CHAPTER IX.
A FRUITLESS PURSUIT
Down through the yard Tom speeded, in and out among the buildings,looking on every side for a sight of the bold stranger. No one wasto be seen.
"He can't be very far ahead," thought Tom. "I ought to catch himbefore he gets to the woods. If he reaches there he has a goodchance of getting away."
There was a little patch of trees just back of the inventor's house,not much of a woods, perhaps, but that is what they were called.
"I wonder if he was some ordinary tramp, looking for what he couldsteal, or if he was one of the gang after dad's invention?" thoughtTom as he sprinted ahead.
By this time the youth was clear of the group of buildings and insight of a tall, board fence, which surrounded the Swift estate onthree sides. Here and there, along the barrier, were piled oldpacking-cases, so that it would be easy for a fugitive to leap uponone of them and so get over the fence. Tom thought of thispossibility in a moment.
"I guess he got over ahead of me," the lad exclaimed, and he peeredsharply about. "I'll catch him on the other side!"
At that instant Tom tripped over a plank and went down full length,making quite a racket. When he picked himself up he was surprised tosee the man he was after dart from inside a big box and start forthe fence, near a point where there were some packing-cases piledup, making a good approach to the barrier. The fugitive had beenhiding, waiting for a chance to escape, and Tom's fall had alarmedhim.
"Here! Hold on there! Come back!" cried the youth as he recoveredhis wind and leaped forward.
But the man did not stay. With a bound he was up on the pile ofboxes, and the next moment he was poised on top of the fence. Beforeleaping down on the other side, a jump at which even a practicedathlete might well hesitate, the fleeing stranger paused and lookedback. Tom gazed at him and recognized the man in an instant. He wasthe third of the mysterious trio whom the lad had seen in theMansburg restaurant.
"Wait a minute! What do you want sneaking around here?" shouted Tomas he ran forward. The man returned no answer, and an instant laterdisappeared from view on the other side of the fence.
"He jumped down!" thought Tom. "A big leap, too. Well, I've got tofollow. This is a queer proceeding. First one, then the second, andnow the third of those men seem determined to get something here. Iwonder if this one succeeded? I'll soon find out."
The lad was up on the pile of packing-cases and over the fence inalmost record time. He caught a glimpse of the fugitive runningtoward the woods. Then the boy leaped down, jarring himselfconsiderably, and took after the man.
But though Tom was a good runner he was handicapped by the fact thatthe man had a start of him, and also by the fact that the strangerhad had a chance to rest while hiding for the second time in the bigbox, while Tom had kept on running. So it is no great cause forwonder that Mr. Swift's son found himself being distanced.
Once, twice he called on the fleeing one to halt, but the man paidno attention, and did not even turn around. Then the youth wiselyconcluded to save his wind for running. He did his best, but waschagrined to see the man reach the woods ahead of him.
"I've lost him now," thought Tom. "Well, there's no help for it."
Still he did not give up, but kept on through the patch of trees. Onthe farther side was Lake Carlopa, a broad and long sheet of water.
"If he doesn't know the lake's there," thought our hero, "he maykeep straight on. The water will be sure to stop him, and I cancatch him. But what will I do with him after I get him? That'sanother question. I guess I've got a right to demand to know what hewas doing around our place, though."
But Tom need not have worried on this score. He could hear thefugitive ahead of him, and marked his progress by the crackling ofthe underbrush.
"I'm almost up to him," exulted the young inventor. Then, at thesame moment, he caught sight of the man running, and a glimpse ofthe sparkling water of Lake Carlopa. "I've got him! I've got him!"Tom almost cried aloud in his excitement. "Unless he takes to thewater and swims for it, I've got him!"
But Tom did not reckon on a very simple matter, and that was thepossibility of the man having a boat at hand. For this is just whathappened. Reaching the lake shore the fugitive with a final spurtmanaged to put considerable distance between himself and Tom. Drawnup on the beach was a little motor-boat. In this, after he hadpushed it from shore, the stranger leaped. It was the work of but asecond to set the engine in motion, and as Tom reached the edge ofthe woods and started across the narrow strip of sand and gravelthat was between the water and the trees, he saw the man steeringhis craft toward the middle of the lake.
"Well--I'll--be--jiggered!" exclaimed the youth. "Who would havethought he'd have a motor-boat waiting for him? He planned thiswell."
There was nothing to do but turn back. Tom had a small rowboat and asailing skiff on the lake, but his boathouse was some distance away,and even if he could get one of his craft out, the motor-boat wouldsoon distance it.
"He's gone!" thought the searcher regretfully.
The man in the motor-boat did not look back. He sat in the bow,steering the little craft right across the broadest part of LakeCarlopa.
"I wonder where he came from, and where he's going?" mused Tom."That's a boat I never saw on this lake before. It must be a newone. Well, there's no help for it, I've got to go back and tell dadI couldn't catch him." And with a last look at the fugitive, who,with his boat, was becoming smaller and smaller every minute, Tomturned and retraced his steps.