And the
physician shook his big head.

"Very well. I'll agree to that if Tom will promise to enter the race,"
said the inventor.

"I will," said Tom.

The physician took his leave shortly after that, the medicine he gave
to Mr. Swift somewhat relieving him. Then the young inventor, who felt
in a little better spirits, went back to his workshop.

"Poor dad," he mused. "He thinks more of me and this aeroplane than he
does of himself. Well, I will go in the race, and I'll--yes, I'll win!"
And Tom looked very determined.

He was about to resume work on his craft when something about the way
one of the forward planes was tilted attracted his attention.

"I never left it that way," mused Tom. "Some one has been in here. I
wonder if it was Mr. Jackson?"

Tom stepped to the door and called for Eradicate. The colored man came
from the direction of the garden, which he was still weeding.

"Has Mr. Jackson been around, Rad?" asked the lad.

"No, sah. I ain't seed him."

"Have you been in here, looking at the Humming-Bird?"

"No, Massa Tom. I nebber goes in dere, lessen as how yo' is dere. Dem's
yo' orders."

"That's so, Rad. I might have known you wouldn't go in. But did you see
any one enter the shop?"

"Not a pusson, sab."

"Have you been here all the while?"

"All but jes' a few minutes, when I went to de barn to put some
liniment on Boomerang's So' foot."

"H'm! Some one might have slipped in here while I was away," mused Tom.
"I ought to have locked the doors, but I was in a hurry. This thing is
getting on my nerves. I wonder if it's Andy Foger, or some one else,
who is after my secret?"

He made a hasty examination of the shop, but could discover nothing
more wrong, except that one of the planes of the Humming-Bird had been
shifted.

"It looks as if they were trying to see how it was fastened on, and how
it worked," mused Tom. "But my plans haven't been touched, and no
damage has been done. Only I don't like to think that people have been
in here. They may have stolen some of my ideas. I must keep this place
locked night and day after this."

Tom spent a busy week in making improvements on his craft. Mr. Swift
was doing well, and after a consultation by Dr. Kurtz and Dr. Gladby it
was decided to adopt a new style of treatment. In the meanwhile, Mr.
Swift kept his promise, and did no work. He sat in his easy-chair, out
in the garden, and dozed away, while Tom visited him frequently to see
if he nee