ly hurt."

They hastened to the unconscious lad. On one side of his head was a bad
cut, which was bleeding freely.

"Oh! he's daid! I know he's daid!" wailed Eradicate.

"Not a bit of it. He isn't dead, but he may die, if we don't get him
into the house, and have a doctor here soon," said Mr. Jackson sternly.
"Catch hold of him, Rad, and, mind, don't carry on, and get excited,
and scare Mr. Swift. Just pretend it isn't very bad, or we'll have two
patents on our hands instead of only Tom."

They managed to get the youth into the house, and, contrary to their
fears, Mr. Swift was not nearly so nervous as they had expected. Calmly
he took charge of matters, and even telephoned for Dr. Gladby himself,
while Mr. Jackson and Eradicate undressed Tom and got him to bed. Mrs.
Baggert busied herself heating water and getting things in readiness
for the doctor, who had promised to come at once.

Tom was just regaining consciousness when the physician came in, having
driven over at top speed.

"What--what happened? Did the Humming Bird fall?" asked Tom in a
whisper, putting his hand to his head.

"No, something fell on you, I guess," said the doctor, who had been
hurriedly told of the circumstances. "But don't worry, Tom. You'll be
all right in a few days. You got a bad cut on the head, but the skull
isn't fractured, I'm glad to say. Here, now, just drink this," and he
gave Tom some medicine he had mixed in a glass.

The cut was soon dressed, and Tom felt much better, though weak and a
trifle dizzy.

"Did he hit me with the hatchet?" he asked Mr. Jackson.

"I couldn't tell," was the engineer's reply, "it all happened so
quickly. In another instant I'd have bowled him over, instead of him
landing on you, but I just missed him. He either used the hatchet, or
some blunt instrument."

"Well, don't talk about it now," urged the doctor. "I want Tom to get
quiet and go to sleep. We'll be much better in the morning, but I must
forbid any aeroplane flights." And he shook his finger at Tom in
warning. "You'll have to lie quiet for several days," he added.

"All right," agreed the young inventor weakly, and then he dozed off,
for the physician had given him a quieting medicine.

"Haven't you any idea who it was?" asked Dr. Gladby of Mr. Jackson, as
he prepared to leave.

"Not the slightest. It was no one Tom or I had ever seen before. But
whoever it was, he intended to destroy the Humming-Bird, that was
evident!"

"The sco