which they stood in
+considerable need.
+
+A hasty inspection of the auto showed that though the bandits had used
+it roughly, no material damage was done. A thorough cleaning would put
+it in shape again. There was considerable mud about, showing that it
+had been run in the rain after Tom and Ned had fled from it.
+
+A bath, a change to fresh clothes, bought as soon as the stores
+were opened, and a rest soon repaired some of the ravages of the
+imprisonment that showed on the two young men. Then they took their
+ease in the House on Wheels while waiting for the boat to come back
+with the merry party of young folks. It seemed a long while, but it was
+scarcely noon when a whistle was heard and Ned, looking out, announced:
+
+"Here she comes!"
+
+Tom roused himself, squared his shoulders, and began to walk toward the
+dock where some hands were making ready to moor the pleasure craft.
+
+Ned followed. He wanted to see all that should take place.
+
+"Wonder if the State Police will get Cunningham and his gang," mused
+Ned, as they stood on the dock waiting for the boat to be made fast.
+
+"They will, sooner or later," said Tom. "Just now I'm more interested
+in the nephew than I am in that beefy Englishman."
+
+The houseboat came to a squeaking stop at the end of the dock, and when
+the gangplank was in place several laughing, and evidently happy, young
+men and women began to disembark. Tom watched closely but did not see
+Mary and Barton. A frown came over his face as he moved quickly down
+the dock, followed by Ned.
+
+Then Grace Winthrop, surrounded by a group of admirers, came off.
+
+"It was a wonderful party!" said one girl.
+
+"Just wonderful!" agreed Grace. "I hope you liked it, Aunt Mary," she
+said to an elderly relative who had gone along as a chaperone.
+
+"Oh, yes, it was nice," was the reply. "But it was a bit damp."
+
+"Always is on the water! Ha! Ha!" chuckled a youth clad in a very gay
+sweater. Then Grace caught sight of Tom and Ned.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Swift! So glad to see you!" she cried. "Mr. Barton tried to
+get word to you and Mr. Newton to come on our excursion, but Mary said
+he couldn't reach you. She said you'd gone to Dismal Mountain. Did you
+go there?"
+
+"Yes," answered Tom, shaking hands, "I did. Where is Mary now?" he
+asked, scarcely able to restrain his impatience.
+
+"Oh, she and Mr. Barton must be down in the cabin yet," was the answer.
+"I thought she came off, but she evidently remained to----"
+
+Tom Swift did not stop to hear the remainder of the sentence. He strode
+aboard the boat, made his way toward the cabin, but halted outside the
+door at the sight of two figures in the room. Ned could look over his
+chum's shoulder and see Mary with Floyd Barton standing close to her.
+The approach of the recent prisoners was so silent that the two in the
+cabin had not heard them.
+
+"Now, Mary, why can't you be nice to me?" Floyd was saying, as his arm
+went toward the girl who seemed to shrink away from him. "I gave you a
+nice time, didn't I?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Barton, it was a lovely party."
+
+"Why don't you call me Floyd?"
+
+"I--I scarcely know you well enough." Mary's voice was low and she
+seemed in distress. Her back was toward Tom and Ned.
+
+"You'll soon get to know me better," went on Barton boldly. "I'm very
+fond of you, Mary. Why are you so cold and distant? Now you and I--" He
+almost had his arm around her now.
+
+"Mr. Barton, stop! Stand away from me!" exclaimed Mary.
+
+Tom Swift made a jump into the cabin and, with a hand on Barton's
+shoulder, swung that surprised youth about.
+
+"You dirty dog!" cried Tom, almost beside himself with rage. "I've
+found you out just in time!"
+
+He gave Barton a shove which would have floored that young man had not
+Ned caught and held him.
+
+"Oh, Tom!" cried Mary, and, holding out her hands she was soon clasped
+in Tom Swift's willing arms. "Oh, Tom! I'm so glad you came! He--he----"
+
+A look of disgust came over her face as she looked at Barton.
