re, all Winter and
Spring, he busied himself perfecting a new motor for an airship--a
motor that would make no noise. He perfected it early that Summer,
and now was about to try it, when the incident of the torn newspaper
happened.

"Have you got all the pieces, Tom?" asked Ned, as he passed his chum
several scraps, which were gathered up from the floor.

"I think so. Now we'll paste them together, and see what it says. We
may be on the trail of a big mystery, Ned."

"Maybe. Go ahead and see what you can make of it."

Tom fitted together, as best he could, the ragged pieces, and then
pasted them on a blank sheet of paper.

"I guess I've got it all here now," he said finally. "I'll skip the
first part. You read me most of that, Ned. Just as you told me, it
relates how the government agents, having tried in vain to get a
clew to the smugglers, came to the conclusion that they must be
using airships to slip contraband goods over the border at night."

"Now where's that mention of Shopton? Oh, here it is," and he read:

"'It is suspected that some of the smugglers have been communicating
with confederates in Shopton, New York. This came to the notice of
the authorities to-day, when one of the government agents located
some of the smuggled goods in a small town in New York on the St.
Lawrence. The name of this town is being kept secret for the
present."

"'It was learned that the goods were found in a small, deserted
house, and that among them were letters from someone in Shopton,
relating to the disposal of the articles. They refuse to say who the
letters were from, but it is believed that some of Uncle Sam's men
may shortly make their appearance in the peaceful burg of Shopton,
there to follow up the clew. Many thousands of dollars worth of
goods have been smuggled, and the United States, as well as the
Dominion of Canada custom authorities, say they are determined to
put a stop to the daring efforts of the smugglers. The airship
theory is the latest put forth.'"

"Well, say, that's the limit!" cried Ned, as Tom finished reading.
"What do you know about that?"

"It brings it right home to us," agreed the young inventor. "But who
is there in Shopton who would be in league with the smugglers?"

"That's hard to say."

"Of course we don't know everyone in town," went on Tom, "but I'm
pretty well acquainted here, and I don't know of a person who would
dare engage in such work."

"Maybe it's a stranger who came