This matter of the electric locomotive that had been brought to
his attention by the Western railroad magnate had instantly
interested the young inventor. The possibility of there being a
clash of interests in the matter, and the point Mr. Bartholomew
made of his enemies seeking to thwart his hope of keeping the H.
& P. A. upon a solid financial footing, were phases of the affair
that likewise concerned the young fellow's thought.

Now he was sure that Mr. Bartholomew was right. The enemies of
the H. & P. A. were determined to know all that the railroad
president was planning to do. They would naturally suspect that
his trip East to visit the Swift Construction Company was no idle
jaunt.

Tom had turned so many fortunate and important problems of
invention into certainties that the name of the Swift
Construction Company was broadly known, not alone throughout the
United States but in several foreign countries. Montagne Lewis,
whom Tom knew to be both a powerful and an unscrupulous
financier, might be sure that Mr. Bartholomew's visit to Shopton
and to the young inventor and his father was of such importance
that he would do well through his henchmen to learn the
particulars of the interview.

Tom remembered Mr. Bartholomew's mention of a name like Andy
O'Malley. This was probably the man who had done all that he
could, and that promptly, to set about the discovery of Mr.
Bartholomew's reason for visiting the Swifts.