+
+"He won't annoy you again," said Tom grimly.
+
+But now Barton had recovered his poise and, pulling away from Ned,
+demanded:
+
+"What does this mean? How dare you come aboard my boat without an
+invitation? Who are you, anyhow--Oh, it's Swift and partner!" he added
+with a sneer, as he recognized the twain.
+
+"Swift and partner!" chuckled Ned. "And the partner's name isn't Slow,
+either," he added, as, putting out a hand, he caught Barton as the
+latter was about to leave. Perhaps the rascal suspected something of
+what was in the wind.
+
+"What does this mean? Let me go! You have no right here!" stormed
+Barton.
+
+Mary soon recovered from the upset caused by Barton's advances and
+stood beside Tom Swift. By this time the high voices from the cabin had
+attracted the attention of several of the houseboat party, and they
+turned back to see what the trouble was.
+
+"Let me go!" snarled Barton to Ned. "If you don't----"
+
+He made as if to strike Ned, but the latter, drawing his automatic said
+calmly:
+
+"Now take it easy! You can't get away any more than that rascally uncle
+of yours can."
+
+"My uncle! Is he----"
+
+"By this time Mr. Cunningham and his gang of bandits in the castle are
+under arrest," said Ned, though as a matter of fact he did not know
+this. "The game is up, Barton!" he added grimly. "Ask Tom Swift if it
+isn't."
+
+Tom, a happy smile on his lips as he stood beside Mary, nodded in
+affirmation. A desperate look came over Floyd Barton's face. He glanced
+about wildly as if for a way of escape. Then he suddenly pulled loose
+from Ned, but as he was about to run from the cabin he found himself in
+the arms of a burly dock officer who demanded:
+
+"What's the row about? And why have you that gun?" he asked of Ned a
+bit sternly.
+
+"Because I don't want that criminal to escape!" was Ned's answer.
+
+"Criminal! Mr. Barton a criminal?" came in a startled chorus from many
+of the late houseboat party.
+
+"A criminal!" said Tom Swift calmly but firmly. "A partner with his
+rascally uncle, Basil Cunningham, in the illegal operations on Dismal
+Mountain. I am Tom Swift, and Ned Newton and I have just escaped from
+that mountain of mystery. The criminals up there captured us and my
+House on Wheels. They held Ned and me prisoners and we overheard enough
+of their plots to send them all to jail. They're under arrest now,"
+he added, giving more details and particulars of what had happened on
+Dismal Mountain. "And you'll be under arrest too, very shortly, Floyd
+Barton," concluded Tom.
+
+"He may consider himself under arrest now," announced the dock man.
+"I'm a special officer and I'll take him into custody."
+
+"You can't! You haven't a warrant!" stormed Floyd.
+
+"I'll hold you until Mr. Swift can swear a warrant out," said the
+special officer, who knew and disliked Floyd Barton. "Come on now! Will
+you go peaceably or do you want the bracelets?" and from a pocket he
+took out shining handcuffs.
+
+"All right!" said Barton, with a scowl at Tom Swift. "You win!"
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XXV
+
+                             WEDDING BELLS
+
+
+Such excitement as this had never before been known among the circles
+in which Grace Winthrop and her friends moved.
+
+"Mother will be furious at me for ever having had Mr. Barton in the
+house," said Mary to her friends.
+
+"It wasn't your fault," they told her. "How could you know he was such
+a rascal?"
+
+"I couldn't! Oh, isn't it perfectly terrible!"
+
+"Terrible!" echoed the girls.
+
+"Rather jolly fun, I call it!" chuckled the young man in the violently
+colored sweater. "It makes a bit of excitement."
+
+If the truth be known, the girls may have felt the same way about it,
+only they were not honest enough to acknowledge it.
+
+While Ned left with the special officer to see that Floyd Barton was
+locked up, pending formal charges that would be filed against him, Tom
+and Mary went to the House on Wheels to be by themselves.
