第32章

"He believes he did," asserted Tom."I helped carry him out of the laboratory of your place when he was almost dead from suffocation.He remembers that he had the formulae then, but since has been unable to find them.""He'd better be careful how he accuses us!" blustered Field, in his big voice.

"We could have the law on him for that!" squeaked the bigger Melling."He hasn't accused you," said Tom easily."He only says the formulae disappeared during the fire in your place, and he is just wondering.that isall--just wondering!"

"Well, he--we, I--that is, we haven't anything from Baxter that we didn't pay for," declared Field."And if he goes about saying such things he'd better be careful.I am going--"But he suddenly became silent as his companion's elbow nudged him.And then Melling took up the talk, saying:

"We're much obliged to you, Mr.Swift, for putting out the fire in our car.But for you it would have been destroyed.And if you ever want to sell the extinguisher process of yours, you'll find us in the market.We are going into the dye business on a large scale, and we can always use new chemical combinations.""My extinguisher is not for sale," said Tom dryly."Come on, Mr.Damon.We can take you into town, I suppose," Tom went on, looking at his eccentric friend for confirmation, and finding it in a nod."But I doubt if we could tow you, as we are in a hurry, and--""Oh, thank you, we'll look over our machine before we leave it," said Melling."It may be that we can get it to go."Tom doubted this, after a look at the charred section, but he easily understood the dislike of the men, upon whose heads he had heaped coals of fire, to ride with him and Mr.Damon.

So Field and Melling were left standing in the road near their stranded car, which, but for Tom Swift's prompt action, would have been only a heap of ruins.

Tom first visited the man who had a candy machine, in which the owner wanted to interest Mr.Damon.After seeing a demonstration andgiving his opinion, he attended to his own affairs, in which his hand extinguisher played a part.Then he called on Mary Nestor at her relative's home.

"Oh, but it's good to see you again, Tom!" cried Mary, after the first greeting."What have you been doing, and what's all that white stuff on your coat?""Fire extinguisher chemical," Tom answered, and he related what had happened.

"What's the matter with your aunt, Mary? She seems worried about something," he said, after the aunt with whom Mary was staying had come in, greeted Tom briefly, and gone out again.

"Oh, she and Uncle Jasper are worried over money matters, I believe," Mary said."Uncle Jasper invested heavily in the Landmark Building here, and now, I understand, it is discovered that it was put up in violation of the building laws--something about not being fire-proof.Uncle Jasper is likely to lose considerable money.

"It isn't that it will make him so very poor," Mary went on."But Uncle Barton Keith--you remember you went on the undersea search with him-- Uncle Barton warned Uncle Jasper not to go into the Landmark Building scheme.""And Uncle Jasper did, I take it," said Tom.

"Yes.And now he's sorry, for not only may he lose money, but Uncle Barton will laugh at him, and Uncle Jasper hates that worse than losing a lot.But tell me about yourself, Tom.What have you been doing? And is Eradicate going to get better?""I hope so," Tom said."As for me--"

But he was interrupted by loud voices in the hall.He recognized the tones of Mary's Uncle Jasper saying:

"They're scoundrels, that's what they are! Just plain scoundrels! When I accuse them of swindling me and others in that Landmark Building deal they have the nerve to ask me to invest money in some secret dye formulae they claim will revolutionize the industry! Bah! They're scoundrels, that's what they are-- Field and Melling are scoundrels, and I'm going to have them arrested!"