much after that, knowing that any
talk between Tom and you was of a nature not to need a witness. Tom
hung up and then he came in here, quite excited, and began to get ready
to go out."

"What was he excited about?" asked Mr. Damon. "Bless my unlucky stars,
but a person ought to keep calm under such circumstances! That's the
only way to do! Keep calm! Great Scott! But if I had my way, all those
German spies would be--Oh, pshaw! Nothing is too bad for them! It makes
my blood boil when I think of what they've done! Tom should have kept
cool!"

"Go on. What was Tom excited about?" Ned turned to the housekeeper.

"Well, he said you had called him to tell him to meet you over at that
farmer's place," went on Mrs. Baggert. "He said you had some news for
him about the men who had tried to get hold of some of his tank
secrets, and he was quite worked up over the chance of catching the
rascals."

"Whew!" whistled Ned. "This is getting more complicated every minute.
There's something deep here, Mr. Damon."

"I agree with you, Ned. And the sooner we find Tom Swift the better.
What next, Mrs. Baggert?"

"Well, Tom got ready and went away in his small automobile. He said
he'd be back as soon as he could after meeting you."

"And I never said a word to him!" cried Ned. "It's all a plot--a scheme
of that Blakeson gang to get him into their power. Oh, how could Tom be
so fooled? He knows my voice, over the phone as well as otherwise. I
don't see how he could be taken in."

"Let's ask the telephone operator," suggested Mr. Damon. "She knows
your voice, too. Perhaps she can give us a clew."

A talk with the young woman at the telephone switchboard in the Swift
plant brought out a new point. This was that the speaker, in response
to whose information Tom Swift had left home, had not said he was Ned
Newton.

"He said," reported Miss Blair, "that he was speaking for you, Mr.
Newton, as you were busy in the bank. Whoever it was, said you wanted
Tom to meet you at the Kanker farm. I heard that much over the wire,
and naturally supposed the message came from you."

"Well, that puts a little different face on it," said Mr. Damon. "Tom
wasn't deceived by the voice, then, for he must have thought it was
some one speaking for you, Ned."

"But the situation is serious, just the same," declared Ned. "Tom has
gone to keep an appointment I never made, and the question is with whom
will he keep it?"

"That's it!" cried the eccentric