+
+"Tell your mother I'll be along soon, Grace," was Mary's message to her
+relative.
+
+"Take your time!" and Grace's voice had a mischievous ring in it.
+
+With much buzzing talk the party left the houseboat, having enough
+news, with what was to follow, to keep gossip busy for months. Tom and
+Mary entered the little living room of the House on Wheels.
+
+"Oh, Tom," said Mary again, "I'm so glad you came when you did! It was
+providential!"
+
+"If I had been a little longer, would I have been too late?" asked Tom,
+with a smile, as he sat down beside the girl.
+
+"Too late for what?"
+
+"Too late to ask you to marry me at once and have done with all this
+worry?"
+
+"Why Tom! Marry you at once? Oh--Tom--I--I----"
+
+"Well, I heard, while I was held a prisoner in the castle, that you
+were soon going to marry Barton. And so----"
+
+"Going to marry _him_! Oh, never, Tom! _Never!_ Of course he was very
+nice to me at first--but----"
+
+"But what?" asked Tom, as she hesitated.
+
+"Well--I--er--I----"
+
+When Tom and Mary came out of the House on Wheels a little later he had
+made certain of what he had suspected a long time, that Mary Nestor was
+worth to him more than all else in the world.
+
+When Tom and Mary arrived at the Winthrop house some time afterward,
+they found a message from the State Police, announcing that Cunningham
+and his gang had fairly run into the net spread about Dismal Mountain
+for them, and with the exception of a few unimportant men, all were
+captured.
+
+When Floyd Barton, who had been lodged in jail, heard this news,
+brought to him by Ned who went back to the castle to look things over,
+the young man caved in and made a complete confession. He was more
+a tool of his rascally uncle than anything else, but his money had
+furnished working capital for the bandits.
+
+Floyd had been particularly struck by Mary's charm and had conducted
+a rushing campaign to make her capitulate to him. For a time, she
+afterward confessed to Tom, she had been fascinated by him. But his
+true character was soon apparent.
+
+Thus the mystery of Dismal Mountain was cleared up. A search of the
+castle revealed not only much loot, besides the valuable instruments,
+but also machinery for turning out more. It had been Cunningham's
+intention to set up the machinery he had hoped to have Tom Swift
+make for him in this same castle and go into the illegal instrument
+manufacturing business on a large scale. But with the rounding-up of
+the gang, all these plans came to an end.
+
+It was also discovered that many of the weird and ghostlike
+manifestations seen on Dismal Mountain were caused by the Cunningham
+gang with the object of keeping people away. Only Tom Swift's whimsical
+decision to investigate the place brought the tricks to light.
+
+"Well, I guess it's all settled," Tom announced to Ned one day, when
+they had been guests at the Winthrop home for some days after all the
+rascals were sent to prison.
+
+"What's all settled?" Ned wanted to know.
+
+"My wedding plans. Mary and I are going on our honeymoon in the House
+on Wheels."
+
+"What did I tell you?" chuckled Ned. "I knew, as soon as you began to
+build it, that you'd use it for that."
+
+"Only at one time," commented Tom, with a laugh, "it began to look as
+if nobody but Cunningham would use it."
+
+"That's right," assented Ned.
+
+It developed that after Tom's refusal to have anything to do with
+him, Cunningham had his men shadow Tom and, when the House on Wheels
+was headed for Dismal Mountain plans were made to capture it and the
+occupants. How well these plans succeeded, Tom Swift was in a position
+to know.
+
+Three weeks after the round-up of the gang there was a beautiful
+ceremony in the Union Church of Shopton. As the wedding bells pealed
+forth their joyous music, Ned Newton and Helen Morton, who had been
+Mary's and Tom's attendants, marched down the aisle behind the happy
+couple.
+
+"Don't they sound nice?" said Ned to Helen.
