me out of here!" exclaimed Ned. "You can tell us how it all
happened and what they did to you. But I can see that last--they
treated you like a dog, didn't they?"

"Pretty nearly," answered Tom; "but they didn't have things all their
own way. I think I made one or two of them remember me," and he glanced
at his swollen and bruised hands. Indeed, he bore the marks of having
been in a fierce fight.

"Are you sure the tank's all right?" he asked Ned again. "That has
been worrying me more than my own condition. I could think of only one
reason why they got me here and held me prisoner, and that was to get
me out of the way while they captured my tank. Then they haven't got
her?" he asked eagerly.

"Not a look at her," Ned answered. "She was safe in the shop when we
set out this morning."

"And now it's late afternoon," murmured Tom. "Well, I hope nothing has
happened since," and there was vague alarm in his voice, an alarm at
which Ned and Mr. Damon wondered.

"Couldn't you stop at some farmhouse and get fixed up a little?" asked
Mr. Kimball, the farmer who had brought the note to Ned and Mr. Damon.

"I need to get fixed up somewhere," replied Tom, with a rueful look at
himself--his hands, his torn clothes, and his general dilapidated
appearance. "But I don't want to lose any time. I'm afraid something
has happened at home, Ned."

"Nonsense! How could there, with Koka on guard, to say nothing of
Eradicate!"

"Well, maybe you're right," agreed Tom; "but I'll feel better when I
see my tank in her shed. Let's have some more of that concentrated
porterhouse steak of yours, Ned. It is good, and it fills out my
stomach, which was getting more intimate with my backbone than I liked
to feel."

More of the really good confection and another drink of refreshing
water made Tom feel better, and he was soon able to walk along without
staggering from weakness.

"And now let's get out of here," advised Ned, "unless you've left
something back in that vault you want, Tom," and he motioned to his
chum's late prison.

"Nothing there but bad memories," was the reply, with a rueful smile.
"I'm as ready to go as you are, Ned. It was good of you and Mr. Damon
to come for me, and you"--and he looked questioningly at Mr. Kimball.

"If it hadn't been for Mr. Kimball and his boy, we wouldn't have found
you--at least so soon," said Ned, and he told of the finding of the
note and what had followed.

"That's the only way I could think