ame the end of the long nights and days given over on the part
of his father, himself, and his men to the development and refinement
of the machine, to getting plans and specifications ready so that the
tanks could be made quickly and in large numbers in this country and
abroad and to the actual building of Tank A. Now all this was done at
last, and the first completed tank was ready to be shipped.

Meanwhile the matter of the demolished barn had been left for legal
action. Tom and Ned, it developed, had done the proper thing under the
circumstances, and they were sure they had foiled at least one plan of
the plotters.

"But they won't stop there," declared Ned, who had constituted himself
a sort of detective. "They're lying back and waiting for another
chance, Tom."

"Well, they won't get it at my tank!" declared the young inventor, with
a smile. "I've finished testing her on the road. All I need do now is
to run her around this place if I have to; and there won't be much need
of that before she's taken apart for shipment. Did you get any trace of
Simpson or the men who are with him--Blakeson and the others?"

"No," Ned answered. "I've been nosing around about that farmer, Kanker,
but I can't get anything out of him. For all that, I'm sure he was
egged on to his hold-up game by some of your enemies. Everything points
that way."

"I think you're right," agreed Tom. "Well, we won't bother any more
about him. When the trial comes on, I'll pay what the jury says is
right. It'll be worth it, for I proved that Tank A can eat up brick,
stone or wooden buildings and not get indigestion. That's what I set
out to do. So don't worry any more about it, Ned."

"I'm not worrying, but I'd like to get the best of those fellows. The
idea of asking three thousand dollars for a shell of a barn!"

"Never mind," replied Tom. "We'll come out all right."

Now that the Liberty Loan drive had somewhat slackened, Ned had more
leisure time, and he spent parts of his days and not a few of his
evenings at Tom Swift's. Mr. Damon was also a frequent visitor, and he
never tired of viewing the tank. Every chance he got, when they tested
the big machine in the large field, so well fenced in, the eccentric
man was on hand, with his "bless my--!" whatever happened to come most
readily to his mind.

Tom, now that his invention was well-nigh perfected, was not so worried
about not having the tank seen, even at close range, and the enclosure
was