+
+"What?"
+
+"Those wedding bells! I hope they'll soon be ringing for us, Helen!"
+
+"Oh, behave yourself, Ned Newton," was all she said. "This is no time
+to talk about such things!"
+
+As Tom marched out of the church amid a shower of rice and old shoes
+he saw in the crowd waiting to greet him many old and new friends. His
+father was there, with Mrs. Baggert, the faithful housekeeper.
+
+"Long life and happiness to you and your sweet bride, Tom!" called the
+old lady.
+
+"Thanks!" murmured the young groom.
+
+"Dat's whut I say!" echoed Eradicate. "An' I's gwine to lib wif Massa
+Tom an' Miss Mary when dey sot up housekeepin'!" declared the old Negro.
+
+"Bless my pocketbook!" exclaimed Mr. Damon, who, of course, was among
+the guests. "Tom Swift getting married! My! My!"
+
+"Well, what's wrong with that?" asked Mr. Jackson.
+
+"Why, it means the end of his wonderful inventions!"
+
+"Nonsense! Nothing of the sort!" declared the shop manager. "Tom Swift
+will never stop inventing. I shouldn't wonder, now that he's married,
+but what he'll do the best work of his life."
+
+"Well," said Mr. Damon dryly, "that remains to be seen."
+
+Then, amid the continued ringing of the wedding bells, Tom Swift and
+his bride went on their honeymoon trip in the House on Wheels.
+
+
+                                THE END
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+                            BOOKS FOR BOYS
+
+                          By VICTOR APPLETON
+
+                       12mo. Cloth. Illustrated.
+
+
+                         THE TOM SWIFT SERIES
+
+                     TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTORCYCLE
+                     TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR BOAT
+                       TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRSHIP
+                   TOM SWIFT AND HIS SUBMARINE BOAT
+                  TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RUNABOUT
+                  TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIRELESS MESSAGE
+                  TOM SWIFT AMONG THE DIAMOND MAKERS
+                     TOM SWIFT IN THE CAVES OF ICE
+                      TOM SWIFT AND HIS SKY RACER
+                   TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RIFLE
+                     TOM SWIFT IN THE CITY OF GOLD
+                     TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDER
+                        TOM SWIFT IN CAPTIVITY
+                    TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIZARD CAMERA
+                  TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT SEARCHLIGHT
+                    TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT CANNON
+                   TOM SWIFT AND HIS PHOTO TELEPHONE
+                   TOM SWIFT AND HIS AERIAL WARSHIP
+                     TOM SWIFT AND HIS BIG TUNNEL
+                   TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS
+                      TOM SWIFT AND HIS WAR TANK
+                      TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR SCOUT
+                   TOM SWIFT AND HIS UNDERSEA SEARCH
+                   TOM SWIFT AMONG THE FIRE FIGHTERS
+                 TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE
+                     TOM SWIFT AND HIS FLYING BOAT
+                  TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT OIL GUSHER
+                  TOM SWIFT AND HIS CHEST OF SECRETS
+                   TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRLINE EXPRESS
+                     TOM SWIFT CIRCLING THE GLOBE
+                  TOM SWIFT AND HIS TALKING PICTURES
+                   TOM SWIFT AND HIS HOUSE ON WHEELS
+
+
+                         THE DON STURDY SERIES
+
+                  DON STURDY ON THE DESERT OF MYSTERY
+                 DON STURDY WITH THE BIG SNAKE HUNTERS
+                    DON STURDY IN THE TOMBS OF GOLD
+                   DON STURDY ACROSS THE NORTH POLE
+                  DON STURDY IN THE LAND OF VOLCANOES
+                 DON STURDY IN THE PORT OF LOST SHIPS
+                     DON STURDY AMONG THE GORILLAS
+                  DON STURDY CAPTURED BY HEAD HUNTERS
+                        DON STURDY IN LION LAND
+
+
+                GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, New York
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75322 ***