gh mark
set by the president of that railroad--"

"Two miles a minute!" breathed Mr. Damon in agreement. "Bless my
wind-gauge! It doesn't seem possible!"

Tom Swift shrugged his shoulders. "It is the impossible that inventors
have to overcome. If we experimenters believed in the impossible little
would be done in this world, to advance mechanical science at least.
Every invention was impossible until the chap who put it through built
his first working model."

"That's understood, old boy," said Ned, already busily scratching off
the form of the contract he proposed to show the company's legal
advisers early in the morning.

When he had read over the notes he had made Tom O.K.'d them. "That is
about as I had the items set down myself on the sheet that fellow stole
from me."

"Wait!" exclaimed Ned, as Tom arose from his chair. "Do you know what
strikes me after your telling me about your second hold-up?"

"What's that?" asked his chum.

"Are you sure that was the same fellow who stole your wallet?"

"Quite sure."

"Then his second attack on you proves that he got wise to the fact that
your notes were in shorthand. He had a chance to study them while you
visited with Mary Nestor."

"Like enough."

"I wonder if it doesn't prove that the fellow has somebody in cahoots
with him right here in Shopton?" ruminated Ned.

"Bless my spare tire!" ejaculated Mr. Damon, who had already started
for the door but now turned back.

"That's an idea, Ned," agreed Tom Swift. "It would seem that he had
consulted with some superior," said the young manager of the Swift
Construction Company. "This hold-up man may be from the West; but
perhaps he did not follow Bartholomew alone."

"I'd like to know who the other fellow is," said Tom thoughtfully. "I
would know the man who attacked me, both by his bulk and his voice.

"Me, too," put in Mr. Damon. "Bless my indicator! I'd know the
scoundrel if I met him again."

"The thing to do," said Ned Newton confidently, "is to identify the man
who robbed you tonight as soon as possible and then, if he hangs around
Shopton, to mark well anybody he associates with."

"Perhaps they will not bother me any more," said Tom, rather carelessly.

"And perhaps they will," grumbled Mr. Damon. "Bless my self-starter!
they may try something mean again this very night. Come on, Tom. I want
to run you home. And on the way, I tell you, I've got something to put
up to you myself. It may not promise