"I thought sure it was yours," said Tom, easily."Perhaps Mr.Foger will keep it in one of the safety-deposit boxes of his bank, until the owner claims it," and he looked at the banker.
"What's that?" asked Andy's father.
"This watch charm which I grabbed off Mr.Berg's chain the night he was sneaking around our house, and crossed the electric wires," went on the lad.
"Don't listen to him.He doesn't know what he is saying!" exclaimed the former submarine boat agent."It's not my charm.He's crazy!""Oh, am I?" thought Tom, with a grim look on his face."Well, we'll see about that, Mr.Berg," and, putting the charm back in his pocket, Tom swung his machine toward home, while the agent and the banker entered the new institution.
"So they're getting chummy," mused Tom."Andy and Berg were friends when Andy shut me up in the submarine tank, and now Berg comes here to do business, and Foger and his associates are trying to put the old bank out of business.I wonder if there's any connection there? I must keep my eyes open.Berg is an unscrupulous man, and so is Andy'sfather, to say nothing of the red-haired bully himself.He had nerve to deny that was his charm.Well, maybe I'll catch him some day."Tom spent a busy week making new adjustments to his electric car, changing the gear and providing for heavier fuses.He was planning for another trip on the road, as the time for the great race was drawing near, and he wanted the mechanism to be in perfect shape.
One evening, as he was preparing for a short night trip to Mansburg, where he had promised to call for Miss Nestor, Tom left his machine standing in the road in front of the house, while he went back to get a robe, as it threatened to be chilly.
As he came back to enter the car, he saw some one standing near it."Is that you, Ned?" he called."Come, take a spin."Hardly had he spoken than there sounded from the machine a whirr that told of the current being turned on.
"Don't do that!" cried Tom, knowing at once that it could not be Ned, who never meddled with the machinery.
A blinding flash and a loud report followed, and Tom saw some one leap from his car, and try to run away.But the figure stumbled, and, a moment later the young inventor was upon him, grappling with him.
"Here! Let me go!" cried a voice, and Tom uttered an exclamation of surprise.
"Andy Foger!" he cried."I've caught you! You tried to damage my car!""Yes, and I'm hurt, too!" whined Andy."My father will sue you for damages if I die.""No danger of that; you're too mean," murmured Tom, as he maintained a tight grip on the bully.
"You let me go!" demanded Andy, squirming to get away.
"Wait until I see what damage you've done,'~ retorted the young inventor."The worst, though, would be the blowing out of a fuse, for I had the gear disconnected.You wait a minute now.Maybe it's you who'll have to pay damages.""You let me go!" fairly screamed Andy, and he aimed a blow at Tom.It caught our hero on the chest and Tom's fighting blood was up in an instant.
He drew back his left hand, and delivered a blow that landed fairly on Andy's right eye.The bully staggered and went down in the dust.
"There!" cried Tom, righteously angry."That will teach you not to try to damage my car, and then hit me into the bargain! Now clear out, before I give you some more!"Whining and blubbering Andy arose to his feet.
"You just wait.I'll get square with you for this," he threatened.
"You can accept part of that as pay for what you did in the tar and feathering game," added Tom.Then, as Andy moved in front of one of the electric side lamps on the car, Tom uttered a whistle of surprise.For both of Andy's eyes were bruised and swollen, though Tom had only hit him once.
"Look at me!" cried the bully, more squint-eyed than ever."Look at me! You hit me in one eye, and that explosion hit me in the other! My father will sue you for this."As he hurried off down the road Tom understood.Andy coming along, had seen Tom's car standing there, and, thinking to do some mischief, had climbed in, and turned on the power.Perhaps he hoped it would run into the roadside ditch and be smashed.But as the gear was out, turning on the electric current had a different effect.As the bully pulled the handle over too quickly, throwing almost the entire force of the battery into the wires at once, the load was too heavy for them.A safety fuse blew out, causing the flare and the explosion, and a piece of the soft lead-like metal had hit the red-haired lad in the eye.Tom's fist had completed the work on the other optic, and for several days thereafter Andy Foger remained in seclusion.When he did go out there were many embarrassing questions put to him, as to when he had had the fight.Andy didn't care to answer.As for Tom, it did not take long to put a new fuse in his car, and he greatly enjoyed his ride with Miss Nestor that night.
