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.Nestor?""Because they took me for you, Tom.""For me?""Yes.The night I called at your house, and found you were not at home, I putback in my pocket a bundle of papers I had brought over to show you.They wereplans of a little kitchen appliance a friend of mine had invented, and Iwanted to ask your opinion of it.""These scoundrels must have followed me, or have seen the bundle of papers,and, mistaking me for you, they followed, attacked me in a lonely spot and,bundling me and my wrecked wheel into an auto, carried me off.They firstdemanded that I gave up the 'plans,' and when I wouldn't they choked off mycries for help and knocked me into unconsciousness.Then they brought me here,and kept me here for several days."They soon learned that the plans I had weren't those they wanted, though whatthey were thin after I couldn't imagine.Only, from what I laser overheard, Iknew they mistook me for you and that they were bitterly disappointed in notgetting plans of some new airship you were working on.They have kept me aprisoner ever since, and though they offered to let me go if I would keepsilent, I refused.I did not think, to secure myTom Swift and His Air ScoutCHAPTER XXV.THE GOLD TOOTH81own comfort, I should let such men go unpunished if I could bring about theirarrest.""I should say not!" cried Tom."Did they treat you brutally, Mr.Nestor?" asked Mr.Damon."Not after they found out who I was, by looking through my wallet.Of coursethey didn't behave very decently, but they weren't actually cruel, except thatthey bound and gagged me.Oh, but I'm glad you came, Tom! How did it happen?"Then they told Mr.Nestor their story, and how the test of the new Air Scouthad led to his rescue."But where are the Secret Service men?" asked Mr.Terrill, when it becameevident that none them was on guard at the cabin.Later it developed that, by following a false clew, the Secret Service men hadbeen drawn miles away from the cabin.And only that Tom and his companions inthe silent airship saw the men.Mr.Nestor might not have been rescued forsome further time.His version of what had happened was correct.He had been mistaken for Tom,and the spy with the gold tooth and his accomplice had waylaid Mary's father,under the belief that it was Tom Swift with the plans of the new silent motor.Mr.Nestor had been attacked while riding his wheel in a lonely place, and hadbeen carried off and kept in hiding, a prisoner even after his identity becameknown."Well, this is a good night's work!" exclaimed Tom, when the two rogues hadbeen sent to jail and Mr.Nestor taken to the Bloise farmhouse, to berefreshed before he went home.Word of his rescue was telephoned toMary and her mother, and it can be imagined how they regarded Tom Swift forhis part in the affair.Little the worse for his experience, save that he was very nervous, Mr.Nestorwas taken home.He gave the details of his being waylaid, and told how themen, for many days, were at their wits' ends to keep him concealed when theyPage 73ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlfound what a stir his disappearance had created.The conspirators were wellsupplied with money, and in the automobile they took their prisoner from oneplace to another.They had usurped the use of the cabin and had lived therenearly a week in hiding, leaving just before the first visit of Tom andJackson.The rifled wallet had been dropped by accident.And it did not take much delving to disclose the fact that, Lydane, "GoldTooth," as he was called, and his crony, were spies in the pay of theUniversal Flying Machine Company.As the men went under several aliases thereis no need of giving their names.It is to be doubted if they ever used theirreal onesor if they had any.Of course, there was quite a sensation when Mr.Nestor was found, and agreater one when it became known the part the Universal Flying Machine peoplehad in his disappearance in mistake for Tom.The officials of the company wereindicted, and several of the minor ones sent to jail but Gale and Ware escapedby remaining abroad.It came out that they both knew of the acts of Lydane and his companion incrime, and that the two officials realized the mistake that had been made bytheir clumsy operatives.It was believed that this knowledge led to the visitof Gale to Tom, the time the latter's suspicions were first aroused.Gale madea clumsy attempt to clear his own skirts of the conspiracy, but in vain,though he did escape his just punishment.Tom Swift and His Air ScoutCHAPTER XXV.THE GOLD TOOTH82What had happened, in brief, was this.Gale and Ware, unable to secure Tom'sservices, even by the offer of a large sum of money, had stooped to thesending of spies to his shop, to get possession of information about hissilent motor.This was after Gale had, by accident, heard Tom speaking of itto Mr.Damon.But, thanks to Tom's vigilance, Bower was discovered.The man tripped into themud hole lost in the muck the plans Bower passed to him.They were neverrecovered.Then Lydane tried again.He managed, through bribery, to gainaccess to the hangar where the new silent machine was kept, and, unable to getthe silencer apart, tried to file it.In doing so he weakened it so that itburst.The attempt to waylay Tom, and so get the plans from him, had been triedbefore this, only a mistake had been made, and Mr.Nestor was caught instead.Finding out their error, Lydane and his companions did not tell the Universalpeople of their mistake, though Gale and Ware knew the attempt was to be madeagainstTom Swift [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]