CHAPTER III
IN A SMASH-UP
Though the young inventor listened intently, in an endeavor to hear the conversation of the men at the table behind him, all he could catch was an indistinct murmur. The strangers appeared to have heeded the caution of one of their number and were speaking in low tones.
Tom and Ned finished their meal, and started to leave the restaurant. As Mr. Swift's son passed the table where the men sat they looked up quickly at him. Two of them gave Tom but a passing glance, but one—he whom the young inventor had noticed in the post-office—stared long and intently.
"I think he will know me the next time he sees me," thought Tom, and he boldly returned the glance of the stranger.
The bolts were ready when the inventor's son called at the machine shop a second time, and making a package of them Tom fastened it to
