whereabouts of Mr. Damon, nor of the men who had so mysteriously taken away Tom's airship.
All was in readiness for the trial. Tom sent Ned to the booth that he had constructed in the airship hangar, some distance away from the house. The other booth Tom had placed in his library, an entirely new system of wires being used.
"Now Ned," explained Tom, "the idea is this! You go into that booth, just as if were a public one, and ring me up in the regular way. Of course we haven't a central here, but that doesn't matter. Now while I'm talking to you I want to see you. You don't know that, of course.
"The point is to see if I can get your picture while you're talking to me, and not let you know a thing about it."
"Think you can do it, Tom?"
"I'm going to try. We'll soon know. Go ahead."
A little later Ned was calling up his chum, as casually as he could, under the circumstances.
"All right!" called Tom to his chum. "Start in and talk. Say anything you like—it doesn't matter. I want to see if I can get your picture. Is the light burning in your booth?"
"Yes, Tom."
