"It's too late!" exclaimed Tom. "There he goes in his car!" And knowing
it would be useless to keep up the chase, the youth turned back toward
his house.




Chapter Two

Mr. Swift is Ill


"Who was it?" asked Mr. Gunmore as Tom again entered the library. "A
friend of yours?"

"Hardly a friend," replied Tom grimly. "It was a young fellow who has
made lots of trouble for me in the past, and who, lately, with his
father, tried to get ahead of me and some friends of mine in locating a
gold claim in Alaska. I don't know what he's up to now, but certainly it
wasn't any good. He's got nerve, sneaking up under our windows!"

"What do you think was his object?"

"It would he hard to say."

"Can't you find him to-morrow, and ask him?"

"There's not much satisfaction in that. The less I have to do with Andy
Foger the better I'm satisfied. Well, perhaps it's just as well I fell,
and couldn't catch him. There would have been a fight, and I don't want