man, evidently much excited, fairly burst into the room,
followed, more sedately, by a stranger.



CHAPTER II

A STRANGE OFFER



"Hello, Tom Swift! Hello, Ned! Glad to see you both! Busy, as
usual, I'll wager. Bless my check book! I never saw you when you
weren't busy at some scheme or other, Tom, my boy. But I won't
take up much of your time. Tom Swift, let me introduce my friend,
Mr. Dixwell Hardley. Mr. Hardley, shake hands with Tom Swift, one
of the youngest, and yet one of the greatest, inventors in the
world! I've told you a little about him, but it would take me all
day to tell you what he really has done and--"

"Hold on, Mr. Damon!" laughed Tom, as he shook hands with the
man whom Mr. Damon had named Dixwell Hardley. "Hold on, if you
please. There's a limit to it, you know, and already you've said
enough about me to--"

"Bless my ink bottle, Tom, I haven't said half enough!"
interrupted the little, eccentric man. "Wait until you hear what
he has done, Mr. Hardley. Then, if you don't say he's the very
chap for your wonderful scheme, I'm mighty much mistaken! And
shake hands with Ned Newton, too. He's Tom's financial manager,