er
told me to take the map back, and I did. You let me go!"

Andy struggled to get loose, but Tom had too tight a grip. There was
something, too, in the manner of our hero that warned Andy not to
trifle with him. So, concluding that discretion was the better part
of valor, Andy walked sullenly along toward Tom's home, the young
inventor never relaxing the grip on his enemy's arm.

They reached the Swift home. Still holding his captive, Tom rang the
bell. His father came to the door, followed by Abe Abercrombie.

"Is the map back?" asked the young inventor, anxiously.

"Yes, Andy brought it here a few minutes ago," announced Mr. Swift.

"Is it the right one, Abe?" inquired Tom.

"Yep, Tom. I made sure of that as soon as I laid my eyes on it. It's
th' right one."

"Then you can go, Andy Foger," announced our hero, "and if I ever
catch you in another trick like this, I'll take the law into my own
hands. Clear out, now!"

"You wait! I'll get even with you," muttered the bully, as he fled
down the front walk, as though afraid Tom would, even then, put his
threat into execution.

"Did he damage the map any?" asked the lad, as he followed his
father and Abe into the house.

"Nary a bit," answered the old miner. "It's jest th' same as it was.
There it is," and he spread a crinkled sheet of tough parchment in
front of Tom. It was covered with a rude drawing, and with names of
places scrawled on it.

"So that's the map, eh?" murmured Tom, eagerly scanning it.

"That's it, an' here's th' valley of gold," went on Abe, as he
placed one rough finger on a certain spot. "Right there--hello!" he
cried, as he peered more closely at the parchment. "That ink spot
wasn't there when I had th' map, a few hours ago."

"What ink spot?" asked Tom, anxiously.

"That one," and the miner indicated a small one near the edge of the
map. "That was never there!"

"It looks as if it was recently made," added Mr. Swift, who was
something of a chemist.

"An ink spot-freshly made," murmured Tom, "Dad--Abe, I can guess
what's happened!"

"What?" demanded the miner.

"Andy Foger made a copy of this map while it was in his possession,
and now he knows where the valley of gold is as well as we do! He
may get there ahead of us!"

CHAPTER V

GRAVE SUSPICIONS

Tom's announcement took them all by surprise. For a moment no one
knew what to say, while the young inventor looked more closely at
the parchment map.

"Do you really