"Meanwhile, if you
want to try the Red Streak against the Arrow, I'm willing. I have an
hour or so to spare."

"Aw, keep still!" muttered Andy, much discomfited, for the defeat of
his speedy boat, by a much smaller and less powerful one, was a sore
point with him. "You just wait, that's all. I'll get even with you!"

"Look here!" cried Tom, suddenly. "You always say that whenever I get
the best of you. I'm sick of hearing it. I consider that a threat, and
I don't like it. If you don't look out, Andy Foger, you'll have trouble
with me, and at no very distant date!"

Tom, with flashing eyes, and clenched fists, took a step forward. Andy
shrank back.

"Don't be afraid of him," advised Sam. "We'll stand by you, Andy."

"I ain't afraid," muttered the red-haired lad, but it was noticed that
he shuffled off. "You just wait, I'll fix you," he added to Tom. The
bully was plainly in a rage.

The young inventor was about to reply, and, possibly would have made a
more substantial rejoinder to Andy than mere words, when the gate
opened, and Mr. Sharp stepped out.

"The fumes have all cleared away, Tom," he said. "We can go in the
shop, now."

Without further notice of Andy Foger, Tom Swift turned aside, and
followed the aeronaut into the enclosed yard.

Chapter 2

Ned Sees Mysterious Men

"Who were those fellows?" asked the balloonist, of his companion.

"Oh, some chaps who think we'll never build our airship, Mr. Sharp.
Andy Foger, and his crowd."

"Well, we'll show them whether we will or not," rejoined the man.
"I've just thought of one point where we made a mistake. Your father
suggested it to me. We need a needle valve in the gas tank. Then we can
control the flow of vapor better."

"Of course!" cried Tom. "Why didn't I think of that? Let's try it." And
the pair hurried into the machine shop, eager to make another test,
which they hoped would be more successful.

The young inventor, for Tom Swift was entitled to that title, having
patented several machines, lived with his father, Barton Swift, on the
outskirts of the small town of Shopton, in New York State. Mr. Swift
was quite wealthy, having amassed a considerable fortune from several
of his patents, as he was also an inventor. Tom's mother had been dead
since he was a small child, and Mrs. Baggert kept house for the widower
and his son. There was also, in their household, an aged engineer,
named Garret Jackson, who attended to the engine and boil