to hold it, so
he had both hands free.

"We ought to lick him good and proper," growled the squint-eyed lad.

"Well, why don't you?" invited Tom.

He moved to one side, so as not to be hampered by his wheel. As he did
so he knocked from the handle bars the valise of tools. They fell with
a clatter and a thud to the pavement, and the satchel came open. It was
under a gas lamp, and the glitter of the long-handled wrenches and
other implements caught the eyes of Andy and his crony.

"Huh! If we fought you, maybe you'd use some of them on us," sneered
Andy, glad of an excuse not to fight.

Tom quickly picked up his valise, shutting it, but he was aware of the
close scrutiny of the two vindictive lads.

"I don't fight with such things," he said, somewhat annoyed, and he
hung the tools back on the handle bars.

"What you doing around the bank at this hour?" asked Sam, as if to
change the subject. "First thing you know the watchman will order you
to move on. He might think you were a suspicious character."

"The same to you," retorted Tom, "but I'm going to ride on now, unless
you want to have a further argument with me."

"You'd better be careful how you hang around a bank," added Andy. "The
police are on the lookout here. There's been some mysterious men seen
about."

Tom did not care to go into that, and, seeing that the two bullies had
lost all desire to attack him, he put up the brace and mounted his
wheel.

"Good-by," he called to Andy and Sam, as he rode off, the tools
rattling and jingling in the valise, but it was a sarcastic farewell,
and the two cronies did not reply.

"I hope I didn't damage any of the tools when I let them fall that
time," mused the young inventor. "My, the way Sam and Andy stared at
them it would make it seem as if I had a lot of weapons in the bag!
They certainly took good note of them."

The time was to come, and very shortly, when Andy's and Sam's
observation of the tools was to prove disastrous for our hero. As Tom
turned the corner he looked back, and saw, still standing in front of
the bank, the two cronies.

Chapter 11

The Red Cloud Departs

"Well, dad, I wish you were going along with us," said Tom to his
father next morning. "You don't know what you're going to miss. A fine
trip of several hundred miles through the air, seeing strange sights,
and experiencing new sensations."

"Yes, I wish you would reconsider your determination, and accompany
